CHAPTER SEVEN

CAMILLA'S POV

I was still thinking about my confrontation with Carter. I still couldn't believe he was forced into this whole thing just like I was, and to think that I took the issue the worst way possible, where as, he was also in the same problem but managing his emotions just fine.

I looked around me and carefully eyed all the documents on the bed. My eyes were already aching as I hadn't gotten much sleep last night due to the fact that I was going through all the documents. I was also surprised when I saw the last document in the file. Dad left I and Carter an early wedding present, he gifted us a Duplex in the heart of New York.

I was still very shocked concerning all the properties I had to my name now. How? Just how? We were really broke, if I remember quite well and I didn't understand how it was possible for Dad to have had all this wealth. Well, if I was being honest, We lived very comfortably for people who were bankrupt. Yes, I know I said the poultry kept us going, but how much could the poultry actually generate for us.

When I remembered that Carter was going to be leaving the house anytime soon, I will quickly left my room and headed to his room and I luckily caught up with him at the door.

"Ermmm....hmm hmm!" I cleared my throat. "Are you leaving for work now?"

"Yes. Why?" He queried. But if one were to judge by his countenance, luck was on my side, because he didn't seem angry or pleased either. He looked quite indifferent. 

"Look Cart.. sorry, Mr Spencer" I quickly corrected myself, looking anywhere but at him. "I know I've been really inconsiderate and paid less attention to...."

"..Mila I'm not mad at you. Atleast.....not anymore" He interjected. 

"Re..really?" I asked unsure.

"I mean it. But for now, I need to rush out for a important meeting, we'll talk when I get back. I hope that's okay?" 

"That's perfect!" I grinned. He smiled at me and walked out the door. "Bye!" 

"Bye, Mila. Have a nice day" He responded without looking back, and continued o his way out. Now I was left with thinking of something entertaining to keep my day busy. I thought about trying out some of my late mom's recipes, but didn't feel the enthusiasm to cook. I decided to look up some of the photo albums I had seen in the sitting room the day before. 

When I got to the sitting room, Felicity happened to be tidying up the room. 

"Good morning Felicity" She turned and gave me a smile.

"Good morning Madame. I hope you had a lovely night?"

"I'm afraid it wasn't, but I'm all better this morning"

"Aww... That's sad. I'm glad you feel better today. What would you love for breakfast?"

"Oh, I'm honestly not in the mood for a meal this morning, Felicity. But luckily for me, I don't feel like being locked up indoors, as usual. I want to do something entertaining. I thought to go through Carter's photo albums though, but I would appreciate it if you had better ideas for me" 

"Oh! but of course Madame, there are a lot of fun things that could be done. We could play chess, or I could teach you how to knit? Or better still, you could go swimming in Carter's gym"

"Oh, I do love swimming but I happen to have started my monthly flow just yesterday. And as for chess, I simply not a fan. But that knitting stuff seems perfect with me. Let me do something new." 

"Very well then. So I will just let you entertain yourself with Carter's photo album, while I finish cleaning the space. When I'm done, I'll come join you, and we'll begin the process of learning how to knit." She smiled, and was about to carry on with her business, when I called her attention once more.

"Felicity?"

"Yes Madame."

"I would prefer it if you refer to me as Camilla or Mila, rather than 'Madame'. It's.... it's ermm, quite unnecessarily formal."

"Okay...... Camilla. And it's a beautiful name by the way." She complimented. 

"Thank you. I love its meaning too, you know"

"And what does it mean?" Felicity inquired.

"Noble Virgin" I smiled.

"Hmmmm. Rare" She commented, then went ahead with her work.

I looked to the glass shelf by the corner of the sitting room, and I spotted the albums, neatly arranged amongst other piles of books. I went over to where the shelf was, and proceeded to collect the 3 albums I had seen.

"Hmmm beautiful" I muttered, as I looked at a really pretty young lady. I continuously flipped through the album and kept seeing her pictures. 'Who was the lady?' I thought to myself as I kept flipping through. I got to a particular picture where the woman carried a little baby in her arms.

I would have thought the child belonged to Carter, but then again, the picture wasn't a recent one. It looked like a picture taken in the late 1900s. Could that be his mother? Exactly! That was his mom. My brain quickly accessed the whole situation, as I brought the picture out of the album, and flipped it, to see what was written behind. It said "Mom and me. April 3rd, 1992"

That was his mother. She was quite the beauty when she was younger, and she was sure that the woman was even more beautiful presently. She kept going through the remaining pictures in the album and noticed something. Carter's Father was never present in any of the single pictures they had taken. Weird, but possible.

"Are you ready? I'm done with my chores." Felicity piped as she walked back into the sitting room. A busy Mila hadn't even noticed when she first left the room. She had been so engrossed in the photo album that sat on her laps. 

"Yes Felicity, we can go ahead. Also, I thought you are Carter's cook?"

"Yeah, I am. Why?"

"You are cleaning his house too. Does he add that to your pay?"

"We are gone past that level, Mila. I've known and looked after Carter ever since he was just a baby. I'm his cook as much as his housekeeper. I can't have him spending unnecessary amount of money over something I could easily handle."

I smiled in appreciation. "Thank you, Felicity."

"It's nothing child. I'm the one who has gained more. Carter gave me and my family, one of his apartments to live in, without paying a rent. We have stable water, light and standby cash to restock groceries and provisions whenever we run out. I have two daughters; Annabelle and Peggy. He sponsors their education through school. For that, I am so grateful. From the moment Carter became of age to handle the businesses and investments, I have never had a single reason to feel the absence of my late husband. He's a good kid, and he deserves all the happiness he can get."

"Carter is not happy?" I couldn't help but ask, and I noticed her change in expression. 

"Oh Mila, I haven't said that. I just want him to keep being happy." She forced a smile. "You do seem like a good kid too. I pray you both make each other happy."

"I pray so too, Felicity. Carter is a really good man. He has been really kind and generous to me too, and the best I could also do for him is to be kind to him as well." I replied hopefully. 

"Enough of this diversion, Felicity. Knitting, shall we?" I grinned.

"Of course!" She grinned wider, as she dropped the bag, I eventually noticed she was holding. She sat on the couch by my side, and started bringing out the yarns and knitting pins, and then a smaller pin.

"Okay Mila. There is what is called 'knitting' and there is also 'crocheting'." 

"I thought both are the same" I asked, quite suprised.

"No love, they aren't."

"Then what is the difference?"

"Okay. In knitting, the stitches form a "V" shape. In crochet, the stitches are more like knots."

"Yes, I noticed that clothes made with yarn usually comes in different patterns. I always thought they were styles of knitting. So, which is more difficult?"

"Well, I really can't say any is difficult. But, Knitting uses a pair of long needles to form the loops, moving a set of loops from one needle to another; the stitches are held on the needle. Crochet uses a single hook to hook the loops together directly on the piece. It is that major difference that makes crochet much easier to work with than knitting."

"So which, would I be learning today?"

"It's left to you. Make your choice."

"The easier one then" I chuckled. 

"Crochet, it is!"

We had spent close to 6 hours crocheting and talking as well. I finally cracked my neck bones in exhaustion and yawned loudly.

"You have had a single thing in your stomach since morning. Carter would not be pleased to hear that when he returns."

"You would tell him that?" Mila asked in disbelief.

"Why not. He always asks about how you're faring, every time he gets back from work."

"You are jesting right?"

"No, I'm not. How else do you think he kept tabs on you, when you newly moved in? Even when he was away from the country for business." Felicity smiled.

"Well... wow. I'm suprised."

"I heard what you said to him last night, child. Carter does care about you genuinely. There is a hardly a thing that isn't genuine about him, in the first place." I nodded at her indirect way of chastising me for my ill behavior the previous night.

"Yes, he is quite genuine. It's a pity it took me time to realize" I agreed.

"Well, just wait here for me, while I warm up something for you to eat. Tis very important, so you don't develop a gastric ulcer."

"You seem quite learned, Felicity." I noted.

"Hahahaha" she laughed. "Aye! that I am. Does being a cook and housekeeper contradict that fact?"

"Not completely, but yes. There are learned people who don't necessarily feel like practicing what they read in school."

"My case is different though. I started college, but I wasn't able to finish, because of financial restraints. So I couldn't really obtain a certificate, you see."

"Ohh... That's really sad. So sorry about that."

"Hmm" She nodded. "I'll be back in a second" She promised, as she hastily ran into the kitchen to fix something up for me. After a while, she returned with some eggs, bread and beef bacon, which I ate and finished under Felicity's persuasive orders.

I went into my room after that, washed up for the day and decided to stay indoors for the rest of the day.

A knock on the door woke me, as I touched around me, until I could feel my phone. It was 7pm. Christ!!! I hadn't even known when I dozed off, and I slept for 5 hours. I heard the knock on the door once more, and I quickly hurried to get it.

"Hey Mila." Carter greeted the moment I opened the door.

"Carter! You're back already?"

"Yes, I am. It's 7 PM and from the look of things, I disturbed you from your nap."

"Of course not! And did you say a nap? I have been sleeping since 2 in the afternoon."

"Well then, I assume you are well rested"

"Why?"

"I was thinking if you didn't mind going out tonight?" He replied with an expression thst relayed he was unsure of my response.

"Where to?" I smiled, and he smiled back hopefully. 

"A karaoke club?"

"I see.." I said in a stern voice "Well, i can see you're dressed already. You can go alone Mr Carter." His expression sank. "For I would be joining you downstairs, in a few minutes!" I sang in excitement, and watched in entertainment as his sunken eyes widen in realization, before he chuckled and walked away.

"You look amazing, Mila." He smiled warmly, as I took in his outfit. He was wearing a black leather jacket, black polos inside, and blue jean trousers. The hot look was completed with the black boots her wore. Meanwhile, I was wearing short black gown and black leather boots, that came up to my knees. 

"Thank you. You don't look bad yourself" I replied.

"Shall we?" He offered his arm, which I took, and we walked out of the house.

**********************************************

"Any energy drink is fine" I said to Carter, who had asked me what i wanted to take. 

The night was going smoothly and hardly did any song play, and I didn't sing along. Carter also knew a lot of songs, but wasn't compared to the number of songs I knew.

"For someone who hardly goes our, you know quite a lot of songs." He commented. 

"Being indoor doesn't stop me from listening to songs. I have a phone, earplugs, there is internet, and my bed Is the best companion to listen to music with."

"Correct" Carter agreed. After a while of chatting, I noticed Carter's attention shift to a guy who was walking with this really hot bimbo lady, latched tightly to his arms.

The man kept smiling at Carter as he walked up to us. Sup man! You didn't tell me you were coming to my thing today?" He said to Carter, and then turned to look at me with a pretty weird expression.

"Hey man!" Carter gave him a handshake. "I just felt like it. Meet...." Carter was still about talking when the man interrupted him.

"Where's Cassie?" He asked, and I noticed Carter pinch him.

"Excuse us Mila, we'll be back In a moment." Carter said, to which I just nodded.

"Hey! My name is Alexis" The Bimbo lady introduced herself the moment the men left.

"I'm Camilla" I smiled 

"So, he your boyfriend?" She asked

"I.... suppose" I answered unsure.

"You don't sound like you sure 'bout that baby, and I for one ain't sure 'bout that too, you know"

"Carter has another girl in his life?" My curiosity took the best part of me.

"Yup! But right now, I ain't sure if you are his main girl, or If Cassie is. But what I'm quite sure about is that there is a side piece" Alexis said the last part calmly, before she bursted out in hysterical laughter. But then she had mentioned the Cassie again. 

"Hmmm" I cleared my throat. "Do you know this Cassie?" I asked.

"Of course! She always frequents the Karaoke Club with Carter. They've been together for sometime, you know" She opened her bag, brought out a bubble gum a d started chewing.

"Are they still..." I was about asking another question when Carter and the other man came back. 

"Heyyyy" Carter squeezed my shoulder and smiled nervously.

"Hey" I responded with a tight smile.

"Mila this is Nathan, my best friend of 13 years." He said pointing at the man, whom I now knew to be Nathan. "Nathan, this is Mila, my fiancéé." I noticed Alexis make a squeaky sound.

"It's a pleasure meeting you, Mila." He offered a hand, which I took and shook.

"Same here, Nathan" He nodded, and removed his hand from mine.

"So Mila, welcome to my Karaoke club. I will make sure you have lots of fun tonight! Of course, when Nathan is around, everywhere becomes Jiggy!" He winked, and I couldn't help but smile. 

"Well, you have a beautiful place here" I complimented. 

"Thank you, Bellissima! I have many more places like this, here in New York and some In other states." He replied in a strong Italian accent.

"Wait! Are you Italian" I asked with great interest.

"Not really. Well, let's say Partly! My biological parents were Italians, but my foster parents are Americans." Nathan replied.

"So sorry for your loss" I sympathized.

"Oh my dear, trust me. You shouldn't be" He gave a bitter smile. I looked at Carter, and noticed something was off. So I decided to change the topic. I looked around to include Alexis in the conversation, but she had disappeared, so I just carried on.

"So you said you had some more Karaoke Clubs such as this?"

"Oh yes! Don't mind your bore of a future husband. This are one of the boring Karaokes, he should have taken you to the one at SKANEATELES!!" Nathan giggled. 

"What the fuck man! That's a fucking club." Carter spat.

"Who says the lady ain't okay with a club? She's above legal man, she ain't no baby. So don't treat her as one"

"I agree with Nathan. Carter, a lot of girls my age, go clubbing every weekend, so don't react that way! I have wanted to go clubbing for the longest time." I shyly confessed.

"You see what I'm talking about?" Nathan directed his question to Carter. "Dude you need to bring her over, sometime. What do you say?"

"I say no!" Carter spat angrily, and we couldn't help but laugh.

"How did you both become friends?" I asked still holding my stomach from laughter, and they chuckled. "Okay, on a serious note Nathan. How did you feel when your bestfriend of 13 years introduced you to me, whom you have never seen him with before, as his Fiancéé?" I could tell, they weren't expecting such a question, as they both went silent, looking at me.

"Well, I didn't see that one coming.." Nathan chuckled nervously. "I was suprised and hurt. Hurt because, he didn't let me know anything concerning you, as his bestfriend. Yeah, he had mentioned you once in a conversation we had sometime ago, but it wasn't enough. But at the end of the day, I trust him to give me a tangible reason and explanation to everything." 

"Okay." I agreed. "So who is Cassie?"

"Fuck man! You never told me she was the inquisitive type. Jeeezzz!! I'm totally scared for you" Nathan joked. 

"So???" I inquired once more. All the while, Carter was just quiet, and watching the whole drama between his best friend and me.

"It's the way you're actually calm asking this questions girl! A lot of girls would have started throwing tantrums."

"Well, that's because she just wants to know. She's not making the inquiries just to have a fight, but to get to know me more" Carter responded to Nathan. I was suprised he understood my intentions.

"Is that true?" Nathan asked me, to which I shyly nodded.

"Fuck! You never even understood Cassie for a day. You both were like Ice and fire. She was the fire, I mean." Nathan specified, and Carter threw at him the bottled water he had in his hands, which Nathan skillfully dodged, as he laughed loudly. I couldn't help but smile. "Mila you see, if it were Cassie that asked the same question you just asked, just know there is war. I honestly don't know how they stayed together so long! 5 years of his life. Well, they were college sweethearts, started and finished together." 

I knew what Nathan was doing. In as much as Carter acted like he didn't mind, he was definitely going to feel some how about I and his bestfriend, sitting and talking about his ex in his presence.

"Nathan thank you for the wonderful story" I smiled and he smiled back in understanding of what I meant.

"I think we would flow really well, Bellissima." He winked.

"One more thing!" I said. "They HAD been together for 5 years?"

"Yes, they HAD." Nathan replied with a wide grin. I had wanted to be sure whether they were still together or not.

"You guys felt like I didn't understand what you were doing, but I did. Well, it did make me feel better in a way." Carter smirked.

"It's a win win, then!" Nathan exclaimed.

"So Alexis, had said quite a lot ehn?" Carter directed his question at me, but Nathan answered instead. 

"What were you expecting. She definitely did! I'm sure Cassie would soon know about Mila"

"I assume they know each other?" I asked.

"They are friends, not the best tho, but they are. From what Carter told me, he broke it off with her on a neutral ground. He didn't inform her about you. Alexis is going to tell Cassie about you soon." Nathan responded 

"That was bound to happen. Sooner or later" Carter grunted. "Thanks for tonight man, but we have to go, it's pretty late."

"You are always welcomed, Bro. Goodnight Mila, I hope we see each other soon" Nathan smiled, took my hands, and planted a chaste kiss on my knuckles. 

"Oh you charmer!" I giggled and he winked.

Carter signaled for me to come closer to him, which I did. Then, he put his hands and on the small of my back, and led me out of the club.

On getting to the house, we met a worried Felicity in the sitting room. 

"Christ!! You both got me worried! It's a few minutes to 12 in the night! One of you should have put a call through, atleast." She chastised.

"I'm so sorry Felicity, we got carried away." I beseeched. 

"I gathered that much" She replied with a fake scowl, and I smiled. 

"Come on now! We are fine." Carter walked over to her and gave her a hug which she returned. When Felicity had told me they were close, I didn't know it was this close. She was basically his Mom.