Chapter 5
Alejandra
Ernesto pushes the door open and goes in–at least the asshole is a gentleman–and holds the door open for me to enter first. The foyer looks like it belongs as the lobby of a luxury five-star hotel.
The high ceiling is two stories high and a modern chandelier dripping crystals like frozen rain droplets hangs right in the center.
An older woman wearing a simple ankle-length black dress and white apron, comes through the side hallway, her hands clasped, and her head bowed slightly.
Ernesto shrugs off his suit jacket and hands it to her without a word.
"Buenas noches, Patrón." she says in greeting.
"Consuelo," he responds, his tone strictly business. Apparently, he doesn’t even have time to spare a simple greeting to his employees.
"Por favor, acompane a mi esposa a nuestra habitación y ensénele la casa.
" he informs her as he undoes his cufflinks.
"Tengo un trabajo que terminar así que estaré en mi oficina. Asegúrate de que nadie me moleste."
The woman, Consuelo, visibly stiffens. She looks up at me and her eyes are wide with shock. They flick to Ernesto and back to me.
She recovers quickly, and nods. "Sí, Patrón."
With that Ernesto turns and disappears down a long corridor, leaving me with a stunned stranger in the lobby.
Consuelo turns to me, and the strictness she had in front of Ernesto melts away, replaced by a wide smile. It takes me by surprise how her eyes are warm and friendly. Completely different from the mask she had in front of Ernesto.
"Es un placer, Senora," she says, her voice filled with an enthusiasm I wasn't expecting. She takes both my hands in her warm ones and cradles them. "Bienvenida a su hogar. Soy Consuelo, estoy para cualquier cosa que necesite."
I smile and place my hand on top of hers. "Es un placer conocerla. Soy Alejandra y, por favor, no me llame senora, llámeme Ale."
"Ay no cómo cree, para mí y para los demás empleados es la Senora de la casa. Así que váyase acostumbrando." Consuelo smiles even wider and pats the top of my hand.
"Senora." I turn to see Felipe step into the lobby with my duffel bag. Consuelo immediately moves to take it from him and Felipe retreats out the front door. She leads me through a humongous and silent house with quick and energetic steps for someone of her age. She shows me each and every single room–to which I’ve come to realize most, if not all, are unoccupied or empty.
"This is the security room. It’s where the guards who work inside the house spend most of their time," she says gesturing to a closed door off the main hall, "they will mostly keep out of your way and not disturb you unless necessary."
Holy tits I didn't realize she spoke English. "I can tell Ernesto takes security very seriously."
"Yes, El Patrón wants everyone, both employees and his family, to feel safe when they are here. Oh and Hector, the head of security, will always be in this office if you ever have an emergency or are in need of him." She informs me.
"Noted."
We move on to a kitchen Gordon Ramsey would be jealous of.
It has stainless steel restaurant quality appliances, dark granite countertops and white cabinets.
It has a staff entrance and a pantry the size of my bedroom back home.
I ask Consuelo where the coffee is kept but she just informs me that all I need to do is let her know how I like my coffee and it will be taken care of for me.
I don’t know how much I’m going to like being catered to like this.
Cooking and having a routine is vital to my sanity especially now that I’m going to have all this free time.
After I'm done gawking in the kitchen we move onto the formal dining room. A table long enough to seat twenty people right in its center and another chandelier hanging in its center.
Next is the family area, or the living room, with its plush white u-shaped sofa and a massive flat screen tv that takes up almost an entire wall, if it wasn't for the surround system around it. All of this is beautiful, immaculate but at the same time devoid of any life. Ernesto mentioned having a daughter but there’s no pictures of her around and no toys just sprawled everywhere. Aren’t kids supposed to be messy?
It feels like hours have gone by as Consuelo leads me down another hallway. At this point, I’ll hit my 10k steps easily.
“And this,” she says, as she pushes open a tall set of double wooden doors, “is the library.” I stop in the doorway and admire how absolutely beautiful this place is.
There’s floor-to-ceiling shelves packed with books on three out of the four walls.
Oh, it even has one of those rolling ladders you see in movies.
On the wall with no books sits an elegant fireplace with two leather armchairs near it.
It’s hard not to notice it’s the only room I’ve seen in this house that has any trace of life.
By the look on Consuelo’s face she probably expected I’d be more excited than I am because her face and arms deflate.
“This is beautiful, Consuelo. I bet Belle would have loved this place.” I giggle. Consuelo doesn’t think my joke is as funny as I do because she pushes me back out the room and closes the doors.
“If you can’t find the Patron anywhere else, you can find him here. This is where he spends most when he’s not in his office.”
We continue the tour, passing a garden visible through a wall of glass, where a fountain bubbles peacefully. As we make our way toward the grand staircase, heading what she calls the “Master Wing” a flash of movement crashes into me.
I look down to see what has taken a hold of my waist and it’s a little girl.
Her dark and curly hair bouncing as she jumps up and down with excitement.
Her little cheeks are flushed the same color of her pink pajamas.
When she looks up at me I’m taken back at her beautiful round brown eyes framed with long lashes.
She’s a beautiful little girl and she has her daddy’s eyes.
“Are you my new nanny?” she asks, in a small but clear voice.
“Camilla, mi nina, ésta es la Senora Alejandra, your papi 's wife.” Interesting. Camilla continues to stare up at me, not letting go of my waist. I remove her hands from around me and lower myself down to my knees so that I’m at eye level with her.
Up close like this I can see a little splattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. So stinking cute.
“Hola, Camilla,” I say softly. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
“Do you love my Papi?” She takes a small step closer, never taking her eyes off mine.
The question takes me by surprise. In her innocence she probably believes people marry because of love and it makes my heart ache. Her father and I will probably never show her that type of relationship, at least until he decides to end this marriage and find someone else.
I force a small and gentle laugh, hoping it sounds more natural than it feels.
“Your Papi and I are…very good friends. We’re helping each other out for a while.” Her little face makes a confused expression and I internally panic, “But don’t worry Camilla, while I am here you can always come to me for whatever you need. How’s that sound?”
She considers my words for a full minute, her little brow furrowed in deep thought. When she comes to a decision she points her finger in the air and says with a straight face, “Ok but I will call you Ale, ‘ta muy dificil tu nombre.”
“You and your Papi sure like making deals,” I laugh remembering how many deals have been made between Ernesto and I today. “Alright, Ale it is. But you should know that means you’re special because only my family and friends call me that.”
“Really?” she shouts excitedly. “My family calls me Mila, so you can call me Mila too!” Suddenly she starts jumping up and down yelling “Ale, Mila, Papi, Familia,” all through the hall a couple of the guards rushed over to see what was going on.
Consuelo just holds them off by raising her hand towards them and they disperse. I manage to catch Mila’s little hand in mine. In a simple and innocent way this little girl has accepted me into her life so easily. She takes a couple of steps towards me and at full speed crashes into me again.
I smile down at her when she looks up at me fully grinning– tooth missing and all. Taking her little hand in mine I begin walking us down the hall again.
“Well then, Mila,” I say with my voice a little thick with emotion. “I think you and I are going to have a lot of fun together while I’m here.”