Melody (Ransom Drysdale)

1

"And you trained where again?" Linda Drysdale held out the paper in front of her to study it with her glasses a little more.

Melody Harper sat in a rather uniquely furnished room, perched on a plush chaise with her hands neatly in her lap and one leg crossed over the other. She had responded to the advert that a family in the US were in need of an au pair and had only been happy to apply. She had always wanted to work abroad and after receiving the invitation to come and be interviewed, she had jumped at the chance.

"Norland College in Bath". She confirmed. "We have a uniform that we are permitted to wear, although it is at the discretion of our employer really". And passed the rest of her portfolio over to Linda for her to look through.

Richard Drysdale pouted with an approving nod. "I really don't think the uniform is necessary, I mean, it's certainly a prestigious college...going onto working with all the celebrities and whatnot".

"A few people have gone on to work for very well known people, yes" Melody confirmed.

"Go on, humour me, who's the most famous person you've worked for?" Richard grinned.

Melody smiled. "Now that would be bragging Mr Drysdale".

Linda passed all of the portfolio back to her. "Impressive. Certainly what we need for little Audrey..." She sighed and looked to Melody. "I suppose you'd like to know the situation of how we ended up with her".

"I don't quite follow?" Melody now frowned.

Linda sighed at this. "Our son..."

"The little shit..." Richard muttered as he added that small detail on.

His wife simply looked back at him a little unimpressed at his interruption but repeated herself once more. "Our son, as it turns out, managed to succeed in producing the baby with a girl, who we still don't know anything about, and to be honest, he says he doesn't even remember which one it was..."

Oh dear...

"Audrey was left on his doorstep when she was simply a few days old. Since then we've been trying to find someone to help put because we can't do it ourselves, and Ransom wants nothing to do with the baby whatsoever".

Poor child. Unwanted by both parents and now was having to be raised somewhat by the grandparents? Melody smiled weakly. Linda Drysdale looked very much a business woman and already she had stated that she was. Her husband clearly didn't wear the trousers in the relationship.

As for this 'Ransom'? Well it was unlikely that their paths would cross.

"Anyway we don't live here, This house belongs to my father - you may have heard of him, Harlan Thrombey?"

Melody pursed her lips and looked a little guilty. "I haven't..."

"He's a writer, very successful, has his own company, but enough of that. Anyway we've been having to stay here since Audrey's arrival simply because Fran's had to be an extra pair of hands..."

"The housekeeper" Richard confirmed, seeing Melody's blank look.

"I see" Melody nodded. "Well...although the circumstances aren't ideal, as long the baby is being cared for and is healthy then that's all that matters". She looked to the pair, Linda now rubbing her temples after relaying the frustrating story. "Would I be able meet Audrey?"

Linda nodded and got up. "I'll go have Fran bring her down".

Melody watched her go and then looked to Richard who was simply shaking his head. "You'll soon meet our son. Most of the time he stays away but will show his face for family gatherings if he can be bothered. Honestly I don't know how he turned out the way he is - getting a girl knocked up and then not taking the responsibility..."

"And the child is definitely his?"

"It was the first thing we did, make him take a paternity test. Unfortunately Audrey is most definitely his".

The door opened and Linda returned closely followed by another woman who was holding a baby who looked no more than a month or so old. "This is Audrey". Linda now introduced the baby to Melody, who was now on her feet and taking her from the woman who could only be Fran.

"Why hello Miss Audrey" She looked down at the baby and smiled as she held her. "What a pretty little thing you are..."

"Now...with regards to hours, we'd let you have every Sunday off, plus any holidays or appointments that you schedule. You'd have your own room here, any meals you can eat with Fran in the kitchen or up in your room. Should you need anything for Audrey such as milk, nappies etc then by all means buy them.We'll set aside money for that with your wage every month so everything is covered, however if you need anything else then let us know and we'll see what we can do". Linda explained. "I haven't done this in years and times change with all this baby stuff".

Melody smiled. "They do, there's always new rules or regulations. However sometimes it's just better to let children be children while they still can. They're not all like Audrey forever..." Looking back down at the baby, she noted that she had fallen asleep.

Linda's phone began to ring. "Sorry just need to take this" she apologised and left the room while Richard announced he was going to quickly get some air.

"Children could be like Hugh though" Fran now muttered next to her with some distaste. Melody frowned. "The help have to call him by his first name - Hugh, which I suppose you'll have to do when they offer you the job". She now confirmed quietly. "And they will, they're desperate to just dump this kid on the au pair and then they can get back to their lives...the only time she'll probably exist to them is when they want her to". She sighed and then smiled weakly. "But Mr Thrombey cares, in fact he's the one who arranged all this, interviews and whatnot - the Drysdale's? They're only here coz they have to be".

It was clear that Ransom was not thought highly of in any way, even by his own parents. Nor did anyone apart from Harlan Thrombey actually care about what happened to the baby.

"They didn't want to take the option of choosing adoption?"

Fran took the baby from her. "Harlan said Audrey was staying, wants to teach Ransom a lesson. He helped make her so now he'll have to just be reminded of that. Plus he really wasn't for the adoption route. He's quite attached to her".

The sound of dogs now barking made them both turn and Fran now glared in the direction that it was coming from. "I need to get Audrey back upstairs..." and was gone before Melody could even ask her why.

The door was flung open a short time later, and in strode in a man closely followed by Linda and Richard. Upon seeing Melody, he stopped and looked her up and down with some judgement. "This her?"

Linda took the lead again. "Ransom, this is Melody, Audrey's new au pair, the baby stays whether you like it or not".

Ransom continued to stare hard at Melody, some fire behind his blue eyes before his lip began to curl into a smirk.

Melody sensed that this was not a good sign.

"Well then, I suppose from now you can call me Hugh".