Melody (Ransom Drysdale)

23

"She asleep?" Ransom asked as Melody came downstairs later that evening after putting Audrey to bed.

She'd spent the day monitoring Audrey while keeping herself busy doing laundry and cleaning. Ransom had headed out to the country club for a short while, the awkward tension between them being rather apparent.

"She was jealous of us Mel"

Melody looked at him, "Of us? Why the hell would she have been jealous of us? I look after your daughter and literally have to put up with you too".

"Yeah, that's why - she didn't like the kind of relationship or understanding we have". He admitted. "She obviously didn't like how we interacted either".

"We're just...we're...fuck, Hugh, I don't even know what the hell we are? Other than the help and the boss but not the boss". Melody ran her hands through her hair in frustration. "This? This set up that Harlan made us do? It's not right! It's messed up because I don't even know how the hell to explain it!"

"You and me both! This is what I tried to tell him, and I told you he doesn't listen. He does this shit for a reason!"

The conversation had died there and then, with Melody making her excuses that she needed to strip the beds and launder the sheets as well as finish off with the cleaning that she had started the day before.

He hadn't stopped her, and with his head in a bit of a spin, Ransom had headed out soon after, returning just an hour before, but barely saying a word to her until now.

"Yeah...went off pretty easily actually. She's at the stage where she's going through another development growth" Then she saw his blank expression. "Or to dumb it down, she's..."

"I know what it means Mel". He said and got up, popping open a bottle of wine and then pouring them both a glass. "Growth spurt, babies grow, things change..." He now passed her the glass, fingers brushing against one another's.

"So you do listen to me" She stated, a little surprised that he'd actually taken some of her childcare ramblings on board.

He shrugged and sipped the wine. "Only to the stuff that I wanna. Most of the time it goes over my head". A sigh escaped him. "About earlier..."

"No". She interrupted him. "It's fine", now turning away from him so that he couldn't see her face.

"It's not fine and you know it".

She heard the clink of his glass as he set it down on the table. "Hugh..."

"Don't call me Hugh..."

She now turned and looked at him. "That's your name..."

"Not to you, not now..." He joined her side and removed the now empty glass from her hand, putting it with his. "Mel, you're more than just 'the help'. To both Audrey and to me."

They looked at one another for a moment or two before he grabbed her and kissed her hard, both a little shocked by his actions, but still they carried on regardless. It was only when they began to tug at one another's clothes that Melody broke apart from him.

"We can't..." She said and looked a little tearful. "I'm sorry Hugh, but we can't".

He watched as she ran up the stairs, the sound of her door closing seconds later.

Upstairs Melody's hands shook.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. She was the help. She had a duty of care to Audrey, and now things had become even more complicated than they already had been.

Was she supposed to feel this confused over a man who she couldn't stand?

Sure, things had been getting better between them before Cordelia had rocked up, but that was purely business terms. He'd been trying, and it was apparent he had been listening to some of the things she'd been saying when it came to Audrey's care.

Melody couldn't fault him for that, even if she had wanted to.

**

Another night with lack of sleep was sending her mad, and as Ransom came downstairs the next morning, even he looked like he'd not exactly had many hours either.

The silence was deafening, and she hated it.

Audrey lay guzzling her bottle down and now Ransom came and sat in the living room with a coffee.

"Harlan's invited us for dinner this evening". He broke the silence between them.

"Why?"

"Because it's Harlan". Ransom replied. "We'll go, eat, then escape like we usually do. Nothing more, nothing less".

She nodded. "Good, because if I have to listen to Joni yapping away about Baby Flam then I'm gonna shove one of Audrey's teething toys where the sun don't shine". Her eyes met his and he smirked just as she pursed her lips to hold in a laugh. "Sorry..."

"Don't be, cram as many up there as you can if it gets her to shut up". He replied. "and I wanna apologise for last night..."

Melody shook her head. "I just...I don't want things to be awkward, but I don't want to destroy something we're working hard on. You've really been making an effort with Audrey; we were following the rules we'd made one another. If we were to...I don't know, feel differently about one another than we do currently? It could end badly, would you really wanna risk that?"

He thought for a moment and then shook his head. "No, I wouldn't".

"So, can we agree it was just a mistake and carry on as we were for Audrey's sake?"

"I think we can manage that".

But even with that agreement in place, Melody was still unsure of just how things could go, and she was almost certain that Ransom felt the same too.