ODDS OF LOVE - SEASON 14

Episode 35

Saunders stepped onto the wide front porch of the Volkouv estate and saw the young boy in his wheelchair. The boy who was regarded with great pity by himself and the other servants in the house. Alan Kendall could be rude at times, often snapping at one of them or others but mainly it was out of frustration. Which the young butler could understand. He could not imagine being at fifteen trapped in a wheelchair and facing not only the loss of his father but also the possible loss of his mother. Not to mention living in an unfamiliar house. He himself would possibly respond worse really than a little rudeness. Rudeness was only natural in this particular scenario. Now that other boy , the younger one , Race Swan ...... he was truly annoying. Awful child. Race Swan had cut holes in his bed sheets one day. He knew the child had. Who else in the house would do it? All the servants had sympathy for Alan but yearned for the day Race and his mother left.

He noticed the boy beginning to reach down in his chair for what looked like a small box on the porch. To his alarm the boy began to tilt too far forward to the point he almost fell out of the chair. Saunders quickly came forward and grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling him back sharply.

" You should be careful, young man," he said firmly.

Alan turned his head with bright red cheeks of embarrassment. His eyes flashed with a mixture of self pity and frustration as he retorted ," I'm fine ! I'm not helpless. " He pointed at the box. "That thing. The box. It has my name on it. "

Saunders directed his gaze from the boy to where he pointed at. Indeed there were words written in big block letters on the plain brown box. Words that said bluntly " For Alan Kendall".

The butler felt a swift chill moving over his tall lean thirty something body. He moved over to the box and picked it up. He knew he should not do it but he opened it before the boy's curious eyes. And , he desperately wished he had not.

So did Alan whose eyes grew wider with terror at the sight of the object nestled within the box. His mouth opened but no sound came out. Then he began to vomit all over himself and his chair.

Saunders did not blame him as he stared in disbelief and horror at the very delicate creamy white severed finger that bore a solid gold wedding band.

It looked to be the finger of Ariel Kendall, the boy's mother.