Fur Cara

Chapter nine

"What...is...this?" Her mother's voice was menacing.
    "Mother...?" Caroline began.
    "Ma'am, I can explain." Kelvin squeezed Caroline's hand in support.
Her mother's cold glare sent chills through him. "Don't you even speak!" She turned her cold glare to Caroline. "Meet me at the mansion Caroline. We're going to have a long talk."
They walked as she walked away, her spine straight as a rod.
    "I'm going with you." Kelvin said as he turned to face Caroline.
    "No. It would only make it worse."
    "You can't...."
    "I can face them. Don't worry about me."
He watched her leave then ran a hand through her hair. He could not resist the feeling of dread he felt.
Caroline felt like she was walking into a danger zone when she stepped into her father's study. Hr father, Eric was behind his desk still fully dressed in the suit he had worn to work. Her mother, Charlotte sat in a chair opposite him, her face set like stone.
    "I want to believe that what I saw is not true." Charlotte said.
    "Fortunately, it is true." Caroline replied.
    "How could you bring yourself so low to associate yourself with a lowlife."
    "First, Kelvin is not a low life. He I every bit like you and i...."
    "He is not like us and wI'll never be! He is a good for nothing..."
    "Don't call hi names mother. He is better than everyone you think you know. He is good person."
Charlotte stood. "He is not good for you."
Caroline scoffed. "Why? Because he's not rich?"
    "Because he's a nobody." Caroline said her temper rising. "He's the person I love."
It felt as though she had dropped a bomb in the room. Her father stared at her with wide eyes, her mother froze. "I'm never going to hear those words spoken out loud again. You would not see him again. You would have nothing to do with him."
    "I can't do that." Caroline said defiantly.
    "You don't have a choice. Don't forget that your 'boyfriend'...." Charlotte emphasized the word with scorn. "...and his aunt feed and live off my food graces. I could make them poor and homeless if I choose to....or if you force me to."
Caroline thought of Agnes. "You would not do that to Aggy."
    "Yes I will. I would make he life miserable."
Caroline looked to her father for support.
    "Are you just going to sit there and watch her do this to me?" Caroline cried out.
Her father looked away. Caroline looked at her mother with disdain.
    "I hate you!" She said and turned to leave the room.
    "And go to your room!" Charlotte said just before Caroline slammed the door.
She woke up the next morning with a headache. She had thought all night on how to handle the situation that she was in. She could not leave Kelvin, she could not think about leaving him for good. She was going to find a way around her mother's threat. She stepped out of her room and was surprised to see the two hefty men that manned her door. 
    "Who are you?" She asked eyeing them.
    "Bodyguards." One of them answered stiffly.
    "I don't remember asking for bodyguards." She said but none of them spared her a glance. She gave them hard stare before she went down the stairs then to the kitchen.
    "Good morning." She greeted Agnes.
    "Good morning dear. Did you sleep well?"
    "I didn't. This house makes me sick." She said and took a seat. "I now have body guards at my door."
    "I saw them come in this morning. You could just imagine my surprise. Do you want a cup of coffee?" Agnes asked pouring out a cup. "Breakfast will be ready soon."
    "I'm not hungry." Caroline said but accepted the cup of coffee. "Where's Kelvin?"
    "He quit last night."
    "What...?"
    "He would have been fired any way since your mother caught you two."
    "You know about that." Caroline said.
    "It was hard not to know after your mother came over last night with the intention of firing him."
    "Oh God..." Caroline muttered.
    "What's really going on between you two?" Agnes asked in a serious tone.
    "I love him." Caroline said bluntly.
Agnes stared at her silently for a few seconds, then she walked over and took Caroline's soft hands in her hard calloused ones.
    "Love, my dear is a serious word." Her eyes were filled with wisdom and kindness.
    "What I feel for Kelvin is serious. It's  overwhelming and beautiful..."
    "I know how that feels but don't get confused Cara. You might wake up one morning and discover that it was all infatuation by then it might be too late."
    "I know what I feel and it is not infatuation. This is real Aggy and I'm going to fight for it." Agnes nodded.
    "Still, have tour feelings sorted and I mean the both of you if you both think that it is worth fighting for."
After being forced to have something to eat, Caroline went back to her room to get ready for college. She knew that was the only place where she would see Kelvin. She had tried his number several times that morning but the line was switched off. She has asked Agnes but she had refused to tell her where Kelvin had gone to, insisting that it was best she doesn't go searching for him. At exactly ten am, she went down the stairs. Her lectures were fixed for later that afternoon which would give her enough time to search for Kelvin.
Charlotte was seated on one of the luxurious couches in the sitting room. Without a word, Caroline walked past.
    "Where are you going to?"
Caroline turned at her mother's voice. "College." She replied flatly.
"Well, these two..." Charlotte began referring to the bodyguards who stood at the other end of the room. "...are your bogygurad. They will accompany you wherever you go."
    "I don't need bodyguards." Caroline said in an arrogant tone.
    "You either go with them or go nowhere." Charlotte said unperturbed by Caroline's tone.
Caroline stared at the hefty men. There was no way on earth she was going to have not one but two awful looking men watching her. It made her feel so trapped, unable to do anything that was not her mother's wish or bidding. Charlotte wanted to control her and she was not going to allow it. She turned and marched back to her room. She considered going through the window but in broad daylight, she could be easily spotted which could lead to another set of control measures. She dialed Kelvin's number again and received the same response that she had been getting since morning- it was switched off. Worry tugged at her. If she went out to see him and was spotted by chance, she would give her mother a reason to carry out her threats and no doubt she would. Agnes would lose her job of over twenty years and life would become difficult for them and that was the last thing Caroline wanted. She wasn't a patient person but in this case, she had to be until she could think up something to do.