by Amanda Gray
My mother worked for them as a live-in housekeeper and cook. Ken’s family were really wealthy, whereas my single-working mother put every single dollar she earned towards making sure I had a decent education, good food in my belly and clothes on my back. That and all the love that two parents could give, even though my deadbeat dad ran off the moment he caught sight of my mother’s pregnancy test all those years ago.
My Mother’s hard work was how I was able to attend an expensive Grammar school with Ken, who over the years had become my best friend, at least up until high school, where he was sent to an all-boys school, and my mother found her first lump.
After she started her Chemo, she got sick so I had to work for her to keep us fed and with a roof over our heads. Soon we couldn’t afford the health insurance and the bills began to pile up. I went into a depression and tried to off myself, but one man stopped me from throwing myself off the Main Street Bridge in the middle of the night, after a particularly bad case of drinking myself into ‘stupidly courageous mode’.
Tyler then became my rock. He himself was a struggling bricklayer, but together we tried to make things work.
To make ends meet, financially, I worked two jobs, cleaning a motel in the morning, and then working at a local truck stop at night. My mother went into remission thankfully, and while she recovered, Tyler gracefully let us move in with him until my mother was on her feet again. For a few years she was good, then she found another lump, bigger and more aggressive than the last tumour.
I loved Tyler with all my heart, which was why when Ken came back into my life and made a proposal that could change my mother’s life for the better, I had to decide which was better, to lose a loving relationship, or my mother, who had worked so hard to keep me safe and cared for, for my entire life.
Chapter 2
God, I hated hospitals. The smell of disinfectant which coupled with the smell of illness, death and medicines that were designed to make you better but seemed to make you sicker. I walked slowly into the oncology department, much of the old wing of the hospital was going to be restored as a medical history museum to try to boost tourism in the town. It was one of the oldest hospitals still running on its original site in the country which kinda made the place special.
I walked into my mother’s room, Oncology 2-b, she shared the room with three little old ladies. We still couldn’t afford medical insurance, and I’d love for my mother not to have to share a room with three old women who were dying of the big C, just like my mother would if we couldn’t get the money together for the treatment. We’d barely scraped up enough for the operation to remove her lymph nodes.
Tyler had come to the rescue and for that I was eternally grateful. He had to go to work otherwise he would have come to visit my mother with me. I heard one of the nurses talking in hushed tones, and they spoke a name that id’ not heard in a very long time Ken Lancaster. Apparently my childhood best friend was coming to do the dedication and attend the charity ball for the hospital. I remember seeing him on school holidays, he had grown from a lanky kid with a terrible habit of being selfish, to a selfish, but handsome young man whom by all accounts had grown into a ‘very rich handsome young man’. I wasn’t sure if he was still as selfish as he used to be when we were growing up. I picked up a glass vase from the Nurses Station before I took it into my mother’s room, smiling at the old ladies who looked like Death was going to be visiting real soon.
I had to get my mother out of there before Death came and shoved his bony finger in her face. If I saw him I’d kick his bony ass to the curb and tell him to come back in another fifty or sixty years – or not at all.
My mother smiled when she saw me, the old bats in the other room were either asleep or reading their Mills and Boon romance stories. I’d tried to read one before, not my cup of tea. But maybe when I had a blue wash through my permed hair and had to wear beer-bottled glasses and was hunched over the steering wheel of my old hatchback with the young kids and their blasted rock’n’roll music blasting away as they passed me at speeds that were deemed unsafe by my old woman reckoning, I might get my granny panties wet by reading some good ol’ Mills and Boon.
But until then, I had my own things to worry about.
“Hey, Mama.” I said leaning down to kiss my mother on the cheek. “Hello baby girl.” My mother said softly, her voice tired and the dark rings under her eyes showed her sick she really was.
“What did the doctor say?” I asked her. She looked away, and I knew the news wasn’t good, not good at all. “That bad, huh?” I said, feeling like the world had been ripped open and I was dangling by a single hair on my head and that one little hair was starting to fray, and I was about to fall into the fiery pit of hell.
“Anything we can do?” I asked, swallowing the heavy lump in my throat.
“Yes, but it’s going to cost too much. Diana…” My mother started, I knew what she was going to say yet I refused to let her take the easy way out.
“Don’t you dare say it Mama. I’m not gonna let you give up. I was ready to give up when you got the first diagnosis, Tyler got me out of that slump, if it wasn’t for him I probably wouldn’t be here, now I am going to be here for you, like I should have all this time.” I took my mother’s hands, my face hot with the tears that trickled down my face. “I’ll find a way mama, I promise.” I stood up, feeling the determination rising. I needed to see the doctor, and after that I needed to formulate a plan, crowdfunding, charity fun runs, even door-to-door cookie selling like I did in girl guides when I was a kid. Hell I’d even do a damned bikini-car washing thing if I even thought I looked fine in a bikini.
All jokes aside, I knew that there was a serious amount of cash that would be involved. It wasn’t until I had seen the doctor that he told me that the new treatment would cost about the same as a small house. My jaw must have been delivered to China because I just sat there with it hanging open. “A hundred thousand?”
“Per treatment cycle.” The doctor confirmed.
I slumped against the chair in his nice office… his nice richly appointed office. “So, that’s the price of my mother’s life…” I said dumbfounded. I looked up at him, suddenly angry with the world. How dare people charge for medical care, I mean seriously? We have all these technological and medical advances why the hell couldn’t they be free for everyone?
I stood up, thanked the doctor for his time and swept out of his office.
I needed a coffee before I turned into the She-Hulk and went postal on someone.
I walked down the street to Sandy’s Café and Diner.
I didn’t notice the news vans nor the crowd of hot women that seemed to jostle around the place whispering some celebrity’s name.
I was lucky that I even got in. I think the security guy took one look at my face and decided that I needed coffee more than he needed to protect his charge.
I ordered my café latte with an extra shot of espresso and sat down at a booth before I put my head in my hands and tried to reset.
Chapter 3
My pensive thoughts were interrupted by a voice that was distantly familiar.
“Ahem, is this seat taken?” I looked up and saw him. Ken.
“Oh my god!” I laughed, genuinely pleased to see him. I leapt up and wrapped my arms around him, feeling him pull me against his body. It had been a very long time since we’d had any contact, He didn’t even know my mother was sick.
I pulled away from his embrace and we sat down at the booth.
“So, what are you doing here?” he asked, his eyes bright with joy at seeing me. I smirked.
“Well, I thought I’d come here for a haircut.” I said, taking a deliberate sip of my latte.
Ken chuckled. “Yes, you could do with a cut and style.” He said, reaching up and tucking an errant strand of hair behind my ear.
“How are you going?” He asked me.
“Oh living the dream…” I said offhandedly. “Just getting by I guess. You however, I hear you are
doing quite well for yourself Mr Billionaire.” I grinned and held my cup to my lip to take another sip. It didn’t escape my notice that Ken’s eyes stayed on my mouth as I sipped, then absent-mindedly I licked my lips to clear the milky foam that had stuck there.
“I’m going well.” He admitted, I knew he was going better than well, if I had his kind of money I surely wouldn’t be wasting it on myself, I knew he had a large mansion here that he only used when he came back to visit his family. I’d seen that ‘lifestyles of the rich and snobbish’ reality TV show, Ken had featured in it once already.
“I heard that you’ve become engaged?” I asked. Ken laughed.
“No, no, just a series of relationships that never seemed to go anywhere. The tabloids like to think they know my life…” he said, waving away at the news reporters and paparazzi that had filed out of the café at his bodyguard’s insistence. A camera flashed, causing me to blink.
“Now you’ll be my next conquest in ‘Celebrity Life Magazine’” he winked and took a sip of his coffee. “I’ve had a lot of women in my life.” He said, reaching over and taking my hand in his, he rubbed his thumb over my knuckles in a familiar gesture that made me feel warm, but wicked. I loved Tyler and this felt like a little betrayal.
“I’ve only been with one guy, still with him in fact.” I said, pulling my hand away and draining my cup. I checked my watch with the cracked face. “Damn I have to go, I got work.” I stood up and grabbed my poor ratty purse. Ken escorted me to the counter and watched while I scrounged for change. I was five cents short.
Kira, who was working at Sandy’s that day, winked and told me it was on the house. I smiled with grateful relief. Ken walked me to the bus stop, and despite his offering of a drive to work, I declined. I was an independent woman, Tyler knew and understood this, but Ken, he didn’t know me as well as he once did. I took my seat on the bus after tapping my bus pass on the electronic reader and waved at him as the bus drove off.
It was nice to forget my multitude of problems for five minutes while we caught up, but of course, the real world didn’t wait for anyone. Least of all me.
Chapter 4
The truck stop was busy that night and I finally got a break around eleven pm. The boss came up to me and asked if I could work some overtime as one of the midnight-to 8am girls had called in sick. I agreed, even though it would mean that I’d be getting to my housekeeping job at the motel with barely any time to spare, and no sleep.
I’d already made two mistakes that night, put salt in some poor trucker’s coffee instead of sugar, and then took the wrong order out to another. Both had gotten a new cup of coffee (with sugar, not salt) and a free meal. Tony, my boss was understanding of my situation, and had let me have at the coffee machine.
The truck stop quietened down a little towards the 3am point. By then I was seriously considering using the complimentary toothpicks to keep my eyes open. I forced myself to perk up when the doorbell jingled, announcing someone entering. I looked up and suddenly I was wide awake. Ken stood there, looking handsome and way too well dressed for the place.
“Hey.” I said, smiling as I picked up the coffee pot and brought a clean cup over to him. He sat down at a recently cleaned table.
“You didn’t tell me your mother was sick.” Ken said softly.
“No, I didn’t.” I said as I poured the coffee.
“Nor did you tell me that you’re financially struggling.”
“I didn’t think it was really your business or your concern, now can I get you something?” I said, reverting to my ‘serving girl’ persona, as I didn’t really want to discuss the intimate details of my financial battles with a billionaire who had no money troubles to deal with.
“The breakfast special, please.” Ken said with a small smile. I nodded
“Very good sir, be out in a minute.” I said with mock stuffiness, channelling my inner maître ’d. I clicked my heels together and flounced back to the kitchen where I tore off the outer paper, and stuck it on the order line for Amos, the night cook to fix up.
I poured myself a cup of coffee, my umpteenth for the night, and looked out through the service port. Ken seemed nervous about something. He kept fiddling with his phone, and looking back up at the door where I had come into the kitchen.
I sipped my coffee, watching him over the rim of the white ceramic cup. The bitter taste reinvigorating me but leaving me a little shaky with the effects of the caffeine as they coursed their way through my blood. Ken’s head turned slowly, and his eyes caught mine through the serving port. Amos banged the plate down onto the stainless steel with a clatter, spilling a couple of baked beans onto the metal bench. I jumped at the noise, spilling coffee over my fingers.
“Order up.” Amos grunted and then went back to watching his late-night TV Infomercials on the old tube-style TV that was covered in years of grease from the fryer. If it ever got cleaned, it would become a colour TV again, but as it were, everything on the screen looked like an old sepia style photograph, it was gross but I said nothing.
I picked up the plate and headed out to Ken to deliver it to him. He pulled a chair out beside him and told me to sit.
“I got to work, Ken.” I said to him. He raised an eyebrow at me and looked around at the empty truck stop.
“I think you can hang here for a few, you look like you could use a break.” He picked up the coffee pot that was pretty much a fixture in my hand when I was working here, and poured out two more cups of coffee, one for him and one for me.
“Now, I have a proposal.” He said, setting down the coffee pot and looking at the greasy truck-stop breakfast before him. The look of disdain on his face was apparent.
“You ordered it, you eat it.” I said with a smirk.
Ken chuckled and picked up the cutlery before he cut into the rubbery bacon.
“So, I know that you are working two jobs to pay for you mother’s medical bills, and you are also living with your boyfriend, who helps out when he can but his own job barely covers the rent and food and utilities.” Ken said as he tried to cut the bacon again, but gave up once it became apparent that it was an impossible task.
“Yeah…” I said non-committedly.
“I know your mother’s treatments are going to be expensive, even now because she has gone to the next stage, which requires an even more aggressive form of treatment, one that will cost more per round than you can easily afford.”
“I’m not going to ask you for a handout, Ken. I’m going to raise the money on my own.”
“I’m not going to give you a handout, Diana.” Ken said, turning to face me. He took both my hands and looked me in the eyes.
“I want you, Diana, and I’m willing to pay for your mother’s medical bills, all of them - if you would stay the weekend, and give yourself to me, submitting yourself to me.”
Chapter 5
My jaw must have hit the table, I was shocked at his straight-out request. Everything about it seemed wrong, but damned if I wasn’t tempted.
“Ken, I’m sorry, I can’t do that. I love my boyfriend, and I’m not going to whore myself out for a bit of cash to pay for my mother’s medical bills.” I stood up and pulled my hands from his. “Now I have work to do.” I said, as I walked away.
Ken stood up as well, taking out his card and leaving a $100 dollar tip on top of the cost of his untouched meal. He left without another word.
I went over to his table when I was sure he was gone and picked up the card. “If you change your mind, call me.” Damn it, he was persistent. I cleared the plate and threw the now cold leftovers into the bin before I stacked the plate into the industrial dishwasher. I spent the rest of my overtime shift in quiet contemplation, at least until the 6 till 8 rush when I found myself even more exhausted than I thought possible. Then of course, I had to rush out to my housekeeping job.
My boss, Tania noticed how tired I was, but the motel was busy that night and I had to keep up. I’d had more coffee than I needed in my system and I
was jittery and irritable by the morning’s coffee break at 10 am. I had a water instead of more caffeine. I checked my phone, and saw that there was a message from the hospital. My mother’s oncologist had left me a message to ask me to call ASAP.
With a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I dialled the number.
“Dr Keel’s office, Susan speaking.” Came the cheery voice of Doc Keel’s receptionist.
“Susan, it’s Diana Metcalfe, I missed a call from the Doctor?”
“Ah yes, let me put you through.” Susan said, I thanked her before she transferred me.
“Diana?” Dr Keel’s kindly voice came over the line. “I need to discuss your mother’s condition, I am afraid it’s worse than we first thought. I ran some more tests and the cancer is even more aggressive than we believed it to be, we need to start your mother’s treatment plan immediately.” I bit my lip, knowing that there was no way I could pay for the treatments on my meagre salary.
Tyler was due back this morning from his job in the next county, for which I was thankful for. What I had to ask him was not going to go down well, it could end us as a couple, which was something I really didn’t want to happen, but I couldn’t lose my mother, she was all the biological family I had.
“Okay Doc, I’ll have to get back to you, I need to arrange the payment for the treatment.” I said. “It won’t be long and I’ll let you know as soon as I know.” I thanked him for everything he had done, as I did every time I spoke to him, either face to face or on the phone, and hung up. I worked through the rest of my shift at the motel in zombie mode.
My poor caffeine-and-exhaustion-addled brain just seemed to shut down and go into autopilot as I worked cleaning the rooms.
