Chapter 48 Lucky You
When he thought about this, he gravitated towards the window and pushed them open. The scorching heat of the sun’s rays hammered down ferociously upon the entirety of the garden. That little patch in front of the entrance to the house, too, was not spared its wrath.
Savannah was no fool. Even as she remained on her knees, she shuffled her position and inched herself toward whatever shade she could find. As the light crept menacingly onto the marble flooring beneath her and slowly snuffed out whatever room she had, she not only had to contend with the pain on her kneecaps but also worry about how not to be baked into stockfish.
Although Emmett was upfront about the woman having it coming to her, he reckoned that Agatha would have forgotten all about this by the time she awoke from her afternoon nap. He expected that the matron might not likely pursue the matter further.
He thought about going down to get Savannah to stop, only to spot Mary coming out of the house. She spoke briefly to Savannah before the kneeling woman got back onto her feet.
The moment Emmett ascertained that she was alright, he swiftly closed the windows, returned to his laptop, and began to work in earnest.
Savannah rubbed her knees when she set herself upright and trudged back into the house with Mary’s help.
What Mary told her was, “Old Mrs. Quaker doesn’t want to appear overprotective of you, Mrs. Quaker, as she feared that it might further raise the ire of the two against you.”
Savannah had figured as much while she knelt as to why Agatha had listened to Madelyn’s insidious recommendation.
Agatha was too discerning to be swayed easily by that woman’s words.
The old matron punished Savannah out of consideration of the stepmother’s seniority in the household, and also in the hope that it might somehow alleviate tensions between Clara, Madelyn, and the younger woman herself.
“I understand, Mary. It was my own naivety for falling prey to opportunists. Old Mrs. Quaker had to handle the situation as best as she could.”
Mary’s lips lifted into a smile. “I’m so glad to hear that. Hang on, let me get you an ice pack to put on it.”
“Alright, thank you Mary.”
Even with the aid of the handrails, Savannah struggled with every step up the stairs as she waited on the helper.
Although she had not been down there for too long, her pain was compounded by the abrasion on her knees suffered yesterday from Emmett’s madness. As it had not healed, her stint on the cold and hard marble only made it worse.
Emmett had neither a look nor a word to spare as he continued to be immersed in his work when she limped onto the room.
She sat herself down before she rolled up her pants. Contact with the sapping coldness had her scrunch her face and grit her teeth as she massaged the ice-pack against her sore patellas.
Emmett turned to regard her out of the blue. “Is it swollen?”
“Yeah. The flooring outside was hard.” Her reply was halfhearted.
The man then left his seat, approached, and snatched the ice-pack out of her hand. “That’s not how you do it. Sit, and extend your legs fully. Stop massaging them!”
She lifted her head toward him. “I can do this without help.”
“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Emmett said before he bent down and elevated her feet onto a chair.
The woman asked warily, “What are you trying to do?”
“Keep still.” She was forced to straighten out her legs before he properly positioned the ice-pack on the tender parts of her knee caps. “Keep it there until the swelling subsides. You should only rub it when applying the ointment afterward.”
Savannah stiffened up in that L-shaped posture. “Okay, got it.”
Once satisfied with her compliance, he went back to his laptop and resumed his task.
The woman got bored after a while. “How did Old Mrs. Quaker come into that set of financial statements? Were you in possession of them long before?”
“Since it was mentioned to Javon when you went down to the office yesterday, I suppose she must have gotten it from him,” he replied staidly.
“Surely Mr. Watts can’t be that efficient, could he? I’m sure you must be in the know about all this…” Then the ringing of her cellphone cut her short.
The call was from Sydney. Savannah paused briefly at the screen before she rejected it.
She could not field the call with Emmett inside the room. When her thoughts went back to how intimately Sydney and Osborn behaved outside the club last night, she felt Sydney’s goals for facilitating her entry into the Quakers cannot be that simple.
In college, Sydney used her against the lecturer. That had Savannah thinking whether she had similar plans for her with Osborn.
Recollection of fragments of the past sent shivers down her spine.
Lost in her own world, she was unaware of when Emmett’s staring started. “Why won’t you pick it up? Who was that?”
Savannah eked out a smile. “Telemarketers.”
Emmett grunted before he got up. “Give that here. I’ll put some fresh ice in it and bring the ointment up.”
And so the ice-pack was passed along. “Okay, thank you.”
Savannah immediately dialed on the missed call the moment Emmett was out of sight. “Speak quickly, while Emmett’s not here.”
“Fancy you two being glued to each other even during the day. Look like that simpleton got a lot going for him down there. Lucky you, girl.” Sydney seemed to favor using that scornful tone with her.
She did not want to bicker with the woman as Emmett could step back in at any time. “Quit blabbering. How’s Freddie?”
“He couldn’t be better. I got him a dozen new outfits, a haircut, and some toys, just like I promised. What’s the deal with you getting into that mess that’s now all over the internet? Dad wants you to know that if you were to get yourself tossed from the Quakers, you can forget seeing your boy ever again!”
“Rest assured that I’ll be fine as Old Mrs. Quaker’s a very reasonable person. They’ll have someone get rid of that footage pretty soon.”
“Good to know. I’ll pass that along to Dad.” Sydney thought for a while before she continued, “One more thing. Do you get to see the retard’s brother every day at the Quaker residence?”
Savannah’s heart skipped a beat. “Only once so far, since the house is pretty huge. As I stay with Old Mrs. Quaker, I hardly run into any other member of the family. Why do you ask?”
She pretended not to know about the funny business between Sydney and Osborn.
Sydney, too, tried to play it cool. “It’s nothing, really. If you don’t mind, help keep an eye out and let me know first time if you see any woman hovering around Osborn.”
“Got it.” Savannah pulled the phone away from her ear and pressed down hard to end the call. She knew Sydney meant to piggyback on her to snare Osborn and weasel her way into the Quakers.
Unbeknownst to her, Emmett was outside the door and listening in.
He was contemplative as he made his way down the steps, and wondered if she was on the line with that chap Cole Christensen.
It sounded like they were up to something. The mention of the name Freddie seemed to have gotten her quite agitated as well.
That was likely a child’s name. Could she and that man already have a kid together?
The ice had melted completely inside while the ice pack sat in his hands.
