The Unwanted Bride

Some days I wonder if it's worth getting out of bed. All I ever hear from the two people that brought me into the world is how much I'm unwanted and that I was a mistake.

A terrible mistake that they could never get rid of. They only kept me so they could keep the Hamilton hotels and resorts running.

As the next heir to the Multi Billion dollar company I have to obey my parents. If I don't I will lose the trust fund my Grandparents left me.

I enter the kitchen and start breakfast for my parents. I place the food on the plates as they enter the dining room.

They sit at the table and I serve them.

Mum looks at me. "Joy, I have a bunch of things I need you to sew. I also want the entire living room dusted and mopped before four. We're having a party here and your father asked Joseph McKellar to join us."

"Yes, madam." I exit the kitchen and move toward the living room.

Wayne (the handyman) helps me move the ladder underneath the chandelier. He sets the ladder and turns to me. "Be careful up there."

I pick up the brush and climb the ladder. I start dusting the chandelier. Some dust falls to the ground and I start sneezing.

I hold onto the ladder with both hands.

I sneeze again and I fall down the ladder hitting my back on the small steps.

That hurts.

I rub my back.

Mum enters the living room. "No, slacking, Joy. Once your done I need you to make cakes and cook dinner for fifty people. I'm going to the salon to get my hair and make-up done. I might get a pedicure too. I need you to get the blue dress out of my cupboard and place it on my bed before I return."

"Yes, madam."

She exits the house with my father.

I enter the kitchen and start making food for the party.

A few cooks enter the kitchen and they look at me. "What do you need is to do, Miss?"

"Can you make the cake? The cake is needed for fifty people. I have to put place cards on the table for the dinner guests."

I move toward the dining room and sit at the table. I write names on the cards and then place them around the table.

I move around the house making sure that everything is in place and they everything is clean for when my parents come home.

I hear a car door open and I run upstairs and pull Mum's blue dress out of the cupboard. I set it on the bed and make sure it's not crinkled.

I exit the room and make my way down the stairs to the kitchen.

I look at the cooks and say. "I need all of you out of the house now. "Thanks for your help."

I exit the house.

Mum enters the kitchen and she looks at the table. "The food looks and smells good. I want you to wear the black dress I brought you last week to the dinner party. Go upstairs and have a shower. I want you to look descent when Joseph McKellar arrives."

***

I look in the vanity mirror as I apply make-up to my face.

Mum enters my bedroom and she looks at me. "You look descent. Go downstairs and bring dinner to the guests. Once everyone is served you can eat with us. Is that understood."

I rise. "Yes, Madame."

Sometimes I wish she just left me on the stairs of an orphanage. At least I might have had a better upbringing then I did.