Page 12 of A Wife’s Duty

L ucia sat at the table , looking through catalogs at the variety of different courses available.

Boone had brought them home with him just yesterday.

There were a couple of colleges around the main city, each one offering the same, or similar courses.

She had no idea what to learn, as it was all so exciting.

Each time she looked at one course, a second, third, or fourth appealed to her as much as the last one.

Getting to her feet, she made her way into the kitchen and started to pour herself another mug of coffee. In moments like this, she realized how free she was becoming. There was no one to order her out of the kitchen, or to take the coffee away from her.

Frank, the bodyguard, was out in the hallway, lurking, doing his job. She leaned around the side of the kitchen. “Do you want a drink?” Lucia asked him.

Boone had told her she could talk to her guards, get to know them, if she would like.

Frank was one of four men that seemed to be on rotation in taking care of her.

He was in his late forties, happily married, with four children.

His children meant the world to him, and she had already seen their pictures dozens of times, but she never got bored.

This was a new experience to her, being around a man who was happily married, who was content with his wife and his life.

The men in her world—her father and brothers—were constantly flaunting mistresses and flirting with women that worked in the house.

Her mother didn’t seem to mind, unless that woman thought she was going to knock her mother out of her place. That was never going to happen.

“Love a coffee. Milk, two sugars. Thanks.”

She nodded.

It was strange, but thinking about Frank reminded her of a time when she was about ten years old.

Her father had been sleeping with one of the serving girls.

She’d been a beautiful girl as well, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and large breasts.

Lucia hadn’t known what they were at the time.

Just that her brothers would hold their large hands out in front of their chest, and make suckling noises.

The serving girl was a sweet girl, at least as far as she remembered.

Penny was her name. Penny, the pretty serving girl, and Lucia’s father had taken to her so quickly.

She didn’t know what happened, but her mother had gotten really upset by Penny serving them, or more importantly, serving her father.

Something escalated, Penny snapped at Lucia’s mother, and because of that, her dad had no choice but to react.

Fucking the help was one thing, having a favorite was another, but .

.. speaking to his wife with disrespect, that was not allowed.

Right there at the table, Lucia watched as her father choked the life out of the girl.

It was the first time she had seen her father defend her mother, or even take her side.

She’d been so shocked, she’d not been able to eat, but she had seen the pride in her mother’s eyes.

Killing that girl, her father’s favorite, had meant something to her mother.

It hadn’t lasted long. Within a few days, her mother was sporting bruises and the inability to walk without a limp.

Again, Lucia didn’t know what had happened, but she pulled out of the memory and got Frank a drink. She carried it over to him, and he took a sip, trying it, and then he winked at her. “Perfect.”

“Thank you. How’s Amy?” she asked.

Amy was Frank’s wife. Lucia hadn’t met the woman, but Frank talked about her constantly.

“She is a demanding woman.”

He pulled out his cell phone, and like so many other times before, she saw a picture of her pouting at him.

“Why does she look sad?”

“Oh, sweetheart, she’s not sad. Look at her eyes. That was this morning, she didn’t want me to leave for work, but she kissed me, told me she loved me, and then she let me take this picture of her.”

“She’s beautiful,” Lucia said.

“Yeah, and look at this, this is one she got of the boys yesterday, and showed it to me.”

Lucia looked to see his sons, all four boys.

“Wow, they do look like a handful,” she said.

“They are. A very big handful. My wife would like to have one girl. So, we’re trying for our fifth.” Frank shook his head. “I cannot even believe I am a married man with four kids, working on our fifth.”

“You can’t?” Lucia asked.

“Yeah, there was a time, many years ago, that I wouldn’t have anything to do with a woman, unless there was cash involved.”

It took her a second to realize what he meant. “Oh,” Lucia said.

“Yeah, I was that kind of guy. I paid for a woman’s company, but it’s all good.

Of course it is all good. I met Amy, and that was that.

The moment I saw her, she was a firecracker, and growling at me for walking into her.

I hadn’t seen her. The truth is, I’d been on my way to see another woman, and instead ended up taking Amy out to dinner. ”

“Wow,” Lucia said.

Frank laughed. “Don’t worry. Amy knows all about my past and the fact that I only slept with prostitutes. I was clean. I got all the relevant tests and stuff.”

No one had ever talked to her this openly before, it was crazy and exciting, and she loved that he could do that for her.

“Anyway, thank you for the coffee.”

Lucia nodded. “Thank you for teaching me how to make it.”

“No problem. I can’t believe they don’t allow you to learn stuff. Although I’m not surprised. If you started to learn, the men couldn’t control you, could they?” he asked.

She couldn’t argue with him, and instead made her way into the kitchen. Picking up her coffee mug, she blew across the surface and took a sip.

The brochures looked very boring. There were so many choices, and she didn’t even know where to start. Glancing back toward Frank, she decided to stand with him.

“So, if you had the opportunity to go back to college, what would you like to study?” Lucia asked.

Frank laughed. “You have too much choice?”

“Just a smidge.” She held one hand up with her finger and thumb close together. “What would you decide?”

“Simple for me, I simply wouldn’t go back. It’s not something I’m interested in, nor do I care about it.”

“You don’t?”

“Life has taught me everything I know. There is only so much you can learn from a textbook. Sure, it can tell you the facts about shit—science and all that crap—but what can it tell you about life? Nothing. You’ve got to learn to live if you want to make it through.”

“Live?”

“Yeah, you’ve got to learn how to take every moment and opportunity and just go with it.

No holding back. The whole ‘no takebacks’ and all that shit.

Books are great, don’t get me wrong. They tell some amazing stories, and if I ever dismissed a good book, my wife would kill me.

She is a serious book lover of romance, through and through, with the occasional murder mystery. ”

Amy sounded like a nice woman, a good woman.

“Is there nothing you would study?”

“No, I know everything I need to know. There is nothing I’m missing. What about you?”

“I have no idea,” Lucia said. “There is so much to learn.”

“Yeah, but the real question is, do you want to?”

Lucia nodded. “I do.”

“Then it should be easy.”

“I just don’t know what I want to learn.” She took another sip of her coffee.

“Then start small,” Frank said. “Start with something you can’t get enough of.”

She went to ask him more questions but at that moment, Boone stepped into the apartment.

“Evening, Sir,” Frank said.

“You all right, Frank?” Boone asked.

Frank finished his coffee. “Delicious. Have a good evening. Bye, Lucia.”

And with that, he was gone.

“You don’t mind that I made him coffee, do you?”

“No, I don’t mind. I already know you talk to your guards, and I want you to do that. I told you to do that.”

“I didn’t know if you had changed your mind.”

“Never. How are the brochures?” he asked.

She groaned. “Not good.” She spun on her heel and made her way into the kitchen to put Frank’s empty cup in the sink. “Do you want coffee?”

“Love one.”

He was already heading to the main dining room table. She quickly poured him a coffee, topped up hers, and joined him at the table, as he looked through the brochures.

“There are a lot of choices.”

“You can start with one and work your way up.”

“That is what Frank said, well, I think he meant it that way. Start small and work my way up. I don’t know. They all sound so good. I was good in high school. I wasn’t great. What if I take something that is too far out of my depth?”

She hadn’t even thought of that. Her grades had been good, not great. She had always known high school was going to be the last part of her education. No daughter of his was going on to higher education, that’s what her father always said.

Isabella had been expected to look pretty. As for her, nothing had been expected, except to do as she was told, seeing as she was the ugly one. Men wouldn’t want her for her good looks, but they would prefer an obedient person.

It sucked. She could even think that now as well.

“Maybe I shouldn’t do this?” Lucia asked.

“Or maybe you should sit in on a couple of classes.”

“Do you think I could do that?” Lucia asked.

“It’s either that, or I can attempt to arrange for you to get a paper or something.”

“You could do that?”

“Whichever you would like, is what you can have,” Boone said.

Lucia looked to the table and was a little speechless. “Uh, I’d like to go to a couple of classes.”

“Excellent. I’ll have it arranged. Frank will go with you for your own protection.” He was already pulling out his cell phone, glancing through the brochures and finding the phone number.

Who was this man?

She didn’t know how this was possible. Her family had sold her for peace, and she had a feeling they had done it in the hope of him being angry and killing her.