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she was, in some motel in a seedy part of town all thanks to one inconsiderate friend.
It was hard to believe that she was lying here contemplating such a drastic course of action, and yet, in her current frame of mind, she just couldn’t come up with a better way. It shouldn’t be too difficult to just go to a clinic, have the sperm of some guy she didn’t even know placed in her body, and birth a kid she most likely wouldn’t even get to know, right? She wasn’t sure she could lie to herself quite that well, but maybe by morning she’d have worked up enough courage to convince her resistant mind it was true.
Tears pricked at her eyes as she considered what a good mother she could make. She had taken care of plenty of cousins, nieces, and nephews in her time. She could bake cookies and cakes with the best of them, and she knew plenty about how to read them stories and teach them to talk and to go potty. So it would be such a waste, giving her baby to some single rich guy who, for some reason, didn’t have a wife and didn’t seem to want one.
“What reason could this guy possibly have for not wanting to get married and have a baby with his wife the normal way?” she asked herself out loud. “Is he even the kind of guy I’d want raising any kid of mine?”
With a name like the one on this slip, ‘Archer Devonshire’, he sounded like some kind of import from England or something. Probably as white as they came. So, if that was true, hopefully the racial diversity would not be a factor as well.
“It’s either this guy or a park bench,” she grumbled. “Either way I go, tomorrow is going to mark one hell of a change in my world.”
Chapter 4
Morning came far too soon as far as Kady was concerned. She took the overnight bag that she’d brought with her to the motel back to her storage unit via the bus, and then took the train out to the White Plains area, where Archer Devonshire’s house was located.
She got out of the train and walked for about a mile before she reached the main road of the house she was looking for. It took her another fifteen minutes of walking to get halfway close to the street number listed, and she was already becoming exhausted by the effort. The houses along this road were more ornate, with huge yards and fancy drives leading up into them. Some of them took up entire city blocks just to themselves.
“I didn’t even know there was a place like this in the Bronx,” she complained tiredly.
A black town car stopped beside her on the road and the tinted window slowly rolled down, revealing a kind-looking man in his late sixties, wearing a navy blue suit and matching navy hat pressed to crisp perfection. The chauffeur leaned out the window and asked, “Do you require a ride somewhere, miss?”
“Oh yes, thanks,” she said with a smile, relieved she wouldn’t have to keep walking through the warren of mansion-like houses on her towering high-heeled shoes. “Wait, you don’t have anybody back there, do you?”
Kady tried to peek into the back seat, but couldn’t penetrate the dark, almost black, tinted glass of the window.
“No, miss, not right now,” he smiled, and the way the corners of his eyes crinkled reminded her of her old neighbor Ben, whom she probably wouldn’t see again. “However, you may prefer to sit in front.”
“Oh, sure,” she agreed. “I wouldn’t want to look too fancy for the place I’m heading anyway.”
“Get in, then,” he said. “I’m Daryl, by the way.”
“Hi, Daryl,” Kady replied. Once she was inside the car, she showed the address to him, and he raised one brow delicately.
“You are acquainted with Mr. Archer, then?” he asked, glancing at her figure and nodding.
“Uh, no, we’ve never met,” she explained. “I’m hoping he will hire me for—well, for a job he recently placed an ad for.”
“Pray tell, what sort of job does a playboy billionaire advertise for?” he asked, finding it difficult to hide his curiosity now.
“Oh, so this guy’s a playboy?” asked Kady nervously, and a billionaire, she said to herself. It was no big surprise though, when she thought of the high-handedness of the wording in the ad, and the fact that he didn’t seem to play by society’s normal rules. “I didn’t know that. You don’t think he’d—um—put up a false ad, just to trick a woman into coming out here, do you?”
“I doubt it,” he replied. “He can get women anytime he wants. He wouldn’t need to trick them.”
“But why would a playboy be interested in starting a family anyway?” Kady muttered under her breath.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Oh, nothing,” she said. “I’m just wondering whether or not I should turn around right now and forget the whole thing.”
“I’ll tell you what: is this just an interview?” Daryl asked.
“Uh, yeah, I think so,” she replied.
“Then I’ll wait around for a while and see if you come back out,” he offered. “I’ve got to eat my lunch somewhere anyway, right?”
“Yeah, sure,” she agreed, touched by his kind offer, suddenly feeling a little less alone in the world. “Thanks.”
“It’s not a problem,” he said, grinning. Daryl’s expression turned serious, the merry twinkle in his eye fading to be replaced by concern and a warning “And also, you should be careful in there, miss. Archer’s really good at manipulating women, and you don’t seem like you’re the party-girl type. I’d take anything he has to say as questionable until you have a chance to check up on it.”
