Ten: Recovery...

'Welcome ma'am', Bruno who had been anxiously awaiting her arrival said as he carried in her luggage.

'Thank you, Bruno, where is your boss now?'

'He should be in his room ma'am, should I inform him of your presence?' he asked as he took her luggage into the room that was always kept specially for her and which he had made sure to ask the cleaners to clean thoroughly.

'No, not to worry. I shall announce my presence to him myself I want to surprise him. I hope it would be a pleasant one'.

'It can be no less than a pleasant one. You know how my master loves and cares for you deeply. I have never seen such bond as the both of you share, if you will pardon my imprudence'.

'Its okay Bruno. You spoke the truth, there is no need to apologise for that. Go ahead with your chores and leave the rest to me. I am here now and must make sure there are changes'. She vowed.

Bruno did not doubt it and was glad he had thought of this.

Sally went in and found her brother sprawled on the bed, a letter lying close by.

He opened the blinds and the air and sun rays streamed through the window into the room.

The stench of alcohol though faint was evident.

A protective feeling for her brother washed over her. But she did not wake him immediately, though he had changed position to hide his face from the sudden light that streamed into the room.

Sally, picked the letter and read and she was filled with rage.

She had asked her brother not to marry that girl. Not because she had anything against Rebecca but she had seen her as a gold digger.Someone who was too materialistic for her liking but when her brother had insisted and she felt that marrying Rebecca was going to make him happy, she had given up and given her consent for their marriage.

When they had been together for some years without any complaints, she had been happy that she was wrong. Now this.

She looked at her brother with pity and gently called his name.

'Jason? Jason'

He turned round to the direction of the voice and saw her. He thought that he was hallucinating. Sally could not be here now could she?

He rubbed his hands over his eyes. He was suffering another hangover and had a splitting headache.

'Sally, is that you?'

'The very same', she said smiling.

He got up and she hugged him.

'Am I glad to see you'.

'Same here. It has been quite a while'.

Then he saw the letter with her and looked at her sorrowfully.

'You now know everything if you read that letter'.

She nodded.

'But I am here now. And we shall deal with the situation together and shall come out victorious. Do we have a deal?'she asked cheerfully...

'It is a deal', he said wistfully.

They smiled at each other. This was how they had always tackled difficult problems in the past before either of them got married and some time afterwards and had succeeded most of the time.

'Now the first thing is for you to get over this hangover. Bruno!'

'Yes, ma'am?' he answered immediately as though he had been behind the door all the while which indeed he had been not because he was eavesdropping or wanted to but because he felt that they may need his services. He was as loyal as that to his boss.

'Get a glass of lemon juice for your boss', she instructed.

'Right away, ma'am', he said as he left immediately to get it as well as a mug of hot coffee.

He placed these with cups on the table in the room and Sally made sure her brother drank the lemon juice, while she watched him. She drank the coffee and liked the way it had been made.

'Would you like coffee?' she asked her brother.

'Later, maybe. I am okay with the juice for now'.

'That's okay. The next thing to do now is to have a hot bath. Can you manage that?'

'Why not?' And he got up and went into the bathroom.

While he was gone, Sally's face changed again

She had put on a cheerful, carefree appearance just for her brother. Now that he was not in the room, she looked as angry as she felt. She felt like strangling Rebecca and that Terry. She had suspected that Rebecca was not who she appeared to be but she had trusted Terry. How could he have done this to someone who was no less a brother to him?

She read through the letter again and her anger increased.

'My anger isn't going to help matters. I must just see how to get Jason free from the clutches of alcohol and then see how I can introduce him to some descent girls who would consider themselves lucky to have his attention

She was determined to help him recover from his heartbreak and near addiction to alcohol by all means in record time.

And once she set her mind to do something, she always achieved it.

Jason came out dressed and refreshed after his bath, by which time, Sally had made sure that the table was cleared and the room tidied up by one of the servants.

She had also instructed them to make Jason his favourite meal.

She asked them to go downstairs and the smell of bacon and scrambled eggs was very inviting.

They sat to the delicious smelling breakfast.

Jason ate very well. It was obvious that he was ravenous.

Sally wondered if he had been eating at all since the incident. But there was no cause for alarm because whether he had been eating well or not previously,she was going to make sure he fed well from there on out.

She had not broached anything with him yet. She wanted him well fed and rested so that he may be in a better mood for what she wanted to say and do to him.