Chapter-29

Three days passed olive had looked for another home for them, this time it was skeeter fault, she was not willing to come back to him flashbacks came into her mind all that had happened. She was still in a dilemma to love with olev but she forced her self to except that he wanted her back and that was the best for the kids and her. Deep down she loved him and wanted him but was she able to take things the way it was before?

She had no choice because she took the wrong decision in going to Rajasthan. Neither did she able to get the job as they wanted an experienced and qualified teacher. A couple of days later olive brought with him some money and gave it to her he asked her time relocate back.

She did take it and went backpacked her things the same as she did before and transferred it back to madras. Some things never change, skeeter was in touch with her friend Rahul in Rajasthan but olive did not like the idea of their friendship.

Knowing nothing wrong in keeping in touch and that Rahul was a help to her in Rajasthan when she had nobody, she would hide from olive and chat with him. One day olive came home and checked her Mobile, he saw his number without a word he dashed out of the house in anger and never returned back.

She waited for days and nights she lived just very near to olive factory and house, one morning she decided to stop him on the way and talk to him but it was not the right timing. Few days before olive's birthday, her son was sick she drove to the hospital and on her way back took the road to olive's house little nearby she was tempted to see him and waited for him to come out she knew he would go to work is she waited.

Right to her judgement olive came out of his house crossed the road to get to his car which was standing opposite his house and when she saw him impatiently she drove up in front of him, seeing her he reacted and went back to his house and brought his wife out. Skeeter all she wanted was to talk to him and see him.

His wife sat in his car looking at this skeeter got down from her car and walked up to them. She told him she wanted to see him but he denied her in front of his wife and drove away dragging skeeter along the car everybody passed by noticed this and it became so obvious that the cops on the roads to watch this.

Olive came to a halt and told her to get away from his life and never wanted to see her. His wife in the meantime took the kids who were standing on the roads and kept them in olive's car. She told skeeter that from now on she was going to take them both away.

Skeeter begged olive and told him that she will never come in his sight again he bashed her on her face let the kids go and drove off. He was never heard or seen after that.

Soon skeeter shifted from that house and went and lived in her younger daughter's place. Many times this would happen he would come back to her get angry for silly reasons and walk away leaving them. This time skeeter gave up hopes in him she had to look out for a job to feed her kids and survive.

After several years she approached her uncle and told him everything he knew her better than herself he was annoyed with her for staying away so long and not keeping in touch.

Anyways her guardian uncle Mr Robin [name not mentioned] before offered her a job in his church canteen. She took the job seriously and worked hard it was quite a distance for her to travel up and down at times she would stay at the younger daughters house wake up at 5 am and leave to work she would only get back home at midnight.

She was in charge of the entire business handling the cash, sales, purchasing the vegetables and meats from the market. Robin always trusted skeeter he knew she would never cheat him even with a penny he regarded her a lot. He knew she had messed up in her life with her ignorant mistakes.

He knew her only weakness was only love and anyone showed her that she would fall prey too. She really put all effort to run the canteen very well the business was high but there was another problem now uncle Robin was another Robin hood has I mentioned earlier he would earn the money and give it away to the poor needy and anybody who came to him with distress.

But now all the earnings from the canteen was given away to people who came to him and told him their sad stories. Like this, there was a shortage of income, skeeter many times advised him but he would never listen to anybody.

Gradually their business ran short of income he was very tensed and disturbed his health too was very bad and was admitted in the hospital fr 10 days due to his blood sugar high. Skeeter visited him at the hospital and spoke to him and he told her he was stressed because of the business and now that the canteen was falling short of staff.

His bank account was locked and he did not know what he would do. Now skeeter remembered all the help he did in the beginning for her how he helped her to save and bring back her two girls from Delhi was not for him they would have never seen their mother again.

Skeeter got up and walked back to the canteen she thought how could she return back the good he did for her. She thought of an idea she sat in her car and drove straight to the same car dealer where olive had purchased the car for her from.

She spoke to them and made the deal to sell the car back to them. Once everything was done she came back to the hospital with the cash in her hands and put it down in front of uncle Robin on his bed.

He did not know what to say he sat amazed and looked at her and said: "girl nobody has ever done this for me" he asked her to go back to the canteen and enter the staff names and give each of them there pending salary. At the end, she was left with nothing for her self but she knew God will help her.

She did not pay 2 months rent and her electricity bill was high and due to that, they pulled away from the fuse. Skeeter's kids had stopped school because of her timings of work and it was 1 hour from her home to the canteen she was working. She still did not think about her self.

Now that she had sold her car she had not had a transport to go home, she had nobody to take care of her kids and due to that, her kids were dragged along everywhere.

It was Christmas eve her eldest daughter was getting engaged back in Mumbai they had informed her about the engagement but did not know what situation she was in, skeeter would never tell her problems to anybody not even to her children.

The day her daughter was engaged it was a very grand celebration in Mumbai skeeter sat all day crying to her self she had no money to book 3 tickets or buy clothes for her or the kids. She was insulted and disgraced by her elder daughter calling her names of being useless and good for nothing mother.

Only she knew what she was going through. On the same day, she had gone to the wholesale market to pick up vegetables in bulk for the canteen when suddenly she slipped twice over vegetable leaves and spraint her ankle.

She got up with all that pain told her driver to drop her off at her second daughter's house in Madras's, as she could not go any further or walk any more her right leg became the size of an elephant. When they reached her daughter's house she asked the company driver to go up and call her daughter down.

But her second daughter came to the balcony railing with her boyfriend standing there and speaking to her from the 4th floor asked her what was the matter. When skeeter told her she was coming up to take rest she reacted and told her "but Ma I'm not going to be here she and her boyfriend. We are leaving to Malayasia tonight for Christmas".

Then skeeter asked her for rupees 2000/- INR, but she replied and said: "you know I need money over there for expenses and I just bought our two tickets up to and down and will be staying there for New Year."

All she wanted Rs 2000 to see a doctor and buy two pairs of clothes for her kids as it was X' Mas eve and needed to take them to church tonight. Skeeter did not wait to hear another word from her daughter but sat in the car and drove back to the canteen. By now uncle, Robin was discharged and was fine in health.

Since the church ran the canteen it had to be decorated and it had to be open till the next dawn. Skeeter worked hard even in her pain in the swollen ankle she did not complain a word to anybody...

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