Chapter 119

That explained the reason for his decision to interfere on behalf of his daughter without letting her know. He had earlier asked Pauline how far she had gone with Kelly, if they were making plans towards marriage. When the daughter told him how Kelly was not showing interest, he sought some of his friends opinion on what to do next. It was one of those responses from the friends that he took and acted upon. They had told him to push the young man being Kelly back to the dustbin, thinking that would make him think otherwise. By the time he suffered hunger and lack of money, he wouldn't have an option than to do the needful. 

Pauline wasn't aware of this, she took a different approach to the issue, her mindset was to block every avenue that Kelly would use to reach out to any lady, thereby making her position the only alternative. She had almost succeeded because Chamberlain was already playing his role according to the way she asked him to, very well, before her Dad came in with his high handedness. 

So the father was behind your predicament? Olivia asked.

Kelly felt the question was more of a rhetorical one that required no answer, so he continued with this tale. 

When Kelly approached Pauline that very day, one of the things that got Pauline sad though she avoided showing it towards Kelly, was the fact that she felt it was insulting for Kelly to have assumed she was behind all that he passed through. She was also confused at what she saw happening and felt the need to investigate. Hence her response to Kelly, to give her time. She had gone home that evening, surprisingly, her Dad called her to intimate her on the measures he had taking to make sure Kelly's heart turned to her. When he proved further, she discovered that the steps were rather too harsh and could jeopardize the little chance she had. Her thought was that something could either happen to Kelly health wise or possibly someone somewhere could come to his help there by winning his heart. The Dad saw she wasn't comfortable with the way he was handling the case, he then told her why and the role she was to play.

Pauline was to show her concern towards Kelly by all means. She was to go all out, feigning ignorance of all that happened, while she worked towards reinstating him to his former status. This was the main reason for the visit to the mall where Kelly had a cleaners job. The rest of the stay in the hotel was taken care of by Pauline, who claimed she do not want her Dad to be aware she was helping Kelly. She made sure money was provided for him to get few things he would be in need of, while his feeding and drinks was part of his bills which she paid for. Kelly called Chamberlain and told him how things had turned around and the help he was receiving from Pauline, he thanked him (Chamberlain) for his advice to run to her. What he was yet to find out was that Chamberlain worked according to the instructions given by Pauline. Kelly's mind was beginning to change as Pauline's father anticipated, he wouldn't want to taste the kind of poor life style h witnessed few weeks that passed.

In London that night, Margaret and Mike couldn't help but doze off in a deep sleep that lasted till early in the morning. The jet lag and tiredness from the trip, contributed in no small measure to this. Mike had thought she would be desirous of him sexually, he had even made up his mind to refuse her advances, but as luck would have it on his side, she also held herself and slept off. It was the alarm clock on the bed side that woke them up, when they looked at the window, it was getting bright. Mike asked Margaret what time th breakfast would b served, when she responded, they had but 45 minutes to get down to the dining room. With that in their mind, they quickly rushed into the bathroom and had a quick shower, Mike making sure she was quick in dressing up.

Mike's attire that morning was very outstanding, Margaret couldn't have recognize him had it not been they were together. He wore his two piece tuxedo suit with the trouser to match. On his feet was a beautiful Italian made original suede shoes. He left the suit unbuttoned, displaying his sparkling, well starched and ironed white long sleeve shirt that was so fitted especially on his broad chest. While he wore his wrist watch and brushed his hair, he noticed that Margaret had left what she was doing and admired him. He had to remind her that they need not be late for the breakfast to avoid repeating what happened the last night. Margaret wore a beautiful green gown with same color of shoe to match, she also wore same make of wrist watch as Mike, she had made sure some of the things they wore Matched to give room for a higher level of believability.

The next ten minutes saw them walking down the stairs towards the wide and long space with a long table as couples would, to the admiration of the other family members. Mike could sense the gossips that followed even before they got close to the dinning table. Some of the couples sitting down lean their heads on their partners shoulder and whispered to their ears. All he knew and was sure of according to his instinct, was that they were talking about them. He wasn't the type that got intimidated easily, rather his level of charisma was out of this world. He had wanted to take a seat, when he observed once again that there was a reserved seat for every family member, be it single or married. Holding hands together, thy walked to their reserved space, Mike few out a seat for Margaret and stepped aside to allow her seat just the way a gentleman would treat his lady, then he took his own seat. With that act alone, he won the heart of many members of the family, as they appreciated him the more, especially the women. 

Breakfast was served, it was the popular Mexican traditional breakfast, Chilaquiles. A lightly fried corn cut into few pieces and topped with some green and red Salsa. Margaret told Mike that it was their traditional meal, and promised he would love it. It was Mike's first time in such a family, he was curious to see, know and learn more about the people. Added to his curiousity was that he had heard a lot about the Mexicans and their ways, so he wouldn't want to miss anything, be it their food, their drinks and other things that showcases their culture. They ate quietly, Margaret directing Mike on how the food was eaten, as Mike watched and followed. It was until after the meal, that the introduce proper was to start, meanwhile, their grandpa was yet to come down to the table. Since he was the celebrants, though it wasn't exactly the day of the celebration, they had to wait for him to be present before unveiling Mike the supposed birthday gift from Margaret. Another angle to it being that every one would have to respectfully follow Grandpa's leading when it was time for questions to avoid embarrassing their guest and the family. All these were procedures passed down from generation to generation. Mike and Margaret enjoyed their meal without interruption as no one asked questions. All Mike saw was eyes that would steal a glance at him and hide when he turned. When he suspected there must be something that he needed to figure out as the cause of the eyes on him, he took a random look at rest of the men in the room, and observed that he was the only on who dressed not only in a formal way, also he was looking smart. He could also see the effect of his appearance on Margaret who kept showing off. They were enjoying the wine and the light Mexican music that was playing on the background when grandpa's presence was announced.

Mike saw the Old man but he couldn't believe that at such age, he was still relatively strong. He walked in on his own without anyone holding him, everyone at up as a sign of respect to humans waited until he was seated before taking their seats. It was a tradition Mike could identify with because it would have been the same down town Africa. When all had taken their seat, the entire hall became silent as a grave. The chef came in and served grand pa his meal, while others waited for him to be through with his meal, they kept busy with the wine. Mike was happy with how things were going so far, he also prayed it continued that way until they left.