It was like a cue for the woman on the bed when she saw her beau walk out, under the guidance of his daughter.
Heather began to sob loudly, her face in her hands.
Bianca sat like one turned to stone as she saw what had happened. The full enormity of the actions seemed to hit her.
She had never imagined in her wildest dreams imagined that her selfless actions to help her stepmother and sisters would result in her being ostracised.
But what hurt the most ws the way Heather had quickly jumped onto the bandwagon. No one had asked her for her side of the situation.
In some convoluted way, she felt her rage growing, but it was directed against her Masters.
But her sister’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
Anna was the one who spoke, her small face red with indignation.
“What a dirty woman! How dare she speak to our Bee like that?”
Beth echoed her sentiments, as he put her arm around her wildly sobbing mother,
“Luigi does not deserve you, Mom, if he …”
But Heather lowered her hands and spat, glaring at Bianca, she yelled,
“I WILL NOT HAVE ANYONE SPEAK A WORD AGAINST LUIGI OR HIS FAMILY. THEY ARE FINE, RESPECTABLE PEOPLE WITH DEEP CHRISTIAN VALUES, UNLIKE SOME.”
And stabbing the air with a forefinger , pointing at Bianca, she cried,
“IT IS TRUE, WHAT FRANCESCA SAID!”
The Maia men, silent observers, stood, rooted to the spot, horrified.
Bianca turned her white face to her mother.
“Heather…you don’t mean…” she began, her voice breaking.
But her step mother had only just begun.
“There is nothing remotely Christian about a woman who fornicates with two men, two men at the same time!” she shrieked.
She was screaming now, unaware of the spectacle she was creating in her agitation and rage.
O’Grady became uncomfortably aware that her diatribe had summoned an audience. Some patients and a few visitors to the other rooms slowed down to listen, till they saw his hard gaze. Then they quickly scattered.
“She has brought shame upon my family,” shouted Heather, sitting up straighter, her wispy blonde hair floating around her thin face and St Just thought she looked like a witch of yore.
She was wagging a finger at Bianca, who seemed to be shrinking in size, her eyes wide in shock.
‘Leave me and my daughters to our fate, you…you…wh*re, you Jezebel!” she screamed and fell back on the pillow.
And Bianca heard her muttering something about Bianca’s mother having been an upstart, an illegal migrant who had ensnared a poor man who had ended up marrying her. Unable to believe that her stepmother could be capable of such vitriol, Bianca trembled.
But Heather’s hysterics were not done.
“She has destroyed my chance of a new life with Luigi, “she continued sobbing now,
” How will I live…I love him so…”
O’Grady had had enough.
He stepped forward and said in a deep, gravelly baritone,
“Look lady, you don’t know just WHAT Bianca here has sacrificed …” But Bianca moved suddenly Stepping in front of him, she said in a quiet voice, but with assurance,
“Please leave, Mr O’Grady. ”
And her eyes moved to St Just.
“And you too.”
O’Grady was at a loss for words.
“Pet,” he began urgently, reaching out for her. But she slapped his hands off.
“I am NOT your Pet.” She hissed above her stepmother’s frantic wails.
A nurse rushed in, looking alarmed.
“Please, Sir. You’re disturbing my patient…” she began.
St Just came forward as O’Grady turned to his sibling, the light in his eyes extinguished.
“Later, O’Grady,” he said softly and they turned to leave.
But Bianca followed them out.
” I do not want to see you again,” she said flatly and with a sinking heart, St Just knew that she had reached some kind of breaking point.
“Bianca, sugar,” he said gently but she turned away, her tears flowing unchecked down her cheeks.
“Just GO!” she said through gritted teeth.
After her Masters had left, Bianca sank down on a chair outside her stepmother’s room.
Neither Anna nor Beth emerged from the room, for Heather had probably put the fear of the Lord in them, thought Bianca sorrowfully.
The girls were frightened, They had never seen their mother like this, though they knew that Bianca was not to be blamed. As Anna whispered to Beth when their mother had fallen asleep, sedated,
“She did it for Us, Beth, She sacrificed everything for Mom and us.”
Beth nodded shamefacedly. But the thirteen-year-old twins were helpless to go against their mother.
As the car they were in drew away, O’Grady put his hand in his jacket and took out the small box with the diamond ring. He turned away, a suspicious moisture in his eyes.
St Just was on his phone.
Bianca was distraught. She could not be alone.
He called a person who might be able to help.
A hand on her shoulder brought Bianca back to the world of the living. She had been gazing outside blindly, her thoughts churning.
Looking up, startled she rose as she saw that Proserpina was standing before her, with a blonde woman around the age of the Mafia Don’s wife.
It was the look of gentleness, of concern on the beautiful woman’s face which made Bianca burst into tears.
Unhesitatingly, Proserpina wrapped her arms around the girl, cradling her gently, saying something softly soothing.
“Come,” she said and Melissa rolled her eyes skyward as she followed her friend.
Another of Proserpina’s strays, said her set expression. But her eyes were soft with affection, as she looked at her beautiful friend who was purposefully leading Bianca to the waiting car.
“How…why…?’ began Bianca, sniffling as Melissa handed her a tissue once they were in the large sedan, gliding back to the Delano mansion.
“Your …ummm…” said Proserpina, fumbling for the right word delicately when Melissa chipped in, frank and unconcerned as ever,
“Your Masters, isn’t that the right word?” she said, a wry look on her face and Bianca went pink.
Proserpina patted her hand as she continued,
“Well, they called one of my sons…”
Melissa picked up helpfully,
“And we happened to be in town, checking up on another of Proserpina’s charity cases so …”
Her friend shot her a look and with an elaborate eye-roll, Melissa sat back, subdued.
But Bianca was thinking of her Masters.
They cared, she thought and did not know whether she ought ot lose her temper or weep.