CONVERSATION WITH MILDRED
Laura entered the garden of Mildred's private home with her car and entered through the entrance of the kitchen as always when she visited her. Mildred opened it to the sound of the first ring. It was no surprise to see her because the day before, after going to lunch with Mr. Holt, Laura and she hadn't seen each other. Fearful of her boss's mood, she let her in and said:
Go ahead, Laura ... how are you?
A little curious ... you will imagine ...
Humm ... yes, possibly ...
I suppose my father has told you something ...
I ... yes, last night, drinking coffee ...
Mildred ... is something happening between you and my father? "The lady didn't go around with her, thought Mildred, already blushing.
I ... well ... Yes. She answered confidently and emphatically. Yes, Laura. Freddie and I are dating.
Since when?
Hmm ... a few days ago ... something more than fifteen ... a month ...
A month!? Laura walked angry and nervous about the revelation. A month and I didn't know that you and my father ... that my father and you ... oh, to begin with that my father was in the city and that you and he ...
He asked me not to say anything.
And you were faithful to him with days of knowing him and our friendship of more than six years ... the confidence that you and I have ... how could you not tell me?
There were things to consider ... Mr. Holt wasn't Mr. Holt when I met him, it was Freddie, just Freddie ...
FREDDIE ...
And I didn't hide anything from FREDDIE ...
Only Freddie himself ...
Oh ... I told him that I had met someone ... I even told him that I was going to share an afternoon and maybe dinner with someone ... once I mentioned his name, I said Freddie was waiting for me downstairs and we were going to dinner ... I didn't know anything about Mr. Holt, even when one of his friends said to him one night, Holt. The last name paralyzed me. Not even here I knew that Holt was the Holt you almost didn't mention, that seemed erased from your memories.
I understand you, Mildred and I'm glad you were discreet.
Both women looked at each other. Suddenly Laura smiled frankly and that brightness in her eyes that had never been so bright as now. They embraced. The baby kicked when both joined in a tender motherly embrace. They both felt it and in unison they exclaimed so that the talk relaxed enough.
If you ask me ... I was very hard on Frederick when I knew who he was, I wanted him to leave. That night when I knew his identity, and he tried to explain who he was, I wondered if it hadn't been possible that he had taken advantage of his friendship with Edward Connor to approach me knowing in advance that I was Mildred Krebs of the Remington Steele Agency, but it wasn't like that, he realized who I was after several exits. He says it was a night of so many that he started to leaf through the book in which he carries all the newspaper clippings with news from the agency where you were in his photographs. I saw that book, Laura dear and if the devotion of a father is demonstrated with such beautiful things as those ... that book made me know the sincere intentions of your father, Mr. Holt. I dedicated myself to listen, I was a shoulder to cry ... that man has endured pain and anguish ...
He has told you many things ...
He has told me everything. How was your relationship with ... Mrs. Abigail ... with Frances ... with you ... the loss of Frederick Junior ... He hasn't left anything in his soul ... I think it's the first time he trusts in someone ... I know LAURA HOLT now more than anything this time ... I know why you and your mother are never going to get along ... I know why Frances is so competitive, I know the pain for little Holt ... and above all, why you could not openly love Mr. Steele, without putting him to test every moment ... Laura I'm meeting your father. And in what little I know him I have discovered that he is a great man.
I treated him very badly in the beginning, I reproached him with words for his lack of manhood when he left, it was almost like the punch of Mr. Steele, but mine were words ... I hurt him enough the first night. It wasn't in me to say what I said but in a way it didn't support the behavior of a man towards his family, his daughters ... which is what I had always thought when I knew that your father had left the house when you were 16 years old and after years of tortured silences and guilt everywhere ... As I realized that he was interested in me ... I told him to disappear, to leave, that he was crazy if he thought I would hear all those stories about why he had fled He instead of facing the problems. Then he said something that left me in one piece ... his own father had left when he was a month old ... I didn't know that his grandmother Helen had been abandoned ... you never ...
Laura opened her eyes wide. Granny Helen abandoned? Had not her husband died in the war in 1918? Was not that the story?
No ... that was the right thing to abandon. Your grandfather had returned from the war changed, angry, a bit crazy ... he had to be added to an embassy ... he was young, handsome and a winner with women. Your grandmother couldn't stand that he got tangled up with so many beautiful women and that he did so blatantly. Oh ... I don't know how much I should count ... I think Freddie ...
Laura nodded. There would be time to continue that novel story of his family that she did not know.
I don't know if I want to ask this… and I don't want to hear the answer either ... but ... my father and you ...
Laura bleached her eyes and wrung her hands nervously walking around Mildred's room.
Oh no! No, Laura. I haven't trusted him to ... is that ... I've had millions of doubts, fears and ... I did not want to do anything that ends up hurting Frederick, myself and of course much less to you ... I love you as a daughter , the daughter that life didn't give me of my entrails, how I want that rogue who is your husband and who conquered my heart ...
OH ... Mildred ... and you think dad ...?
Oh, I think he's interested in me but ... I'll keep him in line! It is a promise. Also, I had a great teacher from whom I learned how to do it!
Laura looked at the sky, but with mischief she smiled and hugged Mildred as if they were really mother and daughter now, with excitement and joy. Mildred stroked Laura's pregnant belly and smiled happily. The puzzle pieces of the Steele-Holt family were finally fitting together.
THE END