Hedges Avenue was the most sought after 'millionaire's row' in Mermaid Beach and where the 'who's who' of the Gold Coast had bought beachfront properties and the Steeles were no exception as Ben led Lily towards his house at number 31 which was a beautiful three-level mansion known as Bellagio Lodge due to it's Italian-influenced architecture.
'Here we are, Bellagio Lodge otherwise known as my home,' Ben said as he dug in his pockets for his keys while Lily stared at the house in awe and amazement, as it reminded her of the palace in Aquaria only it was smaller and more private in comparison.
'Beaut, isn't she?' said Ben and Lily nodded in response, agreeing with him.
'You can see why it is the most sought after house in Hedges since it has many high quality luxuries and facilities and we were lucky to get it although some of the would-be owners felt it was wasted on us, since it's only me and our housekeeper, Melinda and Dad, during the off-season, who live here.
Still, we like Bellagio since it's so spacious and private and really close to the beach,' he said, finding his keys and went to unlock the door only for it to open which meant that someone must be home and Lily followed him inside a grand entrance foyer.
'Hello, Dad, are you home?' Ben called out, his voice echoing around the silent and empty foyer which was unlike the noisy and busy palace that Lily was used to back in Aquaria and it made her feel sad that this is what Ben had to come home to.
'I'm back from the beach, is anyone home?' he then said, still getting no response.
'Is that you, Ben?' a female voice called from somewhere, 'I'm in the kitchen, love.'
'Well at least someone's home,' Ben said, smiling at Lily and taking her hand again, 'let's go and meet Melinda so she can get you sorted out. She's really nice and a great housekeeper, so there's no need to be afraid of her.'
'Stay close to me, you don't want to be getting lost in a huge house like this!' he then said, in a friendly joking manner and Lily giggled silently, 'I'll give you a proper tour once Melinda gets you settled in, then you'll know what's what around here.'
Senna, still tucked inside the curtain, peeked out and looked around their new surroundings as Lily and Ben walked down the foyer towards the kitchen.
'For a human, he sure does live in an elegant house,' she said quietly, 'but it's rather empty and quiet and he lives here all by himself? What a sad life he leads.'
'Oh, g'day, Melinda, is my old man home?' Ben said, as he and Lily entered the kitchen, to a brown-haired woman who wore glasses, a blue top trimmed with white lace, black jeans and had an apron tied around her waist.
Melinda Daley was the Steeles' live-in housekeeper who Phil employed to look after Ben and to do the household chores after Lara's death, in exchange for residence in the house, an excellent salary and down time in the afternoons and evenings.
She had stayed with the family ever since and she did all the cooking since neither Ben nor his father were very good at it, cleaned the house, did the laundry and ran errands, such as grocery shopping.
She was a kind, caring and hard-working woman who had never married but she didn't mind as loved her job, had a roof over her head and good working hours and was like a mother figure to Ben although she knew that she would never be a true substitute for Lara.
Ben liked her very much and she had looked after him like he was her own son and was a fantastic housekeeper, keeping the house immaculate and ensured that everything ran smoothly in Phil's absence.
At this moment, Melinda was busy in the kitchen when she noticed Ben and Lily, who were standing near the huge window which led out to the outdoor sitting area, the swimming pool and the most magnificent view of the beach.
Seeing them, she then put down her knife which she was using for chopping vegetables and wiped her hands on a tea towel before walking over to Ben and the girl who was wearing the most unusual dress but she was wise not to comment on it.
'Melinda, is Dad around?' Ben asked again.
'No, your father's gone to Brisbane, love,' Melinda said, 'the pre-season started today and he and Des have gone to a practice session with the Broncos as they are preparing for the Auckland Nines and they're flying to New Zealand tomorrow.'
'That'll be right,' Ben said, 'did he say when he'll be back, because I want to ask him something.'
'He said that it's a morning session so he won't be in Brisbane for too long and he'll be back for the barbecue later this afternoon.' Melinda said.
'What barbecue?' Ben said, like he had no idea what Melinda was talking about.
'The post-birthday barbecue, which you and your father were going to have with your friends but we decided to postpone it for a couple of days, since you were recovering from that dreadful storm that nearly killed you and had me worried sick!
Your father was trying to get a hold of you earlier but you weren't answering your phone. He and your friends had left you several messages, didn't you read them?' Melinda said.
'No,' Ben said, 'I didn't hear my phone going off,' even though that was a lie. He did hear it but he just chose to ignore it, although he didn't know who was trying to contact him.
'You silly goose, I thought the whole point of having your own phone was that so people could reach you when they need to talk to you!' Melinda chuckled, patting Ben's shoulder affectionately like she used to do when he was little.
Ben rolled his eyes at his housekeeper as he dug his phone out and looked at it to find several missed calls from his father and many unanswered texts from him and his friends about Phil going to Brisbane for the Broncos' training for the Nines, the breakfast at that he refused to go to and the barbecue which he had forgotten about.
'Oh, strewth, I totally forgot about that!' Ben moaned when he saw the messages and listened to his voicemails while Lily looked at the thin device, which she had seen on the yacht and it was the thing that was playing the music she heard and what Anna had used to take a silly picture of them, the so-called 'selfie'.
She was fascinated by it and wondered how it was able to do all those things and why humans liked using it so much.
'So that's why my phone was going off like crazy and what Cody had said about seeing me this arvo,' he said and then chuckled at Phil's useless attempts to text in spite of Ben teaching him how to do it and he showed it to Lily, who screwed up her face at seeing the strange words on the screen which didn't make much sense to her.
'You see, Lily, this is why modern technology is wasted on oldies,' said Ben, smirking as he said it.
'No matter how many times I have taught Dad to text, he still doesn't get it and mucks up his words so you don't even know what he is saying half the time! Even Melinda is a better texter than him!'
'Oh, sorry, I haven't even introduced you to Melinda yet!' he then said, mentally cursing himself for forgetting to introduce his new house guest, who was still wearing the curtain that had a talking English crab hiding in it, to Melinda and to convince her to let Lily stay with him, even though he knew that she would say yes.
'Melinda, this is Lily, a girl I found on the beach when I was taking Ruby for her walk this morning,' Ben said, as Melinda approached the girl who smiled nervously but the woman smiled kindly at her, which made her feel at ease,
'Lily, this is my housekeeper, Melinda.' Ben then said.
'Hello, Lily, it's very nice to meet you,' Melinda said and offered her hand for Lily to shake but the former mermaid looked at it like it was some sort of foreign thing and was unsure about what to do.
'Shake her hand, Lily,' Ben whispered to her and moved his hand up and down to mimic the way humans greeted each other and Lily took Melinda's hand and shook it perhaps a little too much but the kindly woman didn't mind at all, not even when Lily was unable to respond to her.
'Oh, she doesn't talk?' Melinda said, but not unkindly, 'then how come you knew her name?'
'She's mute but she wrote it down for me on the sand,' Ben said, 'and she's the sole survivor of a shipwreck from a terrible storm which is why she was on the beach and she was wearing a floral print curtain when Ruby and I found her.'
'Washed up from a shipwreck,' Melinda said, sympathetically as she patted Lily's shoulder, 'oh, you poor love, that must have been traumatic for you.'
'She's been through an awful lot, Melinda and she's all alone and doesn't have anyone. I know that it'll be alright with you but maybe not with Dad, I'll ask him when he gets back, but I was wondering if she could stay with us.' Ben said, squeezing Lily's hand which made her feel all tingly inside.
'Oh, love, of course she can!' Melinda said, 'and I'm sure that your father won't mind as well, since he's going away tomorrow.'
'Thanks, Melinda, you're the best,' Ben said, smiling at his housekeeper, delighted that his new friend would be staying with him.
'That's alright, love, she can stay as long as she needs to and I will have to get one of the spare rooms ready, but that will be no trouble at all!
Besides it'll be lovely to have such a nice and polite house guest around, well, for a mute girl anyway! And she'll need a warm bath and some nice clothes to wear but I'm sure Mia, Grace and Anna can help you out there.' Melinda said.
Lily smiled at hearing the good news and walked over to hug Melinda as a way of saying 'thank you' to her.
'You're welcome, love, it'll be a pleasure having you and Ben is certainly fond of you, even though he seems focused on finding that mysterious girl who he says saved him from drowning..' Melinda said.
'Anyway, Melinda, I'll text the girls to see if they have any spare clothes that Lily can wear,' Ben said, which cut the housekeeper's sentence short, 'at least until I find some time to take her shopping. I know Mia will be happy to help out, she's good like that and Lily seems to be her size.
Grace, maybe but she's a little bit bigger than Lily but I'm not expecting any miracles from Anna as she'll say that her stuff is 'too nice' to give away since it's just stupid expensive designer stuff, but I'll give it a shot,' Ben said as he took out his phone and started texting his friends.
'In the meantime, I'll get a nice warm bath started for you, love, in the master ensuite,' Melinda said to Lily, 'and get your bedroom ready. It has its own ensuite like all the other rooms do but I thought that you might like to use the grand one since Mr Steele hardly ever uses it.
Come on, love, we'll have you feeling better in no time,' Melinda said and Lily followed the kind housekeeper out of the kitchen, as Ben smiled at her, clearly happier than he had been this morning.
He was really starting to like this girl, even if she may not be the one who saved him but he was happy that he made a new friend.
In the master ensuite, which was connected to Phil's bedroom, that he hardly ever used, Lily smiled as she relaxed in the nice hot, soapy water in what was called a 'bath' and smelled the pleasant scents of jasmine and ylang ylang which was from the bath oil that Melinda had put in for her as the housekeeper left to prepare one of the spare bedrooms for Ben's house guest.
Lily scooped up a few bubbles in her hands and gently blew them in the air as she heard the intercom buzz and the voices of Ben and a girl which she assumed was one of his friends downstairs,
'Hey, Ben, I managed to find some clothes for the girl that I bought a couple of days ago that I have never worn and they should fit her.
Grace did find some clothes but she thought that they would be too big for her and Anna said that all the stuff she had was too nice to give away and didn't want them wasted on a mute girl,' the girl said.
'Aw, thanks Mia, you're a doll,' Ben said.
'No worries, Ben, I hope the girl will like them and I'm looking forward to meeting her later,' Mia said, 'everyone's talking about her and I hear that's she's really nice even though she's mute and that you really like her.
Anyway, I better get going as I promised Mum that I would look after my little sister while she goes out shopping. I'll see you later at the barbecue, Ben.'
'See ya, Mia and thanks again,' Ben said, as the door closed behind her and a car drove off in the distance and his footsteps were heard coming up the stairs as he went to his room.
Still in the bathroom, Lily smelt the bottle of bath oil and was enriched by the scent of jasmine, just as Melinda was coming in, carrying a pile of clothes that Mia had just dropped off and a fluffy white towel.
'Here we go, love, some nice clothes that Ben's friend, Mia has very kindly given you to wear which should fit and a nice towel to dry yourself off and your room's all ready for you,' Melinda said as Lily nodded her thanks and Melinda put the pile on a nearby stool and knelt beside the bath.
She then poured some water over Lily's head and gently washed her hair with some liquid called 'shampoo' and Lily closed her eyes, feeling relaxed as Melinda's fingers ran the sweet smelling frothy liquid through her hair. This was something that Violet would have certainly enjoyed if she had been here.
'Don't you worry, you'll soon be all nice and clean and have something pretty to wear for the barbecue so you can get to know Ben a bit better and meet his friends.' Melinda said, rinsing the shampoo out of Lily's hair and hummed to herself as she walked over to where the curtain lay on the floor.
Senna, still hiding in the fabric and having gone unnoticed for some time, peeked out from the flap she was in, but gasped and hid back in the curtain, just as Melinda reached out to grab it and she wrinkled her nose at it.
'I don't think that curtains are an acceptable substitute for dresses these days,' Melinda said, as she made a slightly disgusted face at the baby-blue curtain with its gaudy rose pattern, like it had some contagious disease and held it as far away from her as possible.
'I'll just…get this washed for you,' she said, faltering,
'Actually,' as she took another look at it, 'that looks like one of Joyce's curtains.'
'She had said that a seagull had flown in her house earlier this morning and nicked it when she wasn't looking. I'd better return it to her; otherwise she'll be spitting the dummy.
Won't be too long, love, I just need to take this to the laundry room,' Melinda said to Lily, as she watched the housekeeper leave and she realised that Senna was still in the curtain as Melinda was carrying her away and the crab peeked out again with a nervous look in her eyes, not knowing where she was going.
In the laundry room, Senna coughed and spluttered as she, along with the curtain, was thrown into a huge basin filled with water and Melinda put half a scoop of washing powder in the water, which Senna accidently swallowed.
She coughed up the horrible-tasting powder and hiccupped up some bubbles as she struggled to get out of the basin while the curtain was left to soak and Melinda was busy gathering up a pile of dirty laundry from a basket that was at the bottom of a chute.
Flailing her claws uselessly as she tried to get out of the basin, much like Lily did when she got her legs; Senna eventually managed to escape and jumped off the edge…only to fall into the basket of laundry just as Melinda was loading it into the washing machine.
'Oh no,' Senna moaned as she tried to get out but she was buried under some T-shirts and the crab gagged at the awful odour as the pile was picked up by Melinda and thrown into the washing machine and the door closed, trapping Senna inside.
Senna pounded on the door with her claws but Melinda took no notice as she turned the machine on and poor Senna felt that she was in a vicious whirlpool as the laundry spun around her which seemed never-ending until the cycle finished a few minutes later and the crab was dizzy and disorientated from her ordeal but still in one piece as Melinda placed her and the laundry in the basket and carried it away to be hung on the line outside.
Oh, poor Senna! If you thought Sebastian's experience with laundry was bad, it pales in comparison!
Also, in case you didn't know, the Auckland Nines is a rugby league nines tournament which involves all of the NRL clubs that is held in Auckland in New Zealand in January-February each year, so I thought that my home country should get a mention in this story!
Read and review and let me know who your favourite characters are!