Chapter Two: The Dutiful Daughter
Regina
Regina buzzed nervously about her mother's kitchen. She was making breakfast and she was trying to remember if her mother was on a diet or not.
"One hardboiled egg, plain toast, and orange juice," she whispered to herself.
Cooking breakfast for her mother was only one of the tasks she did for her mother. Regina picked out Mother's outfits, handled the dry-cleaning, made sure the maids cleaned the mayor's mansion just the way mother wanted, she organized functions, and made sure her mother was on schedule. Mother had a secretary in the office but everything outside of the mayor's office was Regina's responsibility. It was a lot of work but Regina didn't mind. She owed everything to her mother.
If it wasn't for her mother, Regina wouldn't have the beautiful home she shared with her husband and son. She wouldn't have her husband or son. It was Mother who had introduced Neal Cassidy to Regina during an art gallery. His photographs were on display and Regina loved them. She had been too shy to tell Neal herself and it was Mother who opened up the conversation about his work.
Regina had always been meek and shy. She couldn't remember a time when she wasn't. She always hid behind her mother's skirts or held onto her father's leg whenever she had to meet someone new. Regina wasn't a very popular girl when she was in school. She was just Mayor Henry Mills's daughter when she was a child and when her father died of a heart attack a few years before Henry was born, she was Mayor Cora Mills's daughter.
Regina was the girl who hung in everyone else's shadow. First her parents, now her husband's. Neal was a very popular artist and art dealer. When he had to attend a gallery, an art show, or some other event, she hung prettily on his arm. During those occasions were the only times she even tried to look her best.
Regina liked to dress simply. She was too busy most of the time for anything else. She was always taking care of someone. If not her mother, it was Henry, her son, or Neal. She just cared too much about everyone she loved to care for herself. It was one of the things her mother criticized her for.
Regina rarely dressed in fancy close. She barely took care of her hair. She saw it as a waste of time when she had to make sure Mother, Neal, and Henry looked their best.
Breakfast was quickly finished and Regina called for her mother. It took Mother sometime before she appeared in the kitchen doorway. By that time, Regina had already set the single place at the table. She did not stay to watch her mother eat.
Instead, Regina went to the foyer and opened the closet there. She retrieved her mother's and her coats. It was chilly outside and she knew how much her mother hates the cold. She put on her own plain brown coat. She dusted off the lent free coat of her mothers.
There was a knock on the door and Regina knew that the maids had arrived. They came to the mayor's mansion every day. Mother couldn't stand the slightest speck of dirt. Everything had to be perfectly clean.
"Good morning, Sally. Good morning, Pamela," Regina greeted.
"Hello Mrs. Cassidy," Sally said. She was the smaller of the two. Too short and too thin. Black with relaxed hair. Mother couldn't have a black maid with natural, it would look too unkempt. She was young. Came from a poor family. She couldn't afford to go to college after high school. She had only worked as a maid. If it wasn't for her four years of experience, Mother wouldn't have hired her.
"Morning, Mrs. Cassidy," said Pamela. She was Hispanic and white in origin. She was older than mother. Black hair streaked with gray. She was Regina's height and slightly overweight. She was serious about her job and Mother admired that about her. She was motherly to Sally, whose mother had abandoned her at a young age.
They liked Regina and were always friendly when they would see her in town.
"Mother's eating breakfast now," Regina told them. "She should be another few minutes."
"We will start with the parlor," Pamela said. Mother hated to see the maids. She rather believed her home was cleaned by magic.
Mother rarely talked to the help. She rarely spoke to her own secretary. She gave orders through Regina and Regina relayed them as kindly as she could. The lack of communication never seemed to bother the help. The less time they spent with Mother, the more they liked her.
Regina nodded at the maids to carry on. She walked back to the kitchen. Mother was just rising from her seat.
"Have the help arrived?" Mother asked as she walked over to her daughter.
"Yes, Mother," Regina answered.
"Have them start in the kitchen," Mother said. "I'm done here."
Mother walked out of the kitchen and towards the foyer. The maids were still there. They were gathering their cleaning supplies from the supply closet across from the coat closet. Mother ignored them while Regina told them to begin in the kitchen.
Mother and Regina left the mayor's mansion and entered the backseat of a sleek, black BMW. They didn't drive. Mother hated to drive and Regina was too nervous to even learn. Mother had a driver and Neal usually drove when he and Regina were together.
Since Regina didn't drive, Mother's bodyguard, Killian Jones picked her up every weekday. Regina didn't really like the man. His eyes always seemed to find a way to her chest. He always had a cocky smile on his face and he leered at every young woman that walked by him. But Mother liked the guy.
Jones drove them to the Mayor's office. Mother got out of the car. She smiled at Jones before going inside the building. He then drove Regina to the dry cleaners to get Mother and Neal's dry-cleaning. He quickly took her back to Mother's house to leave Mother's clothes with Pamela. Finally, Regina was taken to her own home.
She felt Jones watching her as she walked up the walk to her house and she was relieved when the heavy, red, wooden door shut behind her. She peeked out the panel window beside the door and watched Jones drive off. He had to return to City Hall to watch over mother.
"Regina," Neal called from behind her and she jumped.
She turned and smiled meekly at her husband.
"Neal," she sighed out.
"Making sure Jones isn't stalking you again," Neal said as he kissed her cheek and took his dry-cleaning.
"No," Regina squeaked out.
"You shouldn't lie," Her husband said. "You're terrible at it."
Regina blushed as she watched Neal walk away. She knew he was going to place his clothes in his closet upstairs and then he was going to lock himself away in his office until lunchtime. Then he would go back to his office until Henry came home.
Regina was left alone for most of the day. She had nothing to plan for her mother. She probably wouldn't even see the mayor until the next morning. Mother usually ate lunch in her office and went out to one of the fancier restaurants in town for dinner.
Regina will spend her day cleaning her house. It was a decent size home. Three bedrooms, two and a half baths. Two stories. A medium sized kitchen. A study. An open family room. A decent sized front yard and a huge backyard. In the backyard was a small vegetable garden, a red apple tree, and a treehouse (for Henry). Neal was a good gardener as well as Regina. It was one of the things they shared.
After she cleaned the house, Regina would watch two hours of TV. She would then make lunch for herself and Neal. They would eat in silence but enjoy each other's company.
When lunch was done and everything was cleaned up, Regina would retire to the back porch or if the weather was terrible, she would sit in Neal's recliner for a couple of hours of reading some sleazy romance novel before she made Henry's afterschool snack.
Her life wasn't very adventurous or exciting but it was hers and Regina was happy with the way her life had turned out.
END OF CH. 2