Chapter 6 The Mutt

Victor eyed Corina who was lounging on the daybed in the livingroom, taking an afternoon nap. She was wearing her hair loose for once and a tight fitted blouse that he liked on her. He stood by the entrance, the easiest spot to vanish in case she awoke at any time. Redrix was out in the back, teaching his sons how to play football, while his daugthers hung with Elansa in her room. She hadn’t apologized for her outburst, or spoken to him whatsover, so he’d kept her upstairs ever since. He would not be treated in such an ill-mannered way, especially not by his own daugther.

 

Victor approached Corina’s sleeping shape slowly, admiring her soft beauty, much unlike Marina’s once breath catching features. He wondered why she’d married Redrix. He was a nice man, intelligent, calm, gentle, things that women tended to want in a partner. But Victor knew he himself was so much more then that. Women eyed him wherever he went, smiling and blushing when he winked and gave them compliments. He knew what ran inside their minds, what made them tick, what made them remember him forever. His father had taught him the best lessons on being the perfect gentleman and business man at the same time and he’d worked on his technique ever since. It was never an easy thing to please a woman, especially a spoiled, rich, only daugther like Marina had been, but he manadged it quite well none-the-less.

 

Victor stood over Corina, thinking about his late wife, missing her so much his heart felt swollen. He remembered how lively and even more beautiful she’d been after Elansa’s birth. She’d talked about nothing but their new daugther for months and months. And the worst of it all, was that he knew deep inside that she loved Elansa more then she’d ever loved him and that hurt, a lot. He’d watch her sing to her at night, rocking her for hours, reading every childrens story she could get her hands on. She’d forget about everything around her, all her duties for the stable and focus all her attention and energy on their newborn. Memories came swimming back into his conscience, the fatefull day of Elansa’s fall, the day Marina turned her back on him for good.

 

Marina held the bottle to their daugthers mouth with a smile, while Victor watched, sitting on the carpet with them. Elansa had been born on a Sunday in March of that year, her blue eyes wide with curiousity. Victor hadn’t bonded much with her compared to Marina, as he had been flying all over the globe, signing contracts with his partners in Florida and Toronto. She had dark curling hair and his eyes, with a nice rounded nose, Marina’s lovely lips and small dimples on both cheeks. A beautiful baby, as his wife constantly reminded him every single day that they were together.

 

“Look at her drink, she’s really thirsty” Marina said, caressing Elansa’s pudgy cheek with her index finger. “Such lively eyes you have, Buttercup, such gorgeous blue eyes” she cooed.

Victor sat there until his daugther finished drinking, before getting up and heading to his office, looking forward to a good solid afternoon of work.

 

“Wait Victor!”.

He turned around and saw Marina holding Elansa with an odd smile on her lovely face.

“Why don’t you take your daugther with you, let her sleep on the couch for awhile”.

Victor sighed, but did as his wife said. He took the baby, who peered at his face with her large eyes.

“Not for too long” he responded sullenly. “I can’t watch a kid and work properly at the same time”.

Marina rolled her eyes and departed downstairs, her slippers thumping onto each polished step of the staircase.

 

Victor entered the parlor and placed Elansa on the leather couch, making sure she wasn’t about to fall. The baby gurgled a bit, watching him open his laptop and grab his phone, dialing quickly.

 

“Hey Lance, can you give me the numbers for the income of Churchill 4?” he asked the voice on the other end.

His back was facing the couch as he waited.

“845,000? Okay and how about 5 and 6?” he wondered, jotting the numbers in his laptop. “That’s 429,700 and 664,090 respectively? Alright, no, that’s all. Thanks”. He hung up, still typing away at top speed. He was just dialing another number, when he heard a loud thump behind him. Glancing quickly, he noted that everything was in it’s place. The cabinet was securely closed, the bookshelves clean, the couch empty from it’s usual clutter. He finished dialing and waited a few moments for someone to answer, when it struck him: Elansa!

 

Victor spun around and hurried over to the couch, finding his daugther on her back on the floor, squirming like a turtle. He picked her up and held her small body to his chest, his heart beating loudly. Looking at her closely, he found she was alright, only a bit scared, but no injuries to be seen.

“Thank God” he breathed, sitting down on the couch and cradling Elansa in his arms. “I’m so sorry, darling, I really am” he muttered to her.

The baby watched him, her bright eyes interested in his strained features.

“It’s not that I don’t like you, dear, I do. I care about you, little Buttercup. But I’m so busy I never have time for you” he admitted, shaking his head. “But mom will take care of you, she loves you so much, Buttercup, she won’t ever let any harm come to you, I promise”.

 

Victor rocked his daugther for a few minutes, calming himself more then her.

“Let’s put this incident in the past, it was an accident, dear. From now on you’ll be with mom and she’ll never let you fall or let you out of her sight”.

He kissed her forehead and called for the nanny, telling her to set Elansa for a nap.

“Read her that story about rabbits, she likes it” he told her. She nodded and departed up the stairs with the blue-eyed baby.

 

Marina appeared in his office a few minutes later, her arms crossed.

“Heard the nanny put Elansa to bed” she said, frowning.

“You heard right then” he replied, typing away on his laptop, not even looking at her.

“Why don’t you spend more time with her Victor? She’s your child too?” Marina demanded loudly.

“I don’t have time, dear. With ten factories to operate and all the traveling, I barely spend time with you either” Victor admitted in reply. “Plus the stables now, since all you do is take care of the baby”.

“Oh don’t blame this on me!” she shouted, making his back go rigid. “I’m doing what any mother would do. I love her and that means sacrificing my time to be with her”.

“And I’m happy you’re doing that, darling, but I can’t. If I just absent myself from work, then who’s going to take over? A bunch of morons who will probably lose me millions of dollars in sales” he explained, trying to protect himself.

“That’s all you care about, money! Even your own flesh and blood go down the rank when coins are involved! That’s sick Victor, you’re a sick man!” Marina yelled angrily, turning on her heel and slamming the door as she left.

 

Victor relaxed his body and continued typing. Women could be so emotional for such little aspects in life. His wealth and company were his life. Without his position, Victor was nobody. The name Churchill made him powerful, it’s what gave him access to keeping the world in his very own pocket, and no one could make him forget that, not even the woman he loved.

 

Corina turned in her sleep and Victor, watching her sadly, exited the room, heading to his Parlor for a strong drink.

 

*

 

Elansa stared out of her window with a sulky expression, while Kassandra and Pandora read some of her horse books on her neatly made bed.

“Wow, check out this pony, it’s so cute!” Pandora squealed, showing her sister. “It’s mane is so long, we could braid it with colorful ribbons”.

Her older sister nodded, getting back to her Equis magazine, learning how to clean a horse’s hooves properly.

 

Their was a tap on the bedroom door and all three girls looked up. Victor appeared, dressed in a navy suit if his, his tie looking like striped cinnamon.

“I’d like to speak with my daugther alone for a few minutes, girls, could you wait outside” he asked politely. They both nodded and departed, closing the door as they went.

 

“What do you want?” Elansa said, before he could open his mouth again. She was sneering slightly, her arms crossed like they had been when she’d yelled.

“Just to talk to you, dear”.

She waited for him to go on, her face cooly cleared of all expression.

“I know you’re angry with me, it’s obvious, but I think it’s time that you apologized and that we got this over with” he said truthfully.

Elansa glared at him as she heard what he’d said.

“You want me to apologize?”.

“Yes”.

“Why? I just said what I believed, is that a crime. You don’t care if I was rude to you, you just want everyone to bow down to you like servants. I can never say my opinion or have the things I want or do anything I feel like doing. You always barge into my plans and ruin them with your pathetic rules that you make up on the spot” she began, her voice calm, but raising slightly. “I’m sick of hearing every peice of crap that comes out of your mouth. If you don’t like something, well too bad, tough s**t! It’s not your life, nor will it ever be. You did whatever the hell you wanted to do when you were my age, spoiled a you were by grandpa and grandma, so why don’t you cut me a bit of slack? So what if I like some guy? You married mom at 20 for petes sake and 2 months after you met her. That’s ridiculous, not me liking some guy I’ve known for years” she added.

 

Victor watched her, her words secretly pinching at his heart. So this was how she felt about him, he’d never been sure.

“I don’t care what you think about what I used to do or am doing now, Elansa, my law is the law of this house. You follow it and that’s all I ask of you. You’ll stay in your room for another few days since you didn’t seem to comprehend what I told you yesterday about swearing. And if I ever see you near that mutt again, it’ll be gone from the face of the earth before you can blink” Victor told her sternly. “I have a meeting now in town, but don’t even dare leave your room. I’ll be back later” he said, before leaving and snapping the door shut. Kassandra and Pandora never came back in her room for the rest of that afternoon.

 

Elansa sat back on her windowsill and looked out at the trimmed estate, letting her tears stream down her cheeks and soak her t-shirt.

 

*

Victor parked his Mercedes smoothly in the four car garage of the estate, locking the doors and yawning slightly. It was long past midnight and the inhabitants of the Churchill mansion were fast asleep, or at least supposed to be.

 

He clutched at his briefcase as he headed towards the front door, whistling a low song he’d just heard on the radio. The meeting had gone well and he’d learned that more then 78% of his factories were making over $950,000 a year. Getting his keys out, he caught a small mouvement in the corner of his eye. Turning his head slightly, he saw a glimpse of his daugther sprinting across the lawn towards the backyard. Looking around a bit, he spotted the bushy body of a dog creeping back into the hedge. He shook his head slowly as he let himself in his home, dropping his briefcase on the kitchen table. So, she hadn’t listened to a word he’d said. That was too bad, he’d have to press consequences once again.

 

Victor picked up the phone off it’s handle on the wall and called the number he’d looked up the previous day, just in case.

“Robert on the line, how can I help you?” a man’s voice answered.

“This is Victor Churchill”.

“What can I do for you sir?”.

“I have a bit of a problem at the estate” he said.

“Rat infestation? Cochroaches?” the man asked.

“No, rather a mutt loose in my yard”.

“I could send someone over tommorow morning-” the man began, thinking.

“No, I’d like it gone as soon as possible” Victor cut him off.

“Sure Sir Churchill, I’ll come by myself then”.

 

When the morning sun roze in the sky the next day, their was absolutely no trace of the mutt that had once roamed the Churchill estate. When Elansa got down for breakfast and spotted her father whistling a song outloud, she somehow knew that it was truly gone and that she could do absolutely nothing to get it back.