Betrayed, but New Love Found

Holly Holly smiled at the camera and demonstrated how to make the mini pies for the holidays. “With Thanksgiving next week and Christmas right around the corner, these pies will make a delicious addition to your table. They’re small, just the right size for a single portion. And they’re cute. Your guests will love them. You can make many different flavors that everyone will love.” She had six different filled mini pies in front of her. Cherry, pumpkin, apple, pecan, chocolate, and lemon. She finished popping the mini lemon pie out of the tin and arranged it on a holiday festive plate. She held the plate up and with a smile. “Thank you for watching today’s episode. Be sure to tune in on Thursday where I will show you how to make homemade frosting to decorate Christmas cookies with your littles. Don’t forget to let me know how your mini pies turned out. I love the pictures you all send in for my page. Bye, see you soon.” Holly put down the plate and waved at the camera. With her other hand, she slipped into her pocket and hit the button to stop recording. She let out a breath and checked her laptop. She edited the episode and then posted it. She checked last Thursday’s episode where she made many different snacks to put out for the Holidays and smiled. She has got five hundred likes so far. Her channel on VidTube was new. She’d only been doing it for three and a half months. She had three thousand followers and a thousand subscribers. At five dollars a subscriber and she gets three dollars of that, she makes a modest three thousand dollars a month. She was pretty proud of that. Not that she needed the money. Kyle provided for her and the house, but she liked that she could contribute a little. She had opened her own bank account for the money to be deposited there, and she was happy to say she still had seven thousand of the nine thousand she'd made. She splurged on a new wireless camera with a remote control and a new laptop to chat with her subscribers and to post on her Holly Homemaker page. And a few outfits and shoes. Kyle thought her little side hustle was cute and never paid attention to it. It kind of hurt her feelings, but she let it go. Today was their three-year anniversary. She had a whole dinner planned and wine chilled for when he would be home. He loved her roast and mashed potatoes with her cooked zucchini and squash veggies. She seasoned them with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and garlic powder. They were his favorite. For dessert, she had the pies. She knew Kyle's favorite was cherry. She checked the time and ran upstairs to shower, shave and fix herself up in the cute red dress she bought. He said he loved her in red. She remembered when they first met at an art show. She was one of five artists being showcased. She loved to paint. Mostly scenery and portraits. Her paintings were so realistic they looked like photographs. She had paid for her college tuition doing portraits of people and their families. Kyle had come there with his mother, father and sister. She had worn a red sweater dress with black leggings and high-heeled boots. Her auburn hair was piled on top of her head and she had minimal make-up. Some eyeliner, mascara that made her green eyes pop and lip gloss. He took one look at her and stayed with her talking most of the night. She didn’t mind, he was good-looking with blonde hair cut short on the sides and slicked back on top. He had pretty brown eyes and a nice smile. He was fit looking in his suit and he was tall at five-eleven to her five feet three inches. Before he had left, he got her phone number and the rest was history. He wined and dined her, took her virginity and married her all in the matter of six months. He swept her off of her feet. She felt like she was living a fairy tale. Emma Jean had hated him. She thought he was too uppity. But Emma Jean said as long as she was happy, she’d support her. Holly had been raised in foster care. Her parents had died in a car accident and there was no family that could be found. She had been ten. She bounced around from house to house until she turned eighteen. She didn’t make any real connections with any of her foster parents. Most of them were just in it for the monthly check. Her last foster house was the longest she had ever been at. From fifteen to eighteen. They were alright, but used the children they fostered as their servants. She and three other girls did everything in the house, while her foster parents sat around, watched TV or went out and partied. When her eighteenth birthday came around, she was given her important papers, fifty bucks and was told good luck. Since she wasn’t bringing in any money anymore, they gave her the boot. She slept at the local park for a couple of days, then stayed at a homeless shelter for a couple of months. She had been applying for jobs, but because she had no address or experience, she was turned away left and right. Until she met Ms. Emma Jean Robertson. Holly had been sitting on a park bench. She had managed to beg for thirty dollars that day. She went and bought a loaf of bread, some peanut butter and jelly, and a bottle of chocolate milk. Ms. Emma Jean walked by with her little white Pomeranian and stopped dead in front of her. “You look like a street urchin. Just pitiful. You’re too young to look that sad. What’s your name?” Holly had looked at the old lady with the white hair and smiled. She looked like a little old grandmother with a white puff ball at her feet. “I’m Holly Mattson ma’am.” “I’m Emma Jean Robertson. Where are your parents? Why aren't you in school? How old are you?” “I don’t have any, I've graduated, and I’m eighteen.” “Oh, you look much younger. What do you mean you don’t have any parents? Everyone has parents.” “Well, I had parents. They died eight years ago.” “Oh, you poor child. You don’t have any other family?” “No, ma’am.” “Well, I don’t have any family either. You know, I could use a companion. Someone to help me around my house, help me watch Betsy here. I’m getting on in years and I can’t get around so well anymore, especially in the mornings. You look like you could use a friend, a roof over your head and some good meals. How about it? Do you want to move in with me and be my companion?” “Ma’am I could be a serial killer.” “Well, are you?” Holly smiled and shook her head. “Then it’s settled. Come home with me. I’ll teach you how to cook. I have a spare room. You can stay free of charge. I just need some help, and it looks like you do too.” Holly contemplated and then shrugged. What did she have to lose? If Emma Jean was a killer, then she guessed it was her time to go. It wasn’t like she was having any luck in this life as it was. She followed Emma Jean a couple of blocks away from the park. They came to a little blue house with a white picket fence and white shutters. “It’s not much. But it’s warm, and it has an extra bed,” Emma Jean said. And that’s where she stayed and put herself through online college until she was twenty-three when she met Kyle. Emma Jean was eighty years old when they met, and she had just passed three and a half months ago. Holly had started her food channel on VidTube in honor of Emma Jean, who had taught her how to cook, sew, make candles and other crafts. That included painting. Emma Jean said she was a natural. Emma was in her life for 8 wonderful years. She really missed her. Holly checked herself out in the full-length mirror and smiled. She felt pretty. She slipped on her ballet flats and went to check on dinner. The roast had been sitting on the cutting board, everything else was ready. She looked at the time, and it had just turned six. And right on time she heard the garage door open. She started slicing the roast and laid it on a serving platter and brought it to the table just as Kyle stepped into the house. His eyes met hers and he smiled. “Hey doll. I’ve missed you today,” he said, taking off his suit jacket. Holly went over and took his jacket from him. She hung it up in the hall closet where she would grab it in the morning and take it to the dry cleaners with the rest of his suit. She walked back over to him, and he gathered her into his arms and kissed her passionately. “Happy anniversary, doll.” He pulled back and took a slim box out of his pants pocket. She smiled up at him and took it from him. She opened it and gasped. Inside was a watch with a thin leather band. The face of the watch was crystal glass with diamonds around the rim. “Oh, Kyle, I love it. Help me put it on?” He nodded and took the watch out and slipped it on her wrist, clasping it and then held her wrist up and they both admired it. “I’m glad you like it. I was nervous about buying it. It was between this and a necklace. But Alyssa helped me make the decision. She said every man gets a woman a necklace for an anniversary gift. And for the third anniversary it should be leather and crystal. “Well, I would have loved a necklace too. But you did good. How is Alyssa? You said she sprained her ankle last week. I was going to stop by today with lunch, but the day got away from me.” “She’s better. I told her to stop wearing impossibly high heels, and maybe she wouldn’t sprain her ankle. She’s lucky she’s such a good secretary. She falls a lot, it seems, at the office. But my dad likes her, so what can I do?” Alyssa was the secretary for both Kyle and his father. She had been with Grimes Investments for three years. Kyle said she was efficient but clumsy. Always bumping into him or his father. Falling down, or spraining an ankle or wrist. Kyle found her a nuisance. But like he said, his father liked her. “Dinner smells good.” “Well sit, and let me serve you. Happy anniversary too,” she said as she pointed to a box in front of him. He opened it and inside was his grandfather's pocket watch that was broken, but was now fixed. “Holly,” he whispered. He looked at her and stood back up from his seat. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her again. “Thank you.” They ate, drank wine and listened to soft music. He stood from the table and held his hand out to her. They danced in the kitchen to a song he turned on with his phone, and then he led her to their bedroom. When he stripped her dress off, he inhaled sharply. She wore a black lacy bra and panty set with black thigh highs on. He groaned and pounced on her. He made love to her with frantic thrusts and in ten minutes it was over. She smiled and held him. It was always like this. S*x with him was nice and didn’t last very long. He said she drove him wild, that he couldn’t ever control himself. It made her feel good. So, it wasn’t orgasmic, like it describes in the books she listens to, but she also thought the books were exaggerations to captivate the reader. Soon Kyle was snoring, and she got up from the bed and cleaned herself in the bathroom. She got back into bed and pulled the covers over them. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I love you,” she whispered. She then laid back, turned off her bedside light and fell asleep.