Millionaire's Secret Love

Chapter Ten

An insistent beep jerked Elizabeth awake in the middle of a delightful dream. She realized it was the sound of her ringing phone.

Dragging herself from under the covers, she took her phone from the side table and stared at the caller ID, and groaned.

“Hi, mum.” Elizabeth attempted to hide the irritation in her voice with a yawn.

Her mother heard her sleepy voice scolded her.

“It’s the middle of the day, what are you still doing in bed?”

Like many Caribbean people, her mother raised her with the motto: ‘early to bed and early to rise'. And though this may have worked for her generation, it did not work for hers. This matter was outdated and was relevant when people did not have to work every hour to earn a living.

“I did the night shift last night mum, I only came in at nine this morning.”

“I don’t see why you take jobs which have you working all hours. What happened to a good nine-to-five job?”

This was not the first time she heard these words. She had heard them ever since she became a nurse. Shaking her head, she ignored her mother’s words. Instead, she sat up in the bed and put her phone on speaker.

“I’m sure you didn’t call me to tell me off, mum.”

Her mother grew quiet on the phone.  “You’re right, I didn’t ring you for a chat. Your father and I were wondering if you and Dominic would like to come over for dinner on Friday night. I am back from Jamaica on Thursday.”

Blooming heck, she thought. She had not expected her mother would catch on to her so soon.

“I’m not sure Dominic will be around on Friday mum.”

“How will you know if you don’t ask him?” she replied.

Straight away she considered telling her mother the truth, that Dominic was a bit of a perv and she wanted nothing to do with him, but then she thought of how disappointed her mother would be and she could not say the words. Because as much as she moaned about her parents, she wanted to please them.

“I will ring him and ask if he’s available,” Elizabeth promised before she could stop herself.

If she could get Dominic to back out, everything would work out fine, she felt.

“This sounds more like it. I do not understand why you always hesitate whenever I ask you to come round for dinner. Your father and I would like to see you a lot more.”

She let her silence speak what her voice could not. There were many things she could have said to her, but she held it in. She wanted to tell her mother how she felt about her meddling ways, but she could not.

They brought many Caribbean children up with the principle of never talking back to their parents. Despite feeling she was strong, she still could not muster up the courage to tell her parents, her mother, to mind her own business.

After a long moment of silence, her mother said goodbye. Hanging up the phone she the black screen and wondered when she was ever going to be straightforward with her mother. Instead of always feeling like a small child whenever she spoke to her.

Still needing sleep, she turned off her phone and slipped under the covers.  As sleep claimed her, she made a mental note to call Dominic. It was not a phone call she wanted to make but she knew she could not avoid it anymore.