His last chance

chapter fou

The personal shopper wasn't what Tilly expected. The dark haired Just-out-of-high-school teenager was the last thing Tilly thought would be Antony's personal shopper so naturally she didn't pay attention to the flashy kid much until the girl had waved them over. She was dressed in ripped faded jeans, a black crop top and a denim jacket over it, black Nikes and a messy bun. She had some major emo thing going for her.

"Oh hi!" She offered her hand once she walked up to them. " I'm Jane. My cousin told me all about you guys. Come on in let's make you fabulous" with that she was off in the direction of the mall doors.

Cousin, huh?

That explains why she's dressed like that. Professionals didn't dress the way she did, obviously. Once inside, the cool air hit her first then she felt the usual self-consciousness she felt when she walked into big markets and malls. Good thing she didn't have much time to sulk about it because Jane pulled her into the clothes section.

With a grand gesture Jane bid "explore"

"Oh yeah" and Amelia was off.

"Amelia, we have to stick together!" Tilly yelled after her.

"But...we...I"

"Together or we leave." Tilly said in her best parent voice.

"I'm sorry" Amelia said. Clearly not wanting to ruin this trip.

"Okay, now where do we start? This place is so big and I don't feel comfortable at all" Tilly whispered to Amelia. The child looked up at her and smiled.

"You'll do fine aunt Tilly" There it was again...that name upgrade. In the space of about twenty four hours, Tilly had gone from Miss Tilly to Aunt Tilly to Amelia. Feeling a little better because of that she returned her smile.

Jane cleared her throat behind them. "I think I might have made a mistake when I asked you guys to explore. Obviously you're too scared to do that so let me lead you through."

Tilly nodded, relieved. "Thanks, you should totally do that" she said trying to sound chic.

Jane burst out laughing. "Don't do that please. You sound horrible."

Amelia joined Jane "yeah, aunt Tilly. You really shouldn't do that"

Tilly smiled and jostled oli in her hip. The baby was unusually quiet. She was too quiet for her age. Could she have any medical problems? Could she be...

Deaf?

No. She wasn't. She couldn't be. She responded to sound pretty easily. This thought scared her shitless.

"Oli" she said softly, trying to test the baby. Thankfully the little one looked up at her and smiled.

"Yeth?" She said so softly that Tilly almost did hear her. Filled with joy at the response she smiled again.

"Would you like some pretty dresses?

"Yeth" came with a nod.

"Great, everyone is ready so Let's get started." Jane ushered them further into the shop.

****

Several surprisingly amazing hours later, Tilly was making dinner in the main house and thinking about how the day had gone.

She and the girls had gone home with a truck load of shopping bags, grocery bags, a lot of toys that were a little bit unnecessary but Amelia had begged and oli seemed to like them too, accessories and the like. They had also gotten their hairs done, courtesy of Jane's insistence that their hairs were disasters.

Tilly had gotten highlights and her hair had been trimmed and curled in a way it framed her face and fell to her shoulders beautifully. She didn't know it was possible for her hair to look that good. But what she did know was that it cost a fortune. Amelia's hair trimmed and she got long fringed layers with a lot of hair bands, hair pins, clips, ribbons, elastic ties and scrunchies that she would need. So did Olivia. Not that she had enough hair to be styled. She just got hair accessories.

As for new clothes, Jane had made sure that every outfit had a matching pair of shoes. She'd even made sure to help stack up their wardrobes. Then she'd done something as silly as tagging the shoes with numbers of their corresponding outfit so Tilly wouldn't have a hard time picking them out. Tilly wasn't sure she took time to do that for Amelia. Not that Amelia minded. She was more than grateful to be left with the mature responsibility of dressing herself up.

That done, Tilly had invited her to stay for dinner and Jane never one to reject food had accepted. Now they were occupied differently. Tilly in the kitchen, Jane keeping an eye on the girls at the pool house and the girls of course having fun.

A shuffle behind her jerked her out of her thoughts. Turning, she stopped in her tracks as she watched Anthony watch her, first moving over her, from her toes to her head, slowly, lingering at her cleavage in her v-neck shirt and then coming to rest on her face.

"Who are you?" His brows furrowed. He looked tired. His suit was a little rumple he must have had a day. His tie was long gone. His shirt was unbuttoned, exposing his bronze hard chest to eyes. Appreciative eyes anyway. Not that she could be caught complaining, she would rather enjoy the view while it lasted. Tilly finally took her eyes off his chest and looked into his dark eyes. Liquid heat pooled at her core, her n*****s hardened to rock hard tips. Gee, she hoped he couldn't see how he affected her.

"I asked a question" he positively growled. Obviously she couldn't utter a word. Wait something was wrong. Something smelled wrong. The pasta!.

She turned away from him, gave the pot a final stir and put off the burner.

"I work for you." She said as she put the kitchen to rights. Picking up a chop board here, rinsing a spoon there or replacing spice containers into the cabinets.

He scoffed "since when? I've never see you before."

She stiffened at that. Why was he acting strange? He hired her last night and she told him just that.

"Are you Matilda?" He asked incredulous, finally getting it "As in Tilly? My cook?"

Turning to face him with a small smile, surprise evident on his face "yes sir....I...I mean Tony."

Tony swallowed, Cleared his throat and swallowed again. "You look different."

She shrugged, her face an alarming shade of pink "I just got some new stuff that's all"

"No, it's not just that ..."

"Hiya cuz, you're finally home!" Jane said, cutting him off from the backdoor.

He turned to watch her walk up to him "Hey you evil frog. What are you still doing here?"

"Tilly invited me to dinner." She turned towards the countertops to sniff the open pot of delicious cream cheese pasta. "And from the smell and looks of it, she's a great cook. I'm not going to pass up an opportunity like that, you goon."

"But seriously though, this is heavenly." Jane said Still sniffing. "Anyways, cuz, you look beat. Must be tired."

"Yeah... rough day at work. Guess I gotta go shower and get ready. Be down in a bit."

"Yeah, sure" Jane waved him off.

"Okay" Tilly said bending to bring out hot freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and muffins for dessert. Jane had told Tilly that Tony had a thing for chocolate chip dessert. Well she had a thing for making them for him.

Wink. Wink.

The cookies smelled amazing. Jane moaned. Amelia would love these. Then she froze. She hadn't asked about them. Where were they?

She voiced that particular thought to Jane.

Jane just shrugged and said "oh

... Yea. They passed out. They were so tired from all the fun. I myself I'm a little tired and once I eat that delicious meal, I'm going home to crash."

"Of course. I'll just set the table and then I'll go wake the girls in a few minutes."

"Let me help. You dish up while I set the table." Jane said, not quite offering, just stating. How very like rich kids.

Tilly couldn't say no so Jane went to work setting the table while Jane served up the dishes.

She picked up the last bowl of food for tonight's normal dinner bowl of pasta and walked into the dining room and paused.

"Jane, why are there five places set?" She asked as she finally moved and placed the bowl in the center of the small dinning table. This one "smaller" than the Main one, had ten chairs. And Jane had arranged five place settings.

"Is your cousin having visitors?" Tilly asked Jane again.

Jane gestured towards the table "No. Those are for us"

Hands on her hips Tilly was officially confused "Us? Who are us?"

"Come on. Us us! Me, you, Amelia, oli, and my cousin us"

"Jane. Servants Don't sit at the table with the boss. There are supposed to be only two place settings. One for you and the other for your cousin, my boss"

"But you're not a servant... you're a cook"Jane said. Tilly didn't miss her hesitation.

Tilly began to remove the utensils and cutleries "Still not sitting here. And specially not the girls."

"Ugh come on! How unfair!" Jane whined.

"Quit whining, frog." A deep voice put in. Dark, smooth and delicious causing shivers to run down Tilly's spine. Her response to Anthony was going to be her downfall.

Trying not to drool, she looked up at him. Dressed in snug sweat pants that hung low on his waist and a t-shirt that hugged his biceps and showed off his corded arms.

"What's wrong?" He simply asked.

"I..." Jane began to say.

"Absolutely nothing. Everything is fine" Tilly cut her off giving her the 'stick with the program' look.

"But..." Jane said again

"... I forgot to wake the girls. Yes. I'll go do that right now" Tilly put in and took the plates and cutleries with her into the kitchen.

What in tarnation was Jane trying to do. She couldn't be that naive. Servants didn't sit at the table with their bosses. Anthony had already done alot for them, she wouldn't dare disrespect him by trying to sit at his table. Sheesh! She should really go wake the girls, it was after all time for dinner.