By the time I look up I see up again two hours have passed. My phone rings from the front reception area. I pick up the phone expecting to hear about some sort of complaint only to find out that I have a visitor requesting my presence.
I make my way over to the main building and my frustration level sky rockets when I see Ulla standing in the lobby. I told my mother to stay the hell away. Why can't the woman ever fucking listen. I scan the area but see nothing but guests. Ulla takes a few steps towards me but I barely register her existence. I can't stand the woman. I need to find my mother before she causes a scene. I hope to god she's not harassing Delaney somewhere. The last time she did my wife ended up in the hospital.
"Baron?" Ulla says.
"Ulla, you 're not welcome. Where is my mother?' I spit in her direction but still barely look at her.
"She's not here, I... I ran away." She says softly and that gets my attention.
Ran away like a refugee?
"Ran away. So why did you come here?' I ask confused more than anything right now.
"You .. I mean out of all the Frey family you were the most ..." A couple tight in a lovers embrace walk right between us oblivious of the high tension in the air.
"Can we go talk somewhere private, I promise I'm not trying to make trouble." I nod my head and take her to one of the small banquet rooms we are going to be opening up for public use. Right now it's still undergoing renovations but from what I'm seeing it should be ready at least a week before schedule so I'm happy about that.
She walks in but doesn't go very far into the room. I don't either. There's no reason for me to be getting comfortable with this woman. She's been a pain in my ass for as long as I can remember.
"Ulla, what are you doing here. What are you talking about you ran away?"
"Baron, your brother .. I didn’t love him, you know that right? But I loved our baby."
"No, I don't know shit and I don't care about him. He's a piece of shit that got what he deserved." I say without a hint of remorse, she flinches but she doesn't say anything in argument.
"I know what he's done now. I can't tell you how horrible half the stuff was but I cared for him in a way despite it all. He promised me that I'd finally have a family someone I could be with and look out for me. He promised me that I wouldn't be alone any longer and then he was gone. Your mother took me in after that and I knew she would help me but instead it was more of the same. She broke me until I've become..." She spreads her hands and I see her, truly see her. I spent so long looking past her that I never really bothered to actually take in her appearance. her clothes are too big, her face looks too thin and her eyes are as dead as I've ever seen. She looks like a shell of a woman. There's nothing inside of her left to give.
"I stayed attached to your mother because she let me know that I was never going to be nothing more than just a whore or some street walker. Hans, as fucked up as he was told me I was family . He told me that I'd be useful for something. I don't want to be pounded down to nothing and I know if I stayed with your mother any longer she'd kill me. Maybe not physically but I'm on my death bed right here in front of you."
I let out a hard sigh. I know all the shit my brother did but now that she's telling me the story of what actually went down behind the scenes I can't help but pity her a bit. She was really only trying to belong. How fucked up is that.
"Ulla, I can appreciate all that and I'm sorry that you've had a shit deal but I'm not sure what you expect me to do about it." I shake my head and squint at her.
"Well, I saw a flyer that you were looking for workers?"
My eyes open so wide I'm afraid they might pop out of my head, "You want a job!" I say loudly, "You're out of your mind Ulla."
"Look, I can do manual labor. I can clean. I can waitress, I can learn something. I can try. Right now I have nothing. Literally nothing. I came her with your mother the day of the wedding and I just never went back with her. I've been just living on the streets, going to the shelters I could see, living out of a suitcase. I can't stay like this. I know your character. You hate me because you know I was associated with a bad man . You're a good person Baron. I just want to be somewhere I feel safe and with someone I know. I don't want to be alone anymore." She looks down and tears flood her cheeks but she doesn't sob loudly,.
Fucking hell . "Ulla I have a wife. I don't know what you're thinking."
"No! No! Nothing like that, if I'm honest with you I've never thought about you in that manner since I tried that one time before. I would never try to come between you and Delaney. I know she must hate me because of Hans but I was actually hoping she and I could be friendly. She's here without her family mostly and so am I. I don't know maybe just a fairy tale but in the essence of forgiveness you never know."
I small idea pops into my head but I can already hear the backlash about it. Delaney and I did just talk about getting her an assistant and though Ulla probably will never be at the calibre of Jennifer she can help her with the simple things like getting the coffee, food breaks. Taking messages. Things like that..
"Please Baron, just give me a chance." She says and I see the desperation in her eyes. What the hell am I doing?
"Fine! I swear if I hear about one problem with you, I'll kick you out of here so fast you won't know what hit you. I don't want any drama. No arguing. If Delaney chooses to never speak with you then you need to fucking deal with that."
"Okay, yes. I understand." She gives me a weak smile .
“ I'll get you some paperwork to fill out so we can get you paid and on the books. You can stay at one of the service quarters. There should be an extra room there for you.”
She nods and folds her hands in front of herself.
"You'll be doing mostly general errands and secretarial things. Your first priority is Delaney if she’ll have you. She's pregnant and still trying to work at the same capacity as before. She's doing it but I worry she's not taking care of her new needs like eating an. If she needs something that is in your power to do then I want you to take care of it."
"She's pregnant?" She says a bit wistfully and I remember about her so called accident with Hans baby.
