Chapter Four

 

By the time Melody parked beside Logan's car in the parking lot of Masters, Gilrich and Edison, a light intermittent drizzle had her using the car's wiper. She waited until the drizzle abated and got out of the car. After all, she wasn’t in a hurry. She wasn't chairing the program; she was giving the vote of thanks, so she could show up later in the evening and no one would particularly miss her.

She entered the lobby of the law firm and once more marveled at the marble pillars and luxuriously carpeted floor. The place screamed money and taste. She gave her particulars to the security guard at the front desk and he called Logan's office.

She waited for a while and then he said politely, "Mrs. Moore, Mr. Moore is locked into a meeting with Mr. Masters; his secretary Miss Winter will meet you at the office."

Melody almost didn't go up, but a little curiosity drove her on. She had never met Logan's new secretary; he said she was young and surprisingly efficient. Apart from Myrtle, Logan rarely gave anyone a glowing recommendation.

She nodded to the security guard and headed to the elevator, pressing the second floor button. She would say a quick hello to Sabrina, and then find out if Logan would be coming from his meeting any time soon.

When the elevator door opened on the second floor, a young lady was standing almost at the entrance; she smiled politely when she saw Melody.

"You are Mrs. Moore?"

"Yes." Melody nodded.

"I am Sabrina Walker," she said holding out her hand to Melody.

Melody shook it but Sabrina held on to her hand a shade too long.

"Mr. Moore is in a meeting but he will be out soon,” Sabrina said, heading for her desk. "You can wait here with me or in his office."

Melody was about to refuse but she was busy looking at Sabrina in dismay. This young thing with the obviously sultry body and the angelically pretty face was Logan's secretary? How come he hadn't mentioned that?

Sabrina was tall and leggy. She was in a pencil skirt with a split at the back, which parted to show the back of her knees every time she walked. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on her lithe body, Melody saw as she turned around to sit at her spacious desk, indicating for Melody to sit in a chair opposite her.

She didn't even know where to start when she looked at the pure lines of Sabrina's face. She had smooth, dusky, almost flawless skin. Her hair was a wavy thick cloud that curled under chin.

She smiled at Melody. "Mr. Moore is working so hard on this case."

Melody barely registered what she was saying. Looking into Sabrina's golden brown eyes, she was reminded of a memory, of another set of eyes, of another place. She blinked the thought away.

"So... er... maybe I should just go," she said, getting up.

"No, wait," Sabrina said. "I don't want him to miss you. We can talk. I mean, I would relish hearing more about you. Mr. Moore loves you so much."

Melody relaxed slightly. So Logan was not particularly moved by this specimen of womanhood. He spoke about her. She felt ridiculously pleased at the thought. She relaxed a fraction more with Sabrina.

"I don't have anything much to tell,” Melody said simply. "I am just a regular housewife and I do some volunteer work."

"You are so modest," Sabrina regarded her seriously. "I know you are involved in several charities. Mr. Moore is very proud of that."

"He is?" Melody smiled. "And imagine, he never tells me these things."

"But of course I already knew about your work with charities and stuff before I started working here. Your parents are Alfred and Rita Blu, the famous theatre duo. My parents, Jan and Howard Walker were friends of theirs from way back in the day."

"Oh?" Melody said interestedly. "That's nice."

"And I know that they called you Melodious because they hoped you would be a singer."

Melody regarded Sabrina with a little more caution. "You do know a lot. Hardly anyone knows or remembers my full name. I can't hold a note to save a life though," she said whimsically. "The name Melodious was a royal fail in that regard."

Sabrina looked at her curiously. "At least you manage the New Song band; that's close."

"As close as I'll ever get to music,” Melody said ruefully. "Managing the guys is a lot of fun. They are a great bunch; you should hear them sometime."

Melody changed the subject smoothly. "You seem kind of young to be a secretary here. Forgive me. I am used to Myrtle, Logan's former secretary."

Melody's curiosity about Sabrina was growing by the minute. She had not expected her to be this young or beautiful.

"I am nineteen," Sabrina said. "I just finished first year of law school. Mr. Gilrich taught me Law & Legal Systems and we had a battle of the wills in his class. When I saw the vacancy notice for this job in the papers, I handed him my resume. Told him I didn’t have much experience but I was a fast learner. It helped that I got an A for his course, too."

"Ambitious." Melody smiled and glanced at her watch. "Is there any hope of Logan coming out of that meeting anytime soon?"

Sabrina got up. "I'll check." She got up and headed to the conference room door and came back shortly.

"Sorry, they seem like they are in a heated discussion. It's probably about the case."

Melody picked up her handbag, "Okay then. I am outta here. It was nice meeting you, Sabrina."

“Likewise," Sabrina said, walking Melody to the elevators.

When the door to the elevator closed, Sabrina inhaled deeply and walked to her chair on shaky legs. So that was Melody Blu Moore. When she had heard that she was downstairs she had felt a little tremor inside. The elevator had seemed as if it had taken ages to reach the second floor, and when the door had swooshed open in painful slow motion she had stood face to face with Melody Moore for the first time.

She wondered if Melody had seen how nervous she was to meet her and how she almost tripped over calling her Mrs. Moore. Her hands had been almost clammy and she had clung to Melody's soft hands like an attention-starved orphan.

Melody was not what she had expected. She had gone over her pictures, every day and sometimes at night and yet she had been so shocked at how much shorter she was than she imagined, and how much lighter her skin tone was and how pretty and young she looked.

She looked like she was in her twenties or something, though she knew that Melody was thirty-four. She knew that Melody was born at home, at her parents’ mansion in Beverley Hills, Kingston on September 10th. She knew so much innocuous data on Melody that she could probably write a book about her. She knew things that not even Logan knew.

And yet she had been slightly shocked when seeing her in person. She had twins nearly six years ago; surely she should have looked slightly pudgy or something, but she didn't. She looked fit and fabulous in her red dress.

Sabrina was happy that Logan wouldn't get the chance to see her tonight. It would have erased all the progress she had made with him today.

She had real competition with Melody. Melody didn't look like anyone's idea of the typical housewife and mother. She could still hold her own with any of the twenty-something women in the world. She could hold her own with her, Sabrina thought resentfully.

She alternated between feeling mean and evil for what she was planning to do to Melody and her perfect family unit and feeling benevolent; maybe it was time she left them alone and stopped obsessing over the Moore family. She wasn't even sure if she really hated Melody or was just bitter.

She had moved to this part of the island just to get close to her; she had orchestrated getting this job in a well-planned move, taking advantage of getting the chance to work with Logan Moore. Falling in love with him had been an unforeseen bonus.

Now she had a different plan. A different way to join the family. What she wanted more than anything was to be a part of a family.

She wanted what Melody had. She wanted everything that Melody had.

She slowly opened the drawer and took out the picture of the family. They were all dressed in shades of blue.

She considered Zack and Lauren and their little smiling faces. How innocent and privileged they were to have both parents, happy together and loving them. In the picture it could be seen that Lauren had lost a tooth. It should have given her smile a comical edge but it didn't; she looked like a cutie pie. Neither of the children looked like their parents. Logan had pointed out to her when she had remarked that both of them looked like his parents, that Zack looked more like his mom and Lauren like his dad.

Genetics. Sabrina pondered that, searching Melody's face for any similarities to her parents, Rita and Alfred Blu. Melody looked like her Mom, Rita Blu, but only slightly. Maybe their brows had a similar shape. Melody also had a beauty mark on her left cheek similar to Rita Blu’s. She hadn't seen that mark tonight because she had on makeup, but it was obvious in the picture.

Sabrina closed her eyes. Maybe she should forget about them, slink away in the dark, and never resurface near them again. They didn't want her in their lives; they wouldn't know that she had been near them; they wouldn't miss her.

She could turn back now, right at this juncture, at this minute, and leave Melody and her precious family alone, slither out of their lives and forget her plan to infiltrate Melody's life and to get to know her.

The only problem was, she genuinely had feelings for Logan now. She was on the right track with getting him to like her. She had a shoe in. There was no way she was going to turn back now. No way.