You could set your alarm by Fiona Romanov.

She got up by five a.m. every morning and went about her duties of managing the Campbell household. She made a special herbal tea which her boss preferred and coffee for the rest at exactly six o'clock and by seven, breakfast was ready.

She inspected the work of the cleaners, pointed out every spec of dust and every pinch of sand. She made sure the gardener arrives on time twice a week and the laundryman leaves no dirty clothes in the hamper. Actually, her job with the laundry man went beyond dirty clothes, she made sure she reminded him to separate certain clothes and use certain detergents or soaps for the right clothes. It was her duty to make sure the Campbell household went about their days uninterrupted.

For instance, the boss, Vivian Campbell gets up by seven and expects her herbal tea which she claims provides anti-aging supplements would be ready and steaming. Then she expects her bath to be drawn and her outfit for the day set out. Then, she would expect breakfast to be served. It was mandatory that it happened. Any interruption was frowned at and unwelcome, and even if she could never get scolded, Fiona hated them still.

But today was different from Fiona's usual days. Today, there was going to be an engagement party and it was being hosted in the garden. It was up to her to make sure the event was a success, so despite sleeping late the previous night due to preparations for the party, Fiona got up at four and continued the preparations for the reception which was slated for the evening.

By the time the sun was high up in the sky, she had done most of the work. Now, as she crossed the sky lit foyer to answer the door bell, she yawned. She was tired already and the day just began.

"Fiona!"

Fiona laughed excitedly and hugged the youngest Campbell child who was standing at the other side of the door. "Welcome madam Linda! How was your flight?"

"Not easy when you're totting a toddler." The dark haired woman turned and said, "Hurry, honey!"

Fiona tried to hide her surprise but couldn't, so when Linda caught her with her mouth hanging open in surprise, she laughed.

"You're right, Fiona. I had a baby. And this," She held the arms of a tall young man who was carrying a very fair and chubby child. "is my husband."

A glass shattered behind them and they all turned to see what happened. It was Vivian who had let a China fall from her hand. And a very expensive one, too. It was such a shame.

Face very pale, Vivian walked forward stiffly, shock contouring her features. "Did I just hear you say that this man," she looked at the thin, young man from head to foot. "is your husband?"

Linda pushed her way in and stood toe-to-toe with her mother. "We haven't seen each other for what, three years and that's the first thing you ask me? What happened to "How have you been? How is your health? How did you feel giving birth surrounded with zero family members?!" "

Vivian took a long deep breath and asked again, "Who is the father of your child? This man?"

Linda raised her chin. "Yes, mother. This is my husband." She nudged him. "Say hi to Mom."

The man who had been clutching the baby like he was brandishing a weapon stretched a shaky hand towards Vivian. "Hello, Mom."

Vivian took in several deep breaths, turned and left the room. Her footsteps on the stairs sounded like a whip. Feeling bad for the lovers, Fiona smiled and asked them to sit.

Could she blame Vivian though? The young man looked like someone they would use in an AIDS advert. He was very thin, he had dreadlocks and tattoo was on every inch of visible skin, so the young man was prone to getting judged by his looks. But she knew better than to do the same to him.

"You!" Fiona called to a passing maid. "Clean this up please. And be careful, they're very sharp."

"Yes ma'am."

"Linda, I'll get the maids to clean up your old room."

Linda smiled warmly and took the baby from her husband. "Thank you. Although I don't think I and Guy will be spending the night here."

His name's Guy? "Oh, you should! Please. I promise to treat you to your favorite dish in the morning."

She shook her head from side to side in negation. "I doubt I can stay here without having a free-for-all with my mom."

"You promised to do this calmly." Her husband whispered.

"Yes, yes I did. Gone are the days when I would have yelled back and torn her hair out. I am better now. More mature." She kissed the child. "All that matters to me is my happiness."

After a long, strained silence passed, Fiona cleared her throat. "What can I offer you?"

"We're okay. I only came to show Mom my baby. She didn't even ask of her name."

Fiona put all her strength in an excited grin, and hoped it made Linda feel better. "What's her name?"

She looked at her husband with love when she said, "Hope."

"That is a very beautiful name." Fiona said sincerely.

Linda smiled. "Thank you, Fiona. Really, thank you. I might not have said this often, but you have been a mother to me. How I wish you had kids of your own. They would be so lucky."

Fiona smiled but this time, it wasn't sincere. She wanted to cry.

The door bell rang again and a maid went to get it before she could.

"Can I at least convince you to stay here for the party? You have a baby. You can't make her move around unnecessarily."

"Who has a baby?"

The trio turned turned to see the person that arrived. It was Mr. Campbell. The native filthy rich American who had married a Russian and had moved to Russia with her, Bartholomew Campbell was a very large chestnut haired man who was too handsome for his sixty-odd age. He had the gait of a man who had the world at his fingertips and green, penetrating eyes that spoke volumes.

He walked further into the room and stopped when he saw Linda.

"Lily!" He tried to hug her but she stepped away.

She turned accusing eyes at Fiona. "You said he was away."

Fiona opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the man. "Away? I could never miss my son's engagement party."

"He's not your son."

He laughed. "What are you talking about? Of course he is. And you are my daughter, too."

"Oh don't pretend to be suave. Save it for your wife." She picked her baby. "Guy, let's go."

"No, no, no. Stay. Please." He turned to look at Guy and stretched his hand. "Hello, I'm Linda's step-dad. You can call me Bart."

"Sounds like fart." Guy said and laughed noisily. He sobered when both Linda and Fiona gave him hostile stares. "Uh, nice to meet you." He took Bart's hand and shook it briefly.

"Honey is that you?" Vivian said, ascending the stairs. She walked straight to Bart and kissed him on the cheek. "Why did you come back?"

"I heard some disturbing news and decided I had to be here."

"What disturbing news? If it's about Linda and her lover -"

"He's my husband, mother."

"How can you call this thing a husband?" Vivian snapped.

"Because he is nothing like yours!"

The whole room fell silent immediately and kept on being that way until Fiona decided it was the moment she came in. This was what she had been doing for over thirty years. This was what she got paid for.

"Who wants some iced tea?" She asked with a bright smile.

"Sounds great."

"No, thank you."

"I would love that."

"I'll pass."

The two men had agreed while the two women hadn't. Fiona stood there unsure. Then an idea occurred to her.

"Uh, ahem," She cleared her throat. "Timothy called earlier. He said he will be arriving in a few. Now that everybody's here, why not have dinner with him before the party starts?"

They all agreed. They all loved Timothy.

Hours later, Fiona had managed to keep the two women from fighting. Linda had settled in her old room with her husband while Vivian was up and about with the preparation. Fiona was getting tired by the minute and wished she could go back to bed. She was fifty-five and tired. It was high time she retired to some nice beach house with the money she had saved up over the years.

But she couldn't. Not until she got what she was looking for.

The late boss's first son. He had gone missing on a trip to the US for over twenty years. The only place he knew in Russia was the Chernyshevsky house now renamed as the Campbell's. She held on to the tiniest bit of hope that he would return, but long awaited hope wearied the mind. She was weary.

She picked up a pen and a writing pad and stepped into the garden. The event planner had done a great job. The chairs and decorations were set. The lightening was being tested and it looked like it would be breathtaking when the sun set. Fiona walked to the man.

"This is lovely, Mr. Bortsov."

He looked up from his writing pad. "It's my job. By the way, there's a problem."

She hated hearing such. "What is?"

"The lightening at the stage is malfunctioning. It's going on and off."

Fiona frowned. "That's odd. Have you called an electrician?"

"Yes I have, about a few minutes ago."

She nodded. "Keep me posted."

She walked to each table and checked what Vivian had insisted should be on each, making sure none was missing. When she noticed someone following her, she turned.

"Hello, ma'am."

She barely glanced at the person that had greeted her before looking back at her pad. "You're the electrician aren't you? Napkins, check. Flowers, check. Tablecloth -"

"No, I'm not."

"Hmm. The florist then. Check. China set -"

"No, ma'am."

She looked up at him. "You're too handsome to be one anyway, no offense to florists out there. You just seem like someone that would be a CEO." Then something occurred to her and she gasped, horrified. "I'm so sorry sir, are you a guest? You're pretty early." She tapped her pocket. "I think I should have a copy of the guest list here - why are you touching my hand?"

"I'm not a guest, Fiona."

Fiona's heart skipped as she looked up at the young man, closely than before. There was something vaguely familiar about him. "Wh-who are you?"

He clasped her hands tighter as tears started to roll down his eyes and his lower lip trembled. "It's Leonid, Fiona." He shook his head. "No, I can't call you Fiona, but Mama. Mama, It's your son, Leo."

~

Devlin had never cried that much in his life. But as he hugged the woman he never knew was his mother, uncontrollable sobs shook his body so hard that he could hardly draw a breath. Tears from an unending source flowed from his eyes as he rocked back and fourth, hugging his mother.

They were in his car, and the journey from the house to his car that was parked outside had been the longest in his life. He had watched her go limp in shock and her lips tremble. He had curbed the urge to throw himself around her like he was doing now. She had quietly placed her pad on a nearby table and had asked him for a place they could talk. He had led her to his car outside, without arousing suspicion. There were a lot of people doing things for the preparation that no one paid them any attention.

"How did you find out?"

He raised his head. "I and my wife -" He stopped and looked at the driver's seat. "Meet my wife, Pamela." He said in English.

Fiona stretched her hand towards her. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"As it is for me." Pamela's face was wet with tears.

"Mama -" His throat tightened. He couldn't believe he was calling someone Mama. "Whenever we're with Pamela, we speak English."

She nodded and kissed his hand. "Okay."

"I'll leave you two to talk." Pamela said and started to open the car door.

"No, babe, I want you to stay."

She reached out and caressed his knee. "You need to be alone with your mom." She looked at Fiona and smiled. Fiona smiled back and nodded. Then she opened the door and stepped out.

"How did you find out?" Fiona asked in Russian after Pamela left.

"When I told Pamela about you, about how you took care of me and gave me the affection I never received from Vivian, she mentioned the possibility of you being my mother. Although we argued back and forth about it, I decided to make a few calls. I found out that you were out of Russia for about six months which was about the same time Vivian was allegedly pregnant with me. I took the leap and concluded. Maybe because I wanted it to be true, I just took the leap and came here. You don't know how relieved I am that it was true."

Fiona took in a deep, shaky breath and expelled it slowly. "I have been carrying this burden for so many years. Your father, Hugh Chernyshevsky, raped me."

Devlin took in a sharp in take of breath. "What?"

She nodded and wiping tears from her eyes with her hand, said, "I was only a child, barely twenty. He was drunk one night and forced himself on me. I wound up pregnant with you."

Devlin buried his face in his palms. "Fuck."

She placed her hand on his back. "I don't want you to ever think that you were a mistake because you were everything to me. You still are. Watching you grow up for ten years, was everything to me."

"Did my father take responsibility?"

She nodded. "When he was sober, he was bitter and apologized. He told Vivian and she blamed me."

"No surprises there."

"She said I move around in short dresses which was what enticed her husband. She made me swear never to speak of it that if I did, she would destroy me. I was a young girl from a poor family and I had everything I wanted from the Chernyshevsky house so I kept it to myself.

"Weeks later, I found out I was pregnant. Vivian was in rage and asked me to get rid of it, while Hugh kept on apologizing. The whole incident almost destroyed him. I insisted that I would never get rid of my child and Vivian suggested that when I started showing, I would go away and she would pretend she was pregnant and take the child as hers. She said she was doing me a favor when in fact she was only trying to cover up the shame and avoid criticism from the high brow society she was associated with."

She wept into her hand and dashed the tears from her eyes with her apron. "I accepted not because I didn't have a choice, but because I thought it would be better than getting rid of you. It broke my heart that you would never get to call me Mama but I consoled myself because you would have a better life."

"You must have been devastated."

"I was, not gonna lie, especially after I fell in love with your dad."

This time, Devlin was surprised. He hadn't been expecting that twist. "What? I thought you said he -"

She nodded multiple times. "Yes, yes but your dad and I, we sort of bonded. I don't know if it was because you were his first child, he just fell in love with you, even before you were born. He would buy gifts for me everyday after wok, he would help me through my morning sicknesses. He would buy books for expecting parents and make me read them. It drove Vivian to jealousy and I understood how she felt. We just couldn't help the emotion.

"When I started to show and I went away, your dad would lie he was on a business trip and come to stay with me. We loved each other and I felt terrible that he was cheating on his wife with me but I couldn't help it. It continued even after you were born and after Vivian had had a child of her own.

"He showered love and affection on you, loved you very much. It drove Vivian mad, I guess that's why she had two children in the space of three years. She wanted him to treat her the way he did me. The guilt would eat at me but your dad knew how to make it all go away. Doing the wrong thing never felt so right." She laughed softly.

"When Vivian found out we were having an affair, she was pregnant with her second child. She threw a fit and wept bitterly. That day, I knew it was time to end things with him. I had hurt her for three years, no woman deserved that. For fear of what could happen to her and her baby, I called him at work and told him I wanted to see him the moment he got back. On his way," her voice broke off and she squeezed her eyes tight. "On his way, a trailer ran into him and killed him."

"I'm so sorry, Mama." He took her in a hug as she wept softly.

"I regret it till this day. He never got to see you grow to be a fine, strong boy." He released her. "I remember when you were born, I didn't even hold you for five minutes before you were taken away to be given to Victoria, so I told myself I had my reasons to get back at her." She looked up at him and touched his face. "But I got to breastfeed you and nurture you and watch you take your first steps." Her hand dropped to her side. "It was all cut short the day they returned from their trip and said you were missing. It was the saddest day of my life. But I stayed on, hanging on to the hope that you would return. That there would be a reunion."

"And here we are, having the reunion. Thank you, Mama. Thank you for being strong for me. Thank you for not giving up."

She smiled and hugged him. "But why are you back in Russia? I mean, I am happy you are but, is there any other reason?"

"Yes, actually, there is." His face became serious. "Mama, I need your help."

~

Thank you so much for reading. Please vote for this chapter, comment your thoughts and if you haven't, please add this book to your library and reading lists. Thank you!