"I will not delete it, Sophia. I can't trust you not to tell your brother about me and your father."
"I swear I will do no such thing. You can trust me. I promise."
" I know I can trust you as long as I have the video. That is why I am going to keep it. Now take your Dad to the hospital and let's pretend that we never met today. Okay."
"Caitlin please, I'm begging you." She wailed.
But I ignored her wailing, removed my dress and went under the shower for a quick bath.
After bathing, I listened for her voice and heard nothing but still waited a little bit to make sure she was really gone. Then I opened the door and entered the room. I wore one of Riley' shirts and headed for the greenhouse where the boys were just loading the last set of flower pots. I greeted them, sat on a bench and waited.
In less than 10 minutes they were done. I got into the truck and headed for Bayleaf.
It wasn't 10am yet and my day was already all shades of crazy!
A lot of questions got answered without me asking.
So my Mum was cheating on my Dad with Uncle Ron. Who else knew of this? What would happen if my Dad got to know? Will they divorce? What should I do? Should I tell him? I was really confused. But at least now I knew why the lavender fields were so important to Mum. It was her gift to her lover and to make sure nothing changes, she was going to marry me off to her lover's son.
What a soap opera!
With how big our farm is, it is sectioned off into orchards, ranches, poultries and so on. We grow everything from cash crops to food crops. We also farm round the year thanks to Arizona favorable weather.
While all other sections of the farm are big and highly profitable, the only part of the florist and gardening business that is bringing in high income is the lavender field.
From what I have heard in bits and pieces, mum's best friend had died and the husband, uncle Ron, who is a florist was doing pretty badly so mum had convinced Dad to start a flower farm. Dad had refused until mummy acquired a promissory note kind of contract to supply lavender oil to a big soap and perfume company.
Dad signed off some 2 acres closest to the house for the lavender fields and that is where the greenhouse is located. In fact it is the first place you will see once you enter that part of the farm.
After getting the land, Mummy had the greenhouse and a three bedroom house built side by side. She gave Uncle Ron and his two kids; Riley and Sophia, the house to live in, free of charge and made him the farm manager even though he is just a florist. She then opened the florist store in town where we now sell flowers, gardening tools and seedlings. And surprisingly, the florist store is doing well on its own and over the years, the lavender fields grew bigger as demand increased.
While growing up, I saw Riley and Sophia as my siblings even though I do have a brother but he was and is still never around. Or should I say he considered me a burden as the age gap between us is very wide. He is 10 years older than I because mum had him in her teens and had been married since then.
Growing up, I saw Sophia, who is the same age as my brother, follow him around like a lapdog. She was even worse than a lapdog. I watched Daniel humiliate her and have his friends make fun of her. But she never minded as long as she could be by Daniel's side.
My first contact with sex was because I caught the two of them in the greenhouse going at it. I was 6 and Riley was 9.
I was born two years after Riley's family moved into our farm and by the time I was grown enough to know what was right and what was wrong, Daniel, who was already in his teens, had several antics up his sleeves and breaking all the pretty hearts, this side of Arizona.
As a child, I loved him so much and there was nothing I wanted more than his attention which he never gave. Same thing happened to Riley. He worshiped Daniel as much as I did and we bonded over that mutual feeling. So we were always shadowing Daniel within the farm.
I had a nanny who had to start taking care of Riley since I refused to do anything without him. Each time I requested to be taken to the greenhouse, she would drive me there. And most times, I only wanted to go to the greenhouse because Daniel could be there. As for Riley, he was practically living in our house because I demanded it.
Those days, whatever I wanted, I got because that was the only way to make me stay out of everybody's hair. Not that mum and dad were ever available enough to play with me anyway. So Riley was like my toy. My living toy. We did everything together. Looking back, it was kind of cute and horrible at the same time. Riley was at my mercy 24/7. Not that he complained though.
That day, I was with Riley playing with our Jeddah swords when we heard a sound like something heavy fell on the floor. Riley immediately dropped his sword and whispered to me that "They have started again." My eyes went wild with anticipation of witnessing something Riley had seen the previous day and described to me as wrestling. What puzzled me most was how he said Sophia was more powerful than Daniel because she was on top of him and hitting him with all her power. He said Daniel was crying like one of the bulls at our cattle ranch. I felt insulted on behalf of Daniel and we decided to stay at the greenhouse so Riley could show me proof or I would report him to Daniel and he would get his due punishment.
Anything to get Daniel's attention back then was on the table including Riley.
The greenhouse isn't a typical rectangular glass box filled with green plants and twinges. It is a cross within a circle. From outside, all you will see is a circle. The only way to see the cross is to fly over the structure. The four triangles formed by the joining together of the circle and the cross within the circle are open fields where flowers are groomed. Except for one field that was dedicated to cultivating daddy's favorite herbal tea.
The greenhouse as a whole sits on 19 acres of land presently but when it started out, it was just 15 plots. As the lavender field brought in more money and the florist shop flourished on its own capacity without any support, more land got allocated to the greenhouse and the lavender field respectively.
When we were young, we were not allowed into the greenhouse; I and Riley, because we were always tempering with the cherry tomatoes. They are sweet and I used to have them in all my meals. One can imagine the damage I did to them whenever I visited their slot in the greenhouse.
Since Daniel and Sophia were already teens, they were allowed in and even worked their summer jobs there. But luckily for us, Riley at nine was a little devil. He had figured out how to pick locks and this was how we got access into the greenhouse using one of the numerous back doors.
The moment we entered, everywhere was quiet. It was a Sunday and a holiday for all workers so the place was empty. With Riley's leading, we soon started hearing muffled voices and as we hurried towards the voices, they became clearer. They were the sound of neighing horses and bellowing bulls.