“Do you have any rice?”
“Of course,” she replied quickly and moved off to the left where the dry pantry apparently was stored. Taking out a big bag, she put it on the counter. “What are you going to do with this? I can make you something, yes?” she asked hopefully.
Darcy shook her head. “No, I really don’t want to be a bother. I know you’re busy preparing lunch but if you wouldn’t mind sharing your kitchen? I’d like to help the dog that’s down in the village.”
The woman waved her hand. “Jose should have taken that mutt. Now he and the others are a pest,” she said dismissively. She moved back to her cutting, saying, “Of course you can help yourself to anything you need. And I will be happy to help however I can.”
Darcy kept the smile on her face but took down a medium sized pot and filled it with water. When the water was boiling, she poured a hefty amount of rice into the mix. “Do you have any leftover meat?” Darcy asked hopefully.
The woman nodded and shuffled over to the fridge, pulling out a plastic container filled with leftovers from the previous night’s dinner. Darcy smelled the dish and groaned softly, wishing she’d come down for dinner because this smelled delicious. “Thank you!” she replied, smiling as she moved back to her own table. A knife and cutting board were easy to find and she set about cutting up the meat.
Once the meal was prepared, she dished out a large amount into a steel bowl, promising Adele that she’d bring the bowl back in about an hour.
With her treasure in her hand, she hurried back down to the village, taking the stairs more slowly on the downward trek for fear of tripping in her excitement.
The dog was in the same place where she’d left it and Darcy knelt down once more with the bowl of food in front of her. The dog immediately sniffed the air. When the animal stood up and came closer, unhesitating, Darcy felt a rush of relief. The dog wasn’t beaten as she’d originally suspected, but was just shy.
And then the truth came out, all four of them! Tiny little puppy replicas of the adult dog and Darcy’s mouth dropped open as she watched the tiny creatures waddle behind their mother on unsteady feet, not wanting to be away from her for too long.
Darcy’s heart went out to the tiny little puppies who were too thin for their age. They should have much more puppy fat on their bodies but she could see their ribs and their eyes were much too large for their faces.
“Oh, you poor little creatures,” she cooed, petting the mother gently so she would know her touch before Darcy touched her babies. “Will you let me help you, old girl?” she asked the momma. The mother looked up once, then stuck her face back into the dish, wolfing down the unexpected meal.
Thirty minutes later, Darcy was happily carrying the puppies up the stone steps with the momma wagging her tail beside her. Once Darcy reached the house, she set the puppies down and led them over to the pool. Taking one of the cushions down off the chairs, the momma immediately sat down and the puppies curled up, each one immediately searching for a nipple to nurse from. Darcy petted each puppy as well as the momma, smiling as the dog flopped down as her ears were scratched. Darcy could see the fleas as well as the bare spots on the dog’s fur where she’d scratched.
“Don’t worry, girl. I’ll get you fixed up in no time.” Now that the momma had food, she was able to produce more milk for her babies who drank heavily, filling their tiny bellies until they too were full. Then all five of them plopped down for a much needed nap while Darcy snuck away to the kitchen once again.
“Adele, we have a flea emergency. You wouldn’t by any chance have any lavender or rosemary, would you?”
Adele immediately wiped her hands and nodded her head. “Of course. I use rosemary in some chicken dishes and grow it out back. Manuel brings in lavender from Paris for the laundry. How much do you need?”
“Probably a handful of rosemary leaves will do the trick. I’ll just mash it into the shampoo in my bathroom already so it should be a good remedy for those pesky fleas.”
Darcy spent the rest of the afternoon bathing the momma dog and brushing her fur, feeding her more rice and meat so she could feed her babies more often. By the early afternoon, all the dogs smelled lovely and were following her around adoringly as Darcy played catch with them and snuggled them down into an old blanket when they tired, which was often since they were so malnourished. It would take several days before the puppies filled out as they should be and the momma dog was already looking better, although that was most likely due to the two baths she’d gotten to rid her of the fleas.
When she went down to dinner, she had a spring in her step and a purpose in her life which was wonderful. She was smiling softly until she stepped out onto the patio for the evening meal.
“Where the hell have you been all day?”
Darcy stopped mid-stride and looked around for the evil man. When she spotted him by the pool, she glared right back at him. “Why do you care where I’ve been all day? You’ve locked yourself up in your office so I’ve found my own amusements. Just like you told me to do. Don’t get angry when I follow your silly orders!”
Sergei couldn’t believe the woman standing in front of him. Gone was the nervous, pale woman who was lovely despite her fear of him and her situation. Now, the woman was still painfully thin but her cheeks had a glow of color about her, her eyes were spitting fire at him but their sparkle was different, mysterious.
“Why didn’t you come down for lunch? I told you that you could do anything you wanted, but I must insist that you eat normal meals. Maybe even several meals,” he commanded, hands on his hips as he tried to intimidate her into following his orders. Never had he even had to try to intimidate someone before so why was she glaring right back at him as if she were about to lash out at him for his rudeness.
“Maybe I had more important things to do today? Maybe the world doesn’t revolve around your meals and your commands.”
“On this island, they do!”
“I don’t!”
“You will,” he said softly. “You will eat dinner tonight and I’m going to ensure that you eat every meal from now on!”
“Are you sure you can spare the attention away from your precious empire?”
“I’m surprisingly good at multitasking.”
Darcy was about to storm away, damned if she was going to dine with a man as horrible as this one. She’d rather starve that eat across the table from Sergei. But at that moment, Manuel brought out a steaming platter of shrimp, lobster and several other delicious smelling sides and Darcy’s stomach rebelled at the idea of walking away from the evening meal. Skipping two meals yesterday was one thing. Skipping this one, especially now that she knew what was on the menu, was almost impossible.