Free Rachel Weeping by Brett Michael Innes

argument.
    â€˜ Blue ones?’
    Rachel smiled and nodded, switching the backpack to her other hand.
    Maia squealed in excitement. ‘Wait, Mama,’ she said, holding the doll up for Rachel to take. Then she pulled off her jersey and, her face solemn in concentration, placed the neck of it around the crown of her head. Rachel waited and watched, trying to work out what Maia was doing. When she had finished her adjustments, Maia brushed the jersey out and looked up at Rachel with a big smile on her face.
    â€˜Look, Mama!’ she said triumphantly. ‘Long hair like a princess!’
    Rachel couldn’t hold back her smile and she laughed out loud as Maia flicked her ‘hair’ around, combing the folds of cloth with her small brown fingers as though they were strands of hair. Maia laughed, too, as she ran around her mother, singing the theme song from Frozen in her sweet high voice.
    â€˜Come, you silly thing,’ Rachel said finally, taking Maia by the hand. ‘You may be a princess but this maid needs to get back to work.’
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chapter 5
    Chris grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl and his keys from the kitchen counter, the clock telling him that he was already late for work. He looked around to see if he was missing anything important and, satisfied that he wasn’t, hurried out to his car.
    Today was the first day of Michelle’s ‘rest’ and he had left her to sleep in, being as quiet as he could while he showered and got dressed so that he didn’t wake her. He walked up the driveway, his work shoes clicking on the cold slate which this morning was covered in a thin layer of frost and leaves. When he was a child one of his chores in autumn had been to sweep the dead leaves into piles and put them into black trashbags. Now he had Richmond to do that, and to make sure that everything else in the garden was in order.
    He had almost reached the car when he saw Rachel walking towards the house. She was wearing a thick woollen jersey over her blue and white uniform and had her arms folded tightly around her chest from the cold. Chris wasn’t a fan of maids in uniforms but, as it turned out, Rachel had told them that she preferred working in a uniform because it kept her normal clothes from getting dirty. So Chris had had to learn to accept its presence in the house, even though it was a constant reminder to him that he’d become a person who employed a servant.
    Rachel hadn’t seen him yet. She rubbed her arms in an attempt to get the blood circulating. Even though Chris knew her light went off at 20:30 every night, he thought she looked tired. He couldn’t imagine what she was going through. He still found it difficult to engage with her about anything other than what he and Michelle needed her to do for them in the house.
    â€˜Rachel!’ Chris called out and she looked up, startled at the sound of his voice. ‘I’m glad I bumped into you. How are you doing?’
    â€˜I’m well, Mr Jordaan,’ Rachel replied.
    Rachel’s return to formality baffled Chris and made him deeply uncomfortable, but he didn’t know whether to say something about it or not. ‘I just wanted to tell you that Michelle will be at home today.’
    â€˜Okay. Is she sick?’
    â€˜No. The doctor just said that she needed to rest a lot more for the baby so we’ve decided that she’ll stop working and stay at home for the next few months.’
    Chris watched Rachel process the information but her face was emotionless, betraying nothing of what she might be feeling or thinking. He and Michelle never talked about the baby when Rachel was within hearing, unless it was absolutely necessary. Now was one of those times.
    â€˜I just thought I’d let you know,’ Chris concluded.
    Rachel nodded. ‘I’ll make sure I don’t disturb her,’ she said.
    Chris didn’t know how to respond to this. Rachel had misunderstood