Chapter 1

It is 4:00 in the afternoon, the rain continued to fall without giving any sign that it was going to go away. Michael and the children had entered the house, in the living room of Michael's family's country house there were people talking about thousands of things at the same time, and since they arrived at lunchtime, Christina had not had not the slightest opportunity to sit down to rest. Despite the fact that she had been servants in the service of her family, her mother-in-law had had the nerve to send him to the kitchen to serve him. First she served him lunch, second she served him coffee with dessert, and third, she was now washing the dirty lunch dishes with the help of one of the servant women who had offered to dry the dishes and then put them away in her room. respective place. Christina no longer felt her feet, she wanted to sit down to rest, her back was hurting as well as her waist. Her stomach kept screaming for a plate of food, but her mother-in-law threatened to give her nothing until the kitchen work was finished and impeccable how she liked to have it so much. "You're tired, right?" She asks the 70 year old woman next to her. "Yes, the truth is that my whole body hurts, I can't feel my feet, my back hurts, my waist hurts, I'm also hungry," she replies. "Finish washing those dishes and help yourself to something to eat, but when you do, go eat on the patio, the lady is now so focused on her poker game with her sons-in-law that she won't come to the kitchen until she wins that game that just started" says the woman. "Do you really think that she can do it calmly without pressure from that woman?" Christina asks the woman helping her. "Yes, it's only fair that you sit down to rest and eat something" she replies. "Thank you Roberta, you don't know how I need that break, what's for lunch?" Christina asks, wiping her hands on a cloth before going to help herself. "Roasted meat with spring salad and yellow rice" the woman answers as she takes her place, stopping drying and putting away the dishes to prepare to wash the last thing that was left. "No Roberta, that's the guests' food, what's ours? the food of the servants? Christina asks simply as she looks at Roberta for an answer. "Ma'am, you are not from the servants" scolds Roberta. "I know Roberta, but I feel as if it were, those who are sitting there are supposed to be my mother-in-law, and the rest of my family, brothers-in-law, uncles, grandparents, and even my husband is there playing power with his mother while our children play with their cousins, sometimes I feel like I'm not part of this family, I'm just part of the servants" Christina tells Roberta with a sad tone, she was feeling a lump in her throat and wanted to cry. "No my lady, I don't know what kind of family you have, and what you have done to deserve that treatment from them, your husband should be willing to defend you from your mother, but not playing power and ignoring that treatment that they are giving you. giving, you are his wife, his wife, the mother of his children, but not his servant. Mrs. Roberta was right, Christina had not done anything wrong to deserve those deals, all she did was fall in love with one of the most coveted men in the families of her stratum, he was a billionaire, his parents owned a one of the most important chocolate factory companies in the country. When his father died, he inherited 50% of the company, and his mother the other 50%. Her mother never went to the company, but she guided him whenever he needed her advice to keep the company performing well for her accounts. Christina had met him at her father's company, Christina's family owned a small bakery and pastry business, her husband had joined her father to do supplier business, and she was there at the time of the meeting because he was in charge of managing the company's accounting, as well as the contracts. Although her family was doing very well, to James's mother she was never woman enough to be his daughter-in-law and wife to her only child. She was a very cold, dry, interested and materialistic woman. Christina sometimes wondered how the hell she had ever succeeded in her company by being that way with people. Christina finished her task with the dishes, and went over to the counter where the pots of prepared food were. "You can help yourself to what we cook for the guests, in the end, whether they want it or not, you're part of the family even if you're here washing the dishes" Roberta tells her when she sees her approaching there. Christina looks at him, giving her a slight smile as she nods. She was right, Christina was part of the Evans family, and it may sound ugly, but Mrs. Evans was such a classist woman that, when it came to mealtimes, she required the servants to eat things other than the usual. that she and her family ate. Roberta had prepared only stewed meat with cooked potatoes and yellow rice for the servants. This was not a very prestigious menu, but Christina thought it was delicious, since she loved to eat stewed meat with rice. But then, in order not to think about it so much, and also not to want to look like the other one of her mother-in-law's, Christina ended up helping herself to a plate with a bit of both meals. She poured lemon tea in a glass, took her cutlery, and went to the backyard that was just behind the kitchen, she only had to go through the sliding glass door that was open letting in the fresh air. from rainy weather to the kitchen. In the patio, there was a four-seater table with an umbrella that would prevent Christina from getting wet while she ate at ease in her moment alone and quiet. Christina tasted the first bite of the stewed meat, and that was what she needed to restore her inner peace.