Prologue
It was a late evening when Natasha O’Shea left her father’s coffee shop. The coffee shop was one of the hundreds of thousands that he owned. They all had the same exterior and furniture and the predictableness of everything made her relieved and happy. The coffee shop was her second home and there was not a moment where Natasha had ever hated coffee. Natasha pulled out her cell phone just to grimace at the fact that it was out of battery. She breathed in, a little too fast, and wondered where to go. The coffee shop had just closed and none of the employees really liked her. She could see the little sighs of relief once she pushed open the door. They were sweeping the floors and locking up cabinets but their glares had been replaced with blissful smiles. Was she really that bad? The bus stop was still there where it always was. Natasha tried not to overreact as she sat down on the grimy bench. Wind was blowing from every direction and she just wished she was home. The plastic roof hanging above her head was cracked in many places and Natasha wondered why her father had sent her to check on this particular coffee shop.
“Hello,” a man said and sat down next to her, too close for comfort. His briefcase was thrown down, mercilessly, on the concrete and Natasha wondered how anyone could hate an inanimate object that much. She draped her summer shawl over and looked in the other direction. It was surprisingly cold and Natasha was biting her lip to stop herself from crying. He was wearing a ratty jacket and shoes that were starting to fall apart. He loosened his tie with the crook of his pointer finger and looked expectantly at her.
“Hello,” he said again, a bit louder than last time. His socks didn’t match and Natasha wondered how anyone dealt with these kinds of people.
“Good evening,” Natasha simply said while sighing. She had had a long day and sitting next to an almost homeless stranger was not the way she wanted to end it. She would never again let her cell phone die. Her sunglasses flipped down from her snuggly hazel brown hair even though the sun was setting. The man stared at her curiously before also turning the other direction.
"You like coffee?” It was more of a statement than a question. Natasha raised her eyebrow before realizing that she hadn’t thrown away her empty coffee cup. It had the wonderful logo that she had helped design. She smirked a little bit to herself before nodding. Liking coffee was an understatement for the O’Shea family. Her father couldn’t live without a cup of coffee every morning and evening. He also made millions of dollars every year on other peoples’ need for coffee. The caffeine addicted people sustained the O’Shea family. She of course loved coffee more than anything in this world.
“Yes,” Natasha simply responded. She was tired of carrying around the coffee cup and her eyes scoured around for a trash can. The bus wasn’t coming and she impatiently tapped her new Miu Miu heels against the pavement. “Can I borrow your cell phone? Mine died.” The last thing she wanted this man to think was that she couldn’t afford her own cell phone.
“Sure,” he said with his mouth forming a small smile. He dug in his pocket and a couple quarters spilled out. The man handed the phone to her and then paused to pick up each and every one of the grubby little coins. It was an old and cheap phone with a couple scratches on the screen. Some of the numbers were rubbed off and Natasha almost groaned. Instead she thanked him politely and held it as far away from her ear as possible.
“Dad-d-d-d-d-y,” she said in a muffled tone. It felt oddly embarrassing that this stranger was watching her make this phone call. “Send a limo to that awful coffee shop you sent me to.” Natasha hung up and flipped her hair with an annoyed expression hanging on her face. She wanted to reapply lipstick or even mascara even though none of her makeup had smudged. Natasha poked her finger around her very large Chanel bag that suddenly seemed so last season. She realized she had left the portable makeup bag in the purse she carried around yesterday.
“If you like coffee so much you should come around here. It sells actually good coffee that you can savor, not that garbage you just bought.” The man handed her a business card. The bus had already arrived when she turned her head back. Natasha shook her head frustrated at the world. Who was he to lecture her on good coffee? The bus left, taking all the excessive pollution and honking with it. The man was long gone before Natasha could think of anything sassy to say. Natasha waited and waited until the limo came. When it did, she felt a rage boiling inside of her. She threw her shoes in first and wondered why she had even thought that beige was a good color for pumps.
Natasha woke up the next morning and decided that she would pay a visit to this overly cocky man. Life had rules, rules that she strictly believed in. One of them was that a poor man should never be able to one up a rich woman in anything. She told her father she was checking out competition before slipping on a salmon pink blazer that matched her open toed sandals. The coffee place was in the center of Main Street but it was still fairly small with only a couple old, tattered tables. A tacky doorbell rang when she entered and Natasha was surprised by the amount of people milling about in a small space. She flipped her sunglasses on and hoped that the man from yesterday wouldn’t be here.
“Hello,” that distinguishable voice said cheerily as she reached the counter. Today he seemed more of a bartender and less of a homeless man. The brown nylon apron suited him well.
“Hi,” she said letting out another sigh. She took the sunglasses off and slid them into her purse. Natasha ordered without thinking and wondered why this man made her feel so flustered and clumsy. He was deft at working the espresso machine and Natasha just watched utterly amazed. The coffee was good and Natasha felt strange. The foamy milk melted in her mouth, blending together with the subtle nuances of coffee. This ratty man’s coffee was delicious. Her father’s coffee emporium was nothing compared to this.
“Delicious,” she grudgingly said and sat down at one of the white tables. “I’m Natasha,” she said as an afterthought. Her mind was empty as she slowly drank her espresso.
“Benjamin at your service,” he said winking. He gave her a little cheeky smile before sitting down next to her. He waved his hand at the other guy working. The other guy shook his head while wearing a proud smile. Ben whipped off his apron and clenched it in one hand. He was a little unshaven but good looking, that was for sure. Natasha felt her heart stupidly skip a beat and she wondered why a perfectly mature adult woman couldn’t have a normal conversation with the man she had met at the bus stop. She told herself not to laugh at anything he said but so naturally her lips pursed into a smile and then into a real, genuine laugh. An hour had passed when Ben returned to work. She watched him for a while longer before leaving. Natasha scribbled her phone number on one of the tables and laughed. She hadn’t done anything that reckless and brash since she was fourteen. The door made a ding sound on her way out.
Natasha started to visit a couple times a month and then it became a couple times a week. She always sat down at the table her phone number was still scrawled on. Like a fairytale, she had fallen in love with Benny. Her parents were none too happy about this arrangement. They told her that she had a week to break it off with this ratty man or be kicked out of the O’Shea family. She followed her heart and chose Ben, over money, over family. They got married and true to their word, the O’Shea family did not show up. It was a small ceremony under Ben’s own orange tree. Natasha wondered if she made too rash of a decision. She had only known him for five months when she had accepted his proposal. But once he had wrapped his arms around her and said ‘I love you’ she knew she couldn’t live without her Benny. They moved in to a small apartment using the money Natasha’s grandmother had bequeathed her. It was all they had. Natasha had sold most of her shoes to pay for rent. It was a difficult transition for her to give up all her wealth and riches. At the end of each day, Ben would make her a foamy espresso and they’d kiss on the back porch of the apartment. It was at moments like these that Natasha knew she had made the right decision. Everything was going wonderfully and Natasha was soon pregnant with their baby.
Natasha loved that baby ever since it was a tiny bump. She cooed for hours and made sure that Claire knew everything about the world. Ben was less involved and he had paused once to touch the baby bump. He had always cited work or chores when Natasha excitedly called him over. Natasha had even spent an extravagant sum on premade planners that detailed every step of the pregnancy. She had planned out a whole half hour for ‘Daddy & Claire’ time but ended up slashing out the curly font that dictated it. She wondered why he refused to get to know Claire.
What should have been the happiest day of their lives quickly turned in to the worst. Natasha held little baby Claire in her arms with the love only a mother could feel. Ben squeezed her hand while trying not to cry. Tears had already pooled in his eyes and his voice betrayed him. Of course Natasha believed that he was crying because he had learned the joys of children.
“Tasha, I have to tell you something,” he said slowly and painfully. The executive director of the bank had beaten him before he could mutter another word. She was a stony faced woman who wore her blond hair in a tight bun without a single loose hair. Her red stiletto heels clicked against the tiled floors of the hospital room. Her business suit didn’t have so much as a frayed end or a wrinkle. Glasses hung below her chin and she was wearing something fit for a funeral. The lady had some sort of contract in her hand and waved it around gloatingly. She pushed through the crowds of people, mostly employees and the friends that didn’t leave with Natasha’s wealth, and stood there in front of Ben and Natasha.
“I’m sorry, Tasha,” he choked out before the lady could say a word. The lady’s eyes squinted into some sort of twisted smile. She clasped her hands together and waited for Ben to continue. “I had to do it. You know.”
“Do what, do what Benny?” Natasha held Claire tighter. She started to cry but Natasha patiently waited for Ben to continue.
“Your husband promised us, the bank, his first baby,” the lady said once Ben stopped talking. Ben stared away from Natasha’s betrayed expression.
“How can you give something that isn’t yours? Claire was with me for nine months and you didn’t even want to touch her. Why is the first time you’ve mentioned this?”
“I thought they might leave us alone,” Ben said quietly. The lady burst into a cackling fit of screeching.
Ben explained how he needed money to start up a coffee shop. He had promised the bank his first born daughter in turn for money. Natasha had hard time breathing and took a moment to pick up her pink stiletto. Even while giving birth, she had to be fashionable. Ben recoiled in horror.
“Natasha!” Ben exclaimed. The shoe was just outside his grasp and he closed his eyes. He knew what came next.
She threw it at his face screaming. The lady whisked the baby away and Natasha cried for days on end. After about two months, Natasha returned to almost normal. The only thing majorly different about her was her will and determination. She started work at the coffee shop and devoted all her energy to making it popular and chic. Her love for Ben never faded but she couldn’t face the possibility of ever having a second child. Natasha had forgiven Ben. She wanted to find Claire before moving on with her own life. Ben respected that and soon their coffee shop became reputable, even by the O’Shea family. Natasha’s passion for coffee had surprised him. Natasha and Ben were readmitted into the family and revolutionary changes took place in all of the coffee shops the O’Shea’s owned.
Little baby Claire was sent to an orphanage somewhere in New York. The bank had nothing to do with a baby girl but a contract was a contract. The executive had wanted to get rid of the baby as soon as possible. The orphanage she was sent to was not a place suitable for children. The number of children there were alarming and overwhelming. Claire shared a tiny crib with three other children. The people in charge of the orphanage were running around frantically trying to gain more grants that provided homes and furniture for these children. Claire was one of the lucky ones. Being as cute as a button, she was soon adopted by a woman named Marlene. The orphanage had at first deemed Marlene unable to adopt children. She was infamous around New York for being crazy. However once she dangled an enormous sum in the faces of those in charge, they grudgingly allowed her to take a child. Marlene picked Claire and left without poking her face in the orphanage ever again.
Marlene loved the girl like her own child. Claire was happy as Marlene’s daughter and didn’t know that she was ever adopted. She was a fast learner and Marlene was awed by Claire’s beauty and her smartness. When she was five, Marlene started to homeschool her, drilling her mind with the alphabet and household rules.
“Bad men point guns, pew-pew, outside,” Marlene said nodding at the girl’s terrified expression. Claire was very timid and shy. Marlene often wondered what sort of background the girl was from. They moved on to Goodnight Moon after a rather unpleasant talk about the outside world. Claire hated anything to do with the outside world. Once the child was seven, Marlene returned to work. She left in the morning and returned for supper. Meals were in the fridge and lessons were always laid out on the table. Claire enjoyed her life inside and shuddered every time the curtains were drawn. She hated the oven and never ate anything that had to be properly cooked.
“Can’t you try?” Marlene asked, pleading. She pointed at the oven and touched one of the knobs. Claire had a screaming fit and ran away to her room. The TV was on and Claire’s little head was safely hidden under her pillows.
“Fine, fine,” Marlene said groaning. One day, Claire would grow up. She would have to release her but that thought was somewhere deep in the back of Marlene’s mind. Marlene wondered how her little Claire would survive in the big bad world. It was quite a good thing that Marlene was there to protect Claire from anything bad that could ever possibly happen.
“Mommy, where do you go every day?” Claire asked innocently from her bed.
“Oh a place filled with scary people with guns, pew-pew,” Marlene said to the little girl. It was partly true. Claire was better off living sheltered from the outside. “I fight monsters, Claire.”
Fun fact: I actually drank my first semi-coffee during the summer. It was this really cool form of instant coffee called Kanu, I don't know if any of you have tried it since it's made in Korea. Kanu has actual coffee in it and different levels of coffee, like medium, Americano, Espresso,and so on. I tried a medium Americano after tasting someone else's. She put three "shots" of caramel and we "forced" her to put milk into it. It tasted really good. So I decided to get it but only put two "shots" of caramel. The milk was in a huge milkshake container and the coffee was in a super cute very petite cup. Eventually there was more milk in my coffee than coffee. . .
Here's a lovely picture of Kanu and the very small but cute cup.
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