The next day, Nancy felt so refreshed. She regretted not having allowed her boss to take her into the main building the day he had come to show the quarters to her.

But she refused to be deterred. She went up the doorsteps and pressed the doorbell. The door was opened after she had identified herself and it had been confirmed.

'Welcome, welcome my child. You must be Miss Nancy who moved in yesterday'. Mrs. Potts the main cook said.

Nancy smiled. She had not expected to be received as warmly like this.

'Thank you ma'am. But please it is Nancy. Call me Nancy'.

'Okay. But what have you come here for? Silly me. You must be very hungry. But I was planning on sending your breakfast over to you or inviting you to join us here if you would rather'.

'There isn't any need for that. I am not used to lazing around while allowing others do the work. I do not want to usurp your position or take over your job but I'd like to help since I am not going to the office today'. She explained. She knew from experience that cooks did not like people interfering with their jobs.

'Oh no, you won't. Mr. Campbell sir,instructed that we should not allow you to strain yourself and seeing you, I can understand why', Mrs. Potts smiled.

Nancy looked bewildered. There really was no use hiding her pregnancy since everyone seemed to have noticed it and it wasn't as though it was protruding.

Mrs Potts smiled further, interpreting her puzzlement correctly.

'You do not have to be baffled or ashamed. There is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a good thing. Please come right in, I could use some help'.

Nancy was glad. She met some other helps and they exchanged pleasantries.

Peeling the potatoes,mashing this,and that, chopping the onions and all. Soon the aroma from the kitchen was something to kill for. The coffee pot was put on the fire and .r. Campbell who had been up for sometime and was ready to go out to meet with some friends, came downstairs and Sandy, the kitchen help was asked to take him his breakfast.

'Oh no. Let me do it if you don't mind'. Nancy offered and before they could raise any objections, she carried the tray, then remembered that she didn't know her way around and definitely not to the dinning.

She smiled at Sandy who chuckled at the look on her face and directed her to the place. She thanked Sandy and carried the tray to the dinning to find Mr. Campbell already seated but with the day's papers.

'Good morning sir', she greeted.

He was so absorbed in what he was reading that he answered mechanically, thinking that he was responding to Sandy who always brought him his breakfast.

'Good morning'.

Nancy placed the tray on the table and arranged it for him. She was about to leave when he raised his eyes to ask Sandy a question when he saw Nancy's golden hair caught in a ponytail.

The hair was not Sandy'.

'Hello? Who are...'

Nancy turned back and he swallowed the rest of the words he was about to say or ask.

'What are you doing this early? I didn't give you the quarters so that you could work for me at home as well as the office. I already have people doing all that for me and why were you allowed, Mrs Potts! Sandy!' he called.

Nancy knew that he wanted to ask them why they had allowed her help out and she was angry. She was pregnant not an invalid for goodness sake.

'Okease do not be cross with them. They refused to allow me do anything and in truth, I didn't do much but I felt lonely and I just wanted to be around the people working here and familiarize myself with them. I can only do that if I come out of my quarters and socialize and while doing that, I could help put the coffee pot on fire couldn't I? If I were still living in my house, would I not have cooked for myself and washed and done other domestic chores? I am pregnant sir but not sick and I need the exercise to help me remain strong and aid blood flow for the health of my baby'. she said trying not to show her annoyance.

'I realise that you need to be around people especially when you are not at work but I am concerned for your health. You have not been taking good care of yourself till date and I want both you and your baby to be healthy but if you must, do not over exert yourself and yes, you are free to come in here to chat with them and I could chat with you as well if I am home and not busy'. he said relenting.

'Thank you very much. I shan't over do it. Just the basics'. Nancy said smiling at him happily.

Jason had not really looked at Nancy this closely before and with her casuals, she really looked good and naturally beautiful and that smile was something else. How had he missed such an alluring smile?

He caught himself. He had been staring as surprised as he felt. Nancy really looked transformed and he just wondered why he was just noticing it.

He looked away, reminding himself that she was in his care for protection and she was pregnant with another man's child. He was not supposed to get close to her that way or even allow himself to think along those lines about her.

He became abrupt to cover his confusion.

'Okay. You can leave now. I'd like to have my breakfast now'.

Nancy was surprised as his almost harsh tone but shrugged and left for the kitchen where she ate her meal with Mrs. Potts who scolded her for not taking her food back to her quarters.

Jason was not happy at the way he had spoken to Nancy but that was just what he could do at that time. He had wanted to invite her to join him at the table but the thoughts that had cropped into his mind that instant had been frightening.

He could not allow those thoughts. He had to squash them before they took root.

Nancy had been living with Jason but in her quarters for about a week before Phoebe made her appearance again at the Campbell's mansion.

She had decided not to act too clingy. She decided that the only way to make Jason miss her was to keep a little distance from him. So for about a week,she had stayed away.

Jason had not been bringing female companions to the house but he met with them outside. Phoebe had the privilege of visiting him only because she lived just a stone throw from him and the window of her apartment overlooked his mansion.

There were alot of things she noticed that got Jason thinking that it may not just be that she could see the happenings in his place from her apartment because of her view of his mansion but that she may have a binoculars,that made what she saw clearer.

He had dismissed the thought thinking that she had no reason to spy on him that way.

It was a Friday night and she came and spent the night with Jason though he would rather not have had her visit. He was beginning to get tired of the frequency of her visit but he was too cultured to tell her so. He thought that his body language would be enough to put her off but she seemed to be oblivious to it.

The next day was a Saturday. Jason had got his emotions under control after telling himself all the reasons why he could not allow himself to be attracted to Nancy.

He asked Nancy to have breakfast with him. Do they had been having breakfast together every morning and they would go to work together and when he had to get to somewhere before the office, he always called her a cab or dropped her off at the office before being on his way. They were growing close and most times, they would discuss about the office work and the schedule for the day on the dinning table and on the way to the office.

Jason felt that he could not have been luckier having such a secretary as Nancy. She was a fast learner' and did her work efficiently.

She was also so humble and easy going. All his household staff had grown to love her in the short space of time that she had been living with them

She was also hardworking. Though that was the part that they didn't really agree

But they had agreed to disagree.

Nancy, not knowing that there was a female visitor in the house had brought Jason's breakfast as usual enough for both of them, though she was surprised that Mrs. Potts had made more food. Nancy had simply thought that Jason must have specially requested for that

She had her cup of tea because she could not tolerate coffee

And this had started since her pregnancy.

She set the tray on table and was shocked that the table had been set for three, not two as usual.

'Good morning Sir'

'Good morning Nancy', he replied softly.

'Are we expecting someone to join us?' she asked as she took her seat at the table.

Before Jason could say anything, Someone entered the room and Nancy looked up into the eye of a beautiful woman.

The lady was not very young as she was but no one could deny her beauty. And she was really curvy with flowing curly chestnut hair.

'Yes, I shall be joining you'.

Nancy could not take her eyes off the lady but she felt that the lady did not like her. It was not in anything she said or did but there was this hostile and threatening look in her eyes as she smiled at Nancy that put Nancy on her guard.

'Phoebe, this is Nancy, my personal secretary. Nancy, Phoebe Walkman, my friend'.

Phoebe did not like the way Jason had introduced her. She felt that they were more than just friends and he could have said something like, my lady friend,though she would have preferred it if he refered to her as his fiancee. But lady friend would have sufficed but she was going to make this girl know in no uncertain terms that they were definitely more than just friends.

'Jason darling, but what is your personal secretary doing here having breakfast with you?' she asked, her voice dripping honey as her eyes shot daggers at Nancy, then she turned and smiled sweetly at Jason.

'She is living in the quarters and we have developed a ritual of having breakfast together before going off to work. It is a perfect arrangement that is mutually beneficial'. Jason said eating his breakfast with a great appetite.

'Nancy,why are you not eating? Please eat so that you can tell me some of the programs I have for next week'. he said ignoring Phoebe.

Phoebe was not very happy about this. They ate in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts.

Phoebe looked at the girl called Nancy through her eyelashes and was consumed with jealousy. Nancy was very beautiful. Even that early and without makeup, her skin was translucent and wrinkle free. One could see that she had not just beauty but youth as well. Her shape was great. Though the tea shirt she wore was on the big size,her firm breasts were still visible and her firm buttocks in the jean she had on was an indicator that she was a beauty. If she were to dress up with the right make up and jewelry, then Phoebe was afraid that she would be no match for Nancy.

And she was living here and having breakfast with Jason every morning. Who knows what else, they were sharing apart from breakfast and a ride to work.

They were close at home and at the office as well. This was dangerous and not a welcome development at all.

Phoebe could see her months of scheming on how to become Mrs Campbell going to waste and her efforts, going down the drain.

She had to do something to stem this development before it got out of hand. But how was she going to do it. If they had had a normal relationship, she would have staked her claim on him but what they had was an open relationship and she dated not show her disapproval openly.

She decided that she would make out time to speak privately with Nancy.

Nancy could feel hostility oozing out of the beautiful lady called Phoebe. She wondered why she was being so hostile. She was not a threat to her nor her relationship with Mr. Campbell. In fact the relationship she had had would last her a lifetime considering the fruit of that failed relationship.

Right now, she was not interested in having any relationship bit to prepare for the birth of her baby and how she was going to cope with being a single mother but a good one to her baby.

The lady had definitely spent the night with Mr. Campbell. Yet she was feeling threatened by the mere presence of a secretary? What kind of relationship did they have then if she was not confident of her hold on her partner or any trust in him.

She felt that she had had enough and put down her spoon and fork.

She said thanks and got up to leave the table but her boss asked her to stay since he still had things to discuss with her.

Phoebe who had been happy that Nancy was going to leave the table,nearly shouted out her frustration, when Jason stopped her from leaving.

Dark eyes looked daggers at hazel eyes and Nancy refused to be intimidated. She had done nothing for which she should be ashamed or for which Phoebe should be hostile to her.

They stared at each other for a long time and Nancy who had wanted to give an excuse why she had to go to her room, sat back down, deciding not to move an inch except instructed by her boss.

She sat back and watched the other two finish their dinner as Jason ignored Phoebe and asked Nancy some more questions about the office while Phoebe seethed.

She felt like standing and throwing down her napkin and storming out the room but that would have been too revealing. So, she sat there and pasted a smile on her face but she could feel her face burning with humiliation and anger. Her cheeks too were starting to pain her from her false smile.

Thank goodness, the meal was finally over as Jason wiped his mouth and hands with the table towel and got up.

Nancy picked the tray and went into the kitchen. She wondered how Jason could be so unaffected. Didn't he feel the tension in the room?

And what kind of relationship did they share that made him act less loving towards Phoebe. She had been expecting a more blatant show of affection and had steeled herself to feel self pity because her of the betrayal of her so - called love.

Nancy thanked Mrs Potts for the delicious meal and went off to her quarters where she fell into the bed drained. Even if she had not been pregnant, she would not have wanted to be the woman who would make another lose their love and that was why it hurt her that without knowing who she was, Phoebe was already judging her and being cold towards her.

But she was not going to allow that bother her because she had a whole lot of other things to concern herself with.

Nancy had to admit though that she was beginning to like her boss quite alot.

She rembered the part he had played at the burial of his late secretary. At first she had waved it off with the explanation that he was just performing his duty as a good boss and anyways, the late Mrs. Amos had deserved it judging from the glowing accolade her colleagues had given her and as a result of her years of faithful service but he had gone the extra mile to give scholarships to the late secretary's grand children and some other noble acts which Nancy had to admit had impressed her greatly.

She knew that the selfish lover she had had would never had done that.

The way he treated his staff was also worthy of commendation. He cared for their welfare. He was a freak for dedication and was strict but he was also king and generous. Just take a look at the way he just helped her. She had materialized out of the blue and yet without knowing her very well nor her background, he had helped her in more ways than one and that was why she was finding her present situation endurable.

It was really easy to fall in love with such a person and with the way they were growing closer these days, Nancy felt that she would have to be careful. But definitely with a lady friend like Phoebe, she had nothing to be afraid of now did she? She felt drowsy. She had wanted to knit some things for her unborn child. She wanted to make some things for it herself and buy the others but she was feeling exhausted and decided to just shut her eyes a little.

She must have dozed. She did that alot these days especially if she was not occupied. She was shocked to wakefulness by a sharp knock on the door.

She dragged herself off to the door thinking that it must be Tim or Sandy coming in for a chat or to inform her that her boss wanted her for something or maybe Mrs. Potts wanted her help with something.

Judging from what he had said during breakfast, Mr. Campbell should have gone out by now. So who could it be and what did they want?

She opened the door to find Phoebe standing there as though she had come for a war.

'Phoebe, you are here. Can I help you with anything?'

'Of course. You can help me with plenty. But the first is that you not set your eyes on my man. I can see what you are trying to do. cozying to him, pretending innocence' Phoebe said looking hard at Nancy.

Her brain was befuddled with sleep. She could not understand what she was blabbing about.

'What are you saying?' she asked.

'Oh, please do not pretend to be innocent or unaware of what I am saying. You better stay in your limit. Jason and I will soon get married and you will just be ruining your life setting your cap on him. He is already caught and he is mine'.

Nancy looked at the woman standing before her, with pity as her words sank in and shook her head.