Alice, the step-mother has come to check in on Amber.

"What are you doing here?"

Mindy paused and slowly turned her head to the voice behind her. She quickly covered herself with the towel and stepped back. "The step-mother!"

"Yes, and you are the maid my soon to be ex-husband hired. Why are you still here, when he's out of the country?" She towered over the young maid with her open toed, three inch stilettos. The white leather pants and matching jacket added to her look of intimidation. She waited impatiently for Mindy to answer.

"Um..."

"He's not really out of the country, is he? That two timing toad was lying about the whole trip and was having his fun behind my back!" The tall blonde looked up to the second floor, where there was the light on in the master bedroom. "Aha! So he IS here! I'll give that snake a big surprise when I barge in on him caught in the act!"

"Oh no..." Mindy said, "That's not Mr. Devonshire... that's..." she caught herself before finishing the statement.

"That's who? Amber? She's in there with a boy, isn't she?" Alice rolled her eyes, "I don't even know why I should bother looking out for her, she's not even my real daughter. For love of all things! I knew I shouldn't have left her unsupervised." She stamped her foot and shook her head. "Well, I'll put a stop to this."

"Wait wait..." Mindy cried out, "She's with her friends..." The step mother stopped. "She was with her friends all day. I've been with them the whole time! They've been doing birthday stuff and there are no guys here, honest!" Mindy decided to leave out the detail about the stripping, making out and eventually orgy in case the step mother would protest to that sort of thing. If Mindy could distract her long enough for the girls to finish their fun and cover themselves up, then the step mom would be none the wiser. She went on, "Maybe you could just let her have her party tonight? You wouldn't want to interrupt her good time, would you?"

Alice slumped her shoulders and sighed, "You know, I've tried so hard to be like a mother to her, but she rejects me in every way. Even if things between me and Steven don't work out, I'd like to think that she can still turn to me for advice or support. It's not her fault that she's been neglected; he leaves her on her own way too much and she needs some sort of authority figure. I came by thinking that no one should have to spend their birthday alone." She gave a small smile. "At least she has her friends to support her... I'll just peek in to check in on her, then I'll head out."

"Ah, you can't do that..." Mindy blurted out.

Alice stopped and turned to Mindy. "Why not?"

"Well..." Mindy was drawing a blank. She had to think quickly. "She... she's... I'm supposed to not let anyone in unannounced. I'm working for her today." She nodded as if that would make the statement more true.

Alice raised an eyebrow, "Is that so?"

Mindy nodded again, "She's the princess today and I have to follow her orders."

Alice twirled her finger toward Mindy's towel, "Is that why you're wearing that?"

Mindy nodded.

Alice looked at Mindy for a long moment before she said, "This agency of yours... they said they fulfill all sorts of desires for their clients..."

"That's right," Mindy said, afraid her nods would start to annoy the step mother.

"Are you fulfilling one of hers right now by keeping me from checking up on her?"

Mindy shook her head quickly, "She never asked me to do anything of the sort."

"Then I'm going in to check on our princess." Alice smiled and turned curtly to the door.

She marched in before Mindy could stop her. Mindy contemplated tackling the woman and dragging her back out or maybe calling out to alert the girls, but that woman was already up the stairs like a silent cat. Mindy decided it must be the long legs. Seconds later, Mrs. Devonshire stepped back down again. She held a distant gaze as she numbly stepped into the kitchen. Mindy wasn't sure what she should do now. The activities appeared to be uninterrupted upstairs. Amber's step mom walked over to the living room, ignoring the mess of cake and cream that was scattered everywhere. She sat down with a bottle of wine and a glass. Mindy stepped in to join her, silently sitting next to her as she filled her glass and took a long swig.