I began my day at 6am, showering, cleaning my room, and dressing for my first day of work. I was so nervous I had butterflies, but I knew after last night that I was ready for anything!

At 7am I started work. It didn’t take me long to fall into the normal swing of things. Cleaning the West Wing was just like cleaning a large house. It was sorely obvious that Mr. and Mrs. Bemerton did not sleep together, nor in fact like each other very much, but kept up appearances for some reason or another. The West Wing was Mrs. Bemerton’s area, and the East Wing was Mr. Bemerton’s.

I began with the normal chores and before I knew it, it was nearly 9am and I was to be at the breakfast table for inspection with the others. We lined up according to seniority, so I was dead last, of course.

Mr. Bemerton walked in first and my breath was taken away. Here was a man who was at least 60, but he was so devastatingly handsome he made my heart flip-flop. He had a chiseled face, laugh lines around big, blue eyes, snow white hair, an athlete’s build and, finally, a charming and disarming smile. He walked down the line politely saying hello to each servant until he got to me.

When he got to me he paused, introduced himself, and asked me my name. “Elena Marceau, sir,” I said, and bowed my head. “It’s lovely to meet you, Ms. Marceau,” he replied. This was so odd, in all of my other jobs, the master of the house was never so familiar with the servants. But this was no ordinary house.

Mr. Bemerton took his seat about the time Mrs. Bemerton walked in. She walked directly to her chair and was about to sit down when Mr. Bemerton said, “Won’t you meet Ms. Marceau, dear?” And he gestured to me.

She walked over to me, looked me up and down, then reached out and pressed my breasts with the palms of her hands. “I guess YOU picked this one out,” she said to him, and sat back down.

“No dear, I’ve only just met her this morning.”

“Yeah right,” she huffed. I could the see the jealousy and resentment between them. It was alarming to be at the center of it.

After we were dismissed, I returned to my chores.