A Reckless Life

by Michelle Files

  Adam and Sarah looked at each other, but I dismissed it and headed out to get my things. As soon as I was out of the room, I heard Sarah start talking and decided to stop and listen, because I was sure they were going to talk about me.

  “What in the world are you thinking? We don’t know this girl and she has no references. All of her possessions are in a duffle bag for god’s sake. She could kill us in our sleep. Or worse, rob us blind.”

  “Seriously, don’t be so dramatic,” Adam replied. In my mind he rolled his eyes at her. I could just tell from the tone of his voice. If that’s actually what happened, Sarah chose to ignore him. “She is just a young girl, down on her luck. She looks like she could use a helping hand. We have plenty of room here and really could use the help. You were just complaining that you have to do everything, weren’t you? Besides, I think you made some comment the other day about starving to death if the cook didn’t get some help. Let’s give her a chance. I’m sure she’ll be just fine.”

  He was so calm about the situation. I knew I was going to like him. Sarah seemed like she couldn’t help being worried. I couldn’t really blame her. They didn’t know me and had no idea what I was capable of.

  “I will have John keep a close eye on her. We can’t just let her have the run of the place. She is a dirty vagrant after all,” I heard Sarah say. I’ll bet that she crinkled up her face in disgust when she called me a ‘dirty vagrant.’

  She had a point though.

  I was afraid one of the staff would catch me eavesdropping, so I left quickly to get my things. I had dropped my duffle bag in the bushes right before I came across them in the driveway. When I went back into the house, Adam instructed John to show me to my new room and to introduce me to Oliver, the head cook. Oliver would be thrilled to have help. He had been complaining for weeks about all the work he had to do alone, Adam told me.

  John led me through the back hallway to the servants’ quarters. The house just seemed to get darker and smaller, the further back we walked. I almost felt like ducking down from the low ceiling as we walked down the dank hallway. It was just a feeling. The ceiling wasn’t actually any lower than any other part of the house, it just felt that way. But, I didn’t mind. Anything was better than some of the places I had stayed in during my time out in the world.

  When we reached my room, I was pleasantly surprised. It was very small, no doubt. Only large enough for one bed and a dresser. But, it was heaven. I would be happy here. A job and a place to live. Right then it felt like I hit the lottery.

  Chapter 6

  Working at “the ranch,” that’s what everyone called the huge estate we were on, was a dream come true. I was in heaven and had no idea how I got so lucky, after all my questionable decisions over the last few months. I started my days very early, getting everything ready for breakfast. I even started before Oliver, the head cook, arrived at work. It was my job as his assistant to do all of the prep work for the entire day’s meals. And boy, there was a lot of it. We had to feed the family, of course, but we also cooked for the entire house staff, as well as all of the ranch hands.

  Most of the ranch hands, and their families, lived on the property in one of the many cabins peppered all over the ranch. I have no idea how many there were. Dozens, I’m sure. So, we cooked for everyone. It was an amazingly difficult, and very rewarding job. I couldn’t have been happier. I worked from dawn until everyone was fed all three meals, and everything was cleaned up. My days were about fourteen hours long, which was just fine with me. It kept my mind and body occupied and away from the things I needed to stay away from. I did get a few breaks here and there, between meals. When I did get a break, once in a while I would wander out to the stables and talk to Walter. He was one of the ranch hands, probably my father’s age, and I loved our chats. He was such a nice man and seemed to have a lot of wisdom. I came to depend on his kindness and advice.

  The ranch was in the business of horse breeding and training. Apparently, they had bred and trained a few big money horses and were very well respected in the horse community. Adam’s grandparents started the ranch many years ago and Adam would inherit it one day. In the meantime, he seemed to work very hard at the business. He definitely was not one for sitting by idly and letting the ranch hands do all the work. I frequently saw him outside working with the horses. I wasn’t exactly sure what he did, but he seemed to work hard at it.

  Though Sarah didn’t want to introduce me to anyone, I got to know the ranch staff quite well, since I fed them every day. Sarah didn’t introduce any of the staff to anyone. I think we were beneath her. It seemed like she felt she was better than the rest of us. She was somewhat nice to me, though I’m sure we would never be friends. She told me that Violet said the help should always know their place. Violet was her mother-in-law. I hadn’t met her yet.

  The ranch was near the coast, actually only a couple of hours from my parents, in a small town called Ashford. I really didn’t get to see much of the town, because I worked so much. But, on my days off I rode into town with John and did a lot of window shopping, while he saw to a few errands of his own. He had warmed up to me a bit since I showed up in the driveway that day. But, we would not be best friends anytime soon. Even though he also was an employee of the ranch, it was painfully obvious that he thought of himself as better than the rest of us. This was probably because he was the personal driver for the family and not someone that cleaned out the stables or worked in the kitchen. He told me that he had been working for the Tyler family for almost 40 years and had watched Adam grow up. He seemed to have a lot of respect for Adam Tyler. He rarely mentioned Adam’s mother, Violet, and I had a feeling the respect did not extend to her. He was very discreet about it all, certainly not a gossip.

  I also spent much of my free time feeding the numerous chickens that just wandered freely around the ranch. It wasn’t my job, but I never saw anyone else feeding them, so I took it upon myself to do it. Gathering eggs was fun too. Adam loved fresh eggs and I made them for him almost every morning. I had to get up very early to collect them, but it was well worth it when Adam thanked me for the delicious breakfast. Sarah didn’t seem to notice.

  In addition to the sprawling ranch, the house itself was something to marvel about. It had three floors, dozens of bedrooms, and a grand winding staircase that was something to behold. I could just picture beautiful rich ladies of the past, in luxurious gowns, delicately descending the stairs along with their dashing companions, enjoying every bit of attention received. I wondered if I would ever descend those stairs, on the arm of a handsome man, on my way to a grand party in the ballroom. No, of course I wouldn’t. It wasn’t my house, and I would never be invited to one of their fancy parties. I was the help.

  From what I could tell no one actually used the second and third floors, everyone’s bedrooms were on the first floor. The staff went up each day to dust everything, but that was it. I really couldn’t understand why the staff couldn’t stay in the bedrooms on the second and third floors, instead of the dark, teeny rooms we were given. Those spacious, elegant rooms were just sitting there unused. I eventually explored all of the bedrooms. Some of them had sitting rooms and the actual bedrooms were at least 1,000 square feet, larger than some entire houses I have been in. Such a waste. I once made the mistake of asking Sarah about the unused floors. She curtly told me that those were reserved for guests and they would stay that way. I never brought it up again.

  There was a formal dining room, of course, that could seat 50 people. They only used it when entertaining, which wasn’t often. Normally they ate in the smaller dining room. It was definitely more cozy and intimate. The formal dining room was just gorgeous with gold and silver accents, and several beautiful paintings on the walls. The best part of the room was the large picture window that looked out into the garden. Everything, it seemed, was in bloom and it was breathtaking. Even though I’m sure Adam and Sarah probably wouldn’t like it if they found out, I usually ate my meals in the formal din
ing room. No one was ever in there but me, making it nice and serene, with a beautiful view. Besides, no one actually forbid me to use it. I really couldn’t understand rich people. They had so much and took it all for granted.

  And the ballroom. Where to start? It was a sight to behold, for sure. It could hold hundreds of people and I’m sure grand, glorious parties had been held in there. None since I had arrived, but I heard the stories. Sarah did like to go on about the parties that Violet threw. Sarah liked to embellish her stories and in her version, she did it all. She was the planner, decorator, hostess, you name it. When she started her stories, Oliver and I gave each other a knowing look. It was all Violet and we knew it. I hadn’t even met Violet yet, but she was the one with the reputation for throwing the grandest parties in the state. I really couldn’t wait for one to happen. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

  I don’t think Sarah cared much for me, but she was mostly decent. A snide remark here and there, but I could handle her. We certainly were never friends. I’m sure she thought of me as “the help.” Well, that’s technically what I was. I couldn’t deny that. One day Sarah was telling me about the ranch and when she first saw it, and how she was so enamored with it. I told her that it was my dream one day to have a place like this and she just laughed at me. I was terribly hurt. I wasn’t stupid though, I knew it would probably never happen for me.

  Chapter 7

  A few weeks after I started working at the ranch, Adam’s mother arrived home. She had been traveling around Europe for a couple of months with a friend. I found out about her right after I started working there. Oliver, the head cook, was a terrible gossip. He yapped about everyone non-stop every single day while we were in the kitchen. I enjoyed it immensely and knew quite a bit about Violet before I ever laid eyes on her.

  Violet Tyler was a striking woman. Even now in her 60s, I could see that she was once very beautiful and would still turn heads. I am talking movie star good looks. She was tall and very poised, exactly what you would expect from someone of such wealth and prestige. She had the most beautiful violet eyes I had ever seen. I guess that’s where her name came from.

  I knew that Violet Tyler owned the championship horse farm, and Adam was in charge of running it. The staff around the ranch could be very gossipy, which, I hate to admit it, was a lot of fun. Their son and daughter-in-law, Sarah, lived there, but weren’t technically the owners. Not yet, anyway. Sarah fancied herself the lady of the house though. Violet let some of it go, just to make Adam happy, I’m sure. Though I doubt it was in Violet’s nature to worry about getting along with anyone.

  Violet doted on Adam. I could tell that he was the one person in the world that she loved the most. He was her only child and she indulged him in anything he wanted. He was an adult and was married, but Violet sometimes treated him like he was her 10 year old son. She often bought him gifts and talked about him frequently. He was the same way with her, and almost acted like a little boy whenever she was around. Their relationship was near the top of the creepy scale. No, there was nothing sordid going on between them, they just had an odd relationship from what I could see. He was the definition of a mama’s boy.

  Henry, Adam’s father, died a couple of years before I arrived, so I never had the chance to meet him. Oliver told me that he was the life of the party and everyone loved him. Everyone except Violet. I heard that Violet detested Henry and only stayed with him for his money. That is very sad, when you think about it. No amount of money could ever get me to stay with someone for 30 or 40 years, if I didn’t truly love him. What kind of life Violet and Henry must have had together, I wondered.

  Apparently Henry and Violet met when they were in college and were together ever since. Oliver told me that Henry adored Violet and how much he doted on her. None of it mattered to Violet though. She had a long string of affairs during their marriage, and many people speculated that Adam was not even Henry’s son. I heard that Henry knew nothing about any of it. It seems unlikely that Violet could pull that off for so many years without him knowing anything. Perhaps he did know and just didn’t care? No way to tell at this point.

  Since she was so unhappy with Henry, that might explain her strange relationship with her son. He may have been some sort of surrogate. Adam did appear to be the only person she cared anything about. It seemed to me as if she treated everyone else as replaceable. How sad for her.

  Henry’s death was suspicious, but that’s really all that was said about it. He suddenly became sick and died within a few days. The doctors blamed it on liver disease, from years of hard drinking. I heard that there was no autopsy, because the family didn’t want one. I guess when you are rich it’s easy to get people to go along with things. I definitely didn’t know much about it. Maybe the coroner honestly didn’t think it was necessary to do an autopsy. Even though I enjoyed the gossip, I tried to filter out the things that just didn’t add up. Henry probably just died from liver disease and that was the end of it. The truth was probably not really all that juicy.

  For some reason that I can’t explain, Violet hated me, and I had no idea why. It seemed to start the second she arrived home. I don’t think I was imagining it. I tried to be nice to her, always smiling and being friendly, but it didn’t seem to matter. I did my best not to take it personally, because she was that way with everyone that I could see. She rarely spoke to me, usually just when she wanted me to fetch her things. I hated it, but I did it anyway. I don’t think she realized that I was the cook’s assistant, not the butler. She spent a lot of time sitting in the parlor drinking tea alone. It seemed that she didn’t do much else.

  One day, she was sitting in the library, which was odd, because that was where Adam worked. He was usually in there and it was the first time I had ever seen her there without him. She rang the stupid little gold bell that she had to summon the servants and called me in to bring her some tea. When I walked back in with the tea a few minutes later, she was just sitting there staring out the window, and hadn’t even noticed me walk in.

  She was wearing comfortable cream colored slacks, a nice white blouse, and heels. No matter what, I never saw the woman in anything but nice clothes and shoes, with her hair done impeccably. She had a hair dresser that came to the house every single morning at 7 a.m. sharp to do her hair. I couldn’t even imagine her in a pair of sweats, tennis shoes, and a pony tail. The thought made me smile. I quickly looked her way to make sure she didn’t see me smile. I wouldn’t want to try to explain that.

  I continued to stand a few feet away from her waiting for her to notice me. I didn’t want to startle her, so I waited patiently for several minutes. She didn’t like anyone approaching her without an invitation, she was kind of skittish like that, which is why I didn’t walk right up to her with the tea she had asked for. After a few more minutes, it seemed like she was just going to completely ignore me while I stood there forever. Since she still hadn’t acknowledged my presence, I decided to speak up.

  “Are you all right?” I finally asked her.

  She seemed to snap out of it then and barely glanced my way. “Oh yes, I’m fine.” Then she turned away from me again.

  I sat the tea and some cookies down on the table next to her and turned to leave.

  “Abigail.”

  She always called me that even though I asked her many times to call me Abbey. She seemed to not care, so I gave up and just went with it. She did tell me that she liked the proper name that I was given, and didn’t like the ‘cute little nickname’ people gave me. She said it was silly and frivolous, and that people should always use their proper names. It was the mature thing to do. Regardless, I still liked to be called Abbey.

  “Yes ma’am?” I responded.

  “Why don’t you come and sit down? I would like to talk to you.” She gestured to the empty chair near her.

  “Okay.” I was very confused at that. Other than ordering me around, she never spoke to me. I promptly sat down in the chair on the other side of the tabl
e and turned a bit, so I would be facing her.

  Before she said anything to me, I watched her take a small bottle of rum out of her purse, I think it was rum anyway, and pour a bit into her tea. She put it back into her purse and turned to me as if nothing had just happened. It wasn’t my place to even think anything of what I just witnessed, so I ignored it. It certainly wasn’t the first time I had observed her pouring alcohol into her tea, and probably wouldn’t be the last time.

  “Have you seen Sarah today?” she asked me.

  “Yes, just this morning at breakfast, before she went out. I haven’t seen her since. Do you want me to see if I can find her for you?” I asked.

  “No, that won’t be necessary.”

  That was all she said for a few minutes, staring out the window again. It made me a little uneasy, just sitting there with no one talking.

  “Well, if you don’t need anything else, I have a few things I need to get done,” and I started to get up.

  “Abigail, sit down.”

  I sat.

  “Abigail, you know that when I’m gone, Adam will inherit this entire estate.”

  “Okay.” It was the only response I could think of.

  “My problem is that he and Sarah have not been able to have any children,” she blurted out.

  “I didn’t know that,” I responded.

  Oliver had said that he was surprised that there were no little ones running around, as much as Sarah wanted kids. She apparently talked about them all the time. But I don’t think Oliver had any idea that they were having trouble making those children. I wasn’t about to tell him though. That’s all I needed was for the story to circle around and get back to this conversation I was having with Violet. Even though I liked listening to the gossip, I tried my best not to get involved by repeating the things I heard.