She figured that as an adult she saw fit to pour her passion into her very hard work and she promised herself to never think of love again. Emma was fortunate enough to locate employment as an apprentice cook working in the esteemed household of Duke Blake. He was a known household for the dinner parties that they made, she wanted just a small piece of that action.
Emma's parents had dined with them not so long ago. And over their time together they successfully won over Lord Rudy, an Italian chef that had cooked the lovely meal for them. Together they had convinced him to go into something new to him. He was going to take on an underling and he would be her mentor in the end. It was just what she had dreamed of. It was nothing short of perfect.
He started Emma off rather slow with the basics but she quickly grew bored and begged for more difficult work and more challenging tasks to help her grow over time. One particular day she was hard at work, peeling potatoes in the kitchen for a nice thick stew when the duke's rich, spoiled, social lite of a nephew, Christopher, came bobbling in the door nearly knocking her over. He didn't even have the decency to apologize like a proper gentleman.
Christopher haphazardly fumbled over himself. It was just then that he actually noticed that she was an actual girl as he stumbled over his own two feet. He exasperated to pull all of his swag together and to look somewhat cool. All of a sudden he desperately wanted to impress such a cute girl.
He leaned forward, smelling of alcohol, and sadly tried to kiss her hand with nothing so much as a request for her affection. She didn’t care for his pushiness, it didn’t seem dignified to her. He seemed garish and unlikely to her.
However, despite his committed efforts have not been as successful as he had hoped. His feeble efforts to entice or to ultimately seduce her were not working at all. She seemed to be far smarter than that. He was so very disappointed by the day’s events. His very attempts towards her were unwarranted to say the very least about it. She wanted no part in any drama or anything of the sorts.
He was cute with his fire red hair. But Emma turned a cold shoulder to him saying,
“Just leave me be… I mean it… I have work to do…. Go away sir….”
She had bigger ideas and bigger plans for her future than to waste her time on a guy again. Emma rebuffed Christopher with great ease. She absolutely was hell bent on not allowing anyone to take attention away from achieving her dreams.
So the man went on his merry little way and left her alone for the rest of the time he was there. He had not intended to be offensive towards her, not in any way shape or form. He just tended to rub people the wrong way. Truth be told, he was actually a pretty decent person but he did not show well in front of new people on account of anxiety and such.
It was only a few short weeks later that the head chef, Lord Rudy, fell ill that winter with the god-awful fever that had seemingly become a small epidemic of sorts. Communication among townships was little to non - existent at that point and time. People didn’t go from one to the other and spread the word.
The duke advised that, Lord Rudy, would be ordered to stay away from the manor until he had been medically cleared and had recovered completely. The fear was that he would further spread the sickness and ultimately cause a larger more significant epidemic that would affect a larger group of people.
When Emma heard of the situation she was worried for him at first. They had gotten close to some degree. He was not an easy man to unravel and to gain some understanding of. His sense of humor was very dry and he was somewhat unforgiving at times. But with all of that being said, he just wanted to be happy and healthy and live a long good life.
But then she realized that she was potentially getting her big break. With the head chef being banned, the tides had turned in a different way. The next message was one that stated the head chef’s natural replacement. To her surprise she was suddenly named as the interim master chef. She almost didn’t feel worthy, but she vowed to prove herself to him and to everyone in fact.
And then it was time for the one and only thing that truly made her feel inherently good. And that was inevitably cooking the greatest food for the best people. It was an experience like nothing that she had ever felt before that time.
She had prepped her ingredients for many hours before beginning to cook. She had prepared some lovely, as well as flavorful treats, for her guests to enjoy. Every event that she planned, every group that she cooked for was special and unique in her eyes and they deserved nothing less than the best. It was just a fact.
Emma was serving her delicate creation tableside when she caught the fleeting attention of someone new. She was feeding a large party, but she didn’t know any of them nor did she try to meet them either. That just was not her style to be out there in people’s faces trying to win them over. She just did not plan things like that. She was way subtler than that and took her privacy very much more seriously than that.
For whatever reason that made her a little less nervous it seemed. She had not noticed but apparently the Prince of Kootua was present and accounted for. His name was Albert and he was not what one would call traditionally handsome. But there was some unspeakable quality about him that caught her attention as well. She just didn’t let it show.
He seemed to be as avid of a foodie as she was. He also seemed to appreciate her feminine whiles as well. The dining party took their time enjoying every course of their meal intimately so. They were more than complimentary of her work and even more so her talent.
Following the meal, Prince Albert started putting on the pressure to be one with him and to become his newest mistress. At first she had no plans of even entertaining the thought. In fact, she was quite offended by his presumptuous nature. She felt how he acted was demeaning towards her.
He had asked to be taken to the kitchen to thank the chef for her valiant efforts toward pleasing their group. She or he had gone above and beyond in order to please her guests, which was typical of her.
But he had taken it further than anyone had in her experience. He had become utterly aggressive with her and she was not a happy girl at all at the moment. There had never, in her life, been a man that was so confident that he could just step up to her as he did. And if they had, they would have been shot down before they had ever even gotten close.
Chapter IV – Letters From Beyond
Emma got a letter from her sister. She loved hearing from her but it had been a while since she had written. It worried Emma but there was not much that she could do about that.
The letter said,
“My dearest sister Emma. How are you? I hope everything is going your way. There is so much going on here and I have so much to tell you my friend. Yet it is so hard to convey my feelings in a letter.
I wish I were sitting on our beds next to you, just like when we were younger. You have not been home in so long that we wonder about you and think about what you could possibly be doing. I hope that you will make the trip sooner rather than later to come and to see your loved ones. We would like that so very much.
I am not trying to be bossy at all, only trying to say that we miss the dickens out of you and need you to be a part of your life. Please, come home my beautiful and smart sister lady and let us be a part of your life. We need you and more importantly we love you so much sister. Do you not know that by know?
I have agreed to wed Lord Kyle. He seemed far less than attractive at first, being a man of such small stature. At times, he seemed to be trying to prove himself worthy.
But at the end of the day, I grew fond of him and now we are getting married to each other. Can you believe that? I can’t! We fell in love so very quickly, it was crazy to all of us my love.
I need your support sister if this is going to work then I need you to be with me. Are you lady?”
Emma shook her head in disbelief. She wondered what she saw in him. She would have never guessed that that would be the man that she would marry. She felt nauseated and disappointed to say the very least. A
pparently, he had kinfolk that were high within the royal family. She wondered if that was all that her sister was looking for.
She had met Lord Kyle a few years prior and he seemed to think only of preserving his public presence of propriety and to safeguard the noble status. The letter went on to explain that he had found a home a few townships away where he would accept his first pastoral role with his own congregation. He was soberly committed to his faith and unwavering in his efforts toward compliance. He had always known that he would serve the higher being, the greater power had called him to do so and he knew that precisely.
Chloe was obviously nervous about moving so far away from anyone that she knew and from her family but it would be a big part of the deal over the long haul. From the get go, it had been a questionable marriage and everyone know it but they just were not speaking about it.
But things had become far more complex over time. It had become far more strained by her inability to provide children. She had never dreamed that she would have to face that particular situation but she was and it was tough.
Everything seemed to change in a matter of moments. Meanwhile, Emma was achieving great luxury as a chef. A last ditch effort came when the family bought the Blarg Hotel and the people in charge sent Emma to cook there. She was reluctant but had no choice in the matter
Antony was hired to manage the establishment as well. He seemed nice at first, but before very much time passed he had allowed the power to take control of him. His shear haughtiness had alienated the other employees. But to make matters worse, Emma ascertained that he had been extravagantly entertaining his friends with company funds.
She had personally seen him gifting guests with the little things that they had to offer. She did not think much about it at the time, but then when she thought back it had become more important in a very big way.
And not only was he not bringing in new guests, he had been treating the patron’s horribly as well. Emma was struggling with whether to turn him in to the duke and duchess. She had already fallen out of their good favor and was not sure if she could ever get that back. She felt just so inclined as to be called in to action. When she took a few steps forward and confronted him he said,
“You don’t know what you’re talking about! You’re crazy woman. So damn crazy indeed!”
He stood up like he really knew something and was determined to prove his point. She had never seen the likes of him, not ever in her life. He strongly tried to throw her out on her ass but she absolutely refused to go. She was trying to fight back and she was not backing down to him. He had caused her too much grief to be still sticking around causing conflict and discomfort. She did not want it to be that way, but yet it still was.
In his anger, he stuffed a set of balloons into his office when he left. He did not want to give them to her anymore, or anyone at that point. So he locked them up where no one could reach them before leaving for the day.
As she rifled through mountains of paperwork she uncovered the stack of bills that had not been paid in a very long time. She knew that some of his behaviors were questionable, but that was downright stealing from the duke and duchess. At least that was the way that her simple mind saw it.
He walked in and found her snooping and was very angry and scarred. He said,
“What the hell are you doing in my office? You have no business being in there!”
She said,
“Tell me what’s going on… I can help you if you can be honest with me… How bad is it? How far behind are things? Tell me the truth for a change….”
Her response had surprised her even more than it did him. So she decided that instead of telling on him, she agreed to help him. They started to work together to climb the mountain. And when Emma set her mind to something, rarely did she execute it to completion.
She told him point blank that there would be no drinking, no partying, and no more random women hanging around anymore. She meant what she said and over time she planned to do was holding him to those rules. She knew that deep down that would be the only way.
He was humbled by the lessons that she teaching him and he grew increasingly quite fond of her. A complete turnaround from when they first got started. But all of the late nights and early mornings had taken a toll. Emma collapsed unexpectedly on the street side. She was nothing short of exhausted after giving it her all.
Late one night, after work she was walking back to her place. She was feeling a bit light headed but she assumed that she was most likely a little bit dehydrated. She couldn’t be for sure but she had been putting the time in at work.
Just then she passed out in the street and slid down a cold hard wall all the way to the floor. There was a man that was passing on the opposite side of the street. He walked over and started asking questions,
“Ms... Ms… Can you hear the words that I’m saying to you? What happened to you lady?”
In only moments, she started to come too. Her eyelashes fluttered as her eyes opened. He fanned her to give her some fresh air. Then he helped her get back to her home. In truth, he was the perfect gentleman towards her. They sat and chatted for quite some time. Having a cup of coffee together. He wanted to make sure that she wouldn’t pass out again. They ate scones and chatted.
She told him to come into the restaurant and she would cook him a meal for no charge at all. He promised that he would. Little did she know that he had recently been let go from his job and was left with nothing. After he ate his free meal, he walked back to the kitchen and thanked her accordingly for her efforts.
She introduced him to the staff and everyone liked him. He seemed like a very nice guy. She walked him outside and thanked him for helping her like he did. But it was when he mentioned that he had nowhere to go the next day that she dug a little deeper. And when she learned of his situation she invited him back the next day for work.
He convinced her to tolerate him helping her until she felt stronger. He worked for so many hours his first few weeks that he was offered a full time position. He was great with the customers, as they just loved them. He smiled, he chatted, and he made people feel right at home. He really enjoyed his work. Eventually, he maneuvered his way in to becoming an inaudible partner in the hotel.
About a month later the old man was asking some of the people that he worked with for anything amount of money that they could spare. She knew that he was making good money and she didn’t understand why he would be struggling so much. But then she found out that the old man liked to play betting games.
And could not pay his bills. They liked him and didn’t want to have to kick him out. So they let him be the one that carried in luggage and meet and greet people for additional tips.
They got into a very strongly obsessive romance. Love - sick together they started to neglect both the hotel and her cooking. Identifying what was going on, the old man spoke discreetly with him. Since they had given him another chance, he felt they deserved the very same. He was more than grateful for their kindness.
Emma left for a training far away to continue to hone in on her skills and to refocus on the most important things, the cooking. She started getting sick and realized that she was pregnant. Down the road she quietly gave birth to their illegitimate son.
But driven by her career she discreetly gave him up for adoption to her sister, which made it very hard to remain friends and no longer romantic.
Her ex experienced the loss of the duke. A new leader came into power. The shift of power divided the family and the fortune. The ex married another woman. He told her that he wanted his marriage to work out and he had to leave her alone.
However, when his wife later passed on, he and she found their way back to each other somehow. She sometimes saw her son and it was hard. She tried to be on good terms with her sister. But she wanted her to mother more kids for her and she was reluctant to do so, immoral. Her sister was so critical of her she could hardly stomach it. She stayed away so she didn’t have to deal with it.
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THE END
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Copyright 2014 by Lillian Busby - All rights reserved.
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The Maid’s Diary
Regency Romance
By: Lillian Busby
The Maid’s Diary
Cynthia Abbot was a young girl, only 18 years of age when she had to start working at the Ruthin castle. Her family was poor, and all of the children had to work somewhere. She wasn’t the only of the 4 children who worked at the castle. But she was the one who was the prettiest of her sisters, and the smartest of all of them.
She had two brothers and two sisters. Cynthia was the youngest. The first time she saw Duke Harold McGuire she couldn’t help but stare at him, as he was gorgeous. The way he walked, talked and just held himself screamed out authority. Cynthia had quite the crush on him right away, especially when he would look and smile at her. She remembered how red she had turned the very first time he had done that, and she had felt a flutter in her chest from excitement.
The Duke's Dilemma: Regency Romance Menage Short Stories Page 74
