As the car drew up in front of the Mailler's home Georgia felt a strong sense of not homecoming but familiarity. It wasn't her home and it never would be, but she had had happy times while she lived there and she had made friends.
"It's amazing that they still have a home this size in the heart of London. They could have sold it years ago and made millions for the land alone," Sylvia said as the car stopped.
"It's not as if they need the money Grandmother." Reggie laughed as he moved to exit the car when his door was opened. Someone had been nice enough to send a car to the airport to pick them up upon their arrival.
Georgia was the last one out of the car and she was just in time to see Carrie coming down the steps towards them. "Hello," she said quickly to all of them before turning to Georgia. "Georgia, I hate for you to have to start immediately but there is a bit of a situation."
Carrie turned and led them all up and into the main hall. Georgia did her best to not let her eyes wander. She wanted to see if it was all still the same or if it had changed. From what little she could see everything was in its proper place.
Sylvia was not attempting to hide her interest as her eyes scanned everything.
There was a commotion at the top of the stairs and she turned to see Craig leading the way with Ewan following. He had only left her the day before so it shouldn't feel as if she hadn't seen him in months. He was dressed in a grey suit and a cobalt blue tie. He had also had his hair cut. He was studying his phone not paying attention to the new arrivals.
She forced her eyes away from him and met Craig's eyes. He looked shocked to see her standing in front of him. Georgia kept her face as clear as possible as he looked from her to Ewan. "Ms. Dawson?" Her name became a question as he tried to figure out what was going on and why she was there.
"Mr. Parks," she said, choosing to ignore his question. There was probably a reason that Ewan chose not to tell him about her arrival. His eyes suddenly moved from her to Carrie who was all but pacing behind her.
"Is there a problem Ms. O'Dell?" Craig asked, his attention drawn from her to Carrie.
"Not at all Mr. Parks." She swallowed hard and looked beseechingly at Georgia.
Georgia gave her a calming smile as she grabbed her arm and pulled her to stand next to her. Ewan looked up from his phone, his gaze taking in the group. "Reggie, Sylvia." He nodded, ignoring Georgia as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "You'll have to excuse me. I have an important meeting that I can't put off, but I'll be back this evening. I think Diana is planning a dinner to welcome you."
Carrie gave a little squeak and they all turned to look at her, her color rose and she forced a smile. "Yes, it's all taken care of." It wasn't the least bit convincing.
As Ewan's eyes left her they landed on Georgia. His face was its usual mask as he reached past her for his brief case. "I don't have a coat to button this time what a shame," he said softly before stepping back. "Welcome back Ms. Dawson," he said loudly for the others to hear.
"Thank you Mr. Mailler," she said in a neutral voice, wanting to strangle him. She should have never shared that memory with him.
Without a goodbye he turned and left, taking Craig with him.
"Georgia would you mind going to the kitchen while I show Mr. and Mrs. Carlisle to their rooms?" Carrie asked.
Georgia guessed that the "situation" was in the kitchen so she nodded and head that way with a sigh of resignation. She had come to work and the sooner she put things to rights the sooner she could disappear.
When she entered the kitchen it was a mad house.
"Oh, Ms. Dawson, thank goodness you're here. What are we going to do?" Ruth was sitting behind Ms. Levitt while Mrs. Charles was talking on the phone in quiet tones. Georgia looked back at Ms. Levitt and saw the she was holding a bloody towel to her hand.
Putting two and two to together she quickly went over to the stove and turned off the burners then walked back to Ms. Levitt and sat in front of her. She looked faint. "Ms. Levitt, can you hear me?" Georgia asked softly.
"Yes, my dear." She reached out with her good hand and rested it on her arm. "It's good your home."
She felt tears come to her eyes at the welcome. "That's nice to hear." She squeezed her hand. "It looks like I arrived just in time. Tell me what was for dinner." Taking in her hand and her condition she knew that there was no way she would be able to handle the preparation of dinner.
"Oh dear, I had forgotten about dinner." She looked over her shoulder at the steaming pot and tried to rise but Georgia placed her hand firmly on her shoulder forcing her back down. "We'll take care of that but can you tell me what you had planned?"
"There's a menu," she waved her hand vaguely, "but who will cook it?"
"I'm no Ms. Levitt but I'll manage," Georgia said as Mrs. Charles approached them.
"It's time to go Ms. Levitt." Mrs. Charles said as she and Ruth each took an arm. "My son is here to take you to the hospital. Mr. Charles had to take Mr. Mailler so we had to call in reinforcements."
"But dinner," Ms. Levitt objected.
"It's fine Ms. Levitt, Ruth will help me and no one will be the wiser." It took all three women to get her out the door and into the car. Mrs. Charles went with her while Ruth stood next to Georgia as they watched the car leave.
"What do you know about cooking?" She turned to look at Ruth.
"The basics." They looked at each other seriously and then started to laugh. "What will we do?" Ruth finally asked a few moments later, out of breath. Their laughter had been the release of worried energy and had lifted Ruth spirits.
"Oh, I can cook but I'll need help. I'll have to be upstairs and downstairs. Where are the others?" There were generally two other maids.
"They're upstairs unpacking. You're in your old room by the way." Ruth moved back into the kitchen and picked up her cleaning supplies. "I'll get the blood cleaned up, that should be first."
"And I'll have a look at the menu."
"It's good to have you back Ms. Dawson. We all missed you when you left." She looked at her hands as they played with a sponge.
"What is it you want to say Ruth? I would like the air between us to be clear."
"Oh it is, none of us believed any of what Molly said, about you attacking Mr. Mailler."
"I didn't attack him but I did kiss him Ruth. She wasn't lying about that." She had to be honest with the girl.
"But why? And he didn't seem very angry that night, at least not with you."
"I consider you a friend Ruth so I'll be as honest as possible. There was a very good reason for my kissing Mr. Mailler. I can't tell you what it was but he knows why and let's just say it saved him from an awkward position."
"But it put you in one?" Ruth was watching her closely.
"All I stood to lose was my job. There would have been a lot more lost if I hadn't kissed him"
"And you did lose your job."
"I did, but Diana was ready for me to leave so it worked out in the end, and I got to kiss Mr. Mailler." She winked at Ruth who blushed.
"Lucky duck."
"Yes," Georgia agreed. "Now, let's figure out what we're going to do about this evening."
"Don't forget about lunch?" Ruth said as her stomach growled. They laughed as they got down to work.
Georgia prepared a cold lunch and set it on the sideboard for those that were around. She was just putting the last dish out when Reggie, Renee, and Diana entered the room.
"Georgia, you weren't planning on eating with us?" Diana asked shocked. That was the difference between her employment with Sylvia and Diana. When she had worked with Diana she had always had her meals either in the kitchen or her room.
"No, I was just helping out the staff. With all the extra guests it's needed."
"Of course Georgia will eat with us," Reggie insisted.
"No Reggie, I won't. It's not done here. So please leave it," Georgia said with a gentle smile and turned to leave before he could say more.
"This is unacceptable I'll talk to-,"
"No! It's fine Reggie I've already had my lunch and I have a long list of work ahead of me."
"But-,"
"No buts Reggie, you were one of the ones that insisted I come here to help out so that's what I'm doing." She turned in time to see Ruth waving at her from the door to the butler's pantry with a look of panic on her face.
Without a backwards glance she turned and left Reggie to have his lunch with the ladies.
She sorted out Ruth then had a quick meeting with the other two maids creating a game plan for that evening. One of the maids called Candy had also been there when Georgia was but Molly had been replaced by a sweet young girl called Cameron. She was shy and unsure of herself but seemed to be a hard worker.
Georgia managed to get herself cleaned up and presented to Sylvia that evening before the guests started to arrive. She helped her prepare for her evening and then excused herself, hurrying back down to the kitchen. She had put on a suit in case she was summoned for any reason but as soon as she hit the heat of the kitchen she placed the jacket on the back of a chair. Her blouse was unbearably thin silk in a light pink but since it was just the women she wasn't worried.
She gave a last round of instructions, Mr. Charles was handling the door, Candy and Cameron were serving, and Ruth was helping her with the ladies and also acting as a go between. There were twelve guests, all of whom Georgia knew by name and most of whom were at the party the night she had kissed Ewan, so she would have to stay out of sight.
The dinner took over two hours and by the time the desserts rolled out they were all exhausted. Ruth and Georgia were cleaning up the last of the pots when Candy ran in, her poorly dyed blond hair escaping her neat bun. She looked extremely pale. "They want to thank the chef." It came out as a hiss as she looked over her shoulder.
"Ruth, would you mind?" Georgia nodded towards the door as she dried one of the pots.
"I...what..." The poor girl looked like a deer in the headlights.
"Ruth, remember what we talked about earlier? I'm supposed to remain out of sight of the guests and the last thing Miss Diana would appreciate would be me waltzing into the middle of her party."
Ruth huffed. "Well that's ridiculous, you're the one who saved this party."
"Ruth, just go out there and take credit for it. You did help prepare most of it and did just as much work as I did so you won't be lying." Georgia walked over to her and gave her a gentle push towards the door.
Candy followed her but Cameron moved towards the dried dishes and started to put them away. "Have you heard anything on Ms. Levitt?"
Georgia nodded. "She should be back this evening. Nothing serious, only a few stitches were needed. I've agreed to help with breakfast so she and Mrs. Charles can have a lie in but she said she should be able to handle lunch."
An awkward silence fell between them as they continued to clean.
"You were here before. You were the one...,"
Georgia smiled, she had expected questions from the staff, and she shouldn't be upset by it, but to know that she was talked about was upsetting. It must have shown on her face because Cameron face turned bright red.
"I'm sorry, it's just that they all speak so highly of you and I've heard two very different stories. The staff here won't hear a bad word said against you, but the place I worked before this...you were the talk of town; used as an example as a staff member who stepped to high above her station."
Georgia's humor got the better of her and she started to laugh shaking her head. When Ewan followed Ruth back into the kitchen she laughed even harder and when a little snort sneaked out she covered her mouth but laughed even harder.
Ruth stared openly at her and Ewan just crossed his arms trying to be stern but failing.
"Thank you Cameron, that's the funniest thing I've heard in ages," she said when the laughter subsided.
"What's so funny Ms. Dawson?" Ruth asked.
"Cameron just told me that I'm kind of like a modern day boogie woman. It seems my lack of propriety in the past and my shunning due to said lack of propriety has been used by the society to teach their staff about the repercussions of stepping above their stations."
She walked over to Ewan who was starting to fume and looked up at him then put her closed fists up in front of his face and opened them quickly, "Boo!"
Ewan was not at all pleased with her display of immaturity and grabbed her arm roughly pulling her towards the back door. Ruth, Cameron, and Candy's mouth fell open in shock and Cameron lost all color in her face as if she had been hit. "It's O.K. Cameron, Mr. Mailler needs to have a word with me in private and we'll be back shortly."
Ewan pushed her out the door and slammed it behind him. Georgia turned to face him with a sigh. "What Ewan?"
"I don't see what's so funny about what you just said." He grabbed her upper arms the thin silk proving no protection from the heat his hands produced when they touched her skin. If anything the contact was more sensual.
"It's either laugh or cry and I'm done crying Ewan. I've cried more than enough in this lifetime." Her voice broke. "Surely you see how impossible this is, I don't belong in your world. I will never be accepted. Even this afternoon when I was placing lunch on the sideboard Diana looked shocked and sounded horrified that I was even attempting to join her and her friends for lunch."
"Why are you in the kitchen anyway?"
"Ms. Levitt had an accident and she and Mrs. Charles have been at the hospital all day."
"All day?"
"Yes, right after you left I was told by Carrie to come here and help. Speaking of which, I would have expected her to look in on us at least once today? What has she been up to?"
"Hiding no doubt, that girl avoids work like the plague." He was looking at her closely and as the silence between them grew taught his gaze landed on her lips. "I've had a very productive day." His voice was deep and husky.
"Good for you." Her gaze moved to his lips as they curled up in amusement. She so loved his lips when they smiled. She licked her own in anticipation.
"Stay with me Georgia, I'm trying to make a point." His hand has snuck up to her neck and was messaging it, sending chills down her spine.
"Then stop doing that." She whispered.
His smile grew. "I'll talk quickly shall I?"
"Yes please, and stop smiling."
"When I came down the stairs and saw you were home again I finally relaxed for the first time in over seven months. I knew you would be here waiting for me at the end of the day and it made all the difference. I need you Georgia. I need you here beside me every day, I need to know your safe and I most definitely need you in my bed."
Georgia sighed the sadness suddenly overwhelming. "It won't work Ewan, why can't you see that. Cameron's little tale says it all. I would never be accepted."
"Fine, I'll give it all up. I never need to work again. We'll live in your little beach cottage. You and me."
It sounded wonderful and perfect and it made her cry. "If only it was that easy."
He took her face in both of his hands and kissed her hard. "It is that easy my love." Georgia trembled as his hands ran down her back teasing her spine. "I like this blouse, I can feel your skin."
"Stop, please just stop." She wrenched away from him.
She felt him tense and as the silence between them grew so did his anger. Turning he opened the backdoor and stood aside for her to proceed him. "I don't want them to think that I killed you."
Georgia felt beaten and very tired she wiped the tears from her face and forced herself to move forward. Knowing it seemed as if they she had just received a verbal assault, and not the offer of a lifetime of love from the man of every girl's dreams, she forced a brave smile to her lips and brushed past him, feeling his hand grab hers and give it a squeeze.
"I always get what I want Georgia, just give in now and save yourself the heartache," he said softly behind her as he followed her into the kitchen.
"Ladies the dinner and the service was excellent. Good job," He complimented them as he closed the door. "Now, if you all will excuse me I have guests waiting. Ms. Dawson is finished for the evening." And with that he was gone.
"Ms. Dawson, I'm so sorry I didn't mean-" Cameron started.
She gave a heartfelt smile and put her arm around her shoulders. "Thank you Cameron you helped me prove a point. Mr. Mailler isn't mad at you, more the situation I think."
"You mean he didn't yell at you just now."
"No, Mr. Mailler rarely yells." In fact she had only heard him yell once and it was that night at Sylvia's. "I'm tired, I think my jet lag has finally set in, so I'll say goodnight."
Georgia was unaware of the looks of concern and respect she was getting as she left the kitchen. The staff were very glad to have had her on their side that day. When the accident had first happened they had called Carrie in for reinforcements, but no sooner had she seen the situation then she had turned with an excuse and left. Ruth had been especially pleased to see Georgia, when they had heard of her return they had all been pleased.