“Was that who I think it was?” Matty screamed, rushing me down to the basement so no one would hear us.
“I think so,” I said, still quite star struck. I then gave him a gleaming look, “why are you so excited?”
“She is still very good looking!” He exclaimed, ignoring my comment. Sometimes I thought Matty had no filter at all. If people heard him say half the stuff he does, he would be locked away.
I nodded.
“Why was she talking to you? Why was Mr. Darlin’s mother talking to you? Why were they both in the kitchen?” He demanded.
“I was talking to Soph—Mr. Darlin’s mum, when Sarah came through the back door. They hugged, and she said hello to me,” it was the truth, but I was just leaving out a few details.
“Why were you talking to Mr. Darlin’s mum?” He said, crossing his hands over his chest.
“You know Matty, it is not important. We need to go back to the party.”
He tried to make me answer more questions going up the steps, but finally gave up.
“This conversation is not over,” he told me sternly.
“Goodbye Matty,” I hissed before picking up my tray in the kitchen, and going back to the party.
Calvin seemed to be doing well. I had not heard a crash yet, and he had received a personal thank you from Mr. Darlin for returning Annie last night. He pretty much was being guaranteed the job by this point. I wanted badly to become mates with him again. I wanted to see us smile together, with out having to worry about love and feelings. But Calvin wanted love so it seemed foolish that either one of us was going to get their way.
“Mrs. Darlin is making the call tomorrow,” Kat hissed, passing by me with her serving platter.
I quickly turned around and followed her to the stairs leading up to Mr. and Mrs. Darlin’s bedroom. We parked ourselves at the bottom, nodding and smiling to people who past us.
“Call?” I finally asked her, confused.
“The call of who is staying and who is leaving,” Kat explained.
I gave her an understanding nod and stood still for a couple minutes. It seemed as if every girl who walked by me had a different scent. Some smelled as if they had been lying down in daisies before they arrived, and others smelled of clean cut silk and other clothing materials.
“What time do you suppose this will end?” I asked her, staring at Sarah in the distance. She was talking to Mr. Darlin about something humorous, and he was laughing much too loudly, even if it was very funny.
“Suppose it will end when all the guests are gone,” Kat whispered and walked away from me.
Ouch.
“Midnight.” A low voice said from behind me.
I looked over my shoulder to see Calvin in his butlers uniform. He had always been such a rebel in Lunkton, who would have thought five years later he would be standing in tip top shape serving people, with manners.
“Come again?” I asked him; unaware of what midnight he was talking about.
“Midnight is when the party should end,” he said giving me a wink.
“Thanks...mate.” I told him, wiping the smirk from his face.
“Anytime,” he told me soundly fairly disappointed. We stood in opposite directions, each of us scared to look at the others face. The face of a failed love.
I just walked around the house, waiting for the party to come to an end. Sarah gave me a few smiles and then quickly returned to her conversations with very attractive males.
Once the party was over, we started to clean up. Calvin had been right. By midnight, all of the guests had piled out and wine glasses and cheese dishes were strewn all around the house.
When I had finally washed up it was three in the morning on a Sunday. Kat was still washing up when I climbed into my sheets and fell into a deep sleep coma.
“Up! Up!” I heard Frank call through the hallway of the basement. At once, feet stumbled along the ground, and vibrations of water coming out of the drain gave me a headache.
“Kat,” I said still half asleep. I could hardly see even though I knew my eyes were open. I just wished that I wasn’t getting sick again. I stood up, even though I seemed blind, and made my way to the loo by feeling for the door handle. Once I got into the bathroom, my sight was restored.
The blackness had been happening to me more recently, but I pushed the thought of anything being wrong out of my mind.
“Everything okay?” I heard Kat saying through the door. I ignored her and sat down on the bathroom floor putting my head into my hands. I just sat there, letting my body catch up with my actions and finally told her I was fine and rushed out to put on my uniform.
Mrs. Darlin called everyone to the first dining room at exactly noon that day. In a matter of seconds, everyone was lined up next to the wall waiting for her news.
“Well, lets get to it then,” she began, pulling a piece of hair from her hair due into her hand. “Meredith Calpurt?”
A blond hair girl stepped forward, her hands behind her back and her head looking down. All of her hair was pulled back in a tight bun, and her bonnet was tilted to the left. She looked innocent enough, but she didn’t look happy to be here at all. I could tell she was young, younger than me at least, and missed her boarding school. Oh well, in a few months she would get used to it here. Everyone did whether they want to or not. We all get used to it. Living here becomes our life.
“Yes My Lady?” Her voice was frail, her body frailer. She wore a ragged outfit, and a hat with a big hole showing half of her head. Her eyes were puffy, and I suspected she had just been crying just a few minutes ago.
Mrs. Darlin, ignoring her obvious detachment signs, continued with what she came here to do, “you have been selected to serve me in my home. For the rest of the ladies, a cab is waiting for you outside. Goodbye.”
“Pleasure,” the closest girl near the door said to Mrs. Darlin, and headed out.
“Pleasure,” the other girls followed, leaving just as promptly. Before they left the picked up their bags by the door and shut the entrance door with a slam.
“As for the men,” she continued, “Calvin Karras you have been chosen to help…” she thought about Matty’s name for a minute. “You will be helping Mathew with the cars. For the rest of you, a cab is waiting outside.”
Mrs. Darlin didn’t even look at how Matty took the news. She just turned back towards the grand staircase, and started her way to the top.
“That’s it then,” Calvin said behind me.
“That’s what exactly?” I asked him not really sure what to think of the news.
“We can get to know each other again,” he said with a crooked smile.
“Or you could get to know other girls. Annie maybe, she’s sweet,” I suggested. I kept fixing my hat, a bit of a nervous habit.
“I assume she would be, but I don’t want Annie,” he flirted, resting his hand on the piano.
I slapped his hand away, making him stumble, “if you don’t stop talking about girls like they are domesticated animals I might just have to kick you to the curb,” I told him in my stern voice then walked away.
“Because that hasn’t happened already?” He yelled after me.
I grunted to myself and tried to find Kat.
“Everything alright deary?” I heard Sophie’s voice from the kitchen.
“Yes Sophie thank you,” though it was pretty plain to see that I was troubled at the moment.
“Come sit,” she told me and pulled out a chair from the dining room table.
I waited for her to speak, but when she didn’t I took the time to rant, “I just feel so overwhelmed and over exhausted and I just wish I was normal. Not, well, below average.”
“Oh sweetheart, you are anything but average. You are extraordinary. You just need an outlet. Get away from this place everyday. Acting!” She explained to me.
“Oh I don’t know. How would I get out?”
“Being a mum to a famous man gives me power,” she giggled. “Being an ex-wife to a royal gives me a sense of authority.”
I smiled at her, knowing that she could get me in and out of the house for acting lessons with no problem.
“I’ll do it,” I told her with a proud voice.
“Good. I already signed you up,” she then paused as if I was dreading the next words out of her mouth, “Charity Darlin.”
“Oh,” I whispered.
“Well you can’t expect me to just sign you up as an orphan. You have to be joking?” She giggled again to herself.
“Right.” I said, disappointed. The last thing I wanted to do is pretend to be some one that I’m not.
“And who knows,” Sophie continued, “maybe you will be lighting up the stage in a few years time.”
“Thank you very much Sophie,” I said.
“Don’t mention it. Just learn at class.” She then stood and gave me a hug, before re-filling her tea and moving on to the next room.
“Charity!” I heard my name being called in a low whisper.
“Kat?” I said, trying to guess whose voice it was.
“Yes. Why, why were you talking to Mr. Darlin’s mum?” She asked me, revealing herself from behind the corner.
“Did you hear us?” I asked her nervously.
“Only mumbles. Why?”
“It wasn’t important. She was telling me how to wash her sheets,” I lied.
“Oh. Well, come to the basement for dinner soon!” She said, and rushed out of the room.
Kat had always felt out of place upstairs. Ever since she had dropped Mrs. Darlin’s nice wine bottle in the kitchen, she hated being anywhere but the basement.
But now, I was feeling more accepted than ever. I, just an orphan, had a chance to do something with my life.