Annie woke up to the sound of heavy rain against the tiny bedroom window.
She was just snuggling down further under the covers when she remembered about her new role. To be completely and utterly indispensable. To prove to Sam that she was very much needed around Willow Tree Hall.
That meant getting out of the bed and making sure that breakfast was ready for him.
But when she grabbed her phone, she realised that it was already half past seven in the morning. And Sam had risen very early the previous day when he had caught her dancing in her pyjamas.
Swearing, she quickly got dressed and rushed downstairs, praying that it had been a jet-lagged fluke the previous day. Unfortunately, she found both him and Rose eating their toast at the kitchen table.
‘Good morning,’ she said, breathless from her hasty descent down the stairs.
‘Good morning,’ replied Rose, with a huge smile.
Sam also muttered ‘Good morning’ before purposefully checking the time on his watch and raising his eyebrows to himself.
Annie’s heart sank. It hadn’t been the best start to her new plan. But she straightened her shoulders and carried on with a wide smile. ‘Right,’ she said in a brisk tone. ‘Quick breakfast for me before I start work cleaning the main areas.’
Rose’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. ‘Really? Are we expecting visitors?’
‘No,’ said Annie, keeping her bright tone of voice. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘Because Megan will be here to clean this morning, won’t she?’ asked Rose.
Annie suddenly remembered that it was Friday. ‘Yes! That’s right! Of course! I just thought that we should give the whole place a proper spring clean.’
‘In the middle of winter?’ said Sam, before taking a sip of coffee.
Annie was cross to note that a smirk was twitching the side of his mouth as he did so.
‘Well, if you’re sure,’ said Rose, still looking astounded. ‘I’ve always preferred lying on a sofa than sweeping up the dust underneath it.’
‘Then it’s a good thing that it’s my job and not yours,’ replied Annie, heading over to pour herself a cup of tea.
She also made a mental note to vacuum under the sofas as well as around them.
An hour later, Annie and Megan stood in the middle of the drawing room.
‘So, what’s all this about then?’ asked Megan, looking at her friend with bemusement.
‘I’m trying to be more professional,’ Annie told her.
‘Is this because you want to impress the gorgeous Sam?’
‘No, of course not. And he’s not gorgeous. He’s grumpy and extremely rude.’
‘He’s also totally hot,’ added Megan, giving her a nudge in the ribs.
‘Stop talking about him like that,’ Annie told her, feeling cross. ‘Anyway I thought you were a happily married woman.’
‘I am but I still have eyes in my head.’
‘Look,’ began Annie. ‘Things have got a bit slack recently. We need to keep on top of everything. What’s your normal routine?’
Megan looked confused. ‘I turn up every Monday and Friday morning, flick a feather duster around for half an hour and then have a coffee and gossip with you and Rose.’
‘Yes and then I end up being so behind with the washing, cleaning and tidying that it takes me the rest of the week to get on top of everything.’ Annie sighed. ‘Things are going to have to change around here, otherwise Sam will be getting rid of the both of us.’
Megan looked horrified. ‘Oh God! Don’t let him sack me! You’re the only people I see during daylight hours that don’t cry when Peppa Pig isn’t on the TV. I know I’m a rubbish cleaner, but please don’t send me home. These two mornings are so precious to me. I swear I’ll batter myself to death with Barnaby’s Captain America shield if I have to be at home every day of the week.’
Annie gave her friend’s arm a reassuring squeeze. ‘It’s OK. Breathe. I know I owe you for getting me this job in the first place. Or rather lying to get me this job.’
Megan shrugged her shoulders. ‘What are friends for. Anyway, they needed someone to step in at short notice and you’d just rung me to say that you were fed up with sailing around the world.’
‘Maybe I should have just stayed away,’ said Annie, feeling gloomy as she stared around the large room.
‘Rubbish,’ Megan told her, sitting on the edge of a threadbare sofa. ‘You hated those cruise ships in the last few years. I could hear it in your voice. It was time to stop running and come home.’
Annie glanced around to make sure that Sam, in particular, wasn’t there before leaning in to whisper, ‘Perhaps I should just own up.’
‘No way,’ said Megan, with a firm shake of her head. ‘That won’t do any good. Rose and Arthur want you here and that’s the end of it. So what if you haven’t got any qualifications?’
Annie wasn’t convinced, especially as it was the exact same reason that Megan had given her almost a year ago when she had persuaded her to apply for the vacant housekeeper position.
‘But I was only a chambermaid on the ships,’ Annie reminded her.
‘I do miss getting all those photos from you,’ sighed Megan. ‘Sydney. New York. Those islands in the Caribbean. So glamorous!’
Annie rolled her eyes, knowing that the life of a staff member working on a cruise ship was vastly different to the luxurious time that the paying customers enjoyed. But she could still remember sending each picture message to Megan from wherever she was in the world. After all, she had been one of only two friends that Annie had allowed herself to keep in latter years. Only Megan and Eleanor had been any support during her teenage years when her home life had been a nightmare.
‘Have you heard from Eleanor recently?’ she asked.
Megan shook her head. ‘Only a few texts since the summer. Living the high life in London, I should think. Glad one of us made it.’
’’Well, she was always the one most likely to succeed at her job,’ said Annie. ‘She was the hard-working swot whilst we gossiped about Take That at the back of the class.’
‘I never did get to marry Robbie Williams,’ said Megan with a sigh.
‘It’ll be nice to catch up with her properly at Christmas when she comes back for the holidays. Right,’ declared Annie, straightening her shoulders. ‘Time to stop procrastinating. Let’s get this place looking better.’
Normally, Megan just swept the hallway and stairs . There just wasn’t time to keep up with all the dust in a massive house like Willow Tree Hall. Especially when Rose needed dropping off at various lunch appointments and Arthur required help with some of the tenants. But Annie knew that standards had slipped and she was determined to prove that she was the best housekeeper for the job.
Because it had been left so long, it took them all morning to dust and clean the drawing room and entrance hall.
Just as Megan had left, Beryl arrived to take Rose out to lunch before they went onto the hospital to see Arthur at visiting time. They had become close friends since Rose had moved back into the Hall a few years previously. Although Beryl’s quiet life as a cook in their tiny village was in marked contrast to Rose’s fabulous life of travel, fashion, four husbands and endless suitors.
Annie invited Beryl in for a cup of tea in the kitchen and had just poured one out when Beryl looked over her shoulder with a start before breaking into a wide smile. ‘Mr Samuel!’ she said, clutching her chest in shock. ‘Goodness me! It’s been a while.’
Sam walked across the kitchen to give Beryl a brief hug. Annie was surprised at his show of affection, but then Beryl had probably known him since he was a baby.
‘Bless my soul!’ carried on Beryl. ‘You look just like your father and, of course, the Earl. Not so much Mr William, of course. He has your mother’s features.’
Sam shuffled awkwardly under her scrutiny. Annie wondered how long it had been since anyone had mentioned his parents to him.
‘And how is Arthur doing?’ asked Beryl, still sizing Sam up and down.
‘Tired. He’s on a drip for the pain but that should begin to ease at some point,’ said Sam. ‘But he’s got quite a few weeks yet until he’s able to come home.’
‘But you’re staying on in the meantime, aren’t you?’ said Beryl in a hopeful tone.
Sam shook his head. ‘I’ve got to head off in the next couple of days. I’ve an important couple of meetings in New York.’
‘So good they named it twice,’ cooed Rose, entering the kitchen. ‘Of course, it’s nothing like it was in the seventies. Darlings, the tales I could tell would make your hair curl! I remember there was one night in Studio 24 when Hugh Hefner cornered me in the ladies’ washroom and brought out his…’
‘We should probably get going,’ said Beryl, quickly cutting off her friend’s story for the benefit of everyone else in the kitchen.
‘Send Arthur my love,’ said Annie. ‘I’ll visit him tomorrow.’
‘Of course.’ Rose nodded before turning to face Sam. ‘Oh and by the way, I’ve been thinking about our little money problem. How about I give you one of my rings, dear?’ She held out her hand where a large emerald glinted in the light of the single bulb hanging overhead.
Sam’s shoulders fell as he sighed heavily. ‘Aunty, you can’t sell your jewellery.’
‘What else is one to do with it all?’ said Rose with a shrug. ‘Oh, it’s not that sentimental, if that’s what you’re thinking. The gentleman in question broke off our engagement once word got out that his maid was pregnant. The scandal! Well, it was the 1950s. Not that those kind of things matter anymore.’ She glanced from Sam to Annie. ‘Take you two, for instance. There’d be no prejudice these days in a future earl and housekeeper getting together.’
Annie blushed bright red at the unexpected thought of her and Sam having any kind of romance. From his startled expression, he was thinking the same thing.
‘Just keep the ring for now,’ carried on Rose, slipping it off her finger and placing it on the table. ‘And there are plenty more in the jewellery box where that came from. Toodle-oo, my darlings.’
Sam sighed and slipped the ring into his trouser pocket.
Annie used the excuse to see them off, if only for the fresh air at the front door to cool down her still glowing cheeks.
Rose and her extravagant ways had completely missed the mark. There was no way she would ever think of Sam in a romantic kind of way. She had rarely thought of anyone like that. Romance had been discouraged between staff and guests on the high seas. She had managed to sneak in the odd, brief love affair, but there had been no one significant until him. But it had been two years since she had seen him. She had followed him around the world on the internet, of course. Praying that by some miracle he would somehow track her down, but he never had.
But she hadn’t given up hope. She was certain that sometime, somewhere, she would see him again.