Richard was waiting for us in his study. His tailored suit fit him perfectly, and his boots were worth at least four of my salaries.
I could hardly contain my scoff. Filthy reach people with no regard for people like me.
“Good evening,” he said, smiling. “You’re Nora, and who is this young miss?”
“Emily,” I said dryly. “My daughter. Couldn’t afford daycare for her.”
“I will take care of that. If you accept the job, that is.”
“A widow and an orphan isn’t much of a chooser, you know.”
“An orphan?” He raised his eyebrows. “Forgive me my curiosity. Which shelter were you put in?”
“Too many to count. The first one was right in this town, thirty years ago.”
“You seemed… familiar.”
His smile fell. He squinted his eyes, looking at me a bit too closely for my liking.
I raised my eyebrow.
“What?”
“I’m sorry, Nora. You seemed… familiar. Just for a second.” He coughed and looked at the papers on the table. “Well, how about we go over your duties on the job? Please, take a seat.”
After going over the documents, I chose to accept the offer. My duties weren’t extensive: brief cleaning in between monthly deep cleans done by a private company, running errands, and supervising the gardener and the contractors renovating the southern wing of the estate.
“You see, I enjoyed doing these things myself,” he signed. “However, my health isn’t what it used to be.”
For the first time during our meeting, I smiled.
We stood up and shook hands.
“You can start the day after tomorrow. I’ll need to hire a nanny for the little miss,” he smiled at Emily and booped her nose.
“Oh, you shouldn’t—”
“No, no, Nora. What good is it for the baby to go to daycare, when she can stay with her mom?”
For the first time during our meeting, I smiled.
I waited for his kindness to reveal its price. In my experience, people rarely gave without expecting twice as much in return.
But every morning, Richard found me before I began my work.
“How are you today, Nora? Do you need anything?”
