Gertie Golden Girl Pt. 15

Chapter 15 NEW GENERATIONS

Gertie's family expands

On Tuesday, after returning to her London home, Gertie called a meeting of the staff, there being only five of them based at the house, a housekeeper, chef, kitchen maid/apprentice cook, housemaid and her lady's maid. Her driver was only part-time on an as-and-when-requirement basis and was supplied by Jake's firm, as she rarely needed her own driver in recent years. So, at the age of 85 Gertie had decided several years earlier that she no longer needed to drive herself or maintain her own motor car.

She announced to the assembled staff as they expected that she would close down the household sometime within the next twelve months, when there would be a new Lady Standhope who didn't need the London house. The housekeeper announced that she would probably retire, she was of an appropriate age and she was prepared for this probability; Seanpierre had already started to prepare for opening his new restaurant; the apprentice cook was offered and accepted an attractive position at Sean's restaurant and the two maids would follow Gertie to the Manor where they felt their futures lay.

As far as the London house was concerned, it was owned by one of the many family trusts set up years before, a trust that specifically managed large and particularly fine family-sized properties and the house was likely to be redecorated throughout, the furniture refurbished and stored or repurposed elsewhere, and the property leased out to some wealthy, probably foreign, family until the house was needed by the Standhope Winter family again at some point in the future. Barrington would look after the transfer details until Gertie moved out entirely. Gertie had no doubt at all that the house would be earning money for the family trusts as soon as any necessary repairs, cleaning and modernising of appliances was completed. The Standhope Winters may be very wealthy but they have always abhorred waste.

After another discussion over the phone with Mrs O'Reilly, the housekeeper of the Manor, and therefore a powerful figure in the service provided for the household of the family, Gertie summonsed Charlotte Wellborough to high tea at the London house on Wednesday afternoon and had her driver collect the young woman from the Standhope Winter Merchant Bank where she had been working for several weeks as an unpaid intern.

Gertie had known the girl almost from birth, of course, as she was another of her many god children and she tried to keep tabs on them all. Charlotte was a bright girl and had been in service ever since she started working after leaving school, except for her three years' reading for a degree at London University and Gertie was well aware that even as a small girl she had often worked in the gardens helping her father and grandfather, Billy Junior and Billy Senior respectively, the latter having been Head Gardener at the Manor ever since his father Old Bill Wellborough retired as Head Gardener. Old Bill had made his name nationally known as a rose breeder since his Wellborough Red Rose was chosen by Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) as the flower of the Coronation of her husband as King George VI in 1937. Milly Winter, then Lady Standhope, had insisted that as Old Bill had skilfully bred the distinctive rose, which scored top marks for colour, brilliance and outstanding fragrance, that it should be named after him rather than just the place where it was first grown; hundreds of cuttings of the rose had to be grafted onto root stocks to provide the many thousands of flowers that were needed on the day... and it was still a favourite in millions of gardens around the globe.

As Charlotte was shown into the small sitting room, Gertie noted that the young woman was very smartly dressed in a tailored pin-striped trouser suit, her long blonde hair tied into a neat bun on the top of her head and looked perfectly presentable as a young banker keen to make her way in the world. She was a pretty girl, Gertie had always thought, and had a healthy tanned face against which her even white teeth stood out as she saw her godmother and smiled warmly in response.

"Hello, Charlotte, my dear, do come in and sit here next to me."

Charlotte curtsied and, as she neared her godmother, leaned over and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "You look well, Gran Gertie," the term that Gertie had long ago asked her to use rather than anything more formal between godmother and goddaughter. Originally it was 'Granny Gertie' but Charlotte was too grown-up for that now. "I heard a rumour at the bank that you were seriously ill and Uncle Gerry was briefly worried about you, but then he returned very quickly from the hospital full of bonhomie and immediately moved his offices, while Gill Moorhouse was confirmed as joint CEO and moved into the main office, but other than being confirmed as manager at today's board meeting there has been no announcement of any impending wedding bells."

"Well, my dear, regarding the bank what are your plans for the future?" Gertie asked, "as you look completely like the promising future merchant banking high flyer. Is that where your career is taking you, Charlotte?"

"No, no, Gran Gertie, I was born to personally serve the Winter family and, ever since Mrs O'Reilly approached me many years ago to serve my apprenticeship as a maid, I'm determined to make this service my career. After all, my college fees were paid by the family trusts and although the bank regards me as 'unpaid', Imam on the staff pay of the Manor. A lot of people still think that to serve a family as a servant, possibly for the whole of a working life, is somehow degrading, and yet these same people serve drinks to rude obnoxious people in bars for minimum wage, or wait tables or slave way in a factory or office for a thoughtless ungrateful boss all their working lives without experiencing a life in personal service. It is not servitude if the people you are working for are respectful, honest and grateful. Life in service can be rewarding and satisfying. My family have been in service with the same family for at least five generations and we have all found it rewarding being part of the greater family that is the Standhope family."

"Excellent, Charlotte. Do you feel ready to be the Lady's Maid of the next Lady Standhope?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, Gran Gertie," came the confident reply.

"I obviously know part of your story, but since you finished your apprenticeship at the Manor some four years ago, tell me about what you have been doing since and why."

"The maid apprenticeship at the Manor is pretty comprehensive, as you know, starting with the basic cleaning and polishing, washing, pressing and repair of clothes, packing and unpacking, anticipating what is required before being asked, accounting for petty cash, keeping dual calendars to cover the lady and her family's commitments, recording events and reminding the lady of such events. Keeping ears and eyes open for any problems, keeping secrets and confidences. I did my Uni degree in art appreciation, which included studies of art forms, materials, trends and values, paid for by the family trust. Everything in my training up to recently has been general, not having anyone in mind to serve, but I always hoped to be in the running to serve a future wife of Jake's. Following Mrs O'Reilly's specific instructions six weeks ago, I have researched Gill Moorhouse and her family and used the bank's intern service to provide physical access to Miss Moorhouse and learn about her working environment and as much as possible about who she is and how she is regarded."

"So, you have met Gill?" Gertie asked.

"I have, briefly," Charlotte replied, "but only as an intern called 'Lotty'. HR at the bank are used to Standhope servants coming and going, getting work experience, and I have worked as an intern there before during between-terms time, using my previous times to get to know more about Jake himself. I don't think he ever recognised me because he was rarely at the Manor during my apprenticeship and prior to that I usually only worked in the grounds with my father. But as interns get sent everywhere, I have spoken to Mister Jake many times, and been known as Lotty rather than Charlie."

"Don't underestimate Jake, I'm sure he knows who you are. Well, I can confirm here that Jake and Gill are engaged and will hopefully marry later this year, with a meeting at the Manor in two weeks to tie down most of the details; you will be there at that initial wedding meeting, taking notes for Gill's benefit," Gertie said, "So, what do you think of Gill?"

"I like her, Gran Gertie, I like her a lot. She's a brilliant manager, her New Business Department absolutely love her and are confident that her promotion to CEO is also a reflection on them and can only be good for the bank's future, which is also great for promoting women in business," Charlotte smiled. "No-one was surprised by the promotion, not surprised in the slightest. To her credit, I get the impression that Gill was the only one surprised. She looked stunned for a moment when she returned to the bank from the hospital but then she was being informed of what other departments were up to and she got into her stride. What did get everyone talking, though, was Jake's takeover as CEO at Winstone's which was only announced this morning. Of course, no-one outside the family knows who Jake is or that Jake and Gill are actually a loving couple. But everyone at Standhope Winter loves Jake. I've constantly been told all day that Jake is the go-to guy who knew everything about the banking business and pretty well everything else under the sun but they are still shocked that he was able to take control of a very respectable merchant bank that is second only in the Square Mile to the Standhope Winter Merchant Bank. I think when they find out that Jake and Gill are getting married... well, that is going to set the cat among the pigeons!" She laughed, "oh, I love being part of this... organisation."

"Family, dear," Gertie reminded her, "This whole empire is built on the support --"

"And love," Charlotte interjected.

"Yes, Charlotte, you are right, of the whole greater supporting family. Well, you have put in the work to make yourself ready to be Gill's lady's maid" Gertie said, "you are older and more experienced in the world than my first lady's maid."

"Ah, Maisie was and is a legend. But then you were a lot younger and you had no work experience of managing people and situations," Charlotte replied, "I am older and more experienced in service and education that your first couple of lady's maids, and Gill is a lot older than you and already very successful and expectant of everything being done right. She will have little time for someone to catch up if her lady's maid is not already up and running alongside her."

"And if she recognises you and thinks you have been spying on her to see if she is as... innocent in her behaviour as she seems?" Gertie asks.

"Then I will explain that I have already worked at the bank as an intern before, between college terms, and wanted to check whether the atmosphere was still as I remember and attune myself to the current state of her career and obligations. She may only vaguely remember me as 'Lotty' and I hope she will regard me as 'Charlie', her very own lady's maid and confidante who has her and only her and her family's best interests at heart. I have already given notice at the bank on Monday and just fulfilling my limited commitment to the bank until Friday afternoon."

Gertie patted her knee, "Very good, my dear, you can come up to the Manor with me on Friday afternoon. I'll leave the introductions and confirmation of your appointment to Mrs O'Reilly. Once you start, you will only be required to report to Gill, of course, but, for the first few months, would you please a helpless old lady just to keep me up to date in general terms?"

"Of course, Gran Gertie," Charlotte replied, closing her hand on her god mother's hand and giving it an affectionate squeeze, "I may have trained as much as I could over the last seven years for this role, but I will always be open to advice from my dear godmother when I need it and, dear sweet god-grandmama, you are a long way from being helpless and long may that remain!"

"And you can ask me for anything, any time," Gertie smiled back, "And I suppose from now I better get used to calling you 'Charlie', my dear."

"That would be nice."

"Don't worry, Charlie, I think Gill is going to be in good hands."

They hugged and kissed each others cheeks, each feeling more secure about the future years of this family that had had so much history behind it.

***

As soon as Gill reached her assigned bedroom in the Manor's cordoned-off family suite, guided up through the ridiculously lavish main staircase to the third floor and down corridors by a very young parlourmaid, she was impressed by the large size of the bedroom, the fresh decor, the huge double aspect windows and the fact that the room was dominated by a huge four-poster bed.

But then, Gill reflected, everything she had seen ever since she first saw the magnificent Georgian facade of the... palace, there was no other word to describe this manor house, emerging from a tree-lined bend in the long half-mile drive from the narrow public road through a picturesque village, was absolutely breathtaking, its classical image perfectly reflected in the crystal clear lake in front of the building.

The parlourmaid pointed out the doors leading off the bedroom, a small sitting room, the bathroom, the master bedroom and "the closet", before curtsying and leaving Gill alone in her private suite.

Gill tried the sitting room first, which was a small cosy room with a single window and marble fireplace, furnished with a sofa and a couple of easy chairs, a bookcase and a small wall-mounted flat screen tv, along with a number of small lamps on small side tables.

She looked in the bathroom, which was equipped with a toilet and bidet, standalone bath and separate shower. There were thick, soft towels on heated towel rails and a couple of fluffy bathrobes, both hand-monogrammed in blue thread with "GM" hanging up and also warmed by hot water pipes. The light switch outside the room had a turn-knob which could be dialled down to give the bathroom a more relaxing ambiance from a series of LED downlighting.

She tried the walk-in closet and there were racks on one side of the few dresses she had sent down on Thursday and unpacked by the Manor's servants, alongside a mixture of everyday and more formal dresses that she had never seen before but were all her size; with drawers on the opposite side also filled with additional clothing; and at the end of the walk-in closet was a dressing table with drawers and shelves for make up and cleansing creams, the table fitted with mirrors and lights and an array of three full length mirrors at the end of the racks to thoroughly check her look before leaving.

The door leading to the main bedroom was unlocked. She walked in to see a room that virtually mirrored her own and was if anything might be a little larger. There were vases of flowers in the room, she counted four and the colours seemed be a little more muted, with more blues and greens than the first impression of the filled vases in her own room.

She closed the door behind her and walked over to her own bed and sat down, the bed so high that she almost had to stand on tiptoes before setting down safely without slipping off. It was a firm mattress, she confirmed by bouncing up and down a couple of times which pleased her; she had a firm mattress at home and on trips organised by the bank some beds were too soft for comfort; this bed, her bed, seemed just right in its level of support.

Looking around she counted five vases of flowers in her room, mostly dominated by vibrant reds and soft pinks. She breathed in and relaxed as she realised that the room was wonderfully permeated by the flowers' rich heavenly scents and the tension of visiting Jake's ancestral home finally eased away from her shoulders.

She sighed and then took out her phone from her clutch bag, pressing the one-touch button for her mother's number. The mobile called the number, responding by ringing just twice before her mother picked up.

"Hi dear," her mother's welcoming voice sang out from the loudspeaker, "how's your weekend so far?"

"You won't believe where I am, Mum," Gill said, "I'm sorry I didn't ring last night as usual but this week has been quite frantic... lovely in many respects but definitely overloading. This is the first time I've sat down on my own to give me a moment to catch my breath and get you and Dad up to date."

"Oh, really, sweetheart, do you have any particular news updates for us, then?" Her mother asked sweetly.

Gill started to smell a rat. Although last week at the time she rang her mother for their weekly chat she was having personal doubts about her relationship with Jake, she hadn't actually voiced them to her mother, trying to maintain a fiction that Jake was away on business but everything between them was fine. Over the course of the previous few weeks she had spoken to her mother about her increasingly promising relationship with "a friend... called Jake... from work", without elaborating much further.

Now that all had been revealed to her about who Jake actually was, she was about to reveal her exciting news to her family but had first expected to wade through Mum's usual enquiries about what the children were up to before addressing whatever might be happening in Gill's life. Janet Moorhouse was always predictable in her patterns of behaviour.

There was an edge of practised innocent calm to her mother's voice as if she was already expecting some particular news announcement from the eldest of her three daughters.

Mmm, Gill thought suspiciously.

"Is Dad there?" Gill asked, trying to maintain a similar innocent calm to her voice.

"Yes," came her mother's instant reply, "he came in from the allotments an hour ago and we're having a cup of tea and a biscuit on the back deck; looks like being a spectacular sunset in Weymouth. Did you want to speak to Dad? We are on speaker."

"Hi, honey!" came a distant call over the loudspeaker, her father's voice, "is it as nice there this evening as it is here?"

That sounded suspiciously unusual for her father, Sidney Moorhouse, to be sitting waiting for her call; if she ever missed a Thursday call she always tried again on the Friday night at the same time and her father was rarely on hand to speak to. Friday early evening for Sid usually meant a pint at The Black Dog pub before supper, and her father was forever a creature of habit.

Gill glanced outside as she marshalled her thoughts. She was perched so high on the bed and windows so high and deep that she could see the sparkling lake reflecting the deep blue of a sunny spring late afternoon sky slowly easing into evening. It was a glorious day, in more ways than one.

"Where do you think I am?" Gill asked innocently.

There was a pause of silence before one of them spoke. "Ah, I suppose Jake has taken you on one of his active and interesting outings somewhere?" her father asked, adding, "is this your weekend with the kids or Wayne's weekend, dear?"

"Oh, we have the kids with us, in fact we'll have the kids pretty much every weekend for the next couple of years, so you'll be able to see a lot more of them if you want."

"Oh, that's good, dear," Gill's mother Janet cooed, "we always love to see the grandchildren. But what's happening to Wayne?"

"He's been persuaded to go back to negotiating high profile loans and investments, he was always good at the sales side of the business rather than being CEO at Winstone's, but he'll be based in the Middle East, no doubt dealing with oil billionaires."

"Oh, that's nice dear, but won't the kids miss him?" Janet asked.

"I don't think so, I think Jake's given them plenty of other interests to keep them occupied," Gill said.

"Oh, that's good dear, they do seem to get on well with Jake, as you seem to, too," Janet said, asking, "so, Jake's back from his globe trotting then?"

"Globe-trotting, Mum?" Gill snapped back, "I only said that Jake was on a business trip and, as a manager of a one-man print-room contractor I would've expected you to think he was on a UK-based training course or visiting another print-room branch somewhere, not at all a globe-trotter."

"Ah," came the distant voice of her father, Sid, "that's because I mentioned Jake's name down the pub last Friday and one of the guys who's a bit of a wizz on his lap-computer-thingy found out that he was the owner of the SWN business and he was rumoured to be abroad on some vital business deal and it all sounded quite exciting and I wondered what the outcome was, dear."

"Well, he's back from his trip and, although I thought he was just a manager, the devious bugger has owned up that he not only partly owns the company I work for, he owns most of Wayne's company too and has replaced him as the CEO."

"That's nice, dear, so you are celebrating his promotion somewhere nice then, dear?"

"Yes, we are celebrating, and it is definitely very nice here, but then I think you know exactly where I am staying, I don't know why I know but I can feel it."

"Ah... Yes, dear, we do know you are at Standhope Manor, we looked it up at the library last Saturday, it looks magnificent," Janet admitted, "And we have both been invited to visit on Monday to meet Lady Standhope there. A car is coming to pick us up in the morning and we are staying the whole week as guests at a furnished cottage on the estate, so we will see you there next Friday evening."

"So you knew about Standhope Manor last Saturday? How?"

"Ah. A very nice young man rang us on Friday morning direct from Heathrow airport," Sid called out. "He had just flown in overnight from Buenos Aires, via The Netherlands, and said he was calling on behalf of Jake Nicholls who had to stay on in Chile for the weekend after completing his negotiations, as guests of all his family over there who all wanted to meet him on his first visit to South America."

"So who was this nice young man?" Gill asked, wondering who that could be.

"A Mr Jamieson, a smart young with a cut-glass accent, in his late twenties I would say when we saw him," Sid said. "He told us he was your boyfriend Jake's private secretary and had been for about five years. He'd been with Jake in South America for a fortnight where he was securing the bank's future and therefore your future at the bank, and he needed to speak to us urgently before Jake returned on Monday this week. We told him we were free now, because we are retired, and he drove straight down from the airport."

"Well, Mr Jamieson didn't actually drive himself, Sid," Janet interjected, "he used one of Jake's limos, did you know Jake had a fleet of limousines, Gill?"

"I do now, Mum," Gill sighed. "One of them drove the kids up here on Friday afternoon as soon as school finished and my driver brought Jake and me up here after work."

"Your driver?" Sid asked.

"Yes, I got promoted to joint CEO of the bank and my driver is employed by Jake's company, SWN," Gill said, "so Jake not only owns the printing department and the IT department but the security and reception staff for the bank too. It was his father's business, that his step-father expanded before Jake took charge about twelve years ago, he tells me. I've never met Jamieson, but everyone who knows him says he does an excellent job for Jake. So why was he coming to see you?"

"Jake really wanted to ask me in person for your hand in marriage but his South American family had never met him before and apparently they are all about family--"

"Believe me, Mum, Dad, his English family are just as fierce when it comes to family ties," Gill interposed laughing, "It's wonderful how much they care but, until you get used to it, it is all-encompassing and exhausting."

"Well, Jamieson arrived about lunchtime on Friday and he brought a letter from Jake addressed to me," Sid said. "Your mother sat the young man down in the kitchen and took a cuppa out to the driver after he refused with a smile to come in because he said he was only the driver and Jamieson's mission was private family business."

"I wondered what this was all about," Janet said, "because although we knew from what you said, that you and Jake were seeing each other for about six weeks or so but you hadn't even said you were close enough to be considered 'boyfriend-girlfriend' yet."

"Well, Dad, we got pretty close pretty quick, we just clicked. We are in love, so everything is great between us, but taking everything in is, well, overwhelming. So what was in the letter?"

"It was a very nice letter, long, about four pages both sides, all written out by hand. Neat handwriting, no crossings out or anything," Sid said.

"Yes, but what was contained in the letter?" Gill asked.

"Well, he introduced himself, his full name, his birthday, explained that he was a successful businessman in the services industry specialising in banks, insurances and corporate headquarters where security was essentially the bedrock of the service, as well as having access to substantial income from investments, in property mostly, as his company had long ago reached a comfortable and manageable size for a family business. He owned his own residential property in London he said and had an interest in a comfortable country estate. He then went on to say that although you had only been a couple for a few weeks, he had been attracted to you from the first moment he knew you, some twelve years or so ago but as you were married at the time he made no attempt to let you know of his feelings."

"When I first started at Standhope Winter on a part-time basis working around the children, 9 to 3, doing a 30-hour week," Gill said, "because although I started my banking career at Winstone's, and left on maternity leave for three years before sorting out day care for Clay, Winstone's didn't have a part-time scheme that they could offer me. Standhope Winter Bank did offer part-time positions, but my manager treated me with suspicion because of my past work experience and husband currently at Winstone's and he only gave me 'go-for' jobs. These were often with impossible requests and deadlines. Jake, although I called him 'John' at the time, was the only friendly person I knew in the bank's print department, which was pretty big before we all had personal printers and he was smart enough to offer all sorts of ways of getting around the impossible.

"I remember once a client dumped on us a whole load of papers for a 60-page document and his secretary had run off 50 copies of each individual page and my boss asked me to get them sorted while he took the client to lunch; I took it to 'John', handed him the huge bundle of papers and, while I was explaining what I needed, he carried the bundle over to a machine on a bench behind him, and started counting the pages while still carrying on a conversation with me, checking top and bottom copy and sticking each counted bundle into a sort of rack. I asked him what the machine was, he replied it was a collator and did I want them stapled top left corner or down the spine? I said top left would be fine and he started the machine. In about two minutes he popped the finished documents into a box and handed them back all done. I always liked him, even back then, but then I was married and happily so, I thought."

"Yes, he wrote that he liked you too, right from the start," Sid continued, "Even after learning of your separation and divorce proceeding towards completion, he made no attempt to contact you as your series of promotions at work had reduced your contacts in recent years to rare and fleeting, and he doubted if you even knew he existed. Then he was delighted to be approached by you for advice and was therefore able to see you, renew your friendship which was developing so well that he wanted to take the next step, to become engaged and hopefully married in due course and, therefore, he wanted to ask me, quite formally, for your hand in marriage."

"And he did propose, Dad, so I hope you said 'yes'," Gill said with a smile. "He proposed quite beautifully actually... and I accepted his proposal more than willingly. So, I'm getting married and, despite my experience of one bad marriage, this time I think it will be different, this time I believe it will be right."

"Congratulations, my dear, we are very happy for you. Did you know he was a Lord before he told you?" Janet asked.

"It was too long, for me too. No, he didn't tell me anything about being a Lord or about this place where we're staying until Monday evening; it was his cousin Belinda that told me over the phone when I was alone in the car," Gill replied, "I just thought he was this sweet guy from the print room who didn't seem to want to take on too much responsibility in his job but was more than willing to take on the responsibility of a whole new family, even after all he had gone through. That was good enough for me."

"In his letter Jake want on to say that he considered family to be the most important thing in life," Sid continued, "and, due to losing his parents at a young age, he had only his grandmother as close relative. He had known Jen and Clay almost as long as he'd known you and wanted to be the best step-father to both of them. His reason for asking my permission to ask my daughter to marry him by the letter and not in person was because he was tied up with his South American family and he wanted to pick up the ring Monday morning and ask you to marry him as soon as he next saw you. He hadn't seen you for nearly two weeks and he said that was two weeks too long."

"He did pick up the ring, it was his mother's, was damaged and needed re-setting. I'm wearing it now, a huge blue diamond, it looks absolutely fabulous. Simply wearing something as beautiful as this makes you feel important, feel so special to someone that they would give you something as wonderful as this as an expression of their love. So, you're both coming up here to stay for next week?"

"Yes, Jack's grandmother visited us on Tuesday. Told us to call her Gertie and invited us to stay, to get to know the staff and be comfortable in what will soon be your family home."

"I'm already settled into my very own bedroom, a sort of suite that is just grand, you can see it when you get here."

"We'll look forward to that, dear," Janet said. "And then on Saturday week, we are sitting down with you and Belinda to go through what kind of wedding you want, find out what is available and what is not."

***

If Jenny and Clay loved their new bedrooms at Jake's penthouse in New Timber Lane, they absolutely loved their en-suite bedrooms at the Standhope Manor. The drive up from London in a chauffeur-driven limousine was luxurious and the first sight of the palace that was so unlike their imagined concept of a Manor made both speechless.

Their evening meal in what the footman and maid who fetched them called simply, "a small dining room", looked like something out of a movie set about royalty, with a host of servants delivering food, topping up drinks and clearing away the empty plates, was surreal.

Although the bedrooms provided were comfortable, both had trouble sleeping, partly the strange surrounding, partly the quiet of the countryside and thirdly the anticipation of the activities planned for Saturday morning.

They both had time to reflect on the week that had shaken them out of a miserable life each had endured since their parents separated and broke up their secure and happy existence six months previously. And the cause of that change was Jake, a man both of them liked; Jenny even had nurtured a crush on him for years but she had come to concede that her mother, devastated by the sudden and dramatic collapse of her marriage, needed Jake more and accepted that Jake was only interested in loving Jenny only as the daughter of his true love.

When Gertie picked them up from their respective schools, Clay some half an hour before the end of school, and Jenny some quarter of an hour after school, she came prepared with a chauffeur-driven limousine, liveried driver and a hand-written letter from the Secretary of State for Education instructed the two schools to allow them to be collected by Gertie. In addition the letter instructed that the children were still to be registered with the school and still take part in school games periods, after school clubs and examinations until the end of the school year, that the registers of attendance recorded by home-school tutors would be added to their school records.

Jenny and Clay had choices of bedrooms at Jake's six-bedroom penthouse suite and, while they were being shown the home school rooms being installed on the ground floor of the building, all their stuff from their little three-bedroom house was being moved into their new chosen bedrooms.

Finding out that this lively, kind, friendly old grandmother-type woman was Lady Standhope, who had access to luxury cars and Government officials who snapped to her command, was a revelation and only topped when Gertie told them that their mother's boyfriend Jake was Lord Standhope, that he was engaged to their mother who would upon marriage become Lady Standhope and they would become The Honourable Jennifer Jarvis and The Honourable Clayton Jarvis. Both were concerned that they were going to be wrenched from home life to attend public schools in October as day boarders, delivered and collected daily by Jake's drivers, but they were to be brought up to the education levels accepted by some of the best private school tutors Gertie could find. These public schools would prepare them for whatever promising careers they wished to pursue. Gertie's affectionate explanation of their now being part of a loving and influential family helped assuage their fears of such dramatic shifts in their family life. They were also asked to call her "Granny Gertie" rather than mess about with "Ma'am" or "Your Ladyship".

The news that their father was taking up a position abroad for two years was explained in positive terms for his future career, with no mention at all of any problems arising from his previous position, that they wouldn't have to suffer the upheaval of switching households every other weekend during that period. They were also reassured that their half-brother and his mother were likely to see an improvement in their lives too by their connection with the Standhope family.

***

Gill woke with a start early in the morning. She relaxed when she remembered where she was, lying comfortably in Jake's arms, thinking that this was the prefect way to wake up in the morning, every morning.

Just as she snuggled down again into Jake's warm shoulder, she heard again the faint sound which she believed had awakened her; there was someone in her bedroom next door opening and closing drawers. Jake seemed to be sleeping through it. She jogged him gently and his eyes opened.

"Wha?" Jake asked hoarsely, "wha' time is it?"

"Shh! Quiet! About seven, I think," Gill whispered, "I think someone is moving about in my room. They are being very quiet but I can still hear them."

"Oh, that's alright, Hon," Jake said, matching her whisper but smiling in response to her worried frown, "that'll be your lady's maid, clearing up your clothes from yesterday, re-folding and packing away the outer garments, only if they are still re-wearable, and taking away other items for laundry, particularly your used undies," he raised and lowered his eyebrows at that point, "and set out clothes appropriate to what you need to wear today, plus another set of crisp clean undies for you to get all sweaty and take on the essence of the real you for me to savour when I undress you later."

She slapped his far shoulder with a playful slap, "Pervert!" Gill hissed, adding, "Darling!... but I don't have a lady's maid do I?"

"You do, my love, or I am sure you have one now. And I think it is almost certainly a very bright, very pretty and uncommonly sweet girl called Charlie. You may even know her as she has interned at the bank during school breaks for several years," Jake said, "my grandma Gertie is the second love of my life, only after you my darling, but she is devious and, as the matriarch of this family, she has Machiavellian plans covering every possible scenario that involves our family. Charlotte Wellborough has, I'm sure, long been part of those plans."

"What plans?"

"The plans of succession, Gill darling," Jake smiled, squeezed his lover's shoulders and pulled her back into his shoulders and relaxed back into his soft downy pillows.

"So who is this Charlotte?" Gill asked, "that you seem to know all about and I don't?"

"Well, every lady, and one day soon you will be a Lady, needs a maid who is personally yours, she will look after your clothes, run your bath for you and travel with you and generally be a companion who you will rely on to help you through your day. My equivalent would be a valet."

"But you don't have a valet, do you?"

"No, never have," Jake replied, "but I was too stubborn to use one, even when one was assigned to me. I was too ashamed of my body to have someone dress me, especially as I had no special functions to get dressed up for. I'm afraid Gran had to bear the brunt of all the ceremonial duties for me long after I should've been old enough to represent the family myself. Now, though, now that Gran has decided to retire or at least take a smaller part in the role expected by Lady Standhope, you will need a lady's maid and I will probably need a valet. I'm certain that Mrs O'Reilly, she's the housekeeper who greeted us on arrival last night, has some young man already chosen and prepared for the role."

"What is she going to think when I go back to my bedroom in nothing but a bathrobe?" Gill asked, "We'll both be so embarrassed."

"Charlie won't be embarrassed," Jake grinned, "Besides, she's already been in your empty bedroom for ten minutes and she knows you're not still in the bathroom. She's your own personal maid, Gill. When we are married and you are Lady Standhope, your personal maid will be the most important servant after the housekeeper in this household, I would suppose that she is already regarded by all the servants as such. A lady's maid is in a privileged position, no-one can question her about anything personal to you, and that means anything. Only Charlie will know you slept here last night, she will prevent the housemaid coming in to clean the fireplace and the parlourmaid to make your bed until after we have left to go to breakfast, and Charlie will keep all your secrets to the grave. Charlie is the fifth or sixth generation of Standhope Manor servant and she has been trained to be my wife's maid for at least the last five years."

"Really?" Gill asked, but how?"

"Gran is 85," Jake said, "She know she will not live forever. Her main duty is to ensure that the family and everyone connected to it and dependant on it, like Charlie's family, needs the next generation up and running when Gran stops running. That was supposed to be me and when I was 18 Gran hoped I would take on the role of Lord and had a valet all trained up for me and I was angry and rejected him. I left here where I had lived since I was four and was home schooled. Being 18 gave me the independence I craved. And I wanted to do it alone. I moved into my parents' flat that had been empty ever since they died. That wasn't down to me, that was Gran not wanting to clear out Mary's stuff. But, having said that, just like Gran, I feel that duty calls, I will have to act like the Lord and you will have to be the Lady, or least you will if you want to be. Gran has carried me for far too long and me stepping up to the plate is long overdue."

"So I have to have a lady's maid and you have to have a valet?"

"It does look like it," Jake laughed as he threw up the duvet and leaped off the bed. "I going to get showered and shaved... etcetera, while you take the walk of shame next door."

"Damn!"

***

Gertie and Mrs O'Reilly had an early Saturday morning meeting with Ben Simons over tea and croissants.

"I'm pleased that you were able to come over at such short notice, Ben," Gertie addressed the smartly dressed young man, I hope you are not too jet-lagged this morning."

"I'm fine, ma'am, thanks to the first class crossing, I was able to sleep on the flight over and start to attune my body to UK time and, being driven up from Heathrow, was much appreciated, plus I've had a good night's sleep, my room here was very nice, thank you, Mrs O'Reilly."

"Well, I know we spoke about the possibilities of rejoining the team here at the Manor, Ben a couple of weeks ago," Gertie said, "without being too specific on timing and I suppose you could reasonably work out what job we wish to offer you?"

"Well, I knew it wasn't the job of butler here," Ben smiled, "I still keep in contact with my old friends Bob and Joe here plus one or two others so I knew the butler's job wasn't on offer, but someone told me that Charlie was interning at the bank again, which was odd, because I heard she graduated from Uni last June with a first class honours degree and, when you called me again on Monday, that made me put two and two together, which added up to Mister Jake Nicholls, Lord Standhope who may be in need of a valet."

"You were always good at maths and cryptic crosswords, Ben," Gertie chuckled, "we've not spoken to Jake about you for twelve years --"

"Almost thirteen, ma'am," Ben interjected with a smirk, "the anniversary is in a fortnight."

"Indeed," Gertie smiled, "and yet, you came."

"I came when you called, just as soon as I could give notice less accrued vacation to my now former employer. I'm not here to negotiate, Ma'am, I expect you to be fair as you always have been, but it was always my dream job, to serve Mister Jake as I had been trained to do."

"And he was very ungrateful, you remember?"

"Of course, it is etched into my memory," Ben nodded, "but Mr Jake was angry, the unspoken bottled-up for years type of anger, about his losses and about his helplessness in the face of how his expectations exceeded those of his mother's family and he chose his father's path and buried himself in the Nicholls business."

"And this affected you so hard that you left us immediately?" Gertie asked softly.

"Rejection hit me hard, Ma'am, I had grown up with Jake, I liked him as a friend, I had admired him since we were young boys as the bravest young man I knew," Ben admitted, "I was proud of our easy friendship, pleased that I was chosen to be his valet, I guess I loved him a little too. When he rejected me, my world collapsed. It was a personal rejection, I felt that I had lost face among my peers. That is why I left so suddenly. I left my family and sought a valet position elsewhere."

"We all felt for you, Ben," Mrs O'Reilly said, "and if you had stayed with us, we would have found you worthwhile jobs within the greater family. We would have understood Mister Jake's rejection was not of you per se but because of the whole weight of the world on his young shoulders, wanting to make his own way in the world and wanting to do it himself. I think we all underestimated him but have pride in hou he has turned out is in part the training and support he had with us all."

"Oh, I realised that my departure was a mistake soon enough but also realised that, although I asked for no references, I managed to pick up a succession of valet jobs in the Middle East and then the US that I had no right to secure alone," Ben smiled.

"You were family, Ben," Gertie said, "we owed you and we kept tabs on you and now we need you back."

"I feel a need to come back, too, unfinished business," Ben freely and frankly admitted, after all they were family and there was no point hiding what cannot be hidden, "And, hopefully, if Mister Jake is grown up to be the man we know and love, I would love to be part of the family again."

***

As Gill entered her bedroom, dressed only in her monogrammed bathrobe and nothing else underneath, she couldn't see anyone in the room. What she could immediately see was that the unslept-in bed had the covers and duvet thrown back and the pillows flattened with what appeared to be the shape of a head.

The door to the closet and dressing room was open and a pretty blonde girl stepped out, curtsied and said brightly, "Good morning, Ma'am, I hope you slept well." The girl smiled at Gill's silent nod in reply and asked, "May I introduce myself, Ma'am?"

"Yes, of course," Gill replied.

Holding her hands low, in front of her waist, the girl said, "I am your appointed lady's maid, Ma'am, my name is Charlotte Mary Wellborough and I'm 24. Mrs O'Reilly and Lady Standhope selected me many years ago as a potential lady's maid for a future Lady Standhope."

"You were selected years ago?" Gill asked.

"Yes, about sixteen years ago when I was about 8 and inducted into the private home school here at the Manor, but I wasn't told of my selection until I was about thirteen, when I was sent to a full-time girls' school for my secondary education. From age sixteen to nineteen I served an apprenticeship here as a servant, learning all there is to know about being a maid all the way up to housekeeper, doing all the manual cleaning jobs as well as learning care of fabrics and repair, hairdressing, make-up, book-keeping, etc. At Uni I studied art appreciation getting a first class honours degree, I have also worked sixteen intern sessions at Standhope Winter Bank, some of the early sessions with SWN department, to learn about Mister Jake's business. My background in working for the Standhope family is that I am around the sixth or seventh generation of my family to work at the Manor; my father is the current Head Gardener and before him my grandfather and great-grandfather were Head Gardeners here and I often 'helped' my father and 'Gramps' in the gardens before Gran Gertie brought me inside to learn about what goes on in the household."

"Gran Gertie?"

"Lady Standhope is my godmother and our relationship is similar to my having a third grandmother. I was chosen on a hypothetical basis in the hope that Mister Jake would find a bride at some point in his life. Mister Jake has always been loved by all the servants within the Standhope family and it is hoped that you will agree to have a lady's maid that is acceptable to make your future role as Lady Standhope transitions smoothly over the next few months. I will add that my relationship with you as your lady's maid would be sacrosanct, neither Gran Gertie nor anyone else will ever know what passes between us."

"Hence?," Gill nodded towards the rumpled bed.

"The housemaid for this floor will come to make or change the bed after we go to breakfast; she is young, less experienced as a maid and not required to be as tight-tipped as a lady's maid is held to, so the housemaid will believe you slept here."

"And how do you feel about that?" Gill asked.

"As far as my morals go, I feel if I want to sleep with my lover, that's my business and no-one else's, as your lady's maid I have no issue with you doing what comes naturally to you but, and I want to be honest with you, if you ever took another lover, while I would never say anything to anyone, ever, I would be seeking another position."

"Fair enough," Gill responded, "that would never happen, not with Jake, I only kicked out my ex-husband when I found out about his affair."

"I know a little of your history," Charlie nodded, "I would like to be your lady's maid, if you will have me."

"I've never had a maid," Gill said, "and not sure how this would work."

"We work together," Charlie smiled, "I would be your personal servant, not your slave and on my part I will not be a 'this-is-my-job tyrant. I would run your bath for you when you want your bath, for example, if you have three choices of bath salts I will chose one each time unless you say, 'I'll have the rose and camomile tonight'. If you want to run your own bath just tell me, 'I'll run my bath tonight, or I just feel like a shower'. I will not be offended, it is my job to assist you to make your life easier, not to wrestle with you who lays out the towels. Try me out for a month and see how it goes. If you feel you don't need me around, or you would prefer a different lady's maid, I know that Mrs O'Reilly would find a suitable replacement and Gran Gertie will find a suitable position for me, probable in a different household to minimise any embarrassment to either of us."

"Mmm, Jake doesn't have any servants, I wonder how he would take to having someone hovering about me?"

"I'm not sure it will be long before he has his own valet, ma'am," Charlie smiled, "I'm surprised he has not already knocked on your fiancé's door and introduced himself."

"How do you know?"

"It's my job to know," Charlie answered curtly, then relaxed and giggled, "or at least be aware of the probabilities. We had a late arrival last night, after you had retired, an old friend I hadn't seen for thirteen years but I keep in regular contact with by what's app. He has said nothing to me, which is to be expected if he was indeed to become Mister Jake's valet, but the Stanhope Manor household bush telegraph is second to none!"

***

When Jake emerged from the bathroom he noticed that Gill had left, closing the adjoining door behind her. He could hear the hum of voices and smiled to himself, imagining the meeting between his lover and her personal maid for the first time. He knew that keeping his assumed position in society, that his rank awarded him, from Gill while they were courting and building up towards his proposal, left Gill open to the sudden shock of being thrust into a class of people that ordinary people only witnessed through fiction, theatre or old films set in a bygone age. Now everything was out in the open, Gill had to be brought up to speed as quickly as possible.

Jake took upon himself a little guilt for keeping himself as incognito as possible during his courtship of Gill. It had been an ongoing habit ever since he left home and became an adult wanting to stand on his own two feet. Naturally, he wanted to keep in regular contact with his grandmother; that was natural, she was his only direct relative he knew. His late father, he had already been informed, was the youngest child of parents who died before Jake was born. He had uncles and aunts but only knew them through his company, SWN, which had been saved and run by his step-grandfather after his parents died; Jake knew them more as employees than close relatives. Even when drumming up new business or introducing himself to contacts within existing contracts, he always introduced himself as the CEO not necessarily the sole owner of his business, and never admitted to being Lord Standhope unless he was recognised and couldn't avoid it. He had stopped regarding Standhope Manor as his second home and visited the place rarely, usually at Gran Gertie's insistence at high days and holidays. He refused to stay at Gertie's London House and moved into his parents' mothballed apartments, alone.

Now everything had changed, his fiancée would soon be a Lady and would sooner than he'd like, take on many of the duties carried for so long by Gertie who, at her age, should by rights have been retired long ago. It Gill was going to have to take on many of those responsibilities then he would have to do the same on his side of the coin.

Just as he was having those thoughts, a knock on the door stopped him in his tracks as he found he was pacing up and down the room considering the consequences of his impending marriage.

'No, she wouldn't,' was the first thought that came into his mind, swiftly followed by, 'Yes, of course she would!'

"Coming!," he called, and opened the door. "Ben!" He greeted the caller that he immediately recognised, older, probably wiser and as unexpected as could be.

"Sir, good morning," the man at the door answered. "May I enter, sir, so we might talk in a more private setting? Walks have ears, especially in Standhope"

"Of course, Ben, come in, man," Jake answered, holding the door fully open and standing to one side. "It's actually a pleasure to see you after all these years and have an opportunity to apologise."

"Thank you, sir," Ben said as he walked past Jake into the centre of the room and turned to face Jake, bowed his head slightly, then stood to attention.

"Funnily, enough," Jake said as he closed the door behind him, "my fiancée is next door meeting, well, Charlie Wellborough almost certainly, as her new lady's maid and you, and the disgraceful way I treated you came to mind. How have you been?"

"I am well, my Lord," Ben replied, "as for how we parted last, that was a long time ago; if I may be frank, we were both upset and angry. For my part I have had time to reflect and understand more fully how you felt and my momentary anger was simply that, momentary. It dissipated quickly and painlessly. I should have been more attuned to your feelings and not allowed my assumptions to dictate my less than helpful reactions."

"Come now, man," Jake grinned back at Ben, "I was the jackass who reacted badly when Granny Gertie insisted that I take on a valet at a point where I was wanting to be independent and I blew off hot and, if anything, our little spat resolved my determination to leave home and live by myself. That has worked out well for me, so perhaps I should thank you that I became fully independent sooner rather than later."

"I'm delighted that it all worked out well and please accept my congratulations on your engagement and my best wishes for your future happiness together, sir."

"Thank you, Ben, on behalf of my future bride and myself for your best wishes," Jake smiled, "as for working out well, at first I admit it was hard, having to make my bed, my breakfast, shopping for food, doing laundry, and ruining some of my clothes in the process, making and changing my bed, hoovering and washing up... it was collectively a shock and I was shocking at it all."

"That's why we are well trained to manage that stuff in our stride, sir," Ben grinned back, "but I hear you have done well with your business and now, I hear, you are a bank manager to boot!"

"Well, Jamieson is the real bank manager, I'm the one who takes the blame or receive plaudits if any are going. But it is an adventure that I have surprised myself in enjoying."

"I would've had no doubt, sir."

"So what about yourself?" Jake asked, "cutting myself off cut off my contact to the bush telegraph."

"Oh, I've got by, not without unspoken help from her Ladyship," Ben replied. "I had a poor time of it in the Middle East, but a call from the United States got me a butler position followed by a succession of similar posts, but it was not like working for Lady Standhope, so I'm happy to return if we can agree that you need a valet, this time around."

"A valet, when you've been a butler?"

"It is not the title, sir, it is who you serve and how you are regarded and therefore treated. I was trained for a particular position and that position is still one I hold ambitions for. The future, as years roll by, may provide other opportunities that I might grow into, but I know where I want to be."

"Then shall we shake on it, Ben, and you can confirm your situation with her Ladyship when we go down to breakfast."

"I'm sure she will be pleased, especially if Charlie is also confirmed."

"I am sure we are all one happy family, Ben, as I've heard no screams from the other room. It looks like Gran's plans for the succession are running as smooth as she all along expected."

to be continued.