Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 119548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 398(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 398(@300wpm)
Oh.
That’s right.
I was the lady of the house.
Why hadn’t Aunt Vi taught me any of this when she’d made me join Amelia in her etiquette lessons?
“No, it’s not a bother.” I grabbed my phone and stood up. “I’m ashamed to admit I don’t know how this works, but I don’t mind granting permission. Where is the head housekeeper now?”
“In her office, my lady.”
“Then we should go and see her.” I headed towards the door, then paused. “Uh, would you mind showing me the way?”
Louise laughed softly and, with a nod of her head, gestured for me to follow her.
Shit.
This was embarrassing.
How could I be called Fred’s wife when I didn’t even know where the head housekeeper’s office was?
How did I not know that? I knew every inch of this bloody place. I’d practically grown up here. This was a serious oversight on my part.
Then again, I’d not really had much to do with the household staff aside from sneaking into the kitchen to ‘steal’ sweet treats from the cook.
And yes, that was ‘steal’ in little whatchamacallits. She’d always baked more than necessary because she knew one of us would be in to abscond with some goodies like we were some great ninjas.
It’d been quite devastating when we all found out about that. We thought we’d been quite good at it, too, so it really did burst our bubble.
Louise knocked on a door in front of us, and a sharp, “Enter,” came as our answer.
Ah, yes.
I forgot that she was a bit scary.
Louise opened the door for me, and I tentatively stepped inside. “Hello.”
Myra, the head housekeeper, jolted at the sound of my voice. She rushed to her feet, sending her pen flying off her desk. “Lady Delilah. How may I help you?”
That was new.
Usually it was, “Delilah, I just made that bed! Delilah, leave those cushions alone. For goodness sake, Delilah, we just mopped those floors!”
“Um.” I paused, scratching the back of my neck.
Right.
I was the boss here. I was in charge.
I also had no idea what I was doing.
Look at that—it was just like working at the pub.
“Louise came to me just now to request a shift change for next week,” I explained. “I’m happy to give permission, but I don’t know how it all works, so… Here I am.”
Myra watched me for a second, then her brown eyes wrinkled at the corners as she laughed gently. “You just need to sign a form,” she said, pulling something out of a drawer behind her. She handed the sheet of paper to me. “I believe this is the first time Louise has asked to change a shift, so she probably didn’t know. That’s my oversight, and I’ll make sure everyone is aware of it. I apologise.”
“No, no, it’s fine.” I took the piece of paper from her. “Fred didn’t exactly explain it to me, either.”
“I’ll tell Lady Violet immediately.”
I was going to argue with her, but instead I said, “Please do. Make sure I’m around when she tells him off.”
Louise snickered into her hand.
“So, in future, I just fill this out and the staff bring it to you?” I asked, glancing over the permission sheet. It vaguely resembled a school trip form, and I frowned slightly.
“Yes,” Myra replied. “We had some issues a few years ago with the late earl where some staff members were lying about permission being granted. It caused us no end of problems, but Lord Frederick suggested this, and it’s worked ever since.”
“But it’s just a signature,” I pointed out. “Can’t they simply forge it?”
“It’s one thing to lie and say you’ve been given permission—it’s another thing entirely to forge someone’s signature and leave a paper trail of your lie. I also do random spot checks where I double check to see if it has been granted. It’s a system that’s worked well, thus far.”
Right.
That made sense.
“All righty, then,” I said. “May I borrow a pen, please?”
Myra handed me a pen from the pot on the other side of her desk, and I quickly filled it in for Louise. With that done, I left Myra and a very grateful Louise alone in the office to organise the changing of her shift.
Huh.
Look at me, doing countess stuff and shit.
I needed that on a t-shirt.
“You look proud of yourself,” Nana said, hobbling towards me while hanging off Granny’s arm. “What trouble have you caused this time?”
I gasped, pressing my hand to my chest. “Nana! How could you think so unkindly of me?”
“Quite easily,” Granny replied dryly. “Well, what did you do?”
“I helped someone who needed to change her shift at late notice,” I replied happily. “I had no idea what I was doing because Fred didn’t tell me a single thing, but I managed to do it without yelling, crying, or anyone getting hurt.”
Granny blinked at me. “So, you signed a permission form.”