Chapter 20: Discoveries

Abigail woke the next morning, absolutely excited. She planned to shower and dress before breakfast, since she wanted to get an early start on the project her father had set to her. She wanted to make him proud, a part of her acknowledged.

But she also wanted to spend time with Mark, another part of her whispered to herself.

And she had to acknowledge that, too. He was incredibly kind to her, he had done nothing but help her wherever he could, and Abigail was entirely grateful for everything.

She got into the shower on her own, thankfully, it seemed that since the party and the whole dress debacle, those same nine women had been appointed, either by themselves or her father, as her default servant crew. She hadn’t been helped or assisted by anyone else except them since the party. And thankfully, those women understood her need to shower alone.

Many, many benefits had come from that night and Olivia’s dresses.

Abigail showered carefully, a voice in the back of her head telling her she was doing it because this morning she knew she would be meeting Mark. She ignored the voice, but still paid perfect attention to her grooming.

She blow dried her hair wildly, keeping her curls in tact, and carefully selected her clothes for the day.

Even she had to admit, it was nice having clothing to choose from that wasn’t worn through with holes, or were so course she itched through two layers. Also, it was nice having clothing that complimented her body and skin, and was able to co-ordinate with each other.

Abigail, showered and dressed, headed to the dining room in search of her father.

As always, he was seated for breakfast already, a folder of the most important events of the day opened next to him, next to his cup of earl grey.

“How’s the project coming along?” Adam asked his daughter over what had slowly started to become their own private breakfast.

Abigail had not seen either Olivia or Charlotte in days. They also hadn’t passed any messages to her. If Abigail hadn’t known that they were living in the same house, she could all but have forgotten about them. They hadn’t disturbed her life in days. And in all honesty, she would be a little worried, if Mark and the assignment didn’t have her full attention entirely.

“I’ll have the result for you by tonight,” Abigail promised her father, sure that Mark would be true to his words, and she would be able to prove to her father that she was capable of everything he had given her, both gifts and responsibilities.

“Excellent,” Adam told his daughter. “That is an amazing turnaround time for a project like this. I wouldn’t have been able to do it sooner myself.”

Abigail beamed. What little she knew of her father was that he didn’t give out praise often, and he never sugar coated things. If he could call out Olivia’s behavior as the instability it was so publicly, he would have no problem telling her she was being slow.

If he complimented her, it was genuine assessment of her work, and Abigail hoped he would like the finished product this evening.

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There was a veranda out in the gardens. It was near the part of the forest that hadn’t been taken care of just yet, so it would be close to their normal meeting spots. The veranda was also covered, so it gave them a little bit of privacy, along with the fact that no one ever came out to this part of the grounds, except her.

Abigail liked the added privacy, not that she expected anything to happen, of course. But still. It was nice to dream about possibilities.

After breakfast, Abigail went back to her room, gathered her three folders and went to meet Mark by the covered veranda.

She found him already waiting.

“Hey,” Abigail greeted Mark, as she entered the veranda.

“Hi,” Mark said, standing up.

A true gentlemen, Abigail thought, he allowed her to sit down before taking a seat himself.

Inside the veranda was absolutely gorgeous. Right around the inside was a long bench, with a circular table straight in the middle. The veranda was quite big, so there was room to walk around even with the bench right around the inside wall and the table.

The bench was covered with soft pillows and cushions, and there were three blankets draped messily over the bench pillows.

The veranda was made of dark wood, with walls protecting against the wind, it was actually warmer inside.

Abigail wondered who designed this, and decorated it. Neither Olivia or Charlotte even went outside, never mind had this kind of taste to create something like this.

Abigail shook her head, and sat down on one side of the bench.

“Should we dive right in?” Abigail asked, excited to get started.

“Lead the way,” Mark waved his hand to her.

Abigail handed one file to Mark, and spread the other two out in front of them, and she began detailing to him the project she’d been assigned.

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They’d been working for nearly three hours, when Mark finally stretched, and spoke about something other than work.

“So,” Mark said, as they poured over documents, and drew conclusions. “You’re fitting in to your new life now?”

Abigail thought she heard something in his tone, but decided for the sake of their new friendship, she was going to ignore it.

“Parts of it,” Abigail said, thinking as she spoke. “I’m still not really used to the servants thing, though I think I’ve made friends with some of them. And I’ve learnt its just easier for everyone if I just let them do their jobs, instead of trying to be what I think is selfless and independent and do it myself.”

“What do you mean?” Mark asked her, turning to her with interest.

“Well,” Abigail said, thinking, “The other day, I made my own bed. But obviously wrong, cause I have no idea how things are supposed to work here, so the cleaning lady had to undo it and then make it. And with lunch yesterday, I tried to get my own plate, and the server tried to do his job and we ended up breaking three plates between us. So,” Abigail said, thinking back. “I’ve learnt that its easier for them, if I just let them do their job and not try and do it for them.”

Mark laughed, “So you’ve gotten accustomed to the luxury because its easier for them, not you?”

“Not entirely,” Abigail admitted. “It is kind of nice being waited on.”

“Never had much of that before?” Mark asked, genuinely, making a simple mark on the page he wanted Abigail to look at again.

“No,” Abigail said, a little saddened. Thinking of her life before made her think of her mother, and the last time they’d spoken.

“What was it like, before you came to all of this?” Mark asked gently.

Abigail knew he was being careful because he too knew what it was like to start with nothing, and some things were hard to speak about, or even process.

“Difficult,” Abigail admitted. “But not impossible. We struggled for a long time, my mom and me. But we managed to make ends meet working odd jobs wherever I could find them.”

“Really?” Mark asked, sitting slightly back. “What kind of jobs did you do?”

“Hmmm,” Abigail thought back, there were just so many. “How about I start with my favorites?”

“Sure,” Mark laughed. “Why were there so many that you can categorize them?”

Abigail laughed slightly, “I was always juggling school,” she explained. “So my jobs had to fit around my school schedule, my holidays, and when they couldn’t anymore, then I had to move on.”

“Ah,” Mark told her, “I see.”

“So, my two favorites,” Abigail said, turning slightly to him, “Hands down, were working at the flower shop, and the animal shelter.”

“Really?” Mark pressed, surprised. “That’s kind of a stark contrast to then and what you’re doing now.”

“It is,” Abigail agreed. It was mainly the reason she was sitting here with Mark right now. All of her job experiences before hadn’t covered how to run a company.

‘It's not the only reason,’ her thoughts whispered to her traitorously.

“I will admit though,” Abigail said shyly, “I like this part of my new life. The work for the company, it’s really interesting, and I never knew it could help so many people in so many ways. I think that’s what makes putting up with the servants so much easier.”

“Oh,” Mark said, and Abigail was sure she heard a tinge of sadness in his voice.

But she couldn’t understand it. Did he want her to be taken in by the lavish lifestyle? And have no interest in the actual work? That just didn’t make sense, and it wasn’t how she knew him to be.

Then again, she reminded herself, she knew very little about him so far.

Shaking her head, she decided to change that.