Eve stood and took Mum’s hand to pull her to her feet. “Come to bed now, Mummy.”
Her eyes looked heavy with sleep but she shook her head. “Lady Rosamunde will be out very late tonight with a dinner and then a party to attend. I need to wait up for her until she comes home.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to help her get ready for bed, then take care of her clothes and shoes and brush her hair and—”
“Can’t she do those things herself?”
“It doesn’t matter if she can. This is the way wealthy ladies live. Women like Lady Rosamunde expect their lady’s maid to help them with everything.”
“It doesn’t seem fair that you have to stay up late while she has all the fun. Aren’t you tired?”
“I can nap a little while I wait. But this is my job.” Eve sank down in front of Mum again, loving the touch of her fingers as she smoothed Eve’s hair from her face. “What else did you see in London today?”
“We walked through St. James’s Park and saw Buckingham Palace, where the king lives. We were supposed to have tea, but I felt too sad. We might go tomorrow instead.”
“I don’t think so, Eve. You had the afternoon off because the Clarksons dined out this evening. But Tildy will need your help in the kitchen tomorrow. And the day after that, too. You’re here in London to work.”
“But Audrey said—”
“Miss Audrey,” Mum corrected.
“She said we’re going to do a lot of things together while we’re here in London. She let me borrow one of her dresses to wear today.”
Mum leaned forward and cupped Eve’s face in her soft hands. “Eve. I’m so glad you enjoyed your day. But listen carefully to me. Miss Audrey will be your friend for only a short time. I don’t think her mother knows about your friendship yet, but believe me, she’ll never allow it to continue once she finds out.”
“Audrey says she can do whatever she wants.”
“Not for much longer. You may enjoy her company for now, but never forget that you’re her servant. That’s never going to change. Young ladies like Miss Audrey don’t socialize with their maidservants, especially once they become adults.”
“But you’re friends with Lady Rosamunde.”
“No. We’re not friends. She confides in me and tells me personal things because there’s no one else she can trust. But I’ll never be her friend, Eve. I’ll always remain her servant. The same is true for you and Miss Audrey. Even if you become her lady’s maid someday, there will always be a gap between you that you can never cross.”
“But—”
“Eve, listen to me.” Mum took both of Eve’s hands in hers. “Enjoy your time with Miss Audrey while it lasts. But please remember that it won’t last. I don’t want you to be hurt when she casts you aside. And she will someday.”
Eve’s stomach ached as if she’d eaten too much food. She didn’t want to believe that Audrey would stop being her friend, yet deep down she knew Mum was right. After all, Mum wasn’t out having fun at the party with Audrey’s mother. She was here, staying up until she came home so she could wait on her. If Eve became Audrey’s lady’s maid, her role would be the same. She had to accept that. She squeezed her eyes closed as her anger flared, the embers stoked and coaxed into life by the harsh truth. She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life as a lady’s maid or a kitchen maid or any other kind of maid. “I won’t always be a servant,” she said. “Especially not Audrey’s servant.”
“That’s right, my love. As soon as you turn sixteen, you’re going to take a typing course and leave the manor house and the gentry behind for good.”
“You could leave too, Mum. We could take the course together.”
Mum gave a slow, sad smile. “You’re absolutely right. Maybe I’ll do that very thing.” But Eve knew she never would.
5
WELLINGFORD HALL, SEPTEMBER 1935
Why were goodbyes so hard? The Sunday worship service ended, and Eve stood with her mum outside the village church, saying goodbye to the people she loved. Everyone in the village wanted to hug her and wish her well before she moved to London to begin her typing course.
“I’m glad to see one of us making good and moving up,” Mrs. Ramsay said, gripping Eve’s arm.
“I’m not sure if moving up is such a good thing,” someone else said. “Seems like the upper crust all wear sour faces. We don’t want that for our Eve, do we?”
“You’ll never lose your pretty smile, will you, Eve?”
“I hope not,” she said, laughing.
“That’s our girl.”
Eve wiped her cheeks, damp with tears and rain on this drizzly fall morning. Goodbyes were like crossroads where the path divided, places where you could look back at what you were leaving behind yet glimpse the choices and possibilities that lay ahead. Goodbyes were hard because they meant change. Eve knew she would be different the next time she returned, and the people she loved would be, too. The narrow village streets and stone cottages already seemed smaller than when she’d left to work at Wellingford Hall four years ago.
Eve was glad she’d brought her umbrella as she walked the muddy road back to Wellingford with Mum and George. The drizzle had changed to a steady rain, and she needed to keep her Sunday dress dry in order to wear it to London tomorrow. None of them spoke much as they walked with bent heads, dodging puddles. After drying off and changing her clothes, Eve crept down the back staircase and through the forbidden door to the Clarksons’ bedrooms on the second floor. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d visited Audrey here and didn’t know what sort of greeting she would receive. The afternoon teas they’d shared as children seemed so long ago, they might have happened to different people in a different lifetime. In the past three years, their cozy teas in Audrey’s room had dwindled from every week to every few weeks and then had stopped altogether. Eve would say goodbye to Audrey, taking another look back before moving forward.
“Eve! Come in!” Audrey said, opening the door. “I’m in the middle of packing, so everything is a bit of a mess.” The room looked different to Eve. Along with the usual chaos of packing—a suitcase open on the bed, a steamer trunk half-filled, bureau drawers and wardrobe doors open—she also noticed that new draperies and bed linens had replaced the old ones. Books and a jewelry box had replaced the dollhouse and other toys on the shelves.
“I came to say goodbye,” Eve told her.
“I suppose you’ve heard that I’m leaving for finishing school in London tomorrow.”
“Yes, Mum told me. And I’m also off to London tomorrow. I’m leaving service for good and enrolling in a course to become a typist.”
Audrey backed up to sit on the edge of her bed. “So I won’t see you after today?”
“You can see me whenever you want to,” Eve said with a smile and a shrug. “We’ll both be in London.” When Audrey didn’t respond, Eve quickly added, “But I suppose the people in your fancy finishing school wouldn’t like you socializing with a working girl like me.” Nor would Audrey’s mother allow it. When the household went up to London for the Season, Audrey’s mother kept her much too busy to visit the sights with her kitchen maid, just as Mum had predicted.