Down With Love

CHAPTER 01

Stacia

“Good day to you, Madame. I’m Stacia Eleanor Keys, and it’s my pleasure to serve your home today,” I happily greet Mrs. Anna Wellington’s guests as they pause by the threshold of her vast mansion. The younger one looks quite dignified in her white dress and pumps, but Mrs. Wellington looks even more magnificent in her exquisite morning gown and Sunday hat; you would be hard-pressed to find a more elegant fifty-year-old.

She giggles at me, “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Stacia, you’ve been here for two lovely years. There is absolutely no need for that introduction.”

I bow down, “Thank you, Madame. It’s just that, every day I wake up, it feels like my first day here at the Wellington Estate.”

The guest approaches me and smiles, “So, this is the famous Stacia Keys who I’ve heard so much about. I’m quite impressed, Anna. You have yourself a prize, indeed. Beautiful, courteous, and, from the looks of your home, a damn hard-worker.”

Mrs. Wellington laughs proudly, “I have, haven’t I, Connie? You must be dying with envy. You won’t believe how I found her. She was waitressing in one of those god-awful Applebee’s restaurants and this horrible manager was treating her outrageously even though she gave us immaculate service. I had no choice but to hire her on the spot.” 

“It’s my pleasure, Mrs. Wellington… Ms. Rettfield,” I greet and bow. Upon further inspection, I can see Connie is quite the redheaded beauty, she looks to be the same age as I am. And yet, behind her angelic smile, I can’t help but feel a tinge of animosity.

“You are to be commended for your service, Stacia,” Mrs. Grace Moore, a frequent guest in the mansion and one of Mrs. Wellington’s closest friends, compliments before turning to the host, “Now, Anna, weren’t you supposed to show me your latest Fabriscio painting? You’ve been teasing me about it for so long!”

“Oh! Yes! You’ll just die of envy,” Mrs. Wellington laughs again before addressing me, “We’ll be taking our leave, dear. Carry on with your tasks for today.”

“Consider it done,” I reply. The women excitedly walk up the stairs, but before they’re gone from my sight, I see, from the corner of my eye, that Connie has stopped, staring me down for a quick second. But, as I turn to get a better look, they’re already gone.

It must be my imagination, I think to myself as I proceed to the west wing of the mansion to join the other maids in cleaning the bedrooms. It seems the estate is bustling in preparation for something. 

Being a maid is not easy, mind you. Applebee’s was a cakewalk compared to maintaining the sparkling shine of this half acre of an estate. But, better than having a higher salary is being recognized for your work.

Mrs. Wellington has been nothing but magnanimous since day one, and I need all the dollars I can get since Tasha and Jasmine are still in college. 

As the eldest, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for the family. I even stopped studying for my law degree at USC, a dream I gladly sacrificed for the sake of my sisters’ futures knowing they would do the same for me. 

“Bitch! Wake the hell up!” a high-pitched voice shouts from behind me as I’m changing the sheets. I scream from the shock and slap the person behind me. 

“AAAH!” Ed screams like that woman being murdered in her shower in Psycho.

“AAAH!” I scream from the shock of his scream. You’d never think such shrillness can be emitted by a man who’s easily six-foot in bare feet!

Ed playfully slaps my arm, “Bitch, what you been doin’ laying your dirty hands on my magnificent face? Don’t you be hatin’ on my money maker.”

“Jesus Christ, Ed, you shouldn’t scare me like that!” 

“May I remind you, girlfriend, that I am yo’ superior officer in the S.S. Ed-tanic?” Ed jokes.

“You do realize the Titanic sank?”

“You do not talk to your superior officer that way!” Ed yells at me. Then we both laugh at how silly we’re acting.

Ed continues, “But, seriously, don’t be slacking off, girl. I do declare this day to be a ‘suspicious’ day!” He announces proudly.

“I think you mean ‘auspicious’ day,” I correct him.

“And that’s why you're still a goddamn maid, Stacia,” Ed playfully comments, “No respect for awthorehteh! But, seriously, girl, you're too smart for this whole gig.”

“Edmund?” Mrs. Anna walks into the room suddenly. Without missing a beat, Ed faces her and bows down, his voice now in the smoothest baritone you might ever hear, “Yes, Madame?” 

It never fails to surprise me how differently he acts whenever he transforms back into the role of Wellington Estate head butler.

“I don’t think I need to remind you to make sure everything is perfect today, do I? This annual reunion is special because he will be returning.”

“No, of course not–– Oh. He will be returning?” Ed raises his head as he asks, clearly in a state of surprise, a rare phenomenon whenever he’s serious. “After five years?”

“Yes. Now, let’s make this the perfect home for the best lawyer in New York, shall we?” Mrs. Wellington says before walking out of the room.

“Who the hell is ‘he’?” I ask curiously as soon as Mrs. Wellington is out of earshot.

“Oh, my goodness gracious,” Ed fans himself with his hand, and says in his feminine voice, “Stacia, you have not lived your life until you’ve met… him. Oh, Lawd Jesus, thank you!”

I grab his collar and try to give him a little shove, to no avail due to his size I might add, “Who!?”

“Prepare yo’ self, girl. Because you about to meet the most venerable bachelor this side of America. None other than Mrs. Wellington’s only son, Asher.”

Ed was not exaggerating.