Chapter 46

For the last two weeks, things had been blissful. There were now only three weeks or so left before the Paynes were leaving, but neither of them had brought it up and neither had I. For now, I was choosing to live in a bubble of denial.

Kaitlin hadn’t shown back up to try to steal her son from his father. Dallas hadn’t shown his face in town again. Work was going well and I’d been spending all my free time exploring every nook and cranny of the Manor to my heart’s content.

I was convinced that I knew it better now than even the Styles family ever had and it had definitely been a dream come true to get to do it. As I sat in the sunroom now, reading more of Lucille’s journals, I sipped a cup of tea, completely enthralled by her writing style and how it somehow made her story come to life.

It was like I could hear her voice in my ear and see her walking these halls, sitting perhaps exactly where I was right then as she’d written the entry I was reading. It was excerpt from a few days after Dallas Senior, the current Dallas’s father, had been born, and I practically felt her pain in my own chest as I read about it.

From a distance, this house and their incredible love story had always seemed so perfect to me that I’d never imagined there had been such agony here, but Lucille’s journals were proof that I’d been wrong. Tears burned the backs of my eyes as I read about her struggles as a new mother, how alone and abandoned she’d felt, not at all prepared for motherhood.

Although this had been written over sixty years ago, it was so raw on the page that I felt it slicing through my heart as I read about it. I was stunned that a woman who’d had it all had been having such hardships behind the scenes, but her life definitely hadn’t been all sunshine and rainbows.

As I continued reading, I discovered that Robert had avoided his wife and the baby after he’d been born, keeping to himself in his study instead. He’d been here, in this very manor with them, and yet, it didn’t seem like he’d been involved at all.

Disappointment raced through me and I closed the journal, dismayed that the love story I’d coveted all my life hadn’t been nearly as romantic as I’d thought it was. Everything I’d thought I knew about them? Untrue.

Sighing as I got up, I carried the journal and my empty mug to the kitchen to make some more tea. While I waited for the kettle to boil, I cracked the journal open again, disappointed but also needing to know more. I couldn’t stop now that I’d started, itching to get more of a peek behind the curtain.

As I read, I stumbled upon another entry. Lucille was pregnant again, but she knew the baby wasn’t Robert’s. My mouth fell open.

No. Way. No fucking way. Lucille Styles had an affair?

I flipped through the pages, eager to find out who was the father of Lucille’s second oldest child and unable to believe the plot twist that had just come my way. I knew they’d been real people, but I hadn’t expected anything like this from them at all.

Before I could find an entry giving any detail about the baby daddy, I was interrupted by a knock at the front door. My eyebrows mashed together.

Colten and Landon were out getting groceries for the week. Something they’d insisted on doing without me as apparently it was father and son bonding time. Personally, I didn’t get the appeal of bonding over a choice between rice or potatoes as a side for dinner, but it seemed to work for them.

Pushing away from the counter, I reluctantly shut the journal once more and wondered who on earth was at the door. In the time I’d been staying here and even before that, when I’d only come in to clean, there had never been any visitors.

Brittany and Scott were the only people in town who might’ve decided to pop in unannounced, but I was pretty sure they would have texted me if they had been planning a visit. Curious but also filled with an odd sense of trepidation, I went to the door, swinging it open to find Kaitlin waiting on the steps.

She had her back to me at first, admiring the grounds from behind a pair of huge sunglasses. Although I knew she had to have heard the door opening, she didn’t turn immediately, taking her time to drink in the view before she slowly spun to face me, pulling her sunglasses off at the same time.

My heart stammered in my chest. The woman was even more gorgeous in the sunlight than she had been at the fair a couple weeks ago. Her black hair glistened in the sun, loose and so sleek and shiny that it looked like a wig.

Her eyes were as blue as the lake beyond and she had full, pink lips that shimmered with some kind of gloss. With her body encased in a striking, bright red sheath dress and another pair of sky-high heels on her feet, she looked like a freaking supermodel.

My mouth dried up and I had the strangest urge to cower. Or flee. Or something else that lesser creatures did when faced with one that was clearly superior. I stood my ground, though. The woman might’ve been radiantly beautiful, but I had the upper hand when it came to what was inside.

“Can I help you?” I asked crisply, staying in the doorway and making no move to invite her inside.

Her eyes narrowed on mine. “I’m here to see Landon.”

“He’s out,” I said. “I’m not sure how long he’ll be gone. It’s probably best not to wait. It could be a while.”

Kaitlin huffed, but even that sounded graceful coming from her. “That’s fine. Let me in. I’ll wait inside while you do whatever it is you do around here?”

Her gaze dragged up and down the length of my body. Disapproval practically radiated off her once she brought her eyes back to mine. Arching a steep eyebrow, she cocked her head and took a step forward. “A maid, I presume? Nanny perhaps as well? It figures. He never could take care of everything himself.”

My face burned with shame. Kaitlin had seen me with them at the fair. She knew I wasn’t here only as Landon’s housekeeper and yet, in a sense, I kind of was. Cleaner and cook. That was my reason for staying here with them.

I hadn’t been invited to live at the Manor as a guest or a girlfriend. I’d offered my services and he’d taken me up on said offer.

A rush of anger, jealousy, and, to my surprise, even hatred sped through me. She was the kind of woman who belonged in a place like this. With a guy like Landon.

She looked every inch the part of a lady of leisure, summering at the lake with her gorgeous family and rich, attractive, successful husband. While I was the kind of woman who worked for them.

It had never bothered me before. Never brought me shame. But as I stood there, faced by this haughty beauty who was clearly still expecting me to let her in, I sure felt ashamed.

She and I both knew I didn’t belong here, yet Landon had pleaded with me to stay when I’d tried to leave. Her son had cried on my shoulder more than once over the possibility of having to see her again. I was the one who cooked for them at night and who waved them goodbye in the morning.

Just a few hours ago, I’d been playing chess with Colten while drinking coffee with Landon reading the paper on his tablet beside us. She had chosen to give all that up and I wasn’t going to just hand it back to her.

Not after what she’d done to them.

How can someone be so vile as to abandon their own child? How could she never have checked in? Never cared? Not until now.

Now that she knew there was money on the table.

As all these sour thoughts raced through my head, Kaitlin stepped closer, her eyebrow still arched. She waited for me to move, but I wasn’t going to. As she’d correctly pointed out, I was the maid. It was my responsibility to keep any unwanted visitors from coming in while the lords of the manor were out.

It wasn’t my house. I couldn’t just let people in and offer them tea, now could I?

“Where are you staying?” I asked. “The inn, the motel, or a vacation rental?”

“The inn,” she responded sharply.

I nodded. “Very well. I’ll pass along the message that you were here and I’m sure he’ll call you. Now go.”

I slammed the door in her face, my heart pounding and my cheeks still hot. I’d never been so rude to someone in my life, but I’d also never met anyone who deserved it as much as her. Except maybe Dallas, but he wasn’t the one who’d shown up on their doorstep today.

I locked the front door behind me just in case she decided to come in anyway, and I drew in a deep breath, hoping I’d done the right thing. While I knew the Paynes didn’t want to see her, I supposed she would always be Colten’s mother.

In my opinion, that didn’t entitle her to entry, but I wasn’t always right. Doubt gnawed at my insides for a moment before I let it go.

I knew where she was staying and the inn’s telephone number was freely available. When Landon got back, I really would tell him she’d been here. It would be his choice whether he wanted to call her to talk or if he wanted to invite her over.

All I knew was that if she was coming back here, I was leaving. Even if only for the time of the visit. I wouldn’t subject myself to feeling the way she’d made me feel.

She was a despicable person underneath that beautiful veneer. Looks had never mattered much to me beyond a first impression. I could appreciate the genetic gifts a person had been given without letting my opinion of them be formed by how blessed they had been by the gene fairy.

Kaitlin had made my skin crawl, but she’d also made me feel inferior. Even when I knew I wasn’t. She was intimidating as hell, and clearly, she thought she was entitled to Landon’s time. Even though she wasn’t.

Confused and feeling like I’d been hit by a truck, I returned to the kitchen and made my tea, wondering what Landon had ever seen in her. Aside from the obvious.

It also made me wonder what he saw in me. I let out a deep sigh as I stirred my tea, trying to shove the insecurities aside. One look from that woman had me question and doubt myself more than I ever had in my life.

Thank heavens I had some time alone to sort through it all before they got home. Landon had enough on his plate to worry about without me having to add to his burden. Besides, as I stood there, reminding myself of who I was and what I’d survived, I decided in no uncertain terms that if I ever saw her again, I wouldn’t let her intimidate me.

Now I just had to figure out how to follow through.