"For a whole week, I became the errand girl because of the good deals only I was able to pull off and secretly sold the chicken eggs that won't be eaten around town.
Thankfully, there's a restaurant, a bakery, an inn and tavern in town, therefore, the demand for eggs was quite high.
I also found out that the normal minimum wage was 15 copper per hour, therefore, we had to sell the eggs fairly depending on that wage and what we wanted to obtain.
In the end, madam and I also saw how many chicken eggs were in total plus he ones already collected and. . There calculated 500 chicken eggs that were still edible. Maybe a bit more-
We chose to sell a dozen (12) eggs, per 4.50 copper. Which would make about 41 or 42 dozens of eggs.
I was able to make about 5 errands during the week, during those trips, I sold 5 dozens to the restaurant, 10 to the bakery, 4 for the inn and 2 for the tavern in total. That same amount equaled to 26 dozens sold. That would mean we still needed to get rid of 15 or 16 dozens more.
But putting that aside, Madam and I made in total of 117 copper which we divided in half and got 58.20 copper for each other.
58.20 plus the 37.5 that I made helping in the boutique and plus the 10 copper that I've got as an allowance made 105.70 copper in total for myself only.
70 + 105.70 = 175.70 copper this week."
I smiled to myself as I finished making the calculations in my new "diary" and quickly putted the money away and hided it as well as put my new book in its own secret place.
'Tomorrow I won't be able to make a trip because there would be guests and we all have to make sure everything is perfect.' I sighed to myself. 'I just hope the day ends as soon as it started.' I thought to myself as I turned the candle off and made myself comfortable in my bed and closed my eyes.
The next day. . .
And here I was, thinking the Meadowood family was snobby and disrespectful. The "guests," aka: The Lorrignton family was worse.
The husband litteraly is newly wed to a very young lady! I bet she's barely 5 years older than me while the man was above his 50s!!
The man also had 2 boys from his previous marriage, and my guess is that they were from my age to 17 years old.
And the 3 children that the man had with his new wife, were a pair of twins and a little girl, who were as innocent as their bad behavior.
Thankfully, the stupid maids were not officially out just yet, therefore, the worse ones had the "privilege" to take care not only Theodore but the guests' kids.
I myself was busy preparing buns and the casserole along with the salad along the other maids who were not as useless than the babysitters.
Madam Charcoal trusted me in keeping the maids in their place while she was not looking.
And I made myself as invisible as I could when it came to bring dinner to Madam Charcoal at the door of the dinning table.
'Here ya go.' I whispered as I handed the wheeling cart to her.
'Good girl, now shoo.' Madam shoo me away so I could save myself from that dinner.
I saved myself and quickly ran to the kitchen where every single maid was starting to laze around. 'Do you want me to get Madam Charcoal?' I asked raising an eyebrow.
Everyone quickly sped up their work.
A few minutes later, Madam Charcoal came back with a bag full of money. 'Line up everyone! We have tips from the family and guests for doing decent work!.' She declared.
We all took turns and we actually received SILVER!! It was amazing!!
A single coin of silver was equals 250 copper coins!!
And Madam Charcoal actually gave me 5 coins of silver. . . That means I've earned 1,250 of copper! Great heavens!
1,250 + 175.70 = 1,425.70 copper!!
I smiled to myself as I hided very jealously my money and went to do laundry. I didn't like to do it, but Landry duty kept you from being seen by family and guests which I took it.
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As I finished dressing in my nightgown after washing myself in a bucket of mild temperature water, I walked to my room and I saw Amelia's mother waiting for me at my door.
'Did you bought something?' She asked.
I hesitated a bit before responded. 'I bought the diary plus the ink and pens, but, I also. . . Bought new clothing.' I put my hands behind me. 'It was more expensive though.' I looked away from her.
'Oh dear.' Rachel looked at me in distress. 'How much was it?' She asked
I looked at her. '89 copper.'
Rachel frowned clearly worried and went in deep thought. I just stared at her silently, not because I wanted to, but because she blocked my way to my bedroom, therefore I could not just go away.
'I, can only give you that same amount.' Rachel said taking her bag out. 'Hopefully, next time we meet I can get you more amount, but I'm afraid your stepdad might notice if I give you more than 100 copper per meeting with you.' She admitted a bit sad.
'Don't give me anything then.' I said as a matter of factly. 'You haven't done this type of thing ever, I don't see why do you do this anyway, weren't you more loving to your husband before?' I rolled my eyes as I shrugged my shoulders.
'Amelia!' Rachel frowned.
'What? Isn't it true?' I asked as if it wasn't obvious. 'Ever since you married you actually forgot you had a daughter from your previous marriage.' I walked up to her. 'You left her to be a maid in her own house, and, last time I checked never visited until very very recently.' I stood in front of her while crossing my arms and looking down at her. 'What do you want?' I asked. 'Or rather, what do you want me to take the blame for?' I corrected my question.
Rachel looked startled as if I saw through her.
The memories of Amelia were almost clear as day now, and for what it seems, Rachel was once a loving mom to Amelia, but as soon as she remarried, Rachel indeed forgot about her daughter for over 5 consecutive winters and would probably not even care if her daughter ran away or died due to illness.
There must be a reason for why Rachel wanted to help Amelia now, and I had a gut feeling that that reason involved taking the blame for something.
Rachel though, only looked away from me as she was afraid I would hate her.
Both Amelia and me didn't really hate her completely, but we were indeed disappointed in her. As she stopped caring for us, Amelia had just started to stop caring for her as well as I didn't care for her as well.
'. . . I think it's better if you don't meet me again, mother.' I told her calmly. 'You made your choice, now I must make my choices.'
Rachel made a small gasp. 'A-Amy, don't be ridiculous your only 17.' She said.
'19, mother. I turned 19 three months ago.' I reminded her while keeping my arms crossed. 'I'm pretty sure if I was still 17 I would be about your size instead of being taller than you.' I noted while I bowed a little forward to see her face to face. 'Wouldn't we agree?' I asked making sure she knew I was unamused by her mistake.
It was dark, but I was sure that Rachel was blushing from embarrassment.
'I will say this only once, mother. And I hope that this information stays inside your head.' I told her. 'I won't receive anything more from the Meadowood's besides the payment, which is already pretty low by the way, I won't see you again anymore, I will stay out of your hair and hopefully, by next spring, I will be out of this house completely.' I briefly bowed towards her smiling sarcastically. 'Just like you and them have been wanting all this time.' I turned myself inside my room and shut the door at her face.
I turned the candle off and hided everything of value just in case.
And, just to be extra safe, I putted my new shoes close to the door so they would make sound if someone tried to knock inside.
That, and I put the hair scissors under my pillow just in case.
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A few days later. . .
"Autum (or Fall) has finally come, along with the a few new maids that replaced the stupid ones.
Since they seemed nice (for the most part) I decided to start using the autum dress along with the light coat.
The maids were so incredible surprised and despite being last season, they seem to be also in my type of situation of deciding on first the needs and then the wants.
So, as a favor to Lady Cottonwood, I told them about the last season's outfits and coats as well as their 75% discount.
As they took turns to take the errand duty, they also went to the boutique and bought a few last season but useful clothings here and there.
Madam Charcoal even went an treat herself with one beautiful cloak for the wind because she had the bad luck of accidentally leaving her her old cloak outside beside the goat's fence, and the goats. . . Well. . . Let's just say that the goats did not received their usual share of dinner afterwards.
Going back to the calculations. This week, I made 10 copper working at home, I worked about 3.5 hours at the boutique all week due to not having much errand duty but, the pay is still good due to me being a good and smart employee.
3 hours per 25 coppers p/hr = 75 coppers. The .50 of the 3.5 = half of the 25 copper p/hr which = 12.5. Which means that 75 +12.50 = 87.50 coppers.
The sell of chicken eggs has been stable with the restaurant and inn, and thankfully, the chickens have laid eggs very frequently, so we are able to get about 2 dozens more or so. Therefore were only able to get rid of 8 dozens of eggs, which means we still need to get rid of 10 or 11 dozens.
Out of the 8 dozens, 36 copper came out of them, so Madam and I split it in half and got 18 copper each.
87.50 + 18 = 105.50 copper of extra income this week.
105.50 + 10 of this week's income = 115.50 in total this week.
1,425.70 of saving + 115.50 of this week = 1,541.20!!
Soon I'll be able to reach the 2,000 copper!!
Gotta go now, tomorrow it's my turn to make errands and I'll take my chance into getting some information about this world from Lady Cottonwood, & possibly a lead to where no one knows either my mom's new family or my dad's family names.
The last thing I want is for word getting back to my family and getting into trouble."
I yawned as I closed my journal and hided it away with my savings as well as my other precious things, taking the scissors to bed and falling asleep. . .
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The next day . . .
I woke up, put my outdoor autum clothing on, went downstairs and started Meadow's family breakfasts. Quickly after finishing it as the other maids woke up a little later, they helped me and Madam Charcoal to feed both the family and the animals.
After finishing and getting the maids to do other things such as cleaning and cooking lunch, Madam sent me on the errand and I speed away to the kitchen door and ran to the outside world!
As soon as I was in the town's mains street, I quickly slowed down because it was extremely windy. There was not even the tiniest bit of sunlight this time, therefore it was more chilly since it was early in the morning.
'Brrrrr!' I shivered a bit but smiled as I saw the boutique of Lady Cottonwood. I quickly entered and tried to warm myself up. 'Madam Cotton, I'm here!' I exclaimed letting myself known to her.
'I heard the bell don't worry!' Cotton's voice sounded on the other side of the workshop door. I few moments and some sounds of steps later, Cottonwood came out putting her scissors and tape measure in her pockets. 'Go to your workplace and start reading those papers, if you're going to get out of here by next spring you must have knowledge about the next few towns of everywhere.' She pointed to the greeting desk and a chair.
I quickly put the coat in the rack close to the waiting seats and quickly started working.
I started to organize some papers of clients in alphabetical order, but then I divided them into two sections: urgent and not-urgent. That way, it might be easier for Lady Cottonwood to do her job more properly.
While I waited for new clients to come through the door, I started to take a look in the town's newspaper.
For what I was able to learn previously with the memories of Amelia and the newspaper, this town was called Nottingpork. A town of 2,500 people with average but stable lifestyle. Unfortunately, even though the houses that were being sold off and bought in this town are quite mangable, staying in this town would only cause an uproar the moment I make it official my dissapearance to the Meadowood family.
Therefore, I had to look on housing elsewhere.
The houses that were being sold off in other new towns were quite more expensive, but they would last a lot longer than the houses of older towns that, even though were cheaper, they would require more expenses and mantainance.
The best thing that I could do was to move to a city.
The houses would be even more smaller, and a bit more expensive, but I would be able to blend in and have more opportunities.
'Not only on job opportunities, but if it comes down to it. . .' I thought about it carefully. 'I might actually consider marriage.' I sighed as I touched my face just thinking about. 'But if I'm being honest, I would prefer a husband who would let me work and have my own income. But, knowing that this world shuns married women who work, it's better if I just. . . Stay single for now.' I thought to myself out loud.
Lady Cottonwood made her presence known. 'Don't worry, if you don't find jobs from the places ypu wish, you can ask for work in a duke or even the capital's palace. There they always ask for workers to come.' She advised me. 'Don't give up.' She told as she went back to work.
I just smiled at her. 'Thanks.' I went back to work until I talked with some clients, made a few drawings for posters of discounts and then went to pick up my errands and went home.
Although, if I calculated right, it might take me up the 2 years instead up to this spring to finish those 200 hours Lady Cottonwood told me to do for her as I keep working for about 3.5 hours a week. So, the only way I can see myself to be able to gain those is to add a few more minutes (or hours) to my working time.
But how?
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Back at Rachel's home. . .
'A-Amelia?' Madam Charcoal asked for me through the door that connected the dinning room and the kitchen room.
I was just finishing the stew for dinner so I turned to her. 'Yes mam?' I asked worried due to Madam's unusual shy behavior.
Madam opened the door looking a little bit pale. 'Master Meadowood wants to see you.' She said cloud and clear.
The whole kitchen stopped in its tracks and even a maid almost let a plate fall on the floor.
There have been very few incidents where Lord Meadowood has been directly involving himself in, but if he wants to see someone that is not his family or wife, it can only mean two things:
1) He's about to throw someone out of the household.
2) He want to get hands on the person. The outcome would depend on whether the person is either man or woman.
And I was practically his least favorite person in this household, but again, I was also old enough to be married and bare children, so. . .
Both things were bad news to me.
I gulped down nervously while taking the apron off. 'Did he said any specific reason?' I asked as I put the apron in the kitchen rack and went with her to Lord Meadowood's office.
Madam Charcoal shook her head.
'Do you have any guesses?' I asked again trying to get something out of her while preparing myself for the battlefield.
Madam seemed a bit deep in thought, but as we went upstairs, she answered with a low voice, 'it might be for either wanting to throw you out, or arranging a marriage for you.' She kneaded her arm. 'But it could also be the. . . Egg thing.' She whispered to me the last thing. 'For all we know, he might have gotten wind of you selling the eggs by accidentally selling them to a person he knows.' She chewed on her thumbnail.
I took a deep breath because there were a lot of posibilites.
Soon after the conversation ended, we came to Meadowood's office door. I looked at Madam and I put a finger on my lips to say silently, "I won't say anything if you don't say anything."
She copied my gesture while nodding.
I sighed deeply in both fear and determination in order to get myself to open the door and enter.
My heart was racing as I put my hand on the door handle and the memories of Amelia about her stepdad came to my mind. . . And oh boy! That man was a dead beat ass!!
He doesn't even love his children! For some reason he liked my mother enough to have her around for company, like some sort of trophy. But otherwise, the maids, the children, Madam and me were just mere tools while Rachel was "the one thing worthy to stay here for."
I gulped down the saliva I lost, now feeling a pain in chest and sweating though my forehead as I opened the door slowly, or at least I think I did slowly, for everything now seemed to be in slow motion while all I could hear was the beating drum of heart racing against my own ears.
I closed the door behind me and when I looked into the room, I saw my step-siblings, my half-brother, mother Rachel and Stepfather Meadowood.
I just started at them for brief moment, then made eye contact with the stepfather. He looked down at me despite being the one sitting down at his chair.
'I'm here, as Lord Meadowood has requested.' I made a small bow while holding the ends of my work dress.
'Is that the autumn's last season's dress?' Narcissa, Amelia's step sister asked with a frown and a mocking smirk while holding her fan really low down to her chin.
'Yes, lady Narcissa. It is.' I looked at her while straightening myself up. 'Is there a problem?' I asked with "genuine curiosity" and my best "why are you even asking that" face.
Narcissa stopped smirking as if she didn't even expected that question and just looked at her father with expectation.
Lord Meadowood just sighed and stranded up from his chair and desk and walked toward me while Rachel looked at us like wanting something good out of this.
'Amelia Cora Meadow—' Lord Meadowood started to callout my name with a disgusted face.
'If I may sir, last time I checked you never adopted me, much less took me as your own in neither morality or paper.' I put my hand and finger up interrumpting him. 'Therefore, both casually and legally, I don't have nor I deserve to be called a Meadowood. Especially since you all left me to be a maid, it's only logical for you to call me by my late father's name: Baker.' I told him.
Meadowood's lips twitched in annoyance when he heard my reasoning but he didn't questioned it or made me look like I was wrong.
From my own perspective, it doesn't seem like he hates me, he's just indifferent and annoyed by me, which is basically mutual from my and Amelia's part.
'The reason as to why I called you here, is because I heard something. . . "Funny."' Meadowood crossed his arms.
'And that "funny" thing is?' I asked.
'That you, of all people, was working at the Cottonwood's Boutique.' He snarled at me in annoyance. 'Can I now the reason?'
The step-sibling looked at me smirking. Theodore and Rachel looked at me with curiosity and pity (from Rachel's part).
'Well sir, let's look at it this way: I barely win 10 coppers per week in this house, while in the Boutique I can win 25 coppers per hour, if you were in my shoes, wouldn't try to make the most of it?' I asked him crossing my arms.
Meadowood, instead of looking at me in disgust and even in anger, he actually nodded in approval and shrugged it off. 'Fair enough. Another question, why are you taking this types of jobs?' He asked yet reluctant to let me go.
'To gain experience and be able to move out.' I answered with honesty and monotony.
The whole family, including Meadowood himself raised their eyebrows in surprise.
'Before you all come at me with your anger and such, put yourselfs in my shoes first.' I went at them. 'A stepfather that doesn't like you, a stepbrother that stares at your chest with disrespect, a step-sister that looks down at you, a mother who has forgotten you ever since she got married and has been living under her biological father's roof as an actual slave with extremely low income.' I declared low and clear. 'Wouldn't you prefer to move own as soon as possible?' I asked with obvious sarcasm and dry tone.
Rachel looked at her husband, her stepchildren and at her hands while holding tears.
Meadowood for his part, he only stared at me and then looked away.
'That's what I thought.' I rolled my eyes at them. 'Is there anything else you wanted to ask?' I asked squitting my eyes at Meadowood.
'Hmm. . .' Meadowood thought about it. 'How long it might take you to move out?' He asked with a genuine smile this time.
'George!!' Rachel screamed at him standing up from her chair. 'You promised!'
I raised an eyebrow at her. 'What is she talking about? I asked to myself.
'Don't scream at me, if she wants to move out why stop her?' Meadowood asked her.
I nodded in agreement. 'To answer your question, my plan is to be able to move by the next spring or midsummer, I wanted to move out earlier this month, but I quickly found out that I didn't have the income to get out of the household, and much less out of town.' I shrugged.
Meadowood was about to speak but I stopped him. 'And before you offer any money for it, I don't' want anything from you—' I sharp but strong memory came to me. 'Actually, scratch that, I do want something's but you must promise to give them to me since I am both legally an adult and legally allowed to reclaim them.' I pointed at him.
'You father's will and legacy, isn't it?' Meadowood smiled. 'I can give you almost everything of it, I only didn't touched it because your mother told me to keep your share of it since it would be illegal, but since it would help you move out faster then com back next week at my office at the same time and same hour and we will discuss it.'
'Thank you sir.' I bowed again. 'Although I want to ask, is the thing you are not willing to let go is . . .' I pointed to the floor, indicating the house itself.
'Yes. Your father gave you half the house to you and half to your mother, but I'll be willing to pay for it for the right price to be the rightful owner.' Meadowood smile at me sincerely.
'We have a deal.' I smiled sincerely giving her my hand. He stroke it and we made the deal. 'Does that mean I'm "fired" to be a maid?' I asked him.
'Make sure to keep yourself away from everybody and you can start working full time at the boutique.' Meadowood encouraged me.
'Thank you sir!!' I thanked him and walked out. 'See you next week!' I waved my hand goodbye and exit the room.
I saw that Madam and a few maids were standing near the stairs and I ran towards them.
They were all worried, and were physically checking on me.
I just told them that I would still be around but not as a maid anymore.
I didn't share to many details, but I told them that I had a professional "unfinished" business with Meadowood and we were settling down.
That calmed them down and we were able to continue working.
I also told them along to Madam Charcoal that I was officially getting evicted from the property, but not before I found somewhere else to go.
Th girls and Madam cheered for me and assured me that they would miss me.
I almost cried at that moment.
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At night in my room. . .
"I'm officially being dishinterited. I won't suffer a huge loss outside of the 10 copper coins Insued to win in the house, but I still have to keep selling the eggs and working at the boutique.
I still have my 1,541.20 of copper/silver.
I shall tart working for the rest of the week from about 8:30 a.m in the morning and finish by 5:00 p.m
That would make 8.5 hours of work per day!
(4)25 copper/hr x 8.5 hours/day = 12.50 + 200.00 = 212.50 copper per day!
212.50 copper per day x 7 days = 1,487.50 copper per week!
1,541.20 + 1,487.50 = 2,000 + 900 + 120 + 8 + .70 = 2,000 + 1000 + 20 + 8 + .70 = 3,028.70 copper!
By the end of this week I'll be able to have over 3,000 copper! It's not much but it will most definetely help me give pay rent in another place for the time being.
We still have to sell the 10 or 11 dozens of eggs, hopefully, that will become extra cash along the way."
I put my things away and went to sleep a bit more peacefully this time.
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Next day. . .
I ran all the way to the boutique, and I entered with a big smile on my face. 'Guess who shall be working full time here from now on?🎶' I sang saying hi to Lady Cottonwood.
'Really?!' Lady Cottonwood smiled to me but then frowned. 'Why? What happened?'
'I think it's better if we sit down for this one.' I told her.
I started to tell her everything from start to finish, even admitting my lie about my name and what is going to happen from now on.
'I see. . .' Lady Cottonwood digested the information. 'He's planning something.'
'Yeah, he probably is thinking he can give me the bare minimum of what my father actually left to me, which is why I want to ask for another favor.' I admitted. 'Do you know someone from this town or anyone for that matter than can come, take a look at my father's will and help me ensure what is rightfully mine?' I asked pleading.
'Hmm.' Lady Cottonwood thought about it. 'I know of someone, but, he's retired, cranky and old, therefore, it might take me sometime to convince him.'
'Like how much time?' I asked worried.
'It might take, about 3 to 6 days tops, a bit less if we encounter him in a good mood which is less likely, due to the whether becoming colder by the minute.' Cottonwood admitted.
'Well, we have about a week to convince him.' I said to her. 'We might as well go now.' I suggested.
Lady Cottonwood nodded in agreement and we quickly left the boutique with a small hanging board at the window that said "be back soon," and we race through the town— or rather, Cottonwood was racing through the town while I was racing behind her.
Hopefully, this legal battle won't be necessary.