The Servant And The Rose.

It all happened so long ago. I’m surprised I still remember the events of that day. I’m thirty now, and it happened when I was twenty. There was Mother, my sister Grace and I at home. We’d lost Father only the month before to the Demon Drink. We held a funeral for him, and even though Mother was very sad at losing him, she was glad in a way, because he would get drunk and beat her. Sometimes, he would beat me and Grace as well, if he thought we’d cheeked him.
Anyway after Father died, we lived like poor people. We couldn’t afford the nice little comforts we could when Father was alive, and he worked down the mines. I was forced to leave home and work. Grace was only eight at the time, she was too young to work. And Mum was pushing fifty, too old to work.
About a week after Father died, I became a servant to the Thomas household.
The Thomases were a very rich and aristocratic family, well known in our area. There were Mr and Mrs Thomas, and their children. The twins, Perdy ad Gertie, who were six, and an older son who was around my age; he was called Edgar.
I was to be a nanny to the twins. I was to call them Miss Perdita and Miss Gertrude. I was to wake them every morning at cock crow, and attend to their dressing and also their breakfast. I was to supervise them during the day, and then attend to bedtime as well. While the twins were sleeping, I was to tidy up their nursery.
One beautiful sunny day, I took the twins out in the garden. Their older brother Edgar was out there, picking up all the weeds so the pretty flowers could grow through. As I sat there staring at him, he turned around and saw me!
I blushed; my red face a great match for my red hair. I turned really quickly and pretended I was watching Perdy and Gertie playing catch. When I stole a glance over, I was started to see that Edgar was standing right beside me.
“Hello Annie,” he said.
I blushed even more.
“H-Hello,” I stammered.
“I saw you.”
“W-What?”
“I saw you watching me.”
I looked down at my feet, hardly daring to look at Edgar in the face. Then I eventually plucked up the courage to look at him.
“I… I wasn’t watching you. I came out here with your sisters. I saw you, and wondered what you were doing.”
Edgar raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? I was weeding. The weeds hide the pretty flowers, such a shame. Now the garden is looking beautiful, don’t you think?”
I stammered my agreement.
Suddenly I felt a hard thud on my shin. One of the twins had thrown the hoop they were playing with too far, and it had hit me in the shin. They both came running over.
“Sorry Miss Annie!” Perdy called out.
“That’s okay Miss Perdita!” I called out.
“I’m Miss Gertrude!”
“Sorry!” I apologised. “Come along, you two, it’s time for your tea.”
“Yippie!” Both twins cried. “Are we having scones with jam and cream again?”
“We’ll see. Have you two been behaving yourselves?” I asked, playing a little game we played every day.
“Yes Miss Annie, we have ever so much.”
“Well then, scones with jam and cream it is then.”
Saying goodbye to Edgar, I strode into the house, the twins following in my wake, into the kitchen, and I set about preparing the scones for tea. Then I supervised the sisters while they ate.
When the scones were completely demolished, I ushered the twins to play in the nursery. The nursery is right next door to the master bedroom where Mr and Mrs Thomas slept. As we passed the bedroom, I saw that Edgar was inside with his mother, and they were talking. I really wasn’t that interested, until I heard Edgar mention my name. I quickly pushed the sisters into the nursery, and then made out I was going back to the kitchen for a glass of water. I stood outside the bedroom, listening to Edgar and his mother.
“I’m telling you Mother, I’m not going to marry her!”
“But Edgar, your father and I have waited for this for so long. The Thomases and the Wallaces finally calling a truce at long last!”
“By marrying me off to their daughter? I don’t think so Mother. Like I said just now, Miss Annie’s better looking than Carrie Horse Face Wallace. I‘d rather marry her.”
Edgar’s mother reprimanded him, but with a definite laugh in her voice.
My heart kipped a beat. Edgar thought I was better looking than this Carrie Wallace, whoever she was, and he’d rather marry me. I nearly melted at the thought.
“Miss Annie?”
I hadn’t realised that Edgar and his mother had left the bedroom, and saw me stood outside.
“It’s okay, Mrs Thomas. I was nipping back to the kitchen to get myself a glass of water, and I started to eel a little dizzy.”
“Oh dear, perhaps you’d better go to bed if you’re feeling a little dizzy. I’ll go get you your glass of water, and Edgar will help you to bed.”
Mrs Thomas made off in the direction of the kitchen, as Edgar wrapped his arm around my waist and hoisted me to the twins’ nursery where my bed was.
The twins came running over.
“What’s wrong Edgar?” Gertie asked.
“It’s okay, your poor nanny’s feeling a bit poorly, so I’m putting her to bed.”
“Will she die?” Perdy asked.
“No of course she won’t. She’s just feeling a little dizzy.”
Mrs Thomas came into the nursery with my glass of water, which she popped on my bedside table.
“How is she?”
“I think she’s fine now,” Edgar answered. “Listen Mother, about Carrie…”
“No, I don’t want to hear it, Edgar. I know the Wallaces’ are all rude, obnoxious and stuck up, but this is the only way we can call a truce on this ridiculous feud. And Carrie is the daughter who’s not married off.”
“No wonder,” Edgar muttered.
“You’re still marrying her, Edgar!”
“But Mother, I’d rather marry Miss Annie.”
“Well you can’t. I mean, Miss Annie’s a very nice girl and everything, but she’s a servant.”
“I still think she’s really pretty!”
I lay there, listening to this conversation. I really did start to feel dizzy then. Everything went black…
As I woke a bit later, everything swam back into focus. Edgar was kneeling beside my bed. He saw that I’d woken up.
“Miss Annie? You ok?”
“Edgar?”
You’re all right Miss Annie. You just fainted that’s all.”
“I was starting to feel a little better. And then I heard what you said about me.”
“You heard all that? Look, it’s true, you maybe just my sister’s nanny, but I think you’re really pretty.”
“Who’s Carrie Wallace?”
“Carrie Wallace? The Wallaces’ are another rich family around here, and we’ve been involved in a feud with them for the longest time. And my parents and Carrie’s parents have all decided that marrying me and Carrie off is the only way to end it.” He looked at me. “I’d rather marry you though,” he smiled.
I wasn’t really taking what he was saying in. I felt sure I was still unconscious, and that I was dreaming.
“Miss Annie? You ok?”
“Yeah,” I answered dopily.
“Listen Annie. I’ve got a confession to make. I’ve fancied from the day you started here, but I’ve never plucked up the courage to ask you out.” He reached into the breast pocket of his shirt, and pulled out a long red rose. He placed it on the pillow next to my head, and said:
“Keep this rose as a token of our forbidden love that never was.”

And I’ve kept that rose for ten years. Edgar went ahead and married Carrie Wallace., and I stayed nanny to Perdy and Gertie until they turned thirteen. The rose has long since died, but I still keep it under the pillow on my bed, to remind me of Edgar.
In a way, the rose being dead signifies the fact that any chance of a romance with Edgar has also long since died, but the fact that I keep it under my pillow signifies that my love for him has not.