Chapter 6

"Call the car for me, Nathan!" Karina shrilled before a slam echoed from above the gallery hall. The ladies of the house looked up to the balcony to see Karina storm down the stairs and out the front doors, with a purse in her bare feet. With the door open, the thunderstorm raged loudly into their ears.

"Oh dear," Belle shook her head and signaled for Mary to stay as she sped to the staircase.

Just as she did the day before, Mary trembled because of another callous visitor, but she couldn't let Belle investigate the issue alone and shadowed after her. The aching woman struggled with a hobble to ascend the steps with the help of the rail. Once she met the top, she reinforced fiercely, "Sweetheart, please. Don't follow me into his room."

Thunder clapped, and Mary nearly jumped out of her skin, and her attention jerked toward the open door. Karina paced back and forth beneath the underhang. Mary's concern won over her instinct to stand still. She returned to the foyer, plucked an umbrella from the stand, and stepped outside.

"He's a piece of shit," Karina blurted, pulling a cigarette from her clutch and lighting it.

Mary took a step back to steer clear of the smoke. Karina eyed the help and blew in the opposite direction. "Sorry."

Mary gestured she was okay.

Karina glanced at the umbrella. "You don't have to do that."

Mary shrugged.

"You'll get used to it." Karina sighed after taking a drag. "That's just how we work. We yell, he asks me where I'm going, I ignore him, he finds me, we fuck and then it starts all over again."

"Why?"

Karina propped her elbow on her wrist and narrowed her eyes in thought. "I don't know, but we're just good together. We make each other look better. And there's not all that much men can offer outside of money and sex when he doesn't have whiskey dick. So we take what we can get."

Mary looked out to the sheet of rain thrashing the pavement. She had heard that sentiment from women often. The pained and bleak belief didn't seem to discriminate in class or in the age of hurt women.

"By the way, a car isn't coming." She flicked her cigarette out into the rain.

Karina walked back in and under the balcony. Belle slapped her sides. Mary couldn't put the pieces together, either. But what she understood was how much all the recent stress had affected Belle's health. Mary hurried up the steps.

"Oh, I'm fine," Belle complained lightly, still under surveillance, despite hanging onto the rail. Before reaching the bottom, Mary glanced around the incredible space. It was still as breathtaking as the first time she walked through the front doors, but it was too much for one man and his caretaker, who suffered from inflammatory arthritis.

They met the ground and Mary pointed back up the stairs with her brows curved inwards. Belle looked over the balcony and murmured, "He's drinking again."

Mary closed her eyes for a moment before Belle squeezed her forearm gently, gesturing a return to the kitchen.

As an hour passed, Belle distracted herself with emails, inventory, and preparation for the following week's meals, schedules, and landscaping.

Belle closed her small laptop on the island and slid off the stool to announce she would check on Nathan. Many minutes later, she returned just as forlorn and said dryly, "The best thing to do is leave them."

Are they still fighting? Mary typed.

Belle sighed with her palm to her forehead. "No, Ms. Burke is in the great room and Nathan is in his suite. I wish I could convince him to eat something."

Mary hurried to Belle. She wasn't privy to the details of her health concerns, but she knew stress well and it sought the most vulnerable. Checking the time, she reminded Belle to take her medicine. Studying her beautiful face, exhaustion filled previously vacant eyes. The sad woman pulled a handkerchief before disappearing from the kitchen. Mary clenched her fists. She was more prone to letting fear decide for her, but after seeing Belle ache quietly over him brought a glimmer of a memory that she refused to stand by and watch. To suffer in silence was not a theme she wished to share, so she puffed her chest, ascended the staircase, and approached the doors of the master suite.

Mary paused with the handles in her grips and lingered for a few seconds before entering the master suite. The lights were off, but the sun peaked from the edges of the curtains along the arc-shaped in the farthest end of the room. Mary turned on the lights. Before the curved wall, Nathan sat on a sofa curled forward in a hunch. He wore nothing but lounge pants. To the right, the bedsheets disheveled, and the pillows scattered around the room. Mary approached carefully as to not startle him if he had not already realized her presence. Dressed in only a men's lounge pant, she fought not to dim her virtuous fire and feed the flame of feminine desire. Thank goodness the closer she was, the more she smelled the whiskey from the open bottle. The unpleasant scent grounded her immediately. She held her breath and pulled out her phone before knocking gently on the table. Nathan lifted his head from his hand. His eyes were red and the short glass in his hand was empty.

Do you want something to eat?

Nathan scanned the message briefly, unable to handle the bright screen. To answer, he groaned and waved dismissively. He prepared to hide his eyes, but Mary knocked again and harder.

He jerked his head up and sprung from his seat. "What?!"

Come and eat something!

Nathan pulled his head back. The glistening fury in her grey eyes was familiar. He sprung to his feet, but not without a wobble. Mary staggered backward before he gestured heatedly that she exit the suite.

She gasped once Nathan started quickly around the short table. Mary sped outside the doors and he was only a step behind.

"Why do you care?" He spat in the doorway.

Before she could reach a staircase, Mary skirted to a stop. She shook furiously while catching her breath. His question echoed in her head a few times before she paced herself back to remembering Belle's sad face. Smoldering, she swirled around to stomp back. Of all the times to be a little brave, she chose the moment he reeked of alcohol. With her head upturned, she returned, shoving her screen in his face. It's my job.

Nathan scoffed with amusement and slammed the door in her face. Mary huffed, fighting the temptation to knock just to irritate him more. She zoomed down the stairs, gasping for air.

She ran into Belle under the gallery hall and saw her eyes form circles. "You didn't go to see him, did you?"

Mary recoiled before she nodded.

Belle gasped to stress, "I urged you not to see him the way he is."

Mary pulled her brows together. Suddenly Belle wore a light flush on her cheeks and confessed, "I have been in communication with your sister. She's been anxious. I reassured her you've been a gem, and she suggested a few things I could do to help when you're anxious."

Of course, Nellie would keep a line open with her boss without telling her. It would have been easy to express her anger with her big sister, but Nellie never hid her fears about Mary's well-being. That was more than evident in their last fight.

"How was he?" Belle murmured, cringing before receiving an answer.

"Stubborn."

Mary waited for Belle to voice a complaint. She saw it sitting on her lips, but her small shoulders slumped in defeat. She cradled a fuss in her tone. "Don't stress over him and please don't make it a point to fix this. Neither of us can afford the stress."

Shortly after they first met, it took little time to grow attached to Belle. She felt her care with the desire to learn and be as accommodating as possible, just as her mother did. Her heart survived and persisted around the chaos that was Nathan's life. And she shuttered remembering what Chester said about how long Belle had served his family. Not only couldn't she fathom what else her sad blue eyes may have seen, but also the heartbreak of a mother. Mary knew it was a pain so indescribable, even to those who had yet to raise children.

Sadly, Belle was right, but her sentiment left no room for hope. For a moment, Mary felt regret looming over her. So easily, the air filled with disappointment every day. It was a familiar but unwelcomed theme, and she wondered how long it had been this way before she arrived at the estate.

Belle drifted out of the kitchen's front entryway on a call with maintenance concerning the laundry room. They were already a few hours into the afternoon, but Mary checked her watch and felt the urgency of starting dinner on time. Within fifteen minutes, she carefully stirred the stock into the dutch oven before stuffing a sachet d'epices with a halved clove of garlic, bay leaf, thyme, parsley stems, and peppercorns. She closed the pot and wiped her hands. Suddenly, she froze at the sound of slippers scraping in the distance. She hooked around, and Nathan scuffed his feet into the kitchen. Mary was glad he put a shirt on. Another conflict of interest would have worsened the headache steadily knocking in her skull since she last saw him.

He balled his hands in his pockets and looked away. "I'm sorry."

For a moment, Mary stood still in disbelief. She felt caught between her believing he wanted to hear himself do what's right or if he truly meant it. The shame in his posture led her to consider it an authentic apology. Though she couldn't be sure.

"It's, uh, just been a rough day," he added.

Her eyes fluttered at the excuse. She couldn't look at him anymore, but he went on, "And I'm sorry if I scared you."

"If?" she mouthed heatedly.

Shock widened Nathan's eyes. "I'm sorry for scaring you, Mary. I won't scare you like that again."

Her back faced him once more. She wiped her cheeks with her upper arm. It was one thing to accept he was sorry, but without knowing her fears, the apology only held so much weight.

Then, he asked a familiar question wearily, "What's for dinner?"

The tone was enough to put aside her upset. Mary pulled out her phone and typed. Braised short rib.

Nathan read it and flashed his brows. Nevertheless, he didn't appear excited.

Won't be ready for another two hours.

Nathan prepared himself to turn away, but she tapped his shoulder before he read another question. Do you want to eat something small before dinner?

"I guess that's not a bad idea?" he grumbled, finally looking at her.

Her eyes narrowed with a smile. Nathan looked into them before drifting down to her mouth.

"Banana," she signed. "Or popcorn."

Nathan fought, grinning at 'popcorn'. Mary didn't miss the shift in his face and signed it again with a little dance until he let out a genuine chuckle.

"Okay," he smiled. "But I'll get it myself."

Mary put her hand over her heart, feigning shock.

"You'd be surprised how much I know my way around this kitchen." He admitted. Mary didn't doubt it, but she'd still believe it when she saw it. In seconds, he entered the pantry and returned with two microwaveable packets.

"Regular or kettle?" He asked, shaking the bags.

Mary turned her head to the side and eyed him. He responded with a smirk and confessed, "I shouldn't eat this by myself before dinner."

Mary pointed to the kettle popcorn packet and Nathan tore it open before putting it in the under counter microwave beside the oven. He leaned back against the counter and looked at the pot on the stovetop. Mary saw the mischievous look in his eye, and she used an oven mitt to smack his hand away from lifting the top. He laughed at her widened eyes. Eventually, a smile twitched at her lips. His light-hearted laughter was something she preferred to hear more of.

A pang of abrupt guilt slipped in, but she didn't let it show. He was about to touch a hot dutch oven. She couldn't tell if he truly didn't know enough of his way around a kitchen or if he wasn't sober enough. She didn't let it matter too much and preferred this version of him over the one sulking with alcohol.

Just then, Belle returned from the laundry and staggered to see him. Nathan pushed from the counter and faced her. "Belle, how about we all sit at the table for dinner?"

"We?" She wore her disbelief harshly.

He cleared his throat and nodded. "Yeah, it's been a while, hasn't it?"

Belle looked at Mary before she reminded him, "Your partner is still here."

"I'm going to call that car for her in a minute."

"Nathan, please." Belle smacked her teeth and swiped both her hands. "I can't handle any more shouting today."

He moved to her and shook his head. His hands rested on her cheeks. "There won't be. I promise."

Nathan kept his word and demanded Belle and Mary remain in the kitchen. Both women were nervous, but as he promised, they heard nothing in the next hour. He returned silently but aided in preparing the plates across the island. He didn't smile until Belle tested him on setting the table and napkins.

They existed together in peace for the first time, and she admittedly enjoyed it. Before finishing the stew, they all shared popcorn while Belle and Nathan went over future dinner suggestions. They included Mary in approving or declining, but she remained demure until Nathan insisted on trying to see who could catch the most popcorn in their mouths. Mary won by two and took a bow when receiving applause. When it was time to eat, Mary felt her nerves jumping around at the rave reviews of dinner. Stretching for her phone, Nathan wore a smug look and took her device. He finished chewing before reading, "You have to braise and season the meat properly."

"Well, I needed someone with basic skills in the kitchen, but I think I've outdone myself," Belle said, tearing her mini baguette.

"Of course you have." Nathan grinned at Mary. "She's great."

She lowered her flushed face and swirled her spoon around.

Suddenly, he blurted, "Should we do something outside of the house?"

Belle coughed and wiped her mouth. "Pardon?"

"Yeah, we should spend more time together." He looked at Mary. "Outside of the house."

"When Nathan?" Belle didn't appear convinced.

"Tomorrow?"

"She is off tomorrow morning," Belle informed.

Mary dropped her shoulders, glad she beat her to the explanation.

Nathan appeared immune to disappointing news. "That's no problem. We'll just plan for another day."