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Mr. Alcott let out a gasp of surprise as he loudly bellowed, "Welcome home!" his voice boomed through the halls as Mrs. Alcott screamed in glee. The cook entered the dining room carrying a tray with a variety of breakfast options. Tea, Cakes, bacon, sausage, biscuits, and oatmeal. "It's still a bit hot but I had the tea in the fridge so you can better drink it, Miss." She sat the food down in front of me and placed a napkin on my lap.
"I don't think we've been properly introduced yet, my name is Ayana Delaney. I'll be watching over the Alcott's mental well-being for the foreseeable future." I extended my hand out to shake hers and she looked at it nervously looking from me to the dining room door. "My name is Regina Corpt, I've worked here for over twenty-nine years. I guess you can say that I am head cook in the kitchen as long as I've been here." Mrs. Corpt finally shook my hand and hurried away back to the kitchen.
Mrs. Alcott entered the dining room smiling ear to ear with her arm linked with who I presumed was her son Victor. "Miss Delaney, it is my pleasure to introduce you to my son Victor." I stood and walked over to shake Victors hand as he put his brief case down on the floor.
His eyes didn't match the painting hanging above the mantel, the painting depicted him with dark eyes almost black. The man in front of me had blue and green eyes with streaks of a light brown color. He took my hand in both of his and kissed it. "My mother tells me you're a doctor is that right?"
I was taken aback for a moment before I found my voice again, "Yes, that's right. I just finished my masters degree shortly before coming here." He tilted his head slightly as Mrs. Alcott beamed up at him and nodding to every word. "So doctor, how are you enjoying Belmore?" he said letting my hand go.
"Oh, I only just arrived last night. I'm afraid I haven't had a chance to explore my surroundings yet." Mrs. Alcott asked Victor to take me on the grand tour of the estate while her and Mr. Alcott went into town. "You will stay for the gathering won't you Victor? You know how you Aunt Greta gets when you're gone away for long and she's just dying to see you."
Victor kissed his mothers cheek ad said of course as he walked over to the dining room table sliding the chair back for her to take a seat. "Mother you know I could never say no to you."
Mr. Alcott joined us shortly after taking his place next to his wife. I finished my food in silence as Mrs. Alcott fussed over Victors tie and hair. Victor looked at me and playfully rolled his eyes as he tried to fight his mothers hands off. "I have somethings to attend to in town with Mr. Groves later this evening but I'll return shortly."
Victor took notice of me waiting and stood offering me his arm, "Are you ready doctor?" I stood wiping my mouth and looped my arm through his thanking the Alcott's for breakfast. We left through the front door and stood on the steps a minute as Victor pointed to a arched iron gate engraved with the words "Belmore Garden."
"We can start in the garden first, my great, great grandfather made it into a maze so that it was harder for thieves to break into the greenhouse." We continued on through that garden as he explained how the house was over two hundred years old and that their bloodline went back centuries. "Do you like roses doctor?" I looked up to see an array of roses in various colors, blue, pink, yellow and white."
"Please call me Ayana, I haven't quite gotten used to the doctor title just yet but the rose are very beautiful." I was nervous walking around with no idea who I was walking around with. Victor was charming enough but I didn't know him and maybe that made me a pushover for going with him anyways but I didn't want to cause any trouble with the Alcott's this early on.
I let go of Victors arms to walk closer to the roses when I saw the large thorns protecting them, entangled over some of the roses like a shell. The paths through the maze were getting narrower as we continued on and I had to squeeze closer to Victor to keep my skirt from getting caught. Spencer's was expensive on its own but I doubt they even knew what that was out here in the middle of nowhere. I sighed as my skirt caught again and I had to tear it free.
We made our way to a clearing where I saw the first red roses, they were wrapped in a circle like gazebo overlooking the entire garden. In the center there was a small metal table and two chairs where someone might have tea. Victor gestured for me to sit down and stared at me a moment before speaking again.
"Please don't find me rude for saying this Ayana but I hope your intentions here are purely to help my parents. They're elderly and my father has been sick quite a lot this year. I just want to be sure that you are doing this for the right reasons. They've had a few let downs and with me gone often and I can't filter out all the bad apples that come to Belmore." He was looking at me so intensely that I couldn't find the words to say.
"Victor I can assure you that I am really just here to help them both and I hope that you and your parents understand that I have nothing to gain by taking advantage of them."
Victor seemed to be pondering my answer for a moment, "Well on that note I hope that we can have a very good friendship from here on out. I can see that you have a very good heart and my mother is very fond of you already. My father on the other hand takes a little more handling to warm up to." I nodded making a mental note of that fact.
I decided that I would try to be transparent with Victor about his parents health if they allowed me to in order to show that I was a reliable employee here. We continued on through a gate down the steps of the rose gazebo. It lead to a courtyard with a large water fountain and to the left of it the green house Victor spoke of earlier.
I was struggling to keep up at this point as the pathway turned to gravel and I kept rolling my ankle as my shoes kicked up pebbles. Victor grabbed my hand and helped me along as we got to the greenhouse doors. "What kind of shoes are those? They don't look too comfortable?"
I laughed looking down at my own shoes and the trail of rocks I had kicked up along the way, "I usually wear heels to be more professional but I thought these would be more appropriate for a walk." He smiled down at me and yes I got a little excited it had been a while after all sense I went on a date with anyone.
This was ridiculous thinking of my employers son being with me so I put the intrusive thoughts out of my mind. The greenhouse was dazzling with thick green vines covering the ceiling and pots of a variety of plants from wall to ceiling. Victor watched as I walked around each plant peering into the pots. I wished I had brought my cellphone with me, Janet was the one with the green thumb and would appreciate this more than me.
I was the artistic type, my foster parents had indulged me with the musical arts. Paying hundreds of dollars for piano lessons and any instrument I even thought to pick up. Victor was standing at a miniature tree like plant and with a tweezer was picking off dead sprigs.
"This is a four hundred year-old Bonsai Tree, it's valued over 1.1 million dollars. My mothers most prized plant of them all and I must say I have grown rather fond of it after all these years." I couldn't wait to facetime Janet later and tell her about the plant that was worth more than both me and her lives combined.
We left the green house and made our way over to the guest house, "I'd love to show you the inside but its currently being renovated so perhaps another time?" I nodded and stared at the dark house as we walked away.
When we got back to the main house Mr. and Mrs. Alcott had left into town and Mrs. Corpt was preparing lunch. "How about we explore the library Ayana." One of the maintenance boys watched me as I walked into the library and shook his head. People were weird here or at least they acted weird, I made up my mind that there were things I would have to get used to if I was to work here long.
"We have over twelve-thousand books here, some predating before we were even born." Victor pulled down an original copy of the Gutenberg Bible. He offered to me but I declined. "Thank you but I don't think I should hold it. I have a way of breaking things I touch without any effort."
"I'll hold it for you then and you read." The book was inscribed with words I'd never seen before but Victor flipped through them reading the words off the paper to me. This place was amazing and full of various rooms that I hadn't seen yet.
Victor left me shortly after to make a phone call to Mr. Groves about their meeting later in the evening. I went up to my room to grab Theo who was whining at the closed room door waiting for me to release him. Theo did his business on the front lawn and as I was picking up the mess the maintenance boy from earlier was leaving through the front doors.
"Hello there!" I shouted to him. He turned to look at me and didn't want to come closer. "Do you need help with something miss?" I shook my head and walked over to him.
"This is Theo, he's a little trouble maker but he'd like to say hello to you." The boy looked at the front doors and the windows before crouching down to pet Theo. "Does he bite?" I laughed as Theo jumped up with all his might licking the boys face and he started to laugh too.
At that moment the door creaked open eerily slow and the boy looked up frightened, "I should go now, goodbye miss." I watched him run down the path to the backyard as fast as he could confused at what could have possibly scared him. Going back inside I put Theo back in my room and was thinking about where my office would be.
Roy called me down for lunch where Victor was sitting enjoying a drink with another man I hadn't met before. "Ayana come sit, this is James Cleffield a very old friend of mine. He'll be spending the evening here with us." James shook my hand and sat back down. Neither of them ate anything and laughed amongst themselves reminiscing on their college years.
After dinner I was going back up to my room when I got this feeling of dread, what if I had nightmares again and hurt myself thinking I was fighting something off. I took my time and said goodnight to everyone before going upstairs to bed. Theo was happy to see me and I chucked him a bone so he'd stay busy while I washed my face. The house creaked and groaned as I climbed into bed pulling the sheets up to my chin and lighting the only candle in my room yet the corners were still dark and able to hide whatever lurked there.
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