Palace Life

Chapter 5-The Reynolds

I finished my first batch of lemon tarts and delivered them to the hall. This was my favourite part of working here. For one, I was at least allowed to leave the hot, stuffy kitchen and breathe clean air. The kitchen wasn't the freshest place, especially in the summer due to the hot ovens causing putrid amounts of sweat to practically pour from anyone wearing anything but a vest.
But what made it so special was I got to see the events taking place in the main hall. Most of the time, I would only be delivering bread rolls and croissants to the family but when there were guests I got to deliver all kinds of pastries and tarts. I didn't like the additional work load seeing as I was the only baker but seeing the events made up for it.
Mr James Reynolds was a stout man of 57. He was podgy and had grown a thick grey moustache in which he used wax to curl the corners. Mrs Agatha Reynolds was one year his senior but looked only 20. She was tall, slim and elegant in taste. She certainly wasn't afraid to send back something that didn't please her and she was known to have shoved a cream pie in the face of the head chef. It was clear to anyone with a brain that she had married for money.
Together they have three children. The eldest is a son of 31 named Arthur. Arthur had married a lovely woman named Josephine and they had two young daughters called Cathy and Joan. The middle child was a girl named Jane who was 25 years old. She is married to a man called Henry who I wouldn't vouch for. She is heavily pregnant with their first child. And the youngest Aaron is only 18. They had all of their children quite late due to Mr Reynolds being away for business in Madalava. Aaron, despite being the youngest, holds his own. He is nice when he wants to be but can be stern if need be.
And despite being a family of 10, soon to be 11, they still live in the Reynolds mansion. With 20 bedrooms, housing isn't a problem. This means that lots of staff are required to maintain the house.
And when they hold an event, even more are needed. So I have been told that I would be assisted by another baker. The baker hadn't arrived yet so I was still baking in my own.
With my lemon tarts in hand, I began to walk out of the double doors that lead into the main hall. However, I caught my reflection in the door and almost dropped the tarts. My hair was a mess and my face was covered in various ingredients. I knew I couldn't go into the hall like this so I put the tarts down and used the reflective surface of the door to fix my appearance.
Despite trying to fix myself, I knew I was still going to look like a peasant in that room of guests. And there was no denying it, I was a peasant. So I picked up the tray of tarts again and took a deep breathe.
When I entered the room, the orchestra was playing a light-hearted tune I wasn't familiar with. A new song meant the Reynolds really wanted to impress their guests. I smiled and I rushed to the table and placed my tarts on the allocated space.
When I turned around, I noticed a few women near me hunched I circle looking in my direction. I could vaguely hear what they were saying.
"Ugh, look at her clothes. They are practically torn to shreds!"
"I know. It's a shame. She has a nice face. Too bad she's obviously a lower"
"I can't even believe they let the help even come into here. There should be servants in smart clothes delivering the food!"
Hurt, I hurried back to the kitchen and wiped away the tears brimming in my eyes. Upon returning my area, I grabbed the towel and sobbed into it.
An unfamiliar voice said," Hey, what's wrong?"
I turned around and saw a concerned looking boy standing by the counter. He had dusty blond hair and chocolate brown eyes that matched his woollen jumper. He was muscular and classically handsome. However, I wasn't interested. Too much trouble.
" Yeah , I'm fine. Some people are just really mean here. Who are you?"
"I'm Josh. I am the stand in baker."
"Oh. I was told you were coming. Hi. I'm Audrey. I'm the bake I guess."
With a laugh he said "Well nice to meet you Audrey. Your going have to show me the ropes here."
"Well, this is the bakers oven. It stays at this temperature at all times. Understand?"
"Yes baker. Confirmative"
"Very funny. I don't like funny business in my kitchen." I gave him a humorous wink and carried on the tour.
"This is where all of our supplies are. If you can't find something, just ask." I said, pointing at the labeled shelves." And these are the doors to the main hall. For now I think it's best if I deliver the food because you don't know your way."
"That's fine by me."
"Good. Well, that's kind of everything there is to see. So let's get to work."
We started working and after a while we got to talking about ourselves. He was 17 and lived in town. He had two sisters and his father had died when he was 7 so he grew up around men. He liked to blame this when I asked him how he got into baking.
Then I found out that he was Jade's boyfriend.
"Me and Jade were in town yesterday and we saw the craziest thing.."
"Jade? I met a girl called Jade earlier. Is she going to the palace?"
"Yeah, that's Jade. We've known each other forever but made it official two years ago."
"Cool. I met her this morning. She showed me the way to the letter box. She seems really nice. You are one lucky man!"
"Thanks. She is a very giving person. I don't know what I'm going to do without her."
As I kneaded my ball of dough while we talked, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He was losing the person he loved the most in the world and had already gone through loss before. I was somewhat glad that I wasn't in a relationship in that moment as I realised that it must be so awful. It hurts both people and could take a life time to heal the hole left by the departed. Whether it be through death or separation, losing someone you love sucks and I was going to lose four people I loved very soon. I didn't want to think about it so I just keep kneading my dough and kept my head down.

Hi reader!
The app told me I had reached 100 reads despite the counter being on 79. Even so, thank you so much for reading so far and I hope you are enjoying it.

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:)-katesstorybook