Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Olivia felt her head bobbing up and down on the seatbelt strap as the plane landed. She briefly opened her eyes, before shutting them again. She next felt someone shaking her shoulder. It was still dark outside in the early morning hours.

“We’re here. Time to go,” Tyler Brown added.

“Ugh. I didn’t get much sleep, did I?”

“Plenty. Your head bopped back and forth the whole time. I considered putting a cushion behind your head, but I was scared I would wake you,” he said. “Come on, time to go.” He quickly walked in the direction of the exit.

“Well, you should’ve,” she called after him. “Put the cushion behind me, I mean. That’s what a gentleman would’ve done.” Keep quiet, Olivia, before you say something embarrassing, she reminded herself. But there was a new side of her that didn’t care anymore. “What’s the rush,” she asked.

As she got out of the chair, she noticed her blouse was wrinkled and she could see in the mirror at the end of the hall that there were red stripes all over the left side of her face. The seatbelt, she thought. Without a care, she grabbed her handbag, threw it over her shoulder and walked out.

She thanked the pilot as she walked by and saw he had an unusually big smile on his face. He probably never saw such a strange creature as her before.

She walked down the polished stairs and saw an impatient Tyler already waiting in the Range Rover parked a few meters away.

She mocked him before she could stop herself, “Oh, what a gentleman to leave the door open and give me the nearest seat. But a real gentleman would’ve closed the door behind me.”

“In case a random guy tries to kidnap you,” he mocked her back. “I guess I lost a few gentleman points there.”

“A lot,” replied Olivia.

After driving for about half an hour, they started driving through what appeared to be the countryside with fewer buildings than in the city.

A few more turns left and right brought them to a fourteen foot steel gate with a big steel symbol of two horses rearing up. The gates opened in the middle and led them onto a small driveway underneath some evergreen trees. Suddenly, Olivia let out a gasp. At the end of the driveway was the most beautiful, proud and historic building she had ever seen. The photos of the chateau she had googled the previous night didn’t do the building justice. The building was white with a dark blue hue that had lost some of its colour over the years. There were many windows on the front of the house, with some smaller ones on the roof. From the middle of the house, spread out the east and west wings. The fountain in front of the house displayed an angel who played a trumpet, where the stream of water came out. It looked even more beautiful in the darkness with light that shone through the water from the bottom of the fountain. The bushes around the front were full of flowers trimmed into different shapes. Flowers always reminded her of her grandmother as they used to walk in the garden together. Dorothy always named all the different flowers, while Olivia took pictures of them with her toy camera.

The car made a circle around the big fountain in front and stopped right in front of the main entrance. She stumbled out, almost tripping over her own feet. Some maids stood in front of the entrance, wearing black and white uniforms, welcoming them. Olivia felt as if she blended in with them. You should, you are the housekeeper, she reminded herself again. But something about her being hired as the housekeeper didn’t make any sense, especially as there was a professional looking older lady waiting along with the maids.

As Olivia and Tyler walked towards the door, he introduced her to the elderly lady.

“Olivia, this is Elena. Elena, this is Olivia,” said Tyler.

“So nice to meet you. I am the housekeeper here at Chateau de la Retté. You can call me Elle.”

“Housekeeper, you say,” Olivia said, turning towards Tyler.

“What a big honour. I never got to call you Elle; ‘Aunty’ was the only option,” Tyler joked, ignoring Olivia’s comment.

“I had to keep you naughty boys in line. You two need to go to the beach tomorrow. It's so beautiful this time of year even though it's cold. I know Tyler so well to say that the cold never puts him off.”

Boys? Did Tyler have a brother, Olivia wondered. Another thing she didn’t know about him. She wondered if she would ever know everything about him.

“Can’t wait. I’ll show Olivia to her room. Thanks, Elle,” Tyler said winking at Elena.

He put his hand on Olivia’s back, leading her to her room. The warmth of his hand sent goose bumps down her spine.

“Lunch is ready in the dining room,” Elena said as they walked off.

Elena seemed close to Tyler, closer than he allowed anyone else to get to him. It was as if Tyler’s guard loosened as soon as they arrived in France. It made sense to her why he wanted to come here. But why he brought her along was still a mystery to her.

Walking through the many halls and up the many staircases, Olivia already lost track of how to get back. They stopped in front of a door at the end of a hall, before another right passage full of rooms. He opened the door to the room, showing her to walk in.

“More points for me being a gentleman,” he asked, smiling and lifting one eyebrow higher than the other.

“Uhm, I need to figure out how many gentleman points that is worth, considering you’re already in the negative.”

“Ouch! That hurt.”

They both burst out laughing. Tyler touched her arm to steady himself from his laughter. When the laughter died off, there was an awkward silence.

Suddenly, Tyler broke the silence, “I’ll give you some time to settle in. The dining room is down the hall where we came from, down the stairs, then make a right turn. I’ll see you in a few minutes?”

“Yes,” she said, as he left.

She was so distracted by him she didn’t even notice how beautiful the room was, with a touch of dark blue on all the décor. On the left wall was a big, built-in fireplace with a flowerpot on top of the mantle. She walked towards the room’s biggest window which overlooked the gardens and was astounded by the beauty below.

Why am I here if I’m not the housekeeper? I mean, I knew it was just an excuse to bring me here. Why are you even here, Olivia? Her head already started to fantasize about an other reason for being there.

Olivia got out her phone.

- Kate, we’ve just safely arrived. Never seen a house this beautiful. You’ll luv it! -

After the lunch feast, Olivia couldn’t help but think about her parents. She had already texted them that she was going to France for work. She knew her parents would be just as confused as she was about her presence in France.

When she looked at her phone again, she saw a message from Kate.

- Call me. -