Thread: Maid for You [Prince of Smut & YellowSmoke]

IMG150x112 La Lavoisier La felt fortunate that both Monsieur and Madame Guillory were visiting town today for she could barely concentrate on her duties as it was. After weeks of anticipation, her mind was aflutter with her sister Ellie's imminent arrival and she struggled to finish even her simpler chores. Her inability to focus was quite unusual as La normally found her work to be cathartic cleansing her thoughts and emotions of anything that troubled her by throwing herself into the more mundane cleaning a maid performed. She had certainly blunted the sharp grief of the last two months by placing an unusual amount of fervor into doing her job well. It helped that, far from finding a maid's life tedious drudgery, La had always enjoyed bringing order to the chaos that crept naturally into estates such as the Guillory's grand mansion. Pressing sheets and bringing silverware to a shine made her feel in control and nothing was more pleasing to her soul than a spotlessly cleaned room with every item in perfect place. Still, the old chteau was a lot of work, even though most of the house was rarely used these days. The Guillory's had employed a maid staff of three for decades, until their youngest daughter had left last summer for marriage. Since then, La bore the duties all by herself with only some supplemental part-time help from local women in town. All by herself until today, that is. La had been nervous last month when she had proposed to Monsieur Florent that they employ her sister, but to her surprise he had agreed quite quickly. Perhaps the man, as egotistical and vain as he appeared, had a softer side and felt some sympathy for Ellie's plight after their parents had passed away. Or perhaps he had merely calculated that Ellie, worked hard, would cost less than the part-time maids they had to employ to supplement La. Whatever the reason, La had pressed Ellie to accept the offer and bring the two sisters finally together again for the first time in years. La had never felt alone before when her parents had been alive. Home was a physical location with real people waiting for her, even if she couldn't get there without traveling across half of France. Since then, she'd keenly felt how Ellie and herself were all that each other had left. The inheritance had been a bittersweet gift enough money to tempt her to leave her job, but not enough to live off permanently. She'd still need to work unless she found a husband. The very thought made her wrinkle her nose in distaste as she'd never enjoyed the thought of marriage and had not met a man yet she hadn't viewed with some disgust. And if she did get married, where would that leave Ellie? No, better that they work together and save their money jointly. The Guillory's were no worse than other rich French families and Ellie might need a vocation in the future. For now at least, La had decided that the two sisters should be together to start a new life of their own. As the older sister, it was her duty to provide for Ellie. The low thunk of the knocker at the front door startled La, causing her to drop the candlestick she had been polishing. The silver rod fell to the carpet with a loud thud, but La paid it no heed as she spun towards the main hall. Before Girard, the butler, could move from the back quarters, La loudly announced that she would answer the door and hurried with her skirts lifted into the reception hall. Pausing briefly to compose herself, she brushed back a stray lock of her brown hair that had escaped the bun she typically wore and smoothed out the black skirt and white apron of her outfit. Another deep breath and she opened the door. A smile burst across her face when she saw that it was indeed Ellie standing outside. Her sister looked so young and innocent, particularly in that country sundress, that La's hug was tighter and more protective than she had planned. Somehow her little sister had made the journey alone. She was actually here. Oh... Ellie, you made it! La murmured as she gave Ellie happy kisses on each cheek. Then, at arms length, she took in her sister's slender figure while shaking her head in disbelief. Her eyes lingered on the white heels Ellie was wearing. They were her mother's shoes, she believed, and glaringly mature for Ellie's otherwise youthful appearance. It was a strange contrast that made La uneasy at the sudden realization her younger sibling was indeed becoming a young woman that was no longer the child she remembered so well. I'm so happy you are here finally. That we are together. Please, come in. Let me take your bag, La said, pulling Ellie after her with a tight grip on her sister's hand. The Monsieur and Madame will be returning from town shortly, so we have time to unpack in the maid's quarters that we will share. I'll also introduce you to the butler and the chef.