Fic Post
While Lucy doesn’t have any other fifteenth birthdays to compare this one too, she can’t but help think that this one has been splendid. She’d woken up a little later than usual and entered the kitchen to find breakfast already prepared, sausage and bread and crumpets and fruit. Once she was stuffed full of food Mrs. Abercrombie and George had presented her with a bottle of rosewater and a set of three embroidered handkerchiefs. She’d then been free for the rest of the morning and so had spent it with her sister, Maggie, and they’d gone round the stalls at Covent Garden and Maggie had presented her with a box of chocolates.
Lord H and Mr. K had said she was to have the whole day off but Lucy hadn’t wanted to take it for hers was not the only birthday this day. It was also Lord H’s birthday, she’d asked Mrs. Abercrombie how old he was but Mrs. Abercrombie had snorted and said, “Only God’s old enough to remember!” She’d opted to return home in the afternoon to help Mrs. Abercrombie with the cake for that evening and Lord H, Mr. K, and Bartholomew’s return from Scotland where they’ve been holidaying with the Kennedy clan.
She knows how lucky she is, to have found herself placed with Lord H and Mr. K when she was eleven and her Ma died. Her aunt had found both her and Maggie places in service but Lucy had been the luckier of the two. While there was certainly work to be done Mrs. Abercrombie and George had been nothing but kindly to her from the very start and Lord H and Mr. K were the loveliest two gents she could ever think to meet. Lord H had taught her a bit of French when she showed an interest in a book she couldn’t understand, her Ma had taught her and Maggie their letters. Mr. K and she sometimes sat in the park drawing, and while their pictures weren’t much to look at she enjoyed it all the same.
Maggie hadn’t been so fortunate, she’d been miserable. She’d been so unhappy Lucy had told Mr. K about it one day in the park and Mr. K had gone round to see for himself. He’d brought Maggie home with him. She hadn’t understood at the time but now she knew how lucky she was that the only gentleman of the household who was ever trying to get into her bed was little Barty, and he was most welcome on a cold night! Lord H had found Maggie a place with an old naval acquaintance and his wife and Maggie was much happier with them although they seemed a bit dull for Lucy’s liking. It suited Maggie though.
When the cake is ready to be served Mrs. Abercrombie lets Lucy carry it through and place it on the table and Mr. K and Lord H insists that Lucy, Mrs. Abercrombie and George join them for it’s cutting and consumption. Lucy sits on the chaise with Lord H while Bartholomew sits between them waiting to catch any crumbs.