Filed to story: Returning to Her Not-So-Poor Family
Leaning back in her chair, Louisa said soothingly, “Since we’re feeling a bit down, why don’t you share what’s got you so cheerful? Maybe it’ll rub off on us.”
Feeling guilty, Edith confessed, “The very thing that’s made me happy is the same thing that’s saddened you, Mr. and Mrs. Collins.”
Kenneth and Louisa were surprised. What did she mean?
“Though I know it’s not my place to say, the decision to have Ms. Serena Collins reflect on her behavior in the guesthouse was absolutely the right one! From today on, Ms. Mirabella Collins won’t have to endure Ms. Serena Collins’s attitude any longer!”
Louisa perked up, “So, you know something about this?”
“Edith, tell us what you know.” Kenneth said, “Don’t hold back. Speak freely.”It looked like they truly desired to know; after pondering for a moment, Edith began, “Well, don’t blame me for speaking out of turn. It all started with Martha. From the day Ms. Mirabella Collins returned, she took it upon herself to make life difficult for her. To your faces, she’s all sweet talk, but the moment you’re gone, she wouldn’t even give Ms. Mirabella Collins the time of day, always throwing shade.
Anyone would think she was the lady of the house.”
Hearing this, Kenneth and Louisa were both shocked and outraged.
How dare a mere servant treat their long-lost daughter with such contempt? This was outrageous! Who gave her such audacity?!
“If the two ladies happened to dine together, and if you weren’t present, Martha would only attend to Ms. Serena Collins, deliberately ignoring Ms. Mirabella Collins. She’d also make snide remarks, which left me thinking that we needed to treat Ms. Mirabella Collins better, given all she’d been through. But Martha would give a hard time to anyone who showed kindness to Ms. Mirabella Collins.”
“How dare she!” Louisa was livid, shocked by Martha’s behind-the-scenes manipulation.
“Because I was kind to Ms. Mirabella Collins, Martha went out of her way to trip me up. She’d push me when I was going down the stairs, hoping I’d fall. If I was cleaning, she’d intentionally dirty the place again. She even dumped trash on my bed, used my toothbrush to clean the toilet, and spat in my shower gel.”
“What kind of person does that? Is she even human?” Kenneth was hearing about such behavior for the first time and began to regret entrusting Serena to someone like Martha. Serena’s current behavior was likely influenced by her.
“Her treatment of me is one thing, but what really angers me is her disrespect toward Ms. Mirabella Collins. From start to finish, she didn’t show an ounce of respect!””A servant with more airs than the homeowner,” Louisa was fuming. How had she not noticed this before?
“I think it’s because of her that Ms. Serena Collins has gone astray. There was one time when I had a cold for many days, and it was Ms. Mirabella Collins who noticed something was wrong with me and brought me some medicine. I was so grateful that on my day off, I bought a bouquet of flowers to arrange for Ms. Mirabella Collins as a thank-you. But Serena intercepted me. She was in a foul mood that day because she wanted Clark to go shopping with her, but Ms. Mirabella Collins had called him away. Serena thought I had tipped off Ms. Mirabella Collins, leading her to ‘steal’ Clark away. Serena lashed out at me, calling me Ms. Mirabella Collins’s lapdog, and the things she said were truly vile.”
Kenneth and Louisa were both taken aback; they had never imagined that Serena could be so crass and rude to the help.
At that time, Clark had just returned home, and to everyone’s surprise, Serena had already started a covert rivalry with Bella.
“Not only did Serena hurl insults, but she also knocked over the flowers I had given to Ms. Mirabella Collins, shattering the vase.”
Even now, Edith felt a pang of sadness when recounting the incident because the surprise had been carefully prepared for Mirabella.
“It’s all because of that Martha, always leading Ms. Serena Collins astray, not just brainwashing her, but also the others. She claimed that for the past eighteen years, it was Ms. Serena Collins who was pampered by you, and it was she who was adored to the bone by all five of your sons. With such deep affection, Ms. Serena Collins could make anyone she wanted to leave, just like that, and Martha made it clear that we should all be siding with Ms. Serena Collins.”
“That’s outrageous! Absolutely unconscionable!” Louisa exclaimed, infuriated by the thought of Martha being such a troublemaker, stirring the pot wherever she went, “We let her off too easily back then. Had I known, I would have never let her go so lightly.”
She would have made sure Martha paid dearly for her actions!
Kenneth patted her back, trying to soothe her, “Don’t let it get to you; let Edith continue.”
If it hadn’t been for Edith spilling the beans, they would have remained oblivious to the true faces of Martha and Serena.”I even tried to warn Serena not to be led astray by Martha, but I guess she didn’t take my words to heart. Ms. Mirabella Collins is truly kind-hearted. She noticed I was looking pale and gave me some tonics to boost my energy. She even told me to come directly to her if I needed anything, promising to help me out. Everyone was praising Ms. Mirabella Collins because she genuinely helped us a lot, teaching us how to dress, how to get rid of acne, and how to improve our skin. But when Martha and Serena overheard this, Martha accused Ms. Mirabella Collins of winning our support, wondering why we didn’t regard Ms. Serena Collins with the same esteem.”
“That’s utterly malicious!” Kenneth slammed his fist on the table, regretting ever leaving Martha by Serena’s side. With such a twisted mind, how could she possibly raise a child properly!
“Exactly, we all tried to explain that it was us who sought advice from Ms. Mirabella Collins, that she had nothing to do with it, that she wasn’t buying us off. But Martha kept whispering to Ms. Serena Collins that because she didn’t give us presents, we were always singing Ms. Mirabella Collins’ praises behind her back, implying that Ms. Serena Collins was stingy.”
Kenneth and Louisa were almost beside themselves with rage, unable to believe that the outwardly sweet and approachable Martha could be such a gossip behind their backs!
“Martha even went as far as to say that what Ms. Mirabella Collins gave us was worthless junk, not even fit for display, and that Ms. Serena Collins would be embarrassed to give us such things,” Edith’s voice was tinged with anger as she spoke.
For them, it was the thought behind Ms. Mirabella Collins’ gifts that mattered, not someone else’s unsolicited opinion.
That Martha was detestable! She did nothing but disparage others!
For eighteen years, Martha had been receiving gifts from Serena, yet Edith and the other servants were chastised just for accepting some medicine, coffee beans and teas from Ms. Mirabella Collins.Thinking about it now still made her blood boil.
“But of course, Ms. Serena Collins was in cahoots with Martha. Every time Martha picked a fight with me, Ms. Serena’s knee-jerk reaction was to insist that I apologize, claiming I was disrespecting her beloved nanny. If I refused, she’d threaten to kick me out of the house.”
Kenneth and Louisa were dumbfounded once again.
They couldn’t believe that the Serena they knew – obedient, sensible, kind, and gentle – could actually be such a person behind closed doors.
She sounded like some spoiled heiress with petty grudges, utterly unreasonable, as if both her IQ and EQ had short-circuited.
“And then there was this one time when Martha had Debby and Daisy corner me, saying they needed to ‘teach me a lesson’ on behalf of Serena. Luckily, Ms. Mirabella Collins arrived just in time, and I was spared,” as Edith recounted this, she was once again moved by Ms. Mirabella’s brave intervention.
Otherwise, she had no idea how badly she could have been hurt.
“No wonder Bella called me that time, saying she wanted to fire Debby and Daisy. Now I understand the full story,” Louisa finally pieced everything together.
At the time, she only knew that Bella wanted to fire them for being disrespectful and bullying the staff, and she had immediately agreed to Bella’s decision.
“It’s because of your support that Martha eventually apologized to me. Back then, Ms. Mirabella Collins docked a month’s pay from her. But who would’ve thought, she still didn’t change her ways!”
Louisa expressed regret, “A month was too lenient. If I had known the extent of her outrageous actions, I wouldn’t have let her off so easily!””Has she ever done anything less than outrageous? You have no idea; she acted all high and mighty here, as if she owned the place, just because she was Ms. Serena Collins’s nanny. Debby and Daisy were her cronies. They felt emboldened by her backing, even going as far as to cut up Gloria’s clothes, and it wasn’t the first time they did something like that.”
Louisa was appalled that such bullying could occur within the Collins family.
Kenneth was equally shocked, having never heard of such incidents happening right under his nose.
“And they didn’t stop there. They threw Doris’ skincare products into the trash. They blatantly admitted it to Doris, asking her what she was going to do about it. That’s why Ms. Mirabella Collins wanted to fire them, and do you know why she called you before doing so?” Edith inquired.
“Why?”
“Because they were so full of themselves, claiming that only Mr. and Mrs. Collins had the authority to fire them, not Ms. Mirabella Collins.”
Louisa was livid with rage, never expecting that the staff would become so insolent.
“This won’t do.” Louisa couldn’t stand it any longer. She took out her smartphone and gave the orders, “Those who used to work here – Sarah, Liz, and Martha – have someone teach them a lesson. From now on, they’re blacklisted in the industry. No one is allowed to hire them, or else they’ll be crossing the Collins family!”
Seeing Louisa angrily ending the call, Edith quickly brought over a bowl of soup, “Mrs. Collins, please calm down. It all happened so long ago, and I wouldn’t have dared to speak up if you hadn’t asked.
This is also why I was so relieved when Serena was sent to the next building for reflection. Ms.
Mirabella Collins really endured a lot in the past six months!”Even though Serena and Martha never got the better of Mirabella, just the sight of their arrogant demeanor made Edith feel disgusted.
“You really should’ve clued us in earlier,” Louisa chided herself for not catching on sooner, the guilt and self-reproach evident in her voice.
“Mrs. Collins, I’m just the help. It’s not my place to gossip about family affairs. Besides, with Martha running the show and Ms. Serena Collins in her corner, they had the stage. Even if I had a chance to explain, I couldn’t have cleared things up.”
Edith stood by, silently serving them food as she spoke, “And, Ms. Serena Collins’s always played the angel in your eyes – smart, kind-hearted, gentle. If I’d suggested she was bullying Ms. Mirabella Collins, you’d likely have thought I was spouting nonsense before I even finished my sentence.”
As Edith went on, she added, “Especially when Ms. Serena Collins cries, that’s when I’m really done for! I could have lost my job!”
Louisa gave her a reproachful look, “After all these years of dedicated service in our home, how could we just send you away? We’re not heartless like Martha.”
That time Hans exposed Martha’s deceit, revealing how she had spilled oil intending to cause Bella to slip. Martha was promptly fired by Hans for that.
When the news reached Kenneth and Louisa, they were furious, giving Martha a good tongue-lashing.
At the time, Serena had tried to intercede on Martha’s behalf, but Louisa had even said that if she thought so highly of Martha, she might as well leave with her.
“It’s just shocking. Beyond that oil incident, there were so many other things. Each and every one of them is infuriating. How can she be so malicious? She doesn’t act like a servant at all; she thinks she’s royalty!” Louisa slammed her hand on the table, too angry to eat.”We thought she was treating Serena with such care because she considered her family. She had us all misty-eyed. Turns out she was only kind to Serena. To everyone else, she was downright cruel!”
Kenneth was no less heated.
Meanwhile, Serena had moved to the guesthouse, where she was the sole occupant.
Aside from the light spilling from her bedroom, the entire building was shrouded in darkness.
She found the main switch and turned on all the lights in the building, even the garden lights, but the vast quiet space still felt eerily empty and frightening.
Finally, a servant carrying a food basket entered the courtyard, and Serena hurried downstairs.
“Betty, why is it just you? Where are the others?”
There had been three servants to attend to her needs in the afternoon, but now only Betty was here to bring dinner?
“Mrs. Collins said from now on, I’ll be the one to bring your meals. Other than that, no one else will come,” Betty explained as she set the food basket on the table and started to lay out the dishes.
Serena was famished, and upon seeing the food, she was stupefied, “What is this?”
A tangy potato salad, green bean stir-fry, and seaweed egg soup, this was it?? This was her meal??
“Mrs. Collins said that since you needs time to reflect, the meals should be plain and simple.”
Serena couldn’t swallow her pride. Even her meals were being cut back?? How was she supposed to stomach this!
“Actually, these dishes are quite tasty. They’re the same as what we had for lunch. We had green bean stir-fry and tangy potato salad. The chef is really skilled, honestly. You’ll know once you try.””You’ve already had this for lunch?” Serena was shocked and then realized, “So you’re giving me the leftovers from your lunch?”
“No kidding, Ms. Serena Collins. These ingredients are the freshest, delivered today. They’re certainly not leftovers from the servants’ lunch. The chef prepared these dishes just for you,” Betty set the tableware in front of Serena.
Serena stared at the array of dishes before her, so bland they defied description. The pang of hunger ultimately drove her to eat, though with great reluctance.
“For breakfast tomorrow, I want cereal with milk, foie gras on toast, and eggs Benedict with caviar,”
Serena’s demands trailed off as Betty interjected with an apologetic tone.
