Chapter 32: Alice dreaming of the future

With Lady Jeffrey and her horrid daughters gone, life returned to a semblance of what it had once been. Not just how it was before the Great War, but before her invasion of our home. A time when I undertook honest labour for my wage and wasn't treated like servant scum.

I had only been ten years old when I kissed my mother goodbye and went to work for Sir Jeffrey. Children like Henry and me were expected to go into service young and work our fingers to the bone for our masters. But Sir Jeffrey let us be children first and domestics second.

Days exploring the forest and swimming by the old mill after chores cemented the friendship between me, Henry, and Ella. That dormant sense of family returned to the Jeffrey farm in Lady Jeffrey's wake. We pulled together to get the work done. While this would never truly be my home, it was the only family I had known for most of my life.