Chapter 12
West Gardens picnic
On a beautiful and sunny Saturday afternoon, Jane was
in the kitchen making some sandwiches, salads and
preparing some refreshments. Once everything was done she
placed the food in some lunch boxes and drinks in glass
pitchers. Each lunchbox she finished preparing was placed
inside a big basket that was on the counter. With a bit of
space that was remaining, Jane placed some plastic cups and
a pitcher that had some juice in it.
Once she was done with the packing and making sure
that everything was in order, she picked up the basket and
made her way out of the kitchen. As she was walking
through the mansion she prayed that the butler wouldn't see
her. That morning she heard that he had finally returned to
the mansion after spending a few days of consistently being
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unavailable at the mansion. No one knew where he had gone
to or for how long, but there were sometimes he would only
appear on the estate for a few hours to speak with Nicholas
then he would leave once again.
However, on this beautiful day the situation was
different, since morning the butler was present and was
surprisingly spending more time at the garden than he ever
did. His place was usually in the mansion, in every room
and corner making sure the place was in order and every
single person was doing their work diligently.
Even though he wasn't as present as usual, Jane was
constantly on eggshells, especially with what she was
wearing. The butler would sure give her a sarcastic comment
that would certainly make her want to go back to her room
and never leave.
Taking a deep breath and saying a small prayer to
herself, Jane quickly began to speed walk her way out of the
mansion looking around every now and then to make sure to
avoid being sighted or running into the butler. With the
speed and efficiency she used it didn't take much time for
her to get out of the mansion. She then walked towards the
guest house where Tanyah was living and knocked on the
door.
While waiting for a response, he quickly checked her
face on the front door glass and also fixed her dress to
remove any creases that could have occurred while she was
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making the final packing of the basket. She began to hear
some footsteps coming to the door so she stopped what she
was doing and looked at and stood up straight. The door
was opened and Tanyah came out to greet Jane.
On this particular weekend Jane suggested that they
both reserve it for some time of relaxation, and the best way
she could think of was to have a day out. She had already
asked permission from Nicholas a few days prior to take
Tanyah outside the estate. At first, he was against the idea
because there was no need to go that far as the estate was big
enough for any activities they wanted.
Jane had to fight tooth and nail to make Nicholas change
his mind because even after spending hours talking to him
and giving good points on why it would be a good idea to go
out of the estate for a while he still wasn't agreeing to it. She
was only left with a few options; the first was to find a way
to distract him long enough for them to make an exit or leave
him an invitation to go somewhere so that both parties
would be away from the estate.
The second option seemed easier as all she had to do was
leave Nicholas a letter inviting somewhere. There were a lot
of events that were organized in Kelsus, and from what she
heard they were only for certain families that resided in
Kelsus. Jane noticed that Nicholas always ignored these
events and never bothered to open the letters and
invitations. However, there were only a few select letters that
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he opened and responded to, and when invited somewhere
Nicholas made sure to attend even if it was late at night.
She didn't quite remember the name of the person who
sent the letter as she didn't have much time to go through
the letter, however she made it her mission to find out who
the person was and use that name to her advantage.
But her plans were brought to a halt when Nicholas
suddenly called her to his office. She was already prepared
to bring the matter up once again and ask one more time for
permission to go out of the estate. And to her surprise, the
first thing that he did was give Jane the permission she had
been asking for. She was both very happy and curious as to
why he changed his mind overnight.
When she went to announce the news to Tanyah and
vent out some of the frustrations she went through in her
attempts to convince Nicholas, Jane found out the reason
why he finally changed his mind. It turns out he asked
Tanyah if she wanted to go out of the estate, get to know the
place and get a proper weekend off work.
Apparently, that's all that was needed for Nicholas to
hear Tanyah's opinion on the matter before accepting the
proposal. If she had known about this, Jane would have
placed Tanyah on the front lines to begin with before going
through all the trouble of asking and constantly getting
rejected.
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For this special day they wore matching floral summer
dresses and shoes. And it was also on this particular day that
Jane saw Tanyah's curly hair being free for the first time.
Most of the days she would place her hair in a bun but today
she let it down.
"Are you ready?" said Jane enthusiastically, grabbing
Tanyah's hand.
"Ready!"
For their journey from the mansion, Jane arranged for a
local carriage to take them to their destination and also
around Kelsus to see a few places. And as soon as they
walked from the guest house, they saw the carriage already
waiting for them outside and without wasting any time they
got inside and left the estate.
TF Park, West gardens, Kelsus.
When they arrived at their destination, Tanyah couldn't
help but think that her dreams and desires to live in a
peaceful and quiet place, where there was no noise or traffic
and where she could sit under a tree to enjoy her day with
no stress were coming true. The place where Jane brought
her was the perfect place to fulfill those dreams; the luscious
green grass, refreshing air and atmosphere.
As they were walking through the garden Tanyah felt
like she had walked into another world which she never
wished she could ever leave. Her mind thought of the
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gardens at the Sinclair Estate for a moment, that place
screamed class and sophistication. It was as if someone
mixed Greek and Eastern inspiration for the statues, garden
styles and structure. It felt like she was walking through a
Shakespearean poem with the flow and atmosphere.
Both gardens were beautiful, however she would
certainly choose spending her time in this one than the one at
the mansion.
"Beautiful and relaxing isn't it?" said Jane, swinging the
basket in her hands.
"Very beautiful, I wish I brought a book to read to finish
off the look," said Tanyah, which made Jane laugh.
"Books, documents..., think of something else for today
that has nothing to do with papers, writing or anything
serious. You shouldn't worry yourself too much about work,
I know it's more difficult now that the butler isn't involving
himself with office work which makes most of the overload
on you and Sir Nicholas, but no matter what don't forget that
you have me you can trust and talk to. Even when you have
something difficult to handle, know that I'm there to help."
"Thanks, I'll always remember that," said Tanyah.
"If we get another day to come here we will certainly
visit the other three parts of TF Park gardens."
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As they were walking around the garden, Jane pointed
to a spot which was under some trees and had a great view
of the garden. That was the place where they were going to
sit and enjoy their time in the garden. They placed a cloth on
top of the grass and began to set everything up before they
removed their shoes and finally settled down.
Tanyah briefly scanned the area they were in, she
couldn't help but turn to Jane and ask, "This whole place,
who does it belong to?"
Jane took in a deep breath and rubbed her hands
together as if preparing to tell an epic tale. Before answering,
Jane mischievously looked around and signalled for Tanyah
to come closer.
"It belongs to a group of elite families that essentially
own Kelsus. This part that we are in belongs to the Sinclair
family."
Tanyah opened her eyes wide and turned to Jane.
"Wouldn't it be amazing to meet the other families?" she
said, filled with excitement and anticipation.
Jane froze. She opened her mouth to say something but
nothing quite fitting came to mind. In the end she just smiled
and nodded her head.
Tanyah took in a deep breath to briefly clear her mind
for the day and focus on living out her dreams. Before she
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could breathe out and relax her mind, Tanyah's eyes landed
on some shrubs nearby and that made her stop. They were
neatly trimmed and cut with no branch or leaf out of place.
Tanyah looked around and saw that these shrubs were
almost at every corner of where they were sitting.
The shrubs had beautiful little flowers blooming on their
branches, and it seemed whoever was taking care of them
was very professional because even though the shrubs were
being cut and groomed, the flowers weren't harmed at all.
Tanyah was tempted to go and get a few flowers to place in
her hair but she refrained from doing so as the shrubs had
thorns, especially around the flowers.
Looking at them she couldn't help but feel like they
weren't just there for the garden, and she wondered if it was
the gardener of the shrub itself watching her.
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