Free In Good Company by Jen Turano Page B

far as an actual explanation.”
    “I should just start at the very beginning, from clear back in the day when I first went out into service.”
    “Clear back in the day?”
    “Well, yes, because I went out into service when I was twelve, and since I’m twenty-four now, that was certainly clear back in the day.”
    His stomach immediately turned a little queasy. Millie was the same age as Caroline, but whereas Caroline had been enjoying school, social events, and traveling, Millie had been put out to work when she’d been little more than a child.
    “ . . . and then, when I got fired as a lowly kitchen maid, all because I wasn’t the best potato peeler in the world, I thought I was going to be out on the streets since I didn’t have a penny to call my own.”
    “You were a kitchen maid?”
    Millie frowned. “Have you not been listening to a word I’ve said? Yes, I was a kitchen maid, an upstairs maid, and I even worked in the stables once. I had to disguise myself as a boy for that position, which, surprisingly enough, wasn’t much fun. It even turned a little scary when the head groom discovered my little bit of subterfuge, which means deception , by the way, and threw me out of the stable.”
    It took a great deal of effort on Everett’s part not to laugh, but there was something vastly amusing about Millie’s habit of spewing out words and definitions. He’d never known anyone who was so fascinated with the dictionary, but he forced all lingering amusement aside when he noticed she’d taken to scowling at him. “Sorry,” he managed to say. “Continue, if you please.”
    “As I was saying, I’d been turned out without a reference and didn’t know how I was going to obtain another position. But then I met Reverend Thomas Gilmore.” Millie smiled. “Ibelieve you’ve made the acquaintance of that delightful gentleman as well.”
    Everett returned the smile. “I have indeed, and from what little I know about the man, he seems to be a kind and sensible soul.”
    “That’s exactly right.” Millie settled back against the settee. “He makes a habit of looking out for the underprivileged, and I was certainly that on the day I met him. He took me under his wing, found me a place to live, introduced me to Lucetta, and later, Harriet, and began to help me develop a plan for my life.”
    Millie bit her lip, a surprisingly endearing action. “I thought for certain Reverend Gilmore wouldn’t be of much help in that regard. But it soon became clear that he has a distinct talent for planning people’s lives. After questioning me for hours about my life, especially the time I spent in the orphanage, he concluded that my calling was not in cleaning but in looking after children.”
    “You grew up in an orphanage?”
    “Why else did you think I was sent out to work at twelve?”
    “I thought perhaps your parents needed help with expenses.”
    “My parents died when I was an infant.”
    Everett simply stared at her for a long moment as a clear sense of horror spread through him. He’d never been without the support of his parents, and as he considered that Millie had never even known hers, well—
    A pat on his knee had him blinking back to the conversation at hand.
    “There’s no need for you to feel distressed about my upbringing, Everett. Children lose parents all the time, and it could have been much worse for me. I could have landed in an orphanage that sends children out to work in one of those dismal factories instead of placing me as a domestic.” Her gaze suddenlysharpened on his face. “You don’t own any of those factories, do you?”
    “I invest mostly in land, not factories.”
    If anything, the sharpness of her gaze increased. “Is any of that invested land in the Five Points area?”
    “Ah . . .”
    “Because I’ve been told,” she continued before he could fully respond, “my parents lived in a tenement slum in Five Points. Due to the dismal conditions the slumlords allowed