I had many extra duties that morning, as my master had many guests arriving from England in the afternoon. They were researchers from Oxford University which, I was told, was near London and that evening I was expected to serve dinner for them.
It was at that dinner where I first met Emily…
It was six o’clock later on that evening and my master and I were in one of the many unique and admirable bedrooms of his house. The room was to be mine for the night, as I was allowed to stay. In all the time I had worked for my master I had never been invited to stay. It had simply been unheard of.
The room was like I had never seen before. It laid in the west wing, the opposite one to where my services were usually required. As I first walked into the room I was taken back by how fine it appeared. The door from the landing lead straight into the salon where ornate guilt carvings and framed photographs filled the mantle piece. The next room was the majestic bedroom, which was fit for a king. It was so big, open and had the most attractive large bed I had ever come across before. The scrumptious bathroom completed the suite, with a Jacuzzi lined in gold and a pure white towelling robe hanging neatly on the door to the sauna. It was the most perfect room ever to meet my eye. And to think he had another thirteen of them!
We had an hour before the British researchers were due to arrive. I had spent all morning doing my duties and my master had taken up my afternoon. He was eager and anxious to learn what my skills and manners were like at the dining table as I was to be eating with them as well. Even today, I think that he was actually pleasantly surprised at how good they were as I could still remember the basics of using proper cutlery from the family dinners we used to have all those years ago.
After he had gone over the complicated things about dining and being polite at the table that I did not know about or had forgotten he took me to my guest room and gave me a black ‘Christian Dior’ suit. The suit consisted of impeccably cut trousers; a jacket, a white cuffed shirt, black torso and black bow tie all made from the finest silks.
“ We don’t want you looking a mess now, do we?” he questioned as he handed me the suit in a transparent plastic cover. That comment has always stuck in my mind: How small and intimidated it made me feel. I was so happy though, for my master was treating me like a man, a real man. Although I knew he was only really going to all the trouble to make himself look good, I was not complaining. I felt so incredibly important, being able to get dressed up for dinner.
As I stood in the mirror I hardly recognised myself. I actually looked like a higher class, well respected man. I looked like a different person.
My scraggy, greasy dark brown hair had been cut and styled by my master’s own barber; it was all so perfect it almost seemed false, not a single strand was out of place.
Once I was ready I made my way down the grand stairs to the dining room to check that the table was laid for the correct amount and that the candles were lit etc.
As the large grandfather clock that stood in the main entrance hall struck seven my master and I were stood at the main door.
When the group of English men first arrived, I never had the chance to admire them all, or be introduced. I was simply loaded with suitcases spread out over two trolleys and sent to take them up to the designated rooms they were to stay in. As I stood in the twenty nine-foot wide lift with full-length mirrors on the walls I couldn’t help but inspect their cases. As I was scanning through the appearance of each of the fourteen cases (to six men, or so I thought) I noticed a black suede one with fine embroidery and pearls decorated as it caught my eye. On the side of the case, below where the flight tag was hanging was a label that read ‘Miss Emily Waters’. A female name. This puzzled me as I was told just a group of six men were visiting, there had been no mention of a girl…
As I was delivering the cases- an average two per person, not including their hand luggage- I heard footsteps on the marble floor. They were coming from around the corner. I chose to ignore them as I really wanted to go downstairs and meet the English people and the sooner I finished, the sooner I could actually go down and see them.
“Excuse me, kind sir,” the voice stopped me in my tracks. I turned around and saw the most immaculate and elegant looking girl ever to have met my eyes. She was standing at the other end of the landing, staring back at me, waiting for a response. Her straight, ebony shoulder length hair was tied back loosely with strands gently hanging neatly around her small, but oval shaped face. Her deep brown eyes sparkled like those of a happy child on Christmas day and her nose was just the right size, not too big, nor too small. Her stunning face completed her tiny, delicate figure, which was casually dressed in dark denim jeans and a white ‘Gucci’ T-shirt.
“Yes Madam, how may I be of assistance?” I asked, remembering the language I had been taught to use when addressing one of the group. The girl then began to blush as her cheeks started to glow a bright, powerful pink colour.
“Please, do not speak like that. How I hate it when all the adults put on a polite front. Could we possibly keep the language simple?” Feeling rather taken back, I did not know how to respond.
“Well, okay, if you want to, but you must not hear my master hear me talk to you so informally.” I stammered.
“Okay then, it’s a deal!” She briskly replied.
“So, what brings you up here?” I asked, curious as to why she had dared to leave the rest of her crowd in such a large, unfamiliar house. I parted with the last case, placing it in the salon of one of the suites.
“Kareem, Emily, are you up there?” It was my master’s voice. We both peered over the balcony and looked down below to the entrance hall where he was stood. “Come on, dinner shall be ready soon.”
“I’m coming Sir!” I called back and as I turned around the girl, whose name was obviously Emily, had vanished. Feeling confused, I went downstairs to help put the finishing touches to the dining hall. “Where have they gone?” I asked, quietly, in case they were still within earshot.
“They just went to change for dinner. Have you met Emily yet?”
“Yes, I believe I have.”
“Quite a stunning young lady, isn’t she?” He said, nudging me in the side.
“Yeah, quite, why didn’t you tell me she was coming?”
“Well, I did not want to ruin the surprise, did I? But, listen, I do not want any ‘funny-business’, understood?” He sternly spoke as he referred to what I think he referred to.
“Understood. It is as clear as water.” I replied feeling like I had just had the most natural man-to-man conversation since father had passed away. This was as my best friend, Amelia, was a girl. She lived back in the shantytown, next door to me. I hardly saw her because she also worked, but I saw her the most often out of all of the teens in the town, and got on with her best as well.
It was a further half-hour until our visitors emerged from their rooms, smartly dressed. I stood at the entrance to the dining hall by the big, double doors, which were opened all the way. Slowly, I introduced myself as they filed in one at a time.
“Good evening Sir,” I said to every man as I shook hands with them. All five of the men were wearing black suits, which appeared to be almost identical to mine. After I had let the first three men in I glanced back to the short line remaining. I could see two men, talking, and in the background something red, and glistening behind them. Could it be her? I was soon to find out, and it was! Once I had shown the two remaining men in I turned back and saw her. Emily. Upstairs on the balcony, but this time she was much closer. How stunning she looked. I am sure my heart stopped beating, or skipped a few beats. She had managed to take my breath away for the second time in one evening. She stood there, tall and slender but this time with her hair clipped ontop of her head and curled at the ends. She wore a mid length red sequinned dress. It was beautiful and hung so simply on her perfect shaped body. I was determined not to make a fool out of myself again, by staring and not talking to her. I so wanted to talk to her properly and ask her where she had got to earlier on. I thought maybe we could spend some time together and find out about one another, but then when my master had called up to us, she had rushed off, without a single word.
“Good evening Emily,” I whispered to her as I bowed down and gently planted a kiss on to the back of her right hand. She looked at me, with the brown sparkle still glistening in her eyes and her mouth gradually broke into a small smile. She entered in and I followed, drawing the large doors too.
During the five-course meal there were many different types of conversation. Most of them, however, I did not find particularly interesting, though I did find out how my master knew them all. It all went back to when he was living in England. Two of them, Richard and Christoph were his best friends. They both went to work at Oxford University whilst my master and his ex-wife decided to move over to Brazil. That was the highlight of the conversations for me as many of the others were reminiscence about the ‘good old days’ and what the stock market was like at that moment.
I was sat at the opposite end of the table to Emily, and also the opposite side. I noticed that she had not said much that evening apart from the occasional smiling and nodding of her head when she was being spoken to. It was like she was telling herself to act interested when she did not really have much of an idea what they were talking about. I had been trying to get eye contact with her all evening and was not succeeding. After I caught my master shooting me a glance I decided I had better leave it, for fear of making my actions too obvious to some.
By the and of the most exotic fruit compote soaked in Cointrea, Emily calmly rose from her seat and excused herself from the table due to tiredness. Had my master have not just ordered me to clear away the dishes as they retired to the library, I would have gone after her, to escort her to her bedroom. Due to my absence in service, Christoph, her father, excused himself to take Emily up, after promising a prompt return a few minutes later.
Whilst I began to clear the dishes away the four remaining men followed my master to the library. I thought about how much I longed to see Emily and speak to her. Half of me was telling myself that I had a whole twelve months to get to know her, but the other half was telling me to go and see her, as first impressions are everything and if I did not get talking to her soon, I never would. It was then I came up with the most perfect idea: After I had finished the washing up, which I knew would take me a while, I would call in on the men in the library to see if they required anything. If Christoph was back downstairs, I was to go up to her bedding suite to see her, if she was still awake and indeed willing to talk to me. After all she might not want the first thing to do with me.
I began to hand wash all the fine bone china and crystal glasses. I finally finished an hour and a half later after slaving over the sink. When I unplugged the basin and dried my hands, I saw they were wrinkled due to the sustained amount of time they had been in the tepid water.
I then made a tray of five crystal brandy balloons and the exquisite Austrian Crystal decanter of brandy and took them into the library where I was greeted with clouds of cigar smoke and found them half way through their third game of Backgammon.
“Why thank you Kareem. How helpful, efficient and polite this young man is!” One of the men, George, exclaimed as he directed his speech to my master. I looked at him and as I walked out I received a ‘thumbs up’ from him when no one was looking. I felt so self satisfied and as though my master and I had finally been united as a team. The evening was just getting better. As all the men were still in the library and neither one of them showed signs of leaving any time soon, I decided to take a risk and visit Emily, even if it could mean having to swallow my pride if she did not want to talk to me.
Once I got to the door, after nearly turning away, I took a deep breath and knocked three times with the fore-knuckles of my right hand. I held this deep breath until I heard an answer.
“Come in.” The distant, muffled voice whispered. I gently turned the gold doorknob and stepped into the salon of Emily’s suite. As I did this she came hurrying around the corner. Dressed in just a dark green towelling robe with ‘Harrods’ sewn onto the top of the left breast pocket.
“Sorry-Have I interrupted something?” I asked her, wondering if she was on her way to bed.
“No, don’t worry, I just got out of the sauna when you knocked.”
“Would you prefer me to leave?”
“No, of course not, come in.” I followed her through to her bedroom and sat myself on the edge of her pine four-poster bed.
“So, where did you get off to earlier this evening?” I asked, trying to break the ice. She was stood at the opposite side of the room, with her back towards me as she was applying some sort of cleansing product to her face in front of her mounted wall mirror. As I asked the question I saw look back at me through my reflection. There was a moments silence.
“I, er, I… When do you mean?” I could tell I was obviously making her feel awkward, but she had no reason to be, so I pressed on, eager to find the answer to my question.
“When we were stood on the balcony. We looked down to see my master and when I turned back, you were gone.”
“Oh, sorry. I was just taken back by how little time I had to get changed and figured that the sooner I went, the longer I had! Us girls take a lot of time over our appearance, I’ll have you know!” She replied, with a bit more ease, which I was grateful for.
As the hours passed by we got on extremely well. It was a simply a case of ‘clicking’ with each other straight away. We both sprawled out on her bed and chatted non stop for three and a half hours. I found out a lot about her and told her a little about me, successfully avoiding the subject of living in a shantytown to stop me from lying to her. It turned out that Emily was the same age as me and was then studying for A-levels in Expressive Arts and English, amongst others, at a North London college. I can safely stay that was a special night, and little did I know I had lots to come…
As we were talking my eyes gradually shifted their focus from hers, drifted around the room, and met with the face of the golden clock resting on the sideboard: It was a quarter to four in the morning! Surely the men would soon be coming up and would certainly be furious to find me in Emily’s room. I rose from the bed and thanked Emily for such a special evening after explaining my reasons for leaving. As we made arrangements to meet the following morning she showed me to the door. I stood in front of her in order to say goodbye and kissed her softly on the cheek. I felt her feminine hands on my face and looked her in the eye. The moment was so special. It was as if I could see the sparks between us fly. How natural it felt when her lips met mine. I slowly ran my hands through her sleek, shiny hair as I felt her warm, cushioned chest against mine and her body so close. This was it. I wanted the moment to last forever: Just her and I. No one or nothing else mattered. It was a truly magical feeling.
Over the next six months Emily and I grew close. We often spent fulfilled days in the city and would meet in the gardens of the house and go for midnight walks (with the English men staying my master allowed me to stay in the house overnight six nights a week). It was hard though, as we had to keep our relationship a secret from my master and Christoph. We thought they would not understand: My master had already warned me that he did not want me to cause any damage to the friendship between him and Christoph, which I would have apparently caused if we were to become an item, like we had. Also, Christoph was strongly against the idea of Emily getting involved with anyone out in Brazil as he just wanted them both to go back at the end of the year, no strings attached.
Over the first two to three weeks of our relationship Emily found out all about my past. It eventually became difficult to avoid whenever the subject came up. I was terrified when I told her, thinking she would finish with me as I was just a poor boy living in the favelas of the city, not the well educated, wealthy young man my master had made me out to be. But, she actually understood, I should have known she would. I think she was more hurt than anything else. Hurt because I felt as though I could not tell her before. I knew she was shocked, but I suppose that was understandable. After she had found out about my family background, she insisted it was nothing to be ashamed of and longed for me to take her there, to the shantytown, to meet my family and friends. I was very hasty about the idea, but after a long talk she assured me that she knew what to expect and promised it would not change anything between us, so I took her up.
Over the six months we went back to the shantytown most Sundays and Emily adapted really well to every one. Mother adored her and Nadia and Nabila treated her as their older sister. Amelia too was very fond of her and the two of them also became very close.
It was in the fifth month of our relationship that my master and Christoph became a little suspecting. One Friday evening Emily and I were summoned to the study. As they both sat in the two large, leather bound armchairs and questioned us about our social lives, and what we were getting up to, I knew they knew about us. I did not know how they had found but it was obvious they knew and I was not going to insult their intelligence by lying to them. So we told them the truth. We received quite opposite reactions from both men. My master just sat still and quiet in expressionless trance but Christoph rose from his seat, grabbed Emily, and stormed out of the room calling me an ignorant pig!
As the large door slammed behind me I stood still, frozen to my place. I was terrified of my master’s reaction and looked at him, anxiously waiting for a response.
“Why did you do it?” He questioned “After I warned you not to. Is that all the respect you have for me, after everything I have ever done for you? Did you set out to defy me purposely?” he ferociously yelled at me. This was it, or so I thought. I had gone too far this time and he was to fire me. I bowed my head in shame, turned and made my way back to the door.
“Got you then, didn’t I?” I paused, before looking back at him. Was it the same person talking who had just given me such a sincere telling off? As I looked back at him, unsure of what he was playing at, his mouth gradually broke into a warm smile.
“I can see why you did it, she is a very beautiful young lady and I am happy for you both.”
“But you warned me not to get involved with her, for fear of damaging your friendship with Christoph.”
“Well, if Christoph is that good enough friend and father, I’m sure he will accept the fact that his ‘little girl’ has grown up and can decide what she wants herself now.”
“I want to marry her!” I blurted out without knowing exactly where it came from.
“Whoa!” My master exasperated with much surprise, “Well, if Christoph comes back in with Emily, why don’t you ask his permission then? I’d expect he might feel more assured knowing that you are both serious, that it is going to last, and that it is to be a long standing relationship.”
“Do you think so?” I questioned, looking for some reassurance.
“Well you have nothing to lose boy!” He replied with slight humour in his voice.
About half an hour later Christoph returned, unaccompanied. He looked a lot calmer from earlier, but flustered too. When he came back in he said that he had taken Emily to her room and apologised for calling me an ignorant pig. “Christoph,” my master began, “young Kareem has a proposal for you.” I had to come out with it now, thanks to my master making a start for me. I was so nervous, what if he said no? As my knees trembled my stomach quivered and my pulse rate soared I walked up to him.
“Please Sir, I am very much in love with your daughter and she is me.” I paused to take a deep breath, “Will you please allow me to marry your daughter?” As the tension in the room mounted I shut my eyes and silently prayed he would say yes, so when I heard him say the three-lettered word, I could hardly believe my ears! My eyes began to well up. I grabbed him and gave him the biggest hug ever.
“Thank you, thank you so very much.” I managed to let out, letting him know that I was grateful.
“Hadn’t you better go and ask her?” My master asked, obviously noticing that I was finding it hard to pull myself together.
“Yes I should, but I haven’t a ring.” I watched my master reach into one of his drawers at his desk. He pulled out a beautiful, emerald green cushioned box- Inside was the most attractive diamond ring. Not even stopping to think about why he had it and who it was meant for I thanked him before bursting out of the study and racing up the stairs to Emily’s room. I hammered on the door and she soon answered, tears streaming down her face, along with her mascara too.
“What’s wrong?” I questioned disappointed that I had to have a slight pause in my proceedings but concerned to find out what had upset her so much.
“Daddy says he is going to stop us from seeing each other.”
“Well, that’s definitely not what he told me!” I assured her, whipping her eyes and cheeks with my handkerchief.
“What do you mean?”
“Follow me!” I took her by the hand and let her follow slightly behind me as I ran to the balcony. I stopped outside the fifth door.
“Do you know what happened here?” Without giving her a chance to answer I continued “ This is where we first met.”
“I know it is, but what are you doing?” As she asked her question I knelt down on one knee in front of her and pulled the ring box out of my blazer pocket. I gently opened it and lifted it up for her to see.
“Emily, will you marry me?” I whispered, looking deep into her eyes. There was a few seconds silence and it was then I realised what I had done. What if she did not feel the same way as me? Was this all about to turn into nothing more than me getting carried away in my own little dream world?
“Yes!” She detracted, “ Yes, yes, yes!” She shouted as she burst into tears again, but this time of happiness, not sorrow. I gracefully slipped the ring onto her petite ring finger and rose to my feet.
“I love you so much!” She exclaimed before she wrapped her arms around me. I felt so happy.
The wedding did not take place until a month later. We had the service in the grounds of the house. It was lovely. There were not many guests though, just everyone in the house and friends Emily and I had made in the city. My family were not permitted to attend the wedding, due to several complications. As you can probably imagine, I was extremely disappointed. That was why Emily and I left the house during the reception party and spent our wedding night in the shantytown. The reception we got from all of the favelas was truly amazing. Mother explained to us how we had been the talk of the town and hundreds of people came out to greet us as we got off the bus. Emily was still dressed in her traditional British wedding dress and myself in my suit. That was a fantastic night and that day was really the happiest day of my life.
It was two months later when the time came for the English men to return home. It was very emotional and sad for all of us, especially Christoph and Emily. Emily and I had decided to stay on in Brazil a while longer before we both went over to London in the New Year. After a tearful goodbye at the airport Emily, my master and I went back home.
Later that night Emily gave me her news. I was reposing on the longer in the salon of our room (when we got married my master decided to make Emily’s guest room into our permanent room). She came running in, looking severely distressed as she clutched onto a long white plastic tube.
“I’m pregnant!” She announced, before breaking into tears in a heap on the floor. I couldn’t believe it. How could she be? I lifted her from the floor and carried her to the bed.
“Calm down,” was the only thing I could think of to say.
“Don’t tell me to calm down! I’m only nineteen, I may be ready for marriage but having a baby is just a tiny bit different!” She screamed. I knew she was right. I was not ready for a baby either, but I was not going to dessert her, I thought we could get through it together. I put my arm around her in attempt to let her know that I was going to stand by her. She shook it off vigorously.
“Please, I could really do with being on my own for a bit, in order to get my head around the idea. Come back in a couple of hours.” She said to me, as though I was a member of the public looking for a shopkeeper who was not available.
“Are you sure?” I questioned, wanting to stay and argue my case but also knowing that the best thing I could do for her at that moment was what she asked for. She gently nodded her head. Feeling a little hurt and gutted I gently kissed her forehead and made my way out.
I was very confused, everything had happened so quickly. On my way downstairs I saw my master.
“Everything alright?” He casually asked. I replied with a slight murmur. He handed me an envelope. “A letter from England, for Emily. Its the first one she had all year. I would have thought it would do her some good to read it. Its sure to cheer her up.” He said, sensing that we had had some sort of argument.
“Thank you!” I replied. I took the letter, went back upstairs and posted it underneath our door. I knew she had received it when I heard her tear open the envelope. I decided against going in, kept to her wish to be alone and went for a walk through the gardens in attempt to clear my head. Everything seemed so different with all the men gone, I had got really used to having them around for that past year. I must have sat in the summerhouse for about two and a half hours. It all looked so very pretty lit up in the dark and reminded me of all the midnight walks we used to take when we first started seeing each other. I did a lot of thinking. Emily being pregnant was all we needed to top off our problems. We hadn’t been getting along to well recently and a little tension had been in the air.
When the rain began to fall I went back into the warmth of the house and made my way up to our room. I could tell winter had arrived as it was still a thick blanket of black outside and was already four o’clock in the morning.
The door had been left adjacent and I stepped into the salon. Something was wrong. I glanced around and it looked it different, some things were gone.
“Emily!” I shouted as I run through to the bedroom and bathroom looking for her. I looked at the bed and noticed a piece of paper on the pillows. Hands shaking, I slowly picked it up and unfolded it.
I’m sorry, I can’t do this anymore. I’ve gone back to London.
Yours Emily
xxxxx
I couldn’t believe it. Were things really that bad? I thought that letter was supposed to cheer her up. I ran over to the wardrobe. Her clothes were all gone, her suitcase too. I grabbed my passport from my bedside cabinet (It had come the day before, so I could travel to England with her the following month) and dashed out of the door and down the stairs.
“Kareem, what on earth is wrong?” my master shouted at me as I sped by him.
“Emily has gone to London, I’m going to find her!” I replied as I went through the front door.
As I despatched on the ten-minute distance to the airport all that was running through my mind were questions. ‘ Why has done this to me? Did she really mean it? What had the letter said and who was it from?’ I had to find the answer to these questions. I had to find her.
I boarded on a plane to Gatwick Airport thirty minutes later and arrived at my English destination nine hours after that.
I am now sat in a guest room at a ‘Forte Travelodge’. It is four o’ clock in the morning (English time). After I have had, or tried to have, a decent few hours sleep I will set off to find her. I have to get her back. She loves me. I’m going to find all the answers to my questions and then help her through the pregnancy, no matter whether we decide to keep the baby or not.
I hope to find her. I’m sure I will. I mean, London can not be that big a place, can it?
Well, thank you for reading my story. Wish me luck! Goodnight!
Love
Kareem
xxx
P.S- God, bless my father, and let him know that I love him so dearly and need his help now more than ever before.