Lumiere and Cogsworth
In the morning I got a text message from Adam, telling me the butlers and maids were already up and about in the house. Fortunately, he was kind enough to leave me some clothes. I wasn’t sure how he knew my size but I could only assume he and Madame Florinda discussed my measurements the day before.
When I woke up there was a beautiful dark purple babydoll nightgown laid by my bed. The shoulder straps were very thin and the neckline was once again a little too low for comfort. The bottom portion was very high and I rolled my eyes when I saw he didn’t give me shorts to wear underneath. Instead he left me a pair of white thongs and a strapless bra.
After getting dressed – and putting on a bathrobe I found hanging in the closet – I stepped outside and marveled at how beautiful the manor was in broad daylight. Sunlight pierced through the open windows and everything just had this incandescent allure.
I headed to the kitchen first and I was a little caught off-guard to see a middle-aged man, roughly in his late thirties, making a cup of coffee. He was very tall, lithe and had well-groomed brown hair. Most peculiar, however, was his long and curled moustache.
“O-oh, hello,” I greeted with a meek and soft voice. “I-I’m Bella Verdandi.”
The man looked at me and gave a warm smile. He then bowed his head and greeted, “Good morning, mademoiselle, my name is Sebastian Lumiere and I am Master Rousseau’s bouteiller – ah, butler. How may I be of service? Would you like some coffee now or would you rather it wait until after breakfast?”
A smile crept across my face but I wasn’t sure if it was just me admiring his very strong French accent or at how jovial and kind he was. I then took a seat close to him and answered, “I’d like it now, please. I do hope it’s no trouble.”
“Oh, no trouble at all,” he dismissed the thought with a wave of his hand. He then headed to a very large espresso machine, took some milk and an espresso glass and began working on fixing me a cup of cappuccino. “It’s just really nice to see the maestro dating someone again. It has been so long.”
I raised an eyebrow and asked, “Dating? I can’t really say I’m dating him. I just met him yesterday.”
“Things go by so quickly, don’t they?” he retorted and then followed with, “You must admit though, mademoiselle, the maestro is very handsome, no? Very gallant and big, that one is.”
I giggled at the mention of how big Adam was as my thoughts immediately traced back to the size of his manhood. I then took the finished cappuccino from Lumiere, sipped and then looked up at him with eyes sparkling in amazement.
“Wow, this is really good,” I complimented.
He tousled his hair and smiled, “You do know le café le plus magnifique hails from France, yes? I am French therefore it must be in my blood, lest I boast too much. Now, do not steer our conversation and tell me the truth: what do you think of le maestro?”
I took another sip of coffee and felt my nervousness begin to fade away. I was getting comfortable – or at least amused – with Lumiere and answered, “If you want me to be honest then I’ll be mercilessly blunt about it. I do find him incredibly handsome and he can be sweet and gentle. However, he also seems very cruel and very scary at times.”
Lumiere wagged a finger and nodded, “That is very true, mon’amie. Even to this day, I find the maestro a horrifying man when he is angry.”
“You always find him horrifying,” butt in the words of an old man.
We both turned around to see a man in his sixties leaning on the kitchen counter as he fixed up a very elaborate sandwich. He wasn’t as tall as Lumiere but he too had very thick grey handlebars of a moustache. The hair on his head was receding but he combed what was left very neatly and even this early in the day he was dressed in a semi-formal pair of trousers and dress shirt.
“Ah, mademoiselle let me introduce you to Jacques Cogsworth, the majordomo of this household,” Lumiere said. “Now, to clarify my statement I do tremble in fear when the maestro is around but it doesn’t mean I do not respect him. I chose to work for him, after all.”
Cogsworth nodded in agreement and the old man gave me a quick lookover, “Is she the one, then?”
“You never know – she very well could be,” Lumiere responded.
“Hello, I’m right here,” I reminded them both. “What do you mean when you say I could be the one?”
The two looked at each other, as if trading questions and opinions with their glances and their minds, before Lumiere finally turned to me. He then explained, “We believe the maestro has some kind of, uh, curse plaguing him.”
“No, not a curse per se but more so a twist of karma,” Cogsworth tried to illuminate but it only clouded the discussion further. “You see, many years ago a woman came by the manor and asked for aid. The maestro was young and arrogant at the time – he was still on the rise of his empire, you see, and he didn’t want to be seen hanging around a woman of no nobility or class. He shunned her and it turned out she was the mother of Marjolaine Durand.”
Almost instantly the name rang bells in my head and I replied, “Ms. Durand, t-the CEO of the Emerald Conclave?”
She was only the CEO of the biggest financial corporation in the whole freaking world. She started making millions when she was just a teenager and her success just continued to pile on as she got older. For Adam to insult her mother it must have been devastating.
Cogsworth nodded solemnly and said, “Ever since then the master has had difficulty gaining the respect of his peers, even after rising up to the top. It’s one of the reasons people mistake him as an upstart gangster.”
“His father had dealings with the Mafia, true,” Lumiere added in, “but the maestro built his stock firm and all its success with his own hands. Still, no one wants to accept him because of the mistakes of his past.”
“Wait,” I then interrupted. “What does all this have to do with me then?”
Cogsworth took the chance to further elaborate, “We think the master needs to stop focusing on building financial success and live his life. You might be the one to achieve this. Well, if and only if you are indeed the one to unlock the doors to his heart.”
“You were corny before,” Lumiere said with a sigh, “but that has got to be the corniest line I’ve ever heard from you, old man.”
“I do mean it,” Cogsworth wouldn’t back down. He then pointed at me and said, “Maybe they can fall in love. Maybe when he’s in love he will change and lighten up. Maybe a change in his mood can alter how the rest of the world looks at him. You never know, right?”
I laughed and finished my cappuccino, “You two are being ridiculous. Love cannot solve all his problems. Even if it can, I assure you it is impossible that I would be the one to do it. Like I told Lumiere, Adam and I just met yesterday.”
“Yet here you are, in his home, after spending what I can only assume to be one rough night of love-making,” Lumiere pointed out. “Excuse me for being so bold, mademoiselle.”
I felt my cheeks flush red. I shouldn’t really be so embarrassed for having sex with their boss – especially since it wasn’t really full-on sex – yet I couldn’t help but feel a little shy about it. When I looked up at them they didn’t seem to look down at me like I was filthy or cheap.
“I-it’s okay, Lumiere,” I told him. “I’m the one who should be ashamed. I just met him and yet I slept with him already. You must think so lowly of me.”
Cogsworth shook his head and hands, “Oh no, no, no! As a matter of fact, I think very highly of you. You are the daughter of Maurice Verdandi himself and you made the maestro very proud yesterday at the dinner. That’s a thousand miles better than what he could achieve with a girl he’d meet at a bar.”
“Wait, you know about yesterday’s events?” I asked.
They both nodded and Lumiere elaborated, “Jacques is the majordomo, after all. He handles all of the maestro’s important papers and schedules.”
I took that into consideration and then asked them both, “Well, what can I do for now while he’s gone? I thought I’d have to go with him at all times for work but he left me to my own devices for now.”
“Well, perhaps the first thing we should do is move everything from your home to the manor,” Cogsworth suggested. “I can presume that you will be staying here more often, I suppose. It would only be prudent to move your belongings.”
That caught me by surprise, “W-wait, you want me to move here? That’s a really big decision.”
“It will benefit you, however,” Lumiere pointed out as he took my empty coffee cup and began making me breakfast. As he shuffled about the kitchen to cook some eggs he said, “You need not to worry. If you’re not comfortable sharing a room with the maestro we do have his parents’ chambers. Cogsworth and I can assemble the maids to properly fix it up for you.”
“I’m sure, Mrs. Potts and Plumette can get it done very quickly,” Cogsworth then said. “Well, if Chip doesn’t interrupt, that is.”
“W-wait, I can’t just barge in and use the room for Adam’s parents,” I tried to cut in but neither of them seemed troubled.
Lumiere just looked at me and said, “Mon’amie, the chambers have been empty for ten years. Having you occupy them would bring life back into this dusty old place. Please, let us do this if not for you or for the maestro then at least for us poor, humble servants.”
I really wanted to say no. I should say no. How would I explain this to my father? If I went through with this idea then I wouldn’t just be Adam’s slave at work but also his sex-toy at home. He could ask anything of me whether we were working or not.
Yet… in the very back of my head and in some odd, heavy knot filling my gut and tugging at my heart, I wanted to go through with this plan.
“O-okay, let’s say I agree to all this,” I started. “How will we tell Adam? I mean, I’m sure he has absolutely no idea that you guys are moving me in.”
Cogsworth just waved it off, “Let me handle that, Madame. Just enjoy your breakfast and when you’re done come to me in the east wing so we can discuss transportation and other necessities to get your belongings here within the day. We should get it done before the master returns and require you for work.”
I nodded and watched as Cogsworth bid us both good-bye and walked down the hallway. There he greeted some of the younger maids who were busy cleaning the manor. Once I was alone again with Lumiere I tapped him on the shoulder.
“Uhm, can you show me around the place before I talk to Jacques?” I asked.
“Well, why not? It would be nice to explore the manor with you, mon’amie,” he replied. “I need to conduct an inspection anyway, so why not hit two birds with one stone, eh?”
I smiled and thanked him. He gave me some time alone to eat my breakfast – which was really good – and he came back with another cup of coffee. Once I was done and given some time to wash up he took me on a tour around the manor.
As it turns out, the manor was relatively new. Adam didn’t grow up here as his father had a big estate in Boston but it was built on gangster funds. Adam didn’t want to live in that lifestyle and so he came here and built this place using the money earned from honest dealing. Well, at least I could hope so as even to this moment I wasn’t sure if he was completely free from the mob.
The east wing was purely residential areas and this included the guest rooms, the master’s bedroom on the second floor and some of the now empty maids’ rooms. The empty rooms had been converted into studies, recreational rooms and more. When we got to the west wing I discovered it was transformed to serve as a secondary office for Adam. Lumiere explained that in recent years, however, these offices have been abandoned now that Adam built his own temporary quarters in the office building.
The back yard was the most extravagant portion of the estate. It housed a separate building for Adam’s cars, a separate two-floor house for the maids and butlers to stay in, a swimming pool, a stage for bands and other events, a tennis court and a basketball court.
“Wow,” I told Lumiere. “Has he never thought about quitting his job and just retire early? I mean, he surely has enough money to last a lifetime and more even with this kind of expensive lifestyle.”
Lumiere shrugged, “We suggested that years ago but to no avail. The master has become enslaved to his work, to his career. He wants nothing else but to rise on top. The pain of how the world treated him after his mistake with Madame Durand lingers to this very day.”
I shook my head at that, “No. There must be a way for that to change. Come on, he had the softness in his heart to let my father go. He surely must have more room in there to consider stopping his endless rage for money and power.”
“How will you achieve that?” Lumiere asked me as he took me by the arm and led me back inside. “We have had many prospective uh, partners, come and go and yet the maestro has not shown much interest.”
So, that meant Adam had slept with numerous girls in the past. I wasn’t the only one he brought here. I wonder how many times Lumiere had to go around and tour a young woman through the estate. I wanted to ask but figured it might be rude to do so.
“I honestly don’t know,” I answered. “To be completely honest with you shouldn’t really care. We had a one-night stand, I just work for him out of pure obligation to save my father and that’s it… but, I do care and I’ll just have to wing it.”
Lumiere smiled and held my hand, “Mon’amie, that is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said about the maestro. I am genuinely cheering for you. Now come, let us go back inside and start working with Cogsworth to move all your belongings in.”
“Sure thing,” I told him and we walked back inside.
There we were greeted by a sweet middle-aged lady, a little chubby but jolly, and her young son. Lumiere introduced the lady as Mrs. Potts and the young boy was her son, Charles but everyone referred to him simply as chip. She was the house chef.
Mrs. Potts then took me back to my room where a woman named Plumette was waiting. Plumette was African-American and very beautiful. She was probably a year or two older than me and had one of the sexiest figures I had ever seen. She could have been an actress or model but according to her she preferred serving Mr. Rousseau. Plumette had taken care of finding me appropriate clothes to wear so I wouldn’t have to go around the estate wearing a nightgown. Of that I was very grateful.
Once I had dressed into a comfortable pair of pink shorts and a white sleeveless top, Cogsworth arrived and we began working on getting my things moved. It was a lot more complicated than I thought it would be but in the end Cogsworth got it all settled out. Everything I ever owned managed to fit in one large cargo truck.
Back in my apartment, I had always thought I owned too many things. When they were all brought here in such a bigger home my belongings seemed so few in comparison. Mrs. Potts, Lumiere and Plumette then helped me organize everything in my new room and we even managed to finish before it was time for dinner. My new room was fully furnished, decorated to my liking and I now had all my important belongings such as my TV, laptop and more properly arranged and organized.
By six o’clock in the evening, the maids were all done with their work and the food was ready. Lumiere was the only one left and in just fifteen minutes more Adam Rousseau arrived.