The Duke's Masked Wife

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“What are you doing, Sally?” Caleb entered the waiting room after walking by and saw Sally sitting all alone. “Tired of exploring?”

“The Duchess has gone to be alone with the Duke. I am waiting here for when she will need me,” Sally replied.

“What a hard worker you are. I can guarantee the two of them won’t be coming out of that room anytime soon. You should have some fun now that you are free. This is kind of a vacation for us,” Caleb sat down in a chair to face Sally.

“This is a vacation for the Duke, Duchess, and butler. You and I still have to work. I don’t want to go anywhere and then the Duchess cannot find me but you do not need to wait here. We are in the safety of one of the Duke’s homes and he is with her. She won’t need protection now.”

“Unlike you and the Duchess, I have been here before so there’s nothing for me to see or entertain myself with. Besides, I enjoy talking to you because of your reactions but why do you look so defeated right now?” He picked up on the sad mood.

“I was talking about my family with the Duchess for a brief moment and I was just thinking about them. I wonder what the two of them are doing right now. Most likely working,” said Sally.

“Is that why you don’t want to take a moment from tending to the Duchess? Do you feel guilty to be in a place like this while they are somewhere working hard?” He asked as it seemed like the most plausible reason why she was no longer excited like before.

“You are far smarter than I thought you were. You’re right. I can’t bring myself to completely enjoy getting to travel with the Duchess and easily sit around like this while my parents are working hard but don’t mind me, I will cheer up quickly,” she smiled to hide her sadness.

“Your parents are probably happy you do not need to work as they do. As much as it is nice you think about them in a moment like this, they would want you to relax for a moment, wouldn’t they?”

.....

“Yes. My father would tell me to put my feet up and enjoy getting paid to be in a house like this,” Sally genuinely smiled as she imagined her father saying these words.

Her father constantly apologized for how their life had become and wanted her to find time to enjoy her life instead of constantly thinking about money. “My father never wanted me to work at first. Because he lost everything, he wanted to be the sole one to work to fix everything.”

“So how did you end up working for the Duchess?” Caleb asked. He didn’t know much about Sally prior to her working for Alessandra other than the fact Edgar had personally brought her the day he collected things from the Baron’s house and her family once had a good amount of money.

Sally remembered clearly what pushed her to swallow her pride and work. “We moved into my aunt’s house as my father thought we would be able to save money by not renting a place to stay. Little did my parents expect my aunt would require us to pay her for many things. I understood we should contribute while living with her but with the task she gave to my mother and me while my father left for work, I realized it wasn’t about us contributing. She loved the state we were in. Once with money like her but now we were begging her to help us.”

Sally wanted to tell this to Alessandra when she asked about her family earlier but Sally knew how kind Alessandra was and how much she would offer to help her family. Caleb was just someone who would hear her story and forget about it in a day.

Sally continued to say, “I didn’t like the way she treated my mother and me or the task she gave us so I told my mother we should find work elsewhere. We would have gotten paid and been able to move into a room at least instead of depending on my aunt. My mother didn’t want to do it because she felt indebted to her sister-in-law. I set out to find work but who would want to hire someone with no experience?”

Sally remembered how those who entertained the idea of her working for them were simply enjoying the fact that someone who was once a proper lady with a good background was becoming a maid.

“Luckily, the Barrett’s were desperate for workers who would accept a low wage. The Baroness picked me because my background would suit Kate’s maid. When my aunt found out I had found a job and would not work for her in exchange for staying with her, her dislike towards me grew so I started living in the Baron’s home and I rarely visited my parents to avoid my aunt’s anger. She takes it out on them instead of me.”

“Want me to kill her?” Caleb asked out of the blue.

Sally blinked twice then laughed at his joke. “No thank you. My father wouldn’t like to lose his sister. I give them money whenever I see them and I set some aside to save to buy a small house for us to own. Even if it has one room and I must sleep in the dining room, I will one day buy a place for us to call home. That’s my goal so I will do my job well and not slack off even when we are on a trip.”

Caleb saw Sally in a new light after what she just told him. “Would you like to move into my home?”

“What?” Sally replied, completely caught off guard by his offer. “I didn’t tell you all of that for you to offer me a place to stay. You were supposed to do nothing because we hardly know each other. Besides, I am sure you live on the Duke’s estate.”

“Only when we are training and he needs me nearby. I am only there because I am guarding the Duchess but I have my own home. It is mostly empty because I am always near the Duke these days. Your parents can stay there instead of with your aunt,” said Caleb.

“What do you want from me? Why are you being so nice to offer something like that?” Sally asked as people, specifically men, were only nice to her these days when they expected something in exchange because they viewed her as desperate to receive help. “You know that I am not going to sleep with you-”

“My God!” Caleb yelled. “How the hell did you reach that conclusion?” He looked around to see if his voice disturbed anyone.”I don’t need to offer a woman a house in exchange for sex. They are plenty of- you know what, that’s beside the point. I’m doing this because I consider you a friend. Your aunt sounds like a pain and to have you enjoy yourself rather than working to save for a home, I would like to offer my empty home.”

“I don’t want to be indebted to anyone else. Thank you but I must decline the offer,” Sally replied.

“How about this? Let’s say your mother takes care of the house in my absence and I will pay her. As part of doing so, she and your father get to live there. That sounds like a sweet job offer to me. Deal?” Caleb held out his hand for her to shake and seal the deal.

“No.”