All of Us Fit in Our Places

Charles nodded and continued, "He identified the nearer fields of the Johnson's place as good for grape growing. She's negotiated the purchase of 35 acres from Mike Johnson and is getting plans drawn up for a state-of-the-art winery."

"That's ten times what we have now!" Stacia exclaimed, wide eyed.

"We're going to do this properly with the aim of producing a prestige product. There'll be employment for at least eight full time staff which should endear us to the village. We'll have to get a new stockman because Georgina will be full time at the vineyard. You can look at the business plan later. Talk to Rosemary, she has an excellent grasp of the detail. But, more importantly, do you want the job?"

"And I'll be Master of Dearborn?"

"Yes," Charles nodded.

Anna leaned back in her chair and signalled to a waiter just outside the entrance who came in with a bottle of champagne and four glasses. She looked at Charles who inclined his head towards Stacia.

Finally realising she was the target of three sets of eyes, she looked up, first at the champagne and then at Charles.

"Yes," she said, almost surprising herself in the process. "Yes! Jesus Christ, yes!"

The waiter poured the fizz and Stacia looked at the fourth glass. "Who's that for?"

"Why, for me of course," said Rosemary pulling Jen behind her. "Could I have a glass for the missus?"

"Rosie!" Jen said. "You know how I hate that!"

Her wife smirked at her. "Can't leave you out darling, Stacia was your suggestion after all."

Stacia stared at Jen who scowled at Rosemary and then spread her hands.

"I simply observed that Charles and his brothers weren't the only people that could be Master of Dearborn. Once that blockage was removed, everything else seemed to go quite smoothly. Besides, it was your mother who inherited Dearborn, not your father, so perhaps it should proceed down the matrilineal line."

Rosemary beamed at her, and she smiled shyly.

***

A little later, Anastacia watched Jennifer Piper enviously. Watched how she danced with her husband and with her wife. Watched her not have to choose.

"I know that look," a voice said beside her.

She jumped and looked round to find the fourth member of that party studying her with kind eyes.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Anastacia found that she did.

They settled at a table and Em signalled for some red. It was rich, dark, powerful stuff and she firmly believed that wine had the ability to set the mood.

She settled herself and swirled the purple liquid in the glass, waiting for Stacia to gather her thoughts.

"How did you get to where you are?" Stacia blurted.

Em chuckled.

"That's quite a story but the long and the short of it is that I met a wonderful man in unusual circumstances. He was in trouble, and I like to think I helped him.

I fell in love with him, but I had to let him go. Then his equally wonderful wife gave me permission to share him. As part of that arrangement, I had to accommodate her wife and I learned that she's not so bad."

Her eyes found Rosemary in the throng, and she snorted affectionately.

"But what is it like?"

"It's hard to describe. David's fond of saying that we've set sail together and as we're all in the same boat we have to work as a team, or we might be going down together."

Anastacia frowned. What was it with boats and ships tonight?

Em continued, "Seriously, it's extra hands and heads when you need them. And hearts. David is my husband, Jennifer and Rosemary are like the sisters I never had. That's not to say that we don't fight or row."

Her eyes pricked briefly; she didn't want to dwell on the times they had courted disaster. She gathered herself.

"But this is about you. What is it that you want?"

"I want ... I want the way you all look at each other."

"That's the Holy Grail alright. So, is there anyone you want to look at you that way?"

Stacia found herself crumbling.

Em put her arm around the young woman and tried to ease her distress. She made calming noises and Stacia pulled herself together.

"Judy."

"And what's the problem there?"

"She's one of the housekeepers. We've been off and on for years. She thinks it's not appropriate."

"What? Is she uncomfortable with her sexuality?"

"As if! She thinks that she's staff and you shouldn't have relations between staff and the family, which is a) terribly old fashioned and b) bloody rich considering the way Giles carries on."

"Maybe it's because Giles 'carries on' as you put it, that she thinks it's best to maintain a distance. How do you think she'll react to you becoming Master of Dearborn?"

"I hadn't thought," Stacia said slowly, "but I'm going to find out!"

"That's the spirit!" Em said, encouragingly.

***

Stacia found the assistant housekeeper in the refectory. Seeing Stacia, she dipped her eyes and smoothed her skirts.

"You're going to have to address me as 'My Lord' from now on, Judes!"

Judy gave her a dry look. "Sure, you're the boss's daughter and everything but there are limits."

"How would it feel being the boss's girlfriend?"

The redhead put the tray down on the sideboard and faced Stacia with her hand on her hips.

"What on earth are you talking about?"

Stacia waved the parchment in front of her. "This!"

Fizzing with excitement, she spread the document out and pulled Judy over to read it. Judy's eyebrows climbed higher and higher as she scanned the text. Finally, she took a step back and surveyed the other woman.

"Master of Dearborn! You!"

"Yes!"

Unfortunately, Judy didn't look as enthralled as Stacia had expected.

"What's the matter? Aren't you pleased?"

Judy wouldn't meet her eyes. "For you, maybe, but I'm just a humble housekeeper."

"Not any more you're not, I've got plans for you Miss Finch!"

Judy got cross. "I'm not some chess piece to be pushed around! You might be Miss High and Mighty now, but you don't get to order my life at your whim."

Stacia was dumbfounded, this wasn't how she'd envisioned this at all so the next words that came out of her mouth were completely unplanned.

"But Jude's, I love you."

They stood and stared at each other for a long moment.

Stacia experienced a genuine epiphany. Judy was the one she looked for during the day, whose eyes could capture her in a moment, whose curves had the power to derail her thoughts. This was the woman she wanted by her side in all things. Of course she loved her, how had she not realised?

"You've never said that before," Judy said quietly. "Do you mean it?"

Stacia took possession of herself and stepped forward and took her hands. "Yes. Yes, I do. Do you love me?"

"I've loved you since the first moment I saw you."

Judy had been with the household since Stacia had come back from The Gables, years before.

Stacia was staggered anew. It was one profound shock after another this evening.

"Why did you never say anything!"

"Because it was pointless. There was no way some golden girl fresh from finishing school was ever going to look at a humble dogsbody."

"That's not fair! I never treated you like that!"

"No," Judy admitted, "you were never like Giles. But then most of the time you never saw me at all! I was part of the furniture, invisible. I mattered about as much to you as the hat stand. Even less if you needed somewhere to put your hat."

Stacia chuckled and after a moment Judy joined in. Then she sobered.

"I thought the sun shone out of your arse. Mrs Cane spoke to me about it more than once."

"Valerie Cane knows!"

"Oh, come on Stacia! This is a living episode of Upstairs Downstairs. I think the only person on the staff that doesn't know how I feel about you is Perry, and that's because he can't take his eyes off Giles, poor sod."

Stacia grimaced but Judy was still talking. "Do you remember when you got drunk at the Garrowgate's party?"

"That was years ago!"

"That was the first time you kissed me. And the morning after you didn't remember a thing."

Stacia stared at her.

"I was in bits. I thought I'd finally managed to connect to you and then I was just a drunken experiment."

"Oh God, Judes! I'm so sorry."

The other woman shrugged. "I got over that one. And the next two."

Stacia put her hand to her mouth.

"Then the next time I told you to get lost and we had a big row."

"I remember that. We were walking home after the Johnson's do. That was the first time I admitted to myself that I might swing the other way."

Unexpectedly, Judy grinned at her. "Might?"

Inspired by the Pipers, Stacia took Judy's hand and fell to one knee. The other woman stared at her.

"What are you doing? Get up!"

"Not until I've said this. Being Master means these will be my choices from here on. And I choose you; if you'll have me."

Judy was dumbfounded. "Are ... are you asking me to marry you?"

"Fancy being mistress of Dearborn?"

***

Giles realised he'd drunk rather more than he had intended as he stumbled against one of the enormous tent poles keeping the canvas aloft. Clutching it for support he realised that Rosemary and Stacia were deep in conversation nearby.

"What are you doing?"

"Be a good lad and run along, this doesn't concern you," Stacia said without looking up.

He sneered. "Nothing you do concerns me."

Rosemary grinned at him. "I'd watch my p's and q's, if I were you, Giles."

"What's it to you?"

"What she means is that you're going to have to behave yourself if you want to stay here Giles. Oh, and you're going to have to do some actual work from now on," Stacia said matter-of-factly, still inspecting the documents in front of her .

"You don't run Dearborn!" Giles snorted.

"Actually, dear brother, I'm Master of Dearborn now," Stacia said firmly, "and I have the seals to prove it!"

Her brother was nonplussed. "What?"

"Mother assigned 30% of the estate to me," she paused, "and sold 30% to her."

"She what!" Giles stared incredulously from one to the other.

"You're repeating yourself, Giles. You should have paid more attention during English at school, your vocabulary needs improvement."

Rosemary smirked at him; the bloody woman was everywhere today.

For a moment he carried on looking from one to the other and then stormed off in search of his mother.

"Mm, I think it's about to kick off. I'll see you in a bit," Rosemary said to Stacia as she rose abruptly from the table.

***

On the way, Giles ran into Perry, and they did that awkward side to side dance that people do when they're trying to pass but end up mirroring each other. In frustration, Giles grabbed Perry by the shoulders.

"Take your hands off me!" Perry said fiercely.

Giles stared at him. Perry was holding hands with that frigid bint from the village he'd taken on as his deputy.

He guffawed. "Waifs and strays together! Good luck on the downward slope, Pezza, you'll never work here again."

"Word is, that's not up to you anymore," Eleanor said, looking up at him and smiling.

The world had gone mad, Mother couldn't give Dearborn to Stacia, it had been promised to him for years.

Now staff were talking back and there were ghosts in the estate. Shaking his head violently he pushed past them to look for his mother.

***

In the process, he ran into Charles.

"What the fuck is going on?" he demanded.

"This is my wedding day, Giles, moderate your language," Charles replied, coolly.

"That middle class scribbler," Giles snorted.

Charles took hold of his brother's shirt front. "You will be polite to, and about, Anna. Is that clear?"

Giles looked down at Charles' hand and then up into his brother's face.

"Bit late in the day to develop a spine, Charlie. Think you could beat me in a fight?"

Charles let go of Giles' shirt in a way that made him stumble back a pace or two and gave him a disappointed look. Giles flushed; he resented the way it still made him feel.

"I do not intend to brawl at my own wedding. Behave yourself or I'll have you escorted from the premises."

Giles couldn't believe his ears. "This is my house!"

His brother quirked one eyebrow in that infuriating way of his. "Indeed. There are some people that want to talk to you about that. Come with me."

***

Giles followed Charles into the side room where the Pipers were holding court. Facing him across a narrow trestle table were four women, the bitch, the scribbler, someone that had to be the scribbler's sister and another woman. His brother's new bride regarded Giles with stony contempt.

In a line behind them were three men, some foreign-looking older man he didn't recognise, the big guy who'd been with Mrs Cane and her 'special friend', and another affable looking type, who was watching him with a slight smile on his face.

His brother walked round to sit with the men. His mother was at the back of the room on her own.

"What have you done!" he shouted, careless of the looks he was attracting.

Charles spoke up. "Jennifer's wife has an interesting story."

"Jennifer's wife?" Giles replied in bafflement. The scribbler's sister was a dyke?

Jen grabbed Rosemary's hand and, rings to the fore, shook it in front of him.

Giles stared. The bitch and the scribbler's sister were a couple? Suddenly, and with an awful feeling that it was far, far too late, he started to make connections.

Rosemary enjoyed watching him put the pieces together.

"Perhaps an explanation is in order."`

"Listen, if this is about your little orgy," Giles started.

"The one where you drugged Naomi?" Anna snapped.

He put his fists on his hips. "Oh, so now everybody cares about little Nom-Nom? That's a first!"

"This isn't about Naomi, Giles, this is about you."

Rosemary leaned forward and rested her arms on the table. Behind her the big guy in the tux grinned at him.

Recognition dawned.

"You! You're the ghost!" he blurted, "I could feel you sneaking around, but I've never been able to lay eyes on you. What business do you have -"

Rosemary cut him off. "It's all about business, Giles. As my technical advisor, he's got every right. I'm offering your family a lifeline, a chance to be something bigger."

She briefly took in the approving looks of her spouses. Em nodded and looked very pleased. Rosemary revelled in her approbation: it felt good to do good things.

Rosemary went on. "You, on the other hand, don't appear to have any desirable qualities so I'm acting to protect my investment. You're the Jonah we have to ditch to save the ship."

She smiled a predatory smile while Charles sat in the row behind with his arm spread over the backs of the adjacent seats radiating quiet satisfaction.

"Mother!" Giles appealed.

The older Mrs Stanforth watched Giles steadily but there was no hint of surprise or encouragement.

The staff were grinning at this exchange, a little payback for years of slights and indignities. Giles looked around. He had no allies in the room.

Anna rested her hand on Rosemary's forearm and leaned in, as if about to confide some morsel of gossip. "Naomi is Giles' half-sister."

Rosemary beamed.

"Incest, Giles! How very naughty!" she said in mock horror, fanning herself with her hand; the silver rings bright on her tanned skin.

"Do you remember what I said to you when you left that night?"

Giles stared at her.

"That there's always someone you'd rather didn't know what you were up to?"

Jen gasped and Rosemary felt a little thrill that her wife was so quick. She looked round at the waitresses.

"Would you like to see the footage?"

Gratifyingly, their hands went to their mouths as if they'd rehearsed a dance move.

Rosemary glanced at Charles and got a quick half nod before turning back to the horrified Giles. Her eyes glittered.

"I don't think your brother needs my services to deal with the likes of you, so you're going to behave yourself from now on, there's a good lad and, as you types say,"

She tapped the side of her nose with an elegant finger. "Mum's the word!"

"Fucking bitch!" he gritted and lurched forwards.

The men behind her rose as one but Rosemary held out a hand to stay them and waited until he was in range; then came sharply to her feet and executed a perfect karate-style punch.

There was a meaty sound, and he fell to the ground unconscious.

There was silence as she shook her hand, wincing a little at the pain, and then a deep voice beside her said, "You're full of surprises, Rosemary."

She turned to see Fred Mollica regarding the prone Giles. She steeled herself for a reprimand only to find him nodding approvingly.

"That type needs to be put in their place every now and then."

Pleased, she smiled at him. Maybe he was coming around to her at last.

"I didn't know you could do that!" Jen exclaimed.

Anna grinned. "What was all that about not doing hand-to-hand combat?".

"Mm, Dad made sure I knew how to fight. One of the few things he got right."

"I would say I know where Tilly gets it from, except ..." Fred's voice tailed off and he twinkled at her.

Heavens, was her father-in-law making a joke? David chuckled, and then suddenly the whole room was smiling. With one exception.

Monica Stanforth came and stood looking down at her son. Everyone held their breath, but she simply shook her head once and walked away.

"We'll take care of Giles," said one of the waiters.

"No rough stuff, now," murmured Charles.

She gave him a sardonic look as she started forward with her colleague.

Anna had visions of them dragging Giles downstairs by his feet, head bouncing on every step.

She squeezed her husband's hand gently and whispered, "Rosemary may not be in the family business, but she definitely has the skill set and she relishes social Jenga!"

"Your sister has excellent judgement, my dear," he murmured in reply.

Anna looked at him. "What do you mean, darling?"

"I mean that she has assembled a formidable arsenal of which her wife is but the forward point. I would not be surprised if certain elements in my family come to fear the Pipers."

***

Rosemary was looking forward to a drink and a dance when a hand touched her elbow. Startled she looked round to see one of the waiters.

"Can I talk to you, Mrs Piper?"

Rosemary still felt a little flush of pleasure at the label. "Sure, what about?"

"About him." She gave a little jerk of her chin to indicate the man on the ground.

Intrigued, Rosemary followed the woman to a vacant table. Once seated she waited for the other to elaborate.

"Master Giles is not a nice man."

"On that we can agree," Rosemary said, unconsciously echoing many people that had met Giles.

"The thing is: this wouldn't be the first time."

Rosemary stared at her. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

The waiter nodded. "He's got a bit of a reputation hereabouts. If they're lucky it's just E and he can pass it off as consensual. And he can put on the charm."

Rosemary's eyes flicked to where Giles was being carried none too gently from the tent and she remembered incidents from the time before she met Harold.

"That type can."

"Ms Naomi's had a rough time in the last few years. Her stepmother ... well she's cool at the best of times, but especially to her. Ms Naomi's sweet, she doesn't deserve any fallout from this. Would you really show the film?"

Rosemary reached across the table and pressed her wrist. "That's not my game anymore - although it doesn't hurt for him to think that it is."

The other woman nodded. "Thank you. We'll not say anything." With that she rose and went about her duties.

Rosemary sat deep in thought until suddenly Anastacia burst through the doorway, and she noted that she was holding Judy Finch by a possessive hand. Catching sight of Rosemary, Stacia came over to where she was sitting.