Souderton Abbey

Chapter 7

The next morning the servants were hard at work to get everything for not only the Barlow's but also for the Hemmings. As the cooks get the breakfast ready, Hayley was helping Carrie get ready for breakfast. She only wore a nice casual dress that was a green and accented her dark brown hair perfectly. Hayley sometimes envied Carrie for her long chocolate hair but always remembered that she is lucky to have blonde hair that hasn't changed over the years.

"Lady Carrie, are you excited for your day out with the other ladies?" Hayley put a white pearl necklace around Carrie's neck as Carrie remembered that today she was going out to the countryside with her mother, aunt, and Amanda.

"I actually am. I've always loved how the hills roll along one another and how the grass have little patches of flowers here in there. I don't get to see much of it often." Carrie had only seen one other place like the hillside and that was when her family took a trip to Ireland one summer. She could only imagine what it must be like to live in such a beautiful place.

"Well I'm glad you're happy. I haven't seen you this happy since before your father started bringing home suitors for you after your 17th birthday." Hayley chuckled at the memory of how many eligible men stayed at Souderton during Carrie's 17th birthday party.

"Well I didn't know how many of them he was going to invite. If I knew my father wanted me to get married so soon I probably wouldn't have even asked for a birthday party. Although, I do have to admit it was nice seeing so many attractive men around." They both laughed as Carrie sat at the edge of her bed and put on her black shoes instead of Hayley.

"Well I don't argue with that." Hayley picked up Carrie's nightgown from the top of her desk chair and hung it over her arm. "Will that be all Lady Carrie?"

"Yes it is, thank you Hayley."

"Anytime Lady Carrie." Hayley walked out of the room and when the door closed Carrie laughed at the thought of even getting married to any of those men. She's only seventeen for god's sake, couldn't she just enjoy her childhood before it ends?

Three rooms over Niall was helping Charles put on a more casual jacket and rolled a lint roller over the sides to make sure it looked the best it could. Charles had been talking to Niall about typical stuff like sports and now girls.

"Has any girl caught your eye, Niall? You seem like the type of guy girl's chase after." Niall laughed at the last part of what Charles' said. Of course he's had crushes on girls but it never seemed that they liked him back. He was already seventeen and he had yet to have his first kiss.

"Yes, one has caught my eye, but I doubt it will ever happen. It seems I might be losing faith in finding a woman. What about you Mr. Hemming?" Charles smiled at what Niall said and turned around so Niall can roll the lint off of the front of his jacket.

"There never really has been a girl that's caught my eye, so I'm not really looking for a wife right now, anyway." Niall rolled the lint roller one last time over Charles' shoulder and stood back to examine his work and he had to admit, Charles looked nice today. "Thanks Niall, I must get on my way to breakfast before they send out a search party for me." Niall nodded his head as he picked up Charles' night clothes to be washed and left the room after Charles.

Because Niall had to help Charles get ready and it took longer than expected, he was excused from serving breakfast. On his way downstairs he caught up to Hayley and was thankful that Charles was not the only one late to breakfast.

"So are you excited for your afternoon off, Hayley?" She smiled at the only other blonde in the house and shook her head lightly.

"I wasn't at first because I had no plans, but it seems Harry has made plans for me." Niall lifted his eyebrows expectantly at Hayley and had to ask the question on his mind.

"Oh I see, so are you excited about going out for the afternoon, or going out with Harry?" Hayley laughed and lightly hit Niall on his arm. She was happy Harry wanted to take her out but also remembered it's been a long time coming. In fact, a couple of months ago he had almost kissed her but then Carrie's older sister, Kristen, walked in and said she needed to ask Harry about something for some reason.

"Don't get any ideas Niall, I'm mostly happy that I won't be alone on my day off and I will enjoy it with someone."

They both reached the last step of the staircase they were on and turned to go into the servant's dining room and wait until breakfast was served. Niall sat down in the seat next to Hayley and laughed lightly to himself. "Well from my observations, I think Harry might be a bit more excited than you."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Only the fact that last night when he came into our room he began bragging about how he has a date on our afternoon off." Niall smiled as he noticed Hayley's cheeks turn red and she lowered her head to try and hide her face. When she looked up she had a mischievous look on her face.

"Well what about you an your date on Monday?" Niall's cheeks blushed immediately as he realized what exactly Hayley was referring to.

"I don't know if it's a date but I am excited about it. Who told you?"

"Nobody told me, but on my way to Carrie's room I heard you guys talking. Just a word of advice she really does consider you a friend, and after all the guys her father has thrown at her, I'm glad she has you." Niall was slightly comforted by her words, but he didn't completely believe them because after all, she still had her cousin.

"But what about Charles? They seem like good friends."

"They are, but they only see each other twice a year at most. Just promise you make sure she has a great time?" Niall smiled at the thought of someone being happy for Carrie and himself to have some sort of a relationship.

"Of course I will, you can count on that." Soon a talk figure with brown curls walked in before the other servants and sat on the other side of Niall at the table.

Before breakfast was served, Hayley leaned over slightly to Niall and whispered, "Oh and one more thing, talk about Ireland a bit with her." Niall was confused by what she meant, but he still believed that she was there to help him, not hurt him.

Notes

hey guys I hope you liked this chapter but because there is very little subscribers I feel like barely anybody is reading so I won't update until this story has at least 15 subscribers or 20 votes and if you subscribe or vote thank you!