Nicole paused and took a deep breath. “You see, Joe and I are twins. I’m not sure if that was apparent to
you or not, because not everyone seems to see that. But that’s not important. We’re twins, but…we’re also a
bit…closer than that.”
Edward darted his eyes back and forth between us. He appeared confused at first. Then I realized he wasn’t
confused. Instead he appeared afraid, or at least wary of what he just heard. “Ya mean you’re lovers?” he
asked.
“Yes,” said Nicole. “I can’t explain it all now, but it’s the truth, and we feel you would have to be
comfortable with that in order to work for us. So I have to ask, right now, is that something you can live
with?”
Edward opened his mouth, but no words emerged. He closed his mouth and looked at each of us again. Finally
he said, “I can’t say I’ve ever considered something like that. Just not something I ever pondered. But I
gotta tell ya, I’m not some nosy busy body. I’ve always felt people’s lives are their own business. You
folks were kind enough to let me into your home, which is much more than most people woulda done. Something
tells me you’re both decent people. And you’re willing to give me a job. So I gotta say that, no, I don’t
think that would bother me. I’d be happy to work for ya no matter what.”
Nicole smiled and stood up. She walked over to Edward, who rose out of his chair as she approached. “Edward,
you’re hired!” she said as she extended her hand. He shook it as a smile crept onto his face. I walked over
and shook his hand as well. “Let’s go upstairs and get you situated,” she said. Again she took him by the
arm and led him up the staircase. I followed close behind them.
I had realized that some of the rooms on the second floor that I couldn’t identify were intended to be
servant’s quarters. I didn’t go into them far enough to notice the bathrooms, and they did not have beds in
them on our first inspection. After we had wished the house to be in livable condition, they appeared.
As we walked up the stairs, I wished for one of the rooms to be fully prepared and have a full wardrobe ready.
Edward asked, “So is this a live-in type position?”
“Absolutely,” said Nicole. “Now we won’t expect you to be working all the time, but we definitely want you to
consider this your home now.”
“I expect that will be the easy part of the job,” he said. Nicole and I laughed, followed by Edward once he
realized we were not laughing at him.
Nicole led him to the room that would be his. “This is your room,” she said. “Obviously you can see
everything it has to offer.” Other than the bed, which was king-sized, the room had a television, a desk, a
large dresser, a walk-in closet and a couple of shelving units that were empty. It appeared they were meant
to store books or movies. “The bathroom is through here,” she said as she led the way. The bathroom wasn’t
quite as nice as the bathrooms on the third floor, but it was still nicer than most any bathroom I’d ever
seen.
“This is really too much,” said Edward.
“Nonsense,” said Nicole. “You’re a human being, you deserve to be comfortable. Now we’re still getting
situated ourselves, so we don’t expect you to do anything today. We just want you to relax and get used to
the surroundings. Feel free to explore the house and grounds. The kitchen is downstairs, just take anything
you want.”
“You’re really too kind,” said Edward.
“Edward, it’s the least we can do,” I said. “We’re not going to treat you like a second-class person or
anything. There’s nothing special about us. We’ve had our own hard times, nothing like what you had, but
we’ve been incredibly lucky and we want to help others as much as we can.”
“I understand,” he said.
“There’s only one real rule of the house,” I said. “We keep all of the doors open so that the atmosphere is
open. If any doors are closed, it basically means ‘Do Not Disturb.’ At the very least it means knock first.
And the same goes for you. Just close your door if you don’t want to be disturbed.”
“We’ll leave you to it,” Nicole said.
“I just want to say how much I appreciate this chance,” he said. “I sure I hope I don’t disappoint ya.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “Just take your time and get used to it all, OK?”
“OK,” he said. “Uh…I guess you could close the door on your way out. I’d like to take a bath and whatnot.”
“No problem,” said Nicole. “Everything you need is in the bathroom or in here.” We walked out and closed the
door. Then we both ran up the stairs to the third floor as quickly and quietly as we could. “Do you think we
need to keep an eye on him?” she asked me.
“No,” I said. “What a terrible thing to do to this man.”
“We have to test the ring, though,” she said.
“We already did,” I said. “By wishing him to the door.”
“I want you to make another wish,” she said. “For our protection.”
“What?” I asked.
She replied, “He told us he’s OK with our doing what we’re doing. But suppose he tells someone? Even if it’s
accidental, we need to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
“OK,” I said. “I wish that Edward would not remember that we are lovers anytime he leaves the property of the
mansion, or if someone from outside the property is on the property. That should cover it.”
“You could have just wished him to forget what we are doing,” she said.
“Well you’re the one who brought it up in the first place!” I protested.
Nicole’s expression turned sour. “Let’s go to my room,” she said. “I want to test something a little
different.”