Page 6 of The Billionaire and His Driver
“They don’t call us that in public,” Elvira Dash had made clear to her in the early days of her employment. “But to our faces, they call us nothing else. And don’t you give it a second thought you hear me? Just do your job and get your paycheck and live your life. That’s the secret to happiness.”
It sounded like the kind of secret she never wanted to know, but now was living in that secret anyway. And she just couldn’t see happiness at the end of that revelation.
They piled out of the van and made their way inside the massive mansion.
Their home base was literally downstairs in the servants’ quarters, just like onDownton AbbyorUpstairs/Downstairsor any of those other British shows, and all of the domestics, as they called themselves, sat at this long table every morning to get instruction from Elvira Dash and/or James Prado, the house manager, on the days’ events or for them to ask some to stay overnight because of parties or other functions suddenly planned or thrown together at the last minute by Mr. Bradshaw, the man they all called the boss. The man the servants rarely ever got to see. Brina had been in his employ six months and still had yet to lay eyes on him.
But they all loved Mrs. Dash. As the highest-ranking black woman at Bradshaw Manor, she was respected by all. Including Mr. Bradshaw, who was, ironically, her direct supervisor. Not the house manager as was usually the case. Was there resentment between Mr. Prado and Mrs. Dash because of that? Even a newbie like Brina, who had just gotten off of her six-month long probationary period, saw that it was.
After the house manager concluded the overview of events, especially talking to the above stairs higher paying job people, he turned it over to Elvira. A very elegant, attractive woman in her early fifties, it was rumored that she once was theconcubine(that was the archaic word used, to Brina’s shock) of Mr. Bradshaw’s father, who had employed her when she was like nineteen years old. But Brina didn’t believe it. Elvira Dash, in her view, was too practical a woman to fall in love with her boss. Especially one as old as Mr. Bradshaw’s father would have been. Nope. Brina was unconvinced. Elvira was too smart for that.
“An overnight guest complained over the weekend that their room was not up to par,” Elvira stood at the head of the table and said, “which upset the boss greatly. He was out of town when he got this complaint, which made it worse. I, of course, had to apologize and make it right, but it was inexcusable.” Then she looked directly at the fifty-something woman seatednext to Brina. “Don’t let it happen again, Gail, or you will be terminated.”
Gail sat up straight. She was a generally lazy maid who, in Brina’s estimation, never pulled her fair share. Being called out was a good thing, Brina felt. Maybe it would put more fire under her feet.
But she, instead, copped an attitude. “There was nothing wrong with any of those rooms I cleaned before I left on Friday. If we didn’t have to do so many jobs, we’d have time to spend all day on one room. But there’s twenty-two bedrooms and twenty-four bathrooms in this coliseum of a house. And just eight domestics cleaning all those rooms? Give me a break. Who can keep up with all that?”
She was contradicting herself and Brina could tell Elvira knew it too, and although she was a tough supervisor, there wasn’t a mean bone in her body. She didn’t call Gail out on her contradictions. “You’ve been warned,” Elvira said, which was what she always said whenever she felt her point needed no clarifications. “You’ve all been warned,” she added.
They all saidyes ma’amand then dispersed to their assignments. All except for Brina. Elvira divided Brina’s rooms up for the other maids to take one room apiece. They grumbled and complained, and so did Brina for being discharged of her duties, but Elvira could be as spicy as the seasoning she was named after, or was it named after her as she alleged? She brook no debate. The maids went to work, and Brina stayed back with her supervisor.
“Why can’t I clean my own rooms?” A puzzled Brina asked her.
“You have a different assignment today.”
“Different? What do you mean different?”
“You’re going to have to be the boss’s driver today.”
Brina was floored.“What?His driver?Why?”
“Jockey showed up drunk again this morning. Mr. Prado sent him back home to sober up. He would have fired him on the spot had I not intervened.”
“He should have fired him,” Brina said. “Who shows up drunk for work? And a driver no less? That’s crazy.” And it wasn’t his first time either. Brina knew of two other times in the six months she’d been there. Fortunate for him, Mr. Bradshaw was out of town both of those times. This time, too, at least Brina thought he was. “Isn’t the boss out of town still?”
“His plane touches down within the hour,” Elvira said. “Jockey’s uniform is hanging on his locker. Put it on quickly. I’ll get the valet to pull the car around front. And then get to that airport. You always want to be at least half an hour early.”
“But why me? Why can’t Mr. Prado get one of the lawn guys or the valet to be his driver?”
Elvira looked at Brina as if it was obvious. “His driver’s real name is Luther. Why do you think we call him Jockey?”
It wasn’t something Brina had ever considered. She had to think about it. “I don’t know. Because he’s so small?”
“Bingo,” said Elvira. “And you’re the only person in this entire household small enough to fit in his uniform. We don’t have time to go out and buy another one. Just get to it now, Sabrina, because if you show up at that airport late and the boss has to wait on you? Heaven help you. Now get to it!”
The idea of getting fired put fire under Brina’s feet and she got to it. It was crazy and confusing to her. She’d never driven for anybody ever before. And as she grabbed the chauffeur’s uniform Jockey usually wore and hurried to take off her maid dress she was wearing, she felt so apprehensive it was making her jittery. She’d heard how mean the boss could be if he thought you weren’t up to par. She’d heard how he would dress down people for the pettiest of reasons. And now she had to pick him up from the airport? She had to be his driver for aday? What if she blew it and ended up fired? What would she do next? It was a miracle Elvira took a chance on her. Would anybody else?
She nearly ran out of that house and was pleased to find the valet had already brought around the big, fancy Mercedes-Maybach. When Brina got behind the wheel it still had that new car smell she loved. And it drove like she was floating on air. She’d never even been in a fancy car like that one before. Now she was driving it? It was a lot to take in.
But she kept her focus. She drove as fast as she could whenever she didn’t see a cop around. She made it to the airfield just as his plane was touching down. Her heart was hammering. But she made it.
CHAPTER FIVE
The SUV pulled to the curb and Kaiser Grant, a tall, lean black man, pushed away from the wall outside of the pool hall. He took one last drag on his cigarette, tossed it with a flick of his finger, and then made his way across the sidewalk and got in on the back driver’s side seat. “Took you long enough to get here,” he said as he closed the door and the SUV drove away.
Joe Mosley was seated on the front passenger seat with a brown and black Yorkshire Terrier on his lap. “You better not be wasting my time again. What you got?”
“You ain’t gonna believe it, Boss.”
