Not Good Enough

The staff remain completely and utterly silent as they listened to Veronica recount her story. The young maid who hadn't heard the full story before was listening with especially rapt attention.

However, their silence was disturbed when the doorbell rang.

Ding dong!

None of the house staff wanted to answer the door, so as the youngest and newest member of the team, that young maid was sent to see who it was, much to her chagrin.

"Miss Pine, please come in."

"Thank you," Nana said as she stepped through the door, "is Ver in?"

The young maid, surprisingly, didn't respond immediately. She wasn't sure if she should invite Nana through to the living room as it could disturb Veronica's efforts in getting through to the young girl.

In the end, she decided to come clean. "Miss Pine, I don't know if Miss Gilen has told you, but she now has a ward under her care."

"What? Why? Where is she?"

"They currently in the living room—"

Before the maid could finish, Nana made to head toward the room to see what was going on. After all, she was Veronica's best friend; she knew she wouldn't have taken in a ward unless the child truly had nowhere else.

However, before she could take a second step, the maid stopped her. "Please wait, Miss. Veronica is recounting her story so as to get through to the girl. You see, she's nary spoken a word over the whole day she's been with us. We're all worried about her."

The concern on Nana's face deepened. "Of course, I won't disturb them. Let me watch with the rest of you."

Over the years, she'd come to know the house staff quite well, so she knew they wouldn't be able to leave the two along.

"Yes, Miss, that will be fine."

Then she led the way back to the living room, where the others were waiting. Nana greeted the others with obvious concern on her face. Like most of them, she knew of Veronica's loss and how hard it was for her to talk about it.

'She really does care for this little girl, despite only knowing her for a day.'

They listened to Veronica's words, which were dripping in raw emotion, evidencing the turmoil in her heart.

The same thought echoed through the minds of all the onlookers.

'That girl sure is lucky to have someone by Veronica with her.'

Not many people would ever truly understand what losing a parent as a child does to a person. Nearly all of those watching had seen the state of Veronica after the death of her parents. None of them had been able to provide the support she needed, despite their best efforts.

'If only someone like Veronica had been around when she was going through this.

'She needed someone who had shared the same pain, someone who understood her.

'We tried our best, but she's a smart girl; she saw straight through us.

'Sometimes, our best just isn't good enough.'