1903, Outside New York City

She couldn't work in another factory her lungs hurt and she was tired. Her mama had told her that this position had been open for several weeks.

She walked wearily to the side door. She hoped she didn't look too shabby she had tried to straighten up. Mama had coached her on what to wear, and what to say to the wealthy families in town since her mother worked in one herself.

This job paid well and hopefully, with Kyle and Serena's income from the factory she would be able to save up and go to nursing school, as well as keep Cassidy out of factory life. The former was foremost on her mind. Cassidy had come home from work today coughing, sputtering and wheezing, Kyle was, at the moment, going down to the factory to resign his daughter's position.

"Can I help you miss?" The young woman opened the door.

Good Lord she was English. She was not going to make this easy. "I came to interview for the position of a maid that I have heard about." Liz tried desperately to erase the lilt that she still had in her voice.

"You are Irish, then?" The lady looked down her nose at her.

"Yes, ma'am." Liz told her.

"From the factory, I presume?"

"Yes, ma'am." It was like this at every house she had gone to.

"Come along, then, I don't have all day." The woman turned around walked through the kitchen. The house was quite large and the kitchen and dining room took up a good portion of the bottom floor.

"Sit here, I'll go retrieve Mrs. Higgins, she shall tell you if we will hire you."

A few moments later an old woman and the young woman returned. "Here she is, Mrs. Higgins, another Irish from the factory."

"Thank you, Martha that is all I needed." The woman dusted her hands on her apron as she dismissed Martha.

"What is your name?" This woman had no trace of an accent and so Liz could not place where she was from.

"My name is Elizabeth Parker." Liz replied.

"And when did you come to America?" The old woman asked kindly.

"When I was eight years old, in 1895." She spoke quietly.

"It's alright, don't be afraid to look me in the eye. I'm no more a servant than you are. Just because I'm given the position of housekeeper doesn't mean I'm better than you."

"Thank you." Liz looked up. She was suddenly more relaxed.

"How often are you able to work and what are you able to do?"

"I'm able to work whenever you need me to and I can be taught to do anything." She said desperately.

"Well then, when can you start?"

"Today, if possible." Liz said with hopeful eyes.

"Come along then. We have to find you a new uniform." She turned and Liz followed.

"Mrs. Higgins!" A young man entered the room. "Father just told me I'll be going to the Southwest to run the business out there, he needs a new manager, and he selected me."

"Well, now." Mrs. Higgins beamed. "Mr. Evans, when did you earn yourself the honor of running one of your father's business?"

"Since I graduated this past week, Mrs. Higgins." He said proudly.

Liz was stunned. This man was handsome. More handsome than any man she had ever seen, and she'd been looking.

As if sensing eyes on her the man looked at her. Their eyes locked. Liz's breathing hitched in her throat, she could get lost in those eyes.

"Hello, I don't believe we've met before." He extended a hand.

Did he mean to shake her hand? She was merely a servant girl.

"Hello." She returned shyly as a blush crept up her cheeks.

"This is our new girl. Her name is Elizabeth Parker." Mrs. Higgins introduced. "Max Evans, son of Phillip Evans."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Parker." He turned.

"Mr. Evans." She looked at him. The Phillip Evans. One of the wealthiest men in New York. This was his son.

He smiled.

It was disarming, that smile. She was stunned.

"Well, I was just about to show Miss Parker the ropes, if you'll excuse us." Mrs. Higgins stepped around him and through the door.

"Have we met before?" Max took a step closer.

"I don't think so." Liz shook her head. But his eyes were so familiar.

They stood staring at each other for a little while longer.

"Miss Parker!"

"I better go." Liz scurried out of the kitchen without further conversation.

"Mama, I got the job." Elizabeth unwrapped her coat.

Her mother looked up from the sewing she took in for the house she worked at.

"That's wonderful, Elizabeth, Cassidy, stop playing so close to the clothes." She informed her daughter and granddaughter.

"Where's Papa?" Liz asked, setting her things aside and then getting her sewing needle out to help her mother.

"Out."

Liz didn't ask anymore because she knew what that meant. Sometime in the middle of the night Kyle would drag his drunken body off the street and into the apartment.

"You don't seem that surprised, Mama." Liz looked at the hole in the knee of the pants she was sewing and was happy she didn't have any little boys' clothes in their family to mend.

"About your Papa? Why should I be?"

"About my job." Liz slid easily into the familiar accent of home. The temptation to slide into Gaelic was even greater, but it was forbidden in their workplaces so they chose to speak only English at home as well.

"They needed someone to work and you came along, there's nothing surprising about that." Her mother explained. "Please start dinner, Kyle and Serena will be home soon."

"Yes, Mama." Her mother had shut down, there would be no more conversations until dinner was ready.

Ever since coming to America, her mother had been tightlipped, running a shrewd and uptight household. Everything was precise, and Mama always had the last word, even over Kyle, whose name the apartment was in.

Liz pulled on her coat as she exited the house through the side door. It had been three months since she started working for the Evans and was adjusted to her work schedule. The conditions were far more favorable to her than life at the factory.

And the view was definitely better.

She had run into the young Mr. Evans on numerous accounts. At meal times it was unavoidable now that she served them.

She could feel his eyes watching her every move as she worked around the table. It made her hands shake and made her unsteady which angered and frustrated her.

She was even wearier because the household had been preparing for the arrival of Max's older sister, who was currently carrying the first of the next generation of Evans.

"Miss Parker!" She heard a whispered voice.

She spun around quickly to come face to face with Max.

"Mr. Evans." She said stunned.

"Sorry, if I startled you." He apologized. "I needed to speak with you."

"Was there something you needed?" She asked. Her heart was still beating frantically within her chest.

"No, well, yes." He stepped closer. She took a step back.

"Do I frighten you, Miss Parker?" He asked giving her a hurt look.

"Of course not." She shook her head. "It's just, I-my brother warns me from men." More like men of his station. Men who looked down on people like her.

"Really?" He questioned. "Your brother is a smart man."

"I like to think so."

He wanted to keep her talking. He loved the slight accent, she hid it well, but it still added something attractive to her voice.

How could he think a servant girl attractive? He had been raised better than that.

"You are Irish, Miss Parker."

"Yes." She lifted her chin. Many people looked down on her because of that.

"It's alright." He disregarded everything his father had ever told him.

"Is there something you wanted?"

"I just wanted to say hello." He couldn't think of a real reason he had stopped her.

"Oh. Well I have to be going along, my brother will worry." She pulled her wrap around her and hurried away.

"Goodnight, Miss Parker."

Liz brushed her feet on the rug on the inside of the door. "Aunt Liz!" Her eldest niece greeted her.

"Hello, Cassidy." She picked up the five year old. "Where's your Mummy?"

"In back." Cassidy smiled and held onto her favorite—albeit only—aunt.

Liz walked the few feet it took to get to the kitchen.

"Hello, Liz." Serena's accent was even thicker than Liz's. "I was just going to start that."

"No go rest." Liz directed. Serena was heavily pregnant with her second child.

"No, I'll help. You've been working all day as surely as I've been."

"But you forget, I am only sixteen, while you are going on twenty three, and you're carrying."

"Carrying what?" Cassidy asked.

"Nothing." Both Serena and Liz answered with a smile.

"Well, I am tired." Serena conceded and sat across from her daughter.

"I don't know what we're going to do once I have to take leave from the factory, Liz."

"I make enough from the Evans' that you don't have to worry, Serena." Liz told her. "Don't worry about it."

"We weren't planning for another one, Liz. Really. We knew what trouble and strain it would have on the family. Thank you so much for your help." Serena had tears in her eyes. They both knew the family was barely keeping their head afloat with everyone working, save Cassidy. With a new baby it was an added burden on them, but it was one no one minded adding.

"I know. But you're not sorry, and neither am I." She waited for Serena to shake her head in the negative.

"No, I'm not. You're a strong girl, Liz."

"Only because I have you to lean on. Now I'm going to start dinner." Liz stood up abruptly.

She got off work late the next day and knew that Kyle would either meet her on the way or would already be out there.

"Miss Parker."

"Mr. Evans." She said. She didn't want anything to do with him. Kyle had warned her away from men of the upper class because they didn't respect girls like her.

"Miss Parker, where do you live?" He asked.

"That is none of your concern, sir." She said her eyes widening.

"Oh, but it is, Miss Parker." He took a step closer to her.

"Mr. Evans, please." She stepped back. She was trembling but she wasn't afraid of him. She knew she had no reason to be.

"Please what, Miss Parker?" He asked as he backed her into the wall of the shed, completely out of the view of the house.

"Please…" She didn't know. The young man was handsome, and unlike the lads she was used to he smelled good, he was freshly shaven and he was beautifully clean.

"Would you object if I kissed you, Miss Parker?"

She didn't answer, she knew she should say no to his kiss but she didn't want to.

He took her silence as acquiescence.

She was pulled into a world that she'd never been to before. Everything was spinning and the only still thing to hold on to was Max. Her arms wrapped around his neck of their own accord. His hand came up to her chin to open her mouth and when she realized what he wanted she complied.

He pulled back and she rested her head on his chest.

"You can trust me, Miss Parker." He told her gently.

She couldn't, what would a man of his station want with her?

"Sit, Miss Parker." He directed her to a bench. "Tell me about yourself, please." He said.

Against her better judgment, she told him all her plans to become a nurse, her life and all of her ambitions. She didn't know what made her feel safe or comfortable with divesting all her information. Before she knew it the sun had gone down.

"Mr. Evans, I insist I must go." She stood feeling foolish. Talking about dreams to such a person! Kyle would surely be out and he'd be angry. "I believe I must have bored you with my talk."

"No, Liz, you are a dreamer." It was refreshing from the girls he had known in society. "Please, call me Max." He took her hand.

"Max." She said it slowly, let it roll off her tongue. "I am Liz."

"Liz, where are you?" It was Kyle's voice.

"That's my brother, he must not see you, he'll get the wrong idea." She shook out her skirt and hurried towards him. "Here I am, Kyle."

"Where have you been?" He stepped out.

"Here." Stay where you are, Max. She thought to herself, willing him to hear her. Just stay.

"She was with me." He wasn't listening.

"Max."

"Liz, start home." Kyle ordered her.

"Kyle."

"Now." His voice didn't leave any room for argument.

"I meant your sister no harm, sir."

"I'm sure you didn't. Men of your caliber have perfect intentions toward ladies, don't they? But my sister wouldn't fit in your category of a lady, Mr. Evans. I do not want her to be around you. You will not ruin her, she is an upstanding girl in our community and I would like to keep it that way."

"I have no intention of hurting her, Mr. Parker. But I commend you on your attempts to protect your sister."

"Do you have a sister, Mr. Evans?"

"Why, yes." He nodded.

"Then you know the protectiveness I feel?"

"Absolutely." Max nodded.

"But you don't know the helplessness I feel. I can only protect my sister to a certain extent. Against men like you, I'm powerless. I would appreciate it if you were to stay away from her."

"I can't promise you that." Max turned his back on the older man and made the way back to the house.

"Come along, Elizabeth." Kyle called. Liz flinched at the use of her full name but followed her brother after one last glance back at Max.

tbc