Read Online One Taste of Scandal by Heather Hiestand - Free Book Online

the front.” She tried to smile. “I didn’t realize the employee entrance was in the back.”
    “Oh?” Betsy Popham tucked her lower lip between her pearly front teeth.
    “Not the best impression, I admit. I will not make the same mistake again.”
    Betsy sniffed. “You had best not. We’ve a busy day ahead of us. I’ve been behind ever since Alys, I mean her ladyship, left us. Thank heavens it isn’t high season for weddings.”
    “When is that?”
    “October to December, then April to June. We have a month to get your training managed, then it’s off to the races!”
    Fifteen minutes later, Magdalene possessed her own uniform.
    “We wear them just in case we need to help in the tearoom or bakery,” Betsy said. “Or if we take a special cake into the bakery when our customers are picking up rather than taking a delivery.”
    “Very good.” She hoped she wouldn’t have to do that, having promised George no one would learn of Redcake’s. They still attended Society gatherings and at twenty-one, she wasn’t too old to find an acceptable husband.
    As she followed Betsy down a flight of steps into their suite of rooms in the basement, she recalled that Nancy, George’s wife, didn’t want her dependent on him, but set up in an establishment of her own. She had insisted Magdalene would have a happier life that way. Thankfully Nancy was too ill to know that George had spent everyone’s capital. Being a maiden aunt did not hold much appeal, but it was still better than marrying someone who spent most nights out with other women, as George had until the money ran out. In her experience, that seemed the way of Society men. Marriages were only for the begetting of heirs, not for love. But she hadn’t found love or marriage, only insulting propositions from men even baser than George.
    The cakie uniform was easy to put on, once Betsy helped her with removing her dress, and as she tightened it at the waist using the cord provided, she wondered if any girl with a romantic heart ever won in the marriage mart. Frankly, a girl without a dowry didn’t have much hope at all. A love match might be her only option, unlikely as that seemed.
    “So, here I am.” Come down in the world.
    “Yes, you are,” Betsy said with a bright smile. She opened a drawer and pulled out a pin, securing her curly hair. “Starting a new position is a bit frightening, I know, but it is very nice here. You’ll have two uniforms, so you’ll always be able to wash one out at home when it needs doing.”
    “I won’t be changing here?”
    “If you want to do that, you’ll have to wear a simpler frock. No lady’s maid here.” Betsy smiled brightly again, but Magdalene took the meaning. They were equals at best; she might even be inferior. She had much to become used to in this world.
    “I have simpler clothing,” she assured Betsy. “Please be patient with me. I am new to employment.”
    “But you’ve baked?”
    Magdalene felt her cheek begin to itch, just under her eye, always a sign she was nervous. She clasped her hands together to avoid unladylike scratching. “I’ve become a good plain cook.”
    “It’s a good thing we don’t need to do much baking at the moment, mostly decorating. But for now, I will handle the mixing and baking, though I will let you measure the ingredients. We shall mostly focus on decorating.”
    “I am looking forward to that.”
    Betsy walked over to a sheath of papers in cubbyholes at one end of a long counter. “These are our orders by day. We have room for a month of orders. Then we have a standard production schedule for inventory items.”
    “But this department is all specialty items?”
    “It is mostly wedding cakes, but we do have a rough idea, from experience, of what we’ll need. The marchioness started making wedding cakes as soon as Redcake’s opened. She taught me over the spring.”
    “Now it is my turn.”
    “This sheet here with blue ink shows us what to make today for the