Margreet approached the village. The closer she came to her destination, the more nervous she became. Fortunately, her hands were still fixed, but the cramp in her stomach was no fun!

She followed the directions of her route planner.

“Turn left over 400 meters. You will find your destination after 250 meters on your left.”

Margreet sighed deeply as she parked her car moments later on the street opposite the path leading to the guest house. The guest house was built at the end of this short street, and appeared to be the only building. She got out and looked around the landscape. Further on, scattered and fairly hidden, she discovered three more houses. She let the peace of the environment work in itself. She heard all kinds of birds, she heard the wind rustling through the leaves, and beyond… nothing! Total silence and no movement at all!

The guest house was built of bricks and finished, decorated with a lot of wood. Upstairs, she saw at every window what looked like a balcony, but didn't have enough depth to put a chair on. The curtains were still drawn at one of the windows, it looked as if they were simple plain curtains in a light, soft green shade. She could see windows on the attic floor, but she couldn't tell how many rooms there were. To the left and right of the front door, as far as she could see, a veranda had been built, perhaps all the way around. A few benches and tables on the veranda were inviting to come and enjoy the peace and quiet there. Margreet smiled: It was too cold for something like that now, November wasn't exactly the season to sit out on a veranda.

It seemed as if this guest house had simply been dropped here, in a country with no inhabitants. Apart from a pick-up, there was only one car in the parking lot. Apparently there were very few tenants at this time, or they all were on the move.

Margreet sighed deeply again, this time no longer from the nerves, but from the overwhelming peace of the environment. She opened the tailgate of her car and took out both of her suitcases. She grabbed her backpack from the passenger seat and slung it over one shoulder. She locked her car, packed her bags, and then got annoyed by her backpack that instantly flew off her shoulder and caught on her hand and her one suitcase. “That’s me again...” She left the backpack hanging there, and pulled her bags behind her to the front door.

Apparently her arrival had not gone unnoticed. The front door opened before she could ring the old-fashioned bell. A woman in a kitchen apron looked at her kindly: “Good morning, are you our new recruit?”

Recruit? Unaccustomed to such a positive greeting, Margreet immediately crept into her debt internally.

“I applied,” she said shyly. “Am I on time?”

"On time? Yes, delicious on time, coffee time! Give me one of your bags and we'll go have a drink first. Do you want coffee? Or would you rather drink tea?”

“Coffee please, ma’am,” Margreet replied.

The woman took her one suitcase and went ahead of her. Looking around curiously, Margreet followed her. The spacious hall was painted in much the same light soft green as the curtains she'd seen upstairs. There were some pictures, hilly landscapes and animals, probably from the area. There was a spacious coat rack with hardly any coats hanging on it. She saw a large wooden umbrella stand that she immediately fell in love with. It was so beautifully decorated with ornate figures, and on the corners were cute wooden squirrels. What a beautiful fine work of art!

The woman saw her look, but didn’t say anything. She felt, she felt something in this young woman that hurt her. She seemed so introverted, as if she was locked up…

They continued through one of the doors and entered a spacious kitchen, where they put the suitcases in a corner. Margreet turned to see a large cast iron stove, a long kitchen sink, a pair of beautifully carved wooden kitchen cabinets below, and a huge dining table with chairs in the middle. Shelves hung on the wall above the kitchen sink, with big preserving jars. There were cards under the lids, on which she could clearly read what was in the jars.

Margreet smiled: “How nice, those preserving jars. That reminds me of my grandmother, she had rows of those pots of pickled vegetables in the basement, just not as pretty and not as visible as here. This is really nice! I can't cook or bake at all, but those preserving jars make me want to learn it!"

The woman laughed: “I can imagine that. I like to cook and bake myself. That is besides being a hostess my job here too. And I admit that such details only make my work more fun!”

Suddenly she was shocked: “Sorry, I didn't even introduce myself, I am a nice hostess! My name is Annerieke, Annerieke Jansen.”

Margreet chuckled shyly: “Don't worry, I had forgotten it myself too. My name is Margreet In 't Veld."

“Welcome Margreet, I hope you enjoy yourself here. But first coffee! Do you want milk and sugar in it?”

“No, thank you, I like to drink it completely black.”

Annerieke filled the mugs. "Here you go! No Hague cup here, we like full mugs. Would you like a piece of Schwarzwalder Gâteau pie with it?”

“Oh really? That seems delicious! Did you bake that yourself?”

“Yes, I actually bake everything myself. I've always loved to cook and bake, and I've learned it better and better by trying all kinds of recipes from the Internet and watching videos on You Tube. What great possibilities we have these days, just put my tablet on the table and immediately imitate what they do on those videos. This way I learned to bake better and better and my cakes became more beautiful and tastier. And the meals too. I bake a new pie every morning after I finish my household tasks, so we can serve fresh pieces of pie with coffee in the evening. You can bet that our guests like to drink coffee in the guest room in the evening! And that baking pies is a reward for me, my hobby after the less fun household tasks,” Annerieke laughed.

There was silence in the kitchen for a while, except for the tapping of the pastry forks. Annerieke observed Margreet. She was nineteen, Huib had told. She seemed nice, but withdrawn, shy, as if she was weighed down by an enormous burden. Annerieke wondered what was behind this, not out of selfish curiosity, but because she was always eager to really get to know people and embrace them in her heart when possible.

After the last piece of cake, Margreet sighed: “That was delicious, really delicious!”

“Thank you, that's always good to hear,” Annerieke replied, after which, as they finished their coffee, she asked: “What did Huib actually tell you about the guest house during the application process?”

Margreet thought… “Actually not much, nothing about the guest house itself. I just looked at the website, but the ad only said something about household tasks, internal living and a one-month trial period. It was a short advertisement, and in his invitation to come he didn't write anything else.”

“Then why did you react? What attracted you?”

Margreet lowered her eyes, felt a blush rise to her cheeks and said in a soft voice: “I applied for all kinds of things, I just had no success. It was very special… When I saw your advertisement, I felt sure that it would go well now, that I would be allowed to come. Yeah sorry, that sounds crazy, but I often feel things, I…”

"That's not crazy Margreet, that's fantastic!" Annerieke interrupted her. “You feel things and you followed your heart, that’s great, isn't it? I recognize that, Huib and I have the same thing. And my husband had that too…” Annerieke paused for a moment, pausing with her feelings… “Erik, my husband, died in an accident, only two months ago. Erik and I started this guest house almost fifteen years ago, and Huib grew up in it, so to speak. No, we didn’t live in the guest house, our house is further up on the landscape. We live nearby, but still wonderfully separate. Our guests can reach us by phone and we will be with them in the blink of an eye if necessary. And yet we have our freedom, our own place. When Huib was your age, Erik worked with him together to make a building plan for a house for himself, so he could live on his own, and at the same time be close to us and close to the guest house. His house is about a hundred meters from our house. And now that Erik has passed away and Huib has taken over his duties, it has become apparent how handy it is that he has continued to live nearby.

But let’s go back to your application, about your tasks… I've always done the work in the kitchen, and also the household together with Erik. It was wonderful to do that together, to work quietly side by side, partly separately, but also a lot together. I miss that, yes I miss that very much…” She paused, silent in her own feelings. “Over the years, Huib also started to help out, but his favorite thing was woodworking. He has now taken over from his father's administration, as well as various household duties. Together we keep track of everything, the rooms, the laundry, fabrics and vacuuming. Well, you know it, just household, only on a large scale.”

Again Margreet found herself blushing. Just housekeeping… she had no idea, didn't know it at all! Her mother had never let her do anything in the household except doing the dishes, simply because she thought she could do everything better herself. It had apparently never occurred to her that at some point Margreet would have to be able to do it too, or that she might actually enjoy learning it! How painful now… she hadn't really thought about it at all, but now it hit her, because she had no idea how to get the work done here.

Annerieke, attentive as always, saw her shed color, noticed that all sorts of things were going through her mind, but decided after a short pause to continue talking, so that she immediately had Margreets attention again.

“Huib saw that I couldn't take it anymore, the loss of my Erik… I did grieve in my house, but here I had to be cheerful and friendly… and that broke down because my attitude towards the guests was artificial, no longer came from within. Huib noticed that his cheerful mother became rather quiet, and did her work frowning. He saw that I had bags under my eyes. He realized that he was also suffering from it, that he couldn't take care of himself. And of course he missed Erik too. And besides, I think he just hates administration and housekeeping! That is also not conducive to how you feel. But well, we had ended up in this situation, and guests had already booked for the coming months. We had to move on, we needed the income, and we didn't want to disappoint the guests. So here we are now, both just not exhausted yet, but well on the way to becoming so. And without telling me, Huib followed his heart, placed an advertisement and invited you to come and live and work here for a trial month in our dream palace. Margreet, I really hope you'll feel at home here, not just because you'll be taking the work off our hands, but just… I don't know, I think you need this lovely place.”

Seeing the surprised reaction on the face on the other side of the kitchen table, she continued with a smile and a wink: "I feel too, just like you..."

Not to embarrass Margreet too much, she got up, put their empty mugs in the sink, and invited her upstairs. She grabbed one of the suitcases and walked towards the door: “Shall we take your suitcases to your room first? It's a simple room, Huib thinks it's too bare, and I wholeheartedly agree. We used that room as a storage room at first. Huib brought all the unnecessary stuff that was there to our barn and put what was not superfluous on the hallway of the attic, and then cleaned the room. We considered making your room a little more cosy, but decided to leave that up to you, so you can really make it your own space.”

Margreet nodded gratefully and followed Annerieke upstairs with her other suitcase. After two stairs they reached the attic, a large space spanning the entire surface of the guest house. The space was divided into two parts by a wall, a spacious hallway and a room. Margreet looked around the room that would be hers for at least a month. It indeed didn’t look rather inviting, but the room was large, there was more than enough space to make something out of it. She had no idea what she would like to change or add to it, but she hoped to get there in her free hours.

Free hours… “What are my working hours anyway?” she asked Annerieke.

“Good question Margreet, you start at 7:30 AM with breakfast in the kitchen we just were in, then get to work and work until you've finished the household work. After that you are basically free until four o'clock, then you come and help me in the kitchen and dining room, and how long you continue after that depends a bit on what needs to be done that day, usually not much more. On the days that the guests leave, usually Saturdays, you have more work, especially in the morning. The rooms must then be prepared for the next guests. But if you want to go out for a few hours, you can do that in the afternoon in principle.”

“Okay...” Margreet felt her insecurity growing, it made her sick. “Annerieke, I…” she stammered, “I have to tell you something, I want to be honest. I'm on to something.”

Annerieke sat down on the bed and, with a wave of her hand, invited Margreet to sit next to her. "Just tell me, we'll work it out."

“I find a few things difficult. I have no experience with housework at all, I never learned anything from my parents, and I am also afraid that I will find it difficult to organize my time myself.”

Annerieke saw that crying was closer to her than laughing, she saw the shame, the uncertainty. A question flashed through her mind: Then why on earth did you apply?

She carefully put her thoughts to Margreet: “For a moment I wondered why you had applied, it seems so illogical, but then I remembered that you had followed your heart, and that Huib and I had known it was good to have you. I can imagine you're looking against to it now. Well, Huib had in mind to work with you the last two days of October, to get you settled in. So for the first two days you can just let yourself be guided, you can ask questions, suggest ideas, whatever you want. And if necessary, we will continue to work together for a while. I think it's fine that we just do that for as long as it’s necessary for you. I think it's important, and I'm sure Huib agrees, that you will feel at home here, that you feel free to ask your questions, to tell us what you need. I think we should give you time to feel confident about your work. We'll figure it out Margreet, get to work together from tomorrow, and you'll learn as you go. What do you think, would that work?”

Margreet looked at her with teary eyes and smiled: “I think so, I hope I can handle it, that I'm fast enough and all of that. Fast enough to learn and fast enough to work.”

Annerieke put her hand on Margreets arm: “You girl, people have told you all those lies about you! You don't have to tell me now, maybe you never want to tell me, and that's okay too. Just do what you think is right, and we'll get the job done together, trust me!"

Margreet sighed deeply: “Thank you, Annerieke, I will really do my best to make something good out of it.”

“I know, you will do. Shall we explore the area in and around the guest house? Then you still have some time to unpack your bags. And somewhere in between Huib will want to talk to you about your contract. That doesn't mean much, but it has to be done."

Together they walked out of the room again, down one stair to the floor where the guests stayed. Their room doors were now locked and looked basic, with a wooden number on them. All doors came out onto a central hall that also contained the stairs. Bathrooms and toilets were on either side of the hall, along with a closet with linens. Next to the stairwell there was a large closet with work equipment and inventory. Margreet thought how nice it was that all the guest rooms were here and that her own room was one floor up. She had a huge space on her floor, and privacy.

"Shall we go on, downstairs?" There Annerieke continued: “You've already seen the kitchen, this here is the dining room. I always make a buffet here along the wall, both in the morning and in the evening, so that people can take what and how much they want. I always add some bags in the morning, so they can take what is left over at the end of breakfast time to take sandwiches and fruit for later in the day, if they want.”

Then they walked through the hall to the living room. “Here guests can read, play games, have contact with each other, drink coffee and tea.” Annerieke pointed to the coffee corner. “I always make sure there are a few pitchers of coffee and tea in the evening. And we share the pie ourselves.”

Margreet nodded and looked surprised at the large and well-stocked bookcase. She briefly touched on the beautiful decoration of the bookcase and sighed: "This is so beautiful, I saw that in the hall, on that umbrella stand, and on the kitchen cupboards."

Annerieke smiled: “It's all Huibs work. That boy has golden fingers! Or wooden fingers, as he always says.”

"Really? Wow… special!”

Annerieke already took her to the next room, more secluded from the guest rooms. “You can guess this here, this is our workspace for the laundry and cleaning. Upstairs you have already seen a broom cabinet. The stuff there is for that floor, and here's everything we need downstairs. We ensure that the stock is always kept up to date. I make a shopping list, and Huib picks up everything with our pick-up. Therefore, these closets are usually overcrowded. And the washing machines… they work overtime here!”

Margreet looked in awe at the stock in the cupboard and felt herself grow small and clumsy again. There had been a stash at home too, and she knew nothing about it. And then this… She forced herself to remember what Annerieke had said: working together as long as it takes. Unnoticed, she straightened her back. It would be fine, she would make it happen!

Annerieke smiled, even though she actually knew nothing about Margreet, her feelings were like an open book. Everything flashed by in her face and in her posture. Annerieke tried to keep her story light-hearted: “We are one of those ancient people, we hang the laundry outside. We do have a tumble dryer, but we only use it in an emergency. Come on, next door…”

The space next door was huge and long, open on both sides and covered with a wide overhanging roof. Lines were stretched along its length, supported in several places by wooden posts. Sheets and duvet covers, towels, tea towels and dishcloths moved in the wind. “Whatever the weather, our laundry almost always dries within a few hours here, thanks to the good wind. Antique is fresh in this case,” Annerieke laughed. “How does this seem to you?”

“It seems like a lot of work to hang everything from so many people, but if you have the skills to do that… it seems great! Do the guests also notice that it has dried outside?”

“They have never reported this so specifically, but they do indicate regularly that the linen smells so nice and fresh. They probably think it's from the laundry detergent, but I'm telling myself it's from drying outside.”

Margreet laughed: "It's so cool to see, you look radiant when you talk about this!"

“Yes, this is really my pleasure, I like this, even though I don't always hang the laundry myself, Huib often does, and from tomorrow you can contribute your share. I just enjoy that waving laundry when I walk to the guest house or go home. Our houses are there, behind those trees,” Annerieke pointed out. “Shall we walk a little more around the estate?”

"Yeah, fine, I'll grab my coat." Margreet took her coat from the coat rack in the hall and returned to Annerieke.

“I always have my coat hanging here, so we keep the part of the guests separate for them. We always use this entrance as well.”

“Fine, then I will too,” replied Margreet.

They walked together into the garden, into the estate. “We have a gardener who is responsible for the entire estate, but he is always happy when we come up with ideas. And if I have enough energy, I love to do some gardening myself. That's so nice, I don't need it, I can do it, just when I feel like to do it. It's not my responsibility, that garden, it doesn't pressure me, doesn't bother me, I don't worry about it. But it is my pleasure, in looking, walking around and sometimes being a little bit working in it.”

“So your main tasks are cooking and baking and being a hostess. Right?” Margreet summed up as they walked through the various flowerbeds. And when Annerieke confirmed that: “Do you really have fun in your kitchen work, I mean… to do that every day?”

Annerieke grinned: “Fun? It's my passion and my life, it's my hobby, I love to do it! And I've noticed that if your work is your hobby, really is your hobby, then you don't experience it as work, it feels like you're just going to do something fun. So I don’t experience my work in the kitchen as heavy. The fact that everything together became too heavy over the past few weeks was simply due to the unpleasant combination of the extra work, because we had Erik's work on our shoulders, and the sadness, the loss. That hey, that your emotions can't really be there for a large part of the day, during your work, that breaks you. That's why I'm glad you came to give us some space."

Margreet nodded, she recognized what Annerieke said about emotions that can't really be there. That made you lame and tired, she knew everything about that!

“Don’t you find it difficult that you may have to work with me longer, until I can do it myself?”

“No, not at all, I actually think you'll get it done faster than you expect. And I see those extra days working together more as something light-hearted, we make something of it together, I’m not sure, when I think of it that way, it doesn't feel heavy at all."

"Fortunately..." Margreet sighed, "I hope Huib will experience it that way too."

Annerieke put her arm around Margreets shoulders and pulled her close to her. "Surely! Oh look, there he comes. Huib! You come as called, guy, our new colleague has arrived!”

Huib looked at Margreet as he approached her. He extended his hand to her and saw her hesitantly place her hand in his. “Welcome Margreet! Has moeke already shown you everything?”

"Moeke?"

Huib laughed: “That's what I sometimes call Annerieke. Usually I say Annerieke or Mom, but sometimes I tease her a bit with moeke.”

“Oh, that's why! Yes, I think I've pretty much seen everything. It's beautiful here…”

When he arrived, Huib had already concluded that a shy bird had come flying into their nest… he would talk about that with his mother later. He had actually had a different type in mind, but said nothing about it.

“Shall we go to our office and sort out the business mess?”

Margreet laughed a little: "Business mess?"

“Oh yes, it's really messy! I hate it, I really hate it, but it's part of it, it has to be done, otherwise we'll get a real mess, and we don't want that!”

Annerieke quickly said goodbye to Margreet: “I'll see you again in a minute. We have lunch around twelve o'clock. The guests don't eat here until half past five. And we ourselves eat in the evening as soon as we have prepared the buffet for the guests, so also around half past five. See you soon at lunch!”

She walked away towards her house and Margreet walked back to the guest house with Huib. The office turned out to be a room next to the kitchen. There was a large desk, three chairs and a few cupboards against the wall.

“Welcome to my cheerless loft,” Huib said, inviting her to sit down with a wave of his hand. “So, are you a little bit excited to get started here?”

Unwillingly, Margreet crinched down a bit again, but then started to talk, slowly at first, but over time faster and faster: “Yes, only… I've just discussed it with Annerieke, about what I find difficult… I have no experience with housekeeping, my mother never taught me anything because she thought she could do everything better and faster. So I’m not feeling able to do it yet! And Annerieke said that I could partly organize my working hours myself, and that seemed quite difficult to me too, which makes me insecure. I… actually… actually I feel like a cheater, I applied while I knew I've never done this before, not even on a small scale at my parents' house. But you know, I've applied so much, and I've only gotten rejections. I wasn't even asked for a job interview! And then I saw your advertisement, and I immediately felt that I would be welcome here, that I belonged here. It sounds so crazy when I say it like that, I can't explain it, but really, it just felt that way. And when I spoke to Annerieke about it, she said she thought it would be okay if she and you could work with me a little longer, just until I felt confident enough to do the job myself. Phew, I've never chatted so much in a row. I'm just so tense, so insecure. That will be the cause.”

She looked at her fumbling hands in her lap. Huib got up, was with her in two steps and squatted down in front of her. He grabbed both her hands tightly, causing her to look at him in shock. She expected anger, but saw a soft look in his eyes. He looked at her in silence for a while, then said softly but with surprising certainty, “You feel insecure and weak, and that's okay. It's different than I expected, you're different than I expected, but I don't mind. I want you to know that when I got your application email, I also knew deep down that it would be YOU that we needed here. I'll confess to you honestly that I didn't dare to tell Annerieke at first, simply because I thought it strange of myself that deep down I was so sure. I did not hesitate for a moment and immediately invited you, not even for a job interview, but immediately for a trial month. Because I was so sure in my heart, you're just welcome, really welcome. And Annerieke's idea of ​​working together for a bit longer is a great idea. I hope you will feel safe and comfortable here. We will do what we can to make you feel what you are from now on: a full member of our family.”

Margreets had unwittingly held her breath and now let it escape between her lips. “A full member of your family? How do you mean?"

“I mean you belong, not as our helper, our slave, not as our Cinderella, but as our equal. This guest house is a family business and when you come to work and live here, you belong just as much as Annerieke and I, just like our gardener with whom we have no blood connection, but who is part of our family.”

“I can't imagine that yet,” said Margreet.

“You don't have to,” replied Huib with a smile, letting go of her to sit back in his chair. "That will come naturally. We take life here as it comes, every day a new surprise.” Huib chuckled: “We are that easy! What I find less easy are the rules imposed on us by the government. They provide that we must give you, our new family member, a contract and have it signed. A contract for a family member, that really doesn't fit together, but that's just what it is!" He made a funny face as he spoke. “Look, this it is, a boring and business-like story, just read it. If you have no questions and agree to it, you can sign it right away. Take your time, in the meantime I'll get to work on some bills."

While she heard Huib working on the computer, Margreet read through the contract. Finally she took the pen he had placed next to her and signed the contract. Then she gave the papers back to Huib.

"Thank you! I've got another card here for you, a card with important phone numbers. Such cards are laying in every guest room too, but your room had become a storage room, so I'll just give you the card. And this is what the guests always get, an overview of shops and ideas for going out in the area. That might help you out a bit if you're exploring the area or looking for something specific. What I can really recommend, perhaps to scrape together some things for your room, is the thrift shop of our village. You wouldn't expect it, a relatively small village and such an incredibly large and beautifully decorated thrift store. The people who set it up are the best in the region. They have made it special. We regularly hear from guests that they go there, which I don't think is really a holiday getaway, but well, they go and come back with whole stories! Who knows, you might find something nice for your room.” Huib paused, and finally asked: “Do you have any questions?”

“No, not really, not now anyway,” replied Margreet. "I think I'm going to unpack my bags."

“Good idea,” Huib smiled, looking at her with his twinkling eyes. “We'll see each other again in the kitchen later. Prepare yourself for a delicious lunch from Annerieke!”

To chapter 4. Confusing thoughts

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