The Maid's Secret

On the floor of the Regency Grand Hotel where she works, Molly lapses in and out of consciousness. She thinks of her gran’s last days. Gran gave her an old skeleton key, saying that it was “the key to everything” and that it was “all of [her]” (6). Despite Molly’s repeated questioning about what lock the key opened, Gran died without divulging the answer. Molly misses her terribly, and Gran is often on her mind—especially now, when she feels as if her grandmother is speaking to her from beyond the grave, somehow warning her of danger.

Everyone around Molly is talking about her amazing good fortune. She struggles to process the idea that she is now a multimillionaire. She remembers getting ready for work earlier that morning. She and her fiancé, Juan Manuel, were both excited about the television show, Hidden Treasures, filming at the hotel that day. Staff were invited to bring anything they wanted the show’s stars to appraise, and Molly collected a shoebox full of sentimental items left to her by Gran. At the last minute, Juan persuaded her to add a golden egg that she was given by the gardener at a large estate where her gran once worked because the gardener remembered how much Molly admired it as a child.

In a letter to Molly accompanying her diary, Gran explains that she has entrusted her diary to someone to give to Molly when the time is right. She offers comforting words to Molly about moving on after her death and says that she now regrets not being more forthright with Molly about her past. 

She reveals that the supposedly fictional stories she told Molly were based on her own life. She knows that Molly has struggled because she is often the object of others’ cruelty, and she hopes that hearing the truth about her own past will help. She begins her story: Before she was Molly’s gran, she was Flora Gray, the daughter of extremely wealthy and privileged people until “she lost everything, or almost everything” (16).

Molly thinks back over her morning. She remembers the feeling of pride she had when she arrived in the hotel’s beautiful lobby. She is the head maid and special events manager, and Juan is the head pastry chef. Her grandfather, John Preston—recently retired from his job as a doorman at the hotel—was also there, lending a hand for the big event. 

Molly wishes she knew more about her grandmother’s early life and her relationship with John. For most of her life, Molly did not even know that John was the biological father of her estranged mother Maggie. Now, he is a fixture in her and Juan’s life, coming for dinner once a week and answering to the title “Gran-dad.”

That morning, Juan went off to the kitchen, and Molly, John, her friend Angela—a bartender at the hotel—and the hotel’s new doorman, Speedy, all worked together to get everything ready for the show. Their boss, Mr. Snow, was frazzled because the television crew arrived early and insisted on filming everything, even the staff appraisal session. 

When it was Molly’s turn to have her items looked at, the show’s hosts—Baxley Brown and Thomas Beagle, high-end art dealers nicknamed “the Bees” by their fans—pronounced most of the objects in her shoebox worthless. Molly, a black-and-white thinker who often struggles to understand the nuances of social situations, amused them greatly. At times, she felt they might be making fun of her and was eager to get away. The hosts were, however, extremely excited about her golden egg. When they explained that it was likely a missing Fabergé egg prototype worth millions of dollars, Molly fainted.

The narrative returns to Gran’s diary. 

Flora idolizes her father Reginald, a man who believes his old-money wealth makes him superior. Although Reginald is moody and unpredictable, he is often warm and affectionate toward Flora. Audrey is a beautiful woman whose marriage into the Gray family solidified her own new-money family’s social position. Her chief interest is in not alienating Reginald, and though she is often miserable over his affairs, she caters to him completely. 

As Flora grows older, she realizes that her parents expected her to marry well—they scoff at her ideas about college and personal achievement. As servants and staff are fired for spurious reasons and not replaced, she also realizes that the family fortune is becoming depleted. Among the last remaining servants is Margaret Mead, Flora’s nursemaid and her beloved mother figure. 

Flora excels in school and is a talented writer. She persuades her headmaster to visit their home at Gray Manor to talk to her father about letting her take courses to prepare for college entrance exams. Although her father and mother mock the idea of a daughter going to college and reassert that her beauty and marriageability are her most important qualities, her father at last agrees to let her prepare for the exams.

Back in the narrative present, Juan gently cradles Molly’s face and helps her to a chair. She asks for some tea, which Angela brings her. Steve, Hidden Treasures’s showrunner, asks whether she is ready to resume taping. Before she can properly answer, the cameras are rolling again. 

Molly apologizes for worrying people by fainting; she explains that when she gets overwhelmed, she “[tends] to shut down” (45). Brown and Beagle banter a bit and then ask how she came into possession of the egg. She explains that it was given to her by a gardener after the death of the writer J. G. Grimthorpe, its previous owner. Brown asks whether this is the same writer who was poisoned in the Regency Grand tearoom several years ago, and Molly agrees that it was.

Brown and Beagle say they will “get cracking” on tracking down the egg’s provenance, and Molly asks whether they mean this “literally or figuratively,” which amuses the audience (48). They cheer and clap for her, and she covers her ears to shut out the din. When taping concludes, Molly learns that the segment is already being promoted online. Juan and Angela fuss over her, worried that she will faint again. Juan is already looking forward to Molly selling the egg, imagining that afterward, they can have the wedding of their dreams.

The narrative returns to Gran’s diary. 

Thrilled about securing permission to take the college prep classes, Flora shares the news with William Preston, her father’s butler and Mrs. Mead’s brother. Flora refers to William as “Uncle Willy” despite her parents’ instructions not to show such familiarity with a servant. Uncle Willy tells her how proud he is, which is typical of the loving attitude that both Uncle Willy and Mrs. Mead showed Flora.

Flora is often a guest in Mrs. Mead’s small cottage on the Gray estate. She loves being at the cottage but resents the frequent intrusions of Willy’s son—she wants Willy’s and Mrs. Mead’s love all to herself. She has also been taught by her parents to view servants as her inferiors, and she considers Willy’s son beneath her notice. 

Flora is relieved when Willy’s son disappears for several years, and she does not think to inquire about where he went. After announcing her college plans to Uncle Willy, however, she learns that Willy’s son was away at boarding school on a scholarship from Flora’s father and is now about to enroll in the same college-prep classes as Flora.

Mrs. Mead calls Flora up to her room to try on a newly arrived ball gown for her father’s annual Workers’ Ball. Her mother is waiting to inspect the gown once Flora tries it on. Flora is embarrassed at how revealing the dress is, but Audrey insists that Flora must show off her “assets” to the young men who will be in attendance. Flora argues against the idea that her sole purpose in life is to be a wife, but her mother laughs at this idea.

Later, Flora goes into her father’s library to collect the books she will need for her upcoming classes. She is dismayed to see that all the titles she needs are missing, but her father explains that he gave Willy’s son permission to take any books he needs. He says he will tell the young man to return the books and then shoos Flora out of the room.

In the present timeline, as Juan, Angela, and Mr. Preston chatter excitedly, Molly can only think about her grandmother’s frequent saying: “All that glitters isn’t gold” (63). Mr. Snow nervously asks whether Molly is still willing to finish the day at work. Molly is surprised; she cannot imagine leaving her job at the hotel. Mr. Snow offers to put the egg in the hotel safe while Molly works.

On her way upstairs, Molly is thronged by hotel guests and Hidden Treasure fans who, because of the hosts’ names, call themselves Bee-lievers. In the first guest room she enters, two maids—Lily and Cheryl—are cleaning. They excitedly tell her that they have already seen stories about her online, and Cheryl asks to take a picture of her. Molly is upset that people are treating her so differently and moves off to check on another team of maids, Sunitha and Sunshine.

Sunshine points out a man in a trench coat, explaining that the man says he knows Molly and wants to talk to her. Molly does not recognize the man, and she says that she will call security if he does not explain himself. The man immediately hurries away. Sunshine tells Molly that the man asked them for her address and phone number, which they did not give him. 

All afternoon, hotel guests try to get friendly with Molly when she comes in to clean their rooms. As she makes her way downstairs, she is mobbed by people trying to sell her real estate and other pricey goods, but Juan and Mr. Snow come to her rescue. Mr. Snow sends Juan and Molly home in a hired car. On the ride home, Juan tells Molly that the strange man in the trench coat accosted him in the hotel kitchen and asked where Mr. Snow’s office was. 

They are both relieved when they are finally back inside their apartment. Juan asks Molly if she is sure she still wants to marry him now that her circumstances have changed. She emphatically tells him that she does, but she is taken aback when he suggests that they are now wealthy enough to afford a better engagement ring for her. She tells him that she loves Gran’s simple Claddagh ring and does not want any other engagement ring. Later, Molly sees a news story about herself, featuring a photo that she knows must have been taken by Cheryl.

The narrative returns to Gran’s diary. 

She says that Molly’s reaction to her terminal cancer diagnosis was similar to her thoughts about Molly herself: Just as Molly wanted to deny the reality of Flora’s imminent death, Flora had once agonized over her inability to get Molly specialized tutoring and care when she was a child.

Flora remembers her first day at the college prep classes and how relieved she was to get away from her home, where tensions were growing over troubles in her father’s business affairs. She was the only girl in the school, but she did recognize some of the boys as the children of her father’s wealthy friends. Most of the boys made it clear that she did not belong, making crude sexual comments toward her, but one boy looked as fearful as she felt. The handsome boy turned out to be William Preston’s son, John. The other boys mocked him for being a “pity case” on scholarship, and Flora was relieved that they had found a new target.

Molly’s landlord announces his plan to convert the apartments to condos. He says that if Molly and Juan do not buy their unit, they will have to leave. He tells them that they have eight weeks to decide whether they will pay the exorbitant price he has in mind. Knowing how much Molly loves the apartment, Juan urges Molly to consider buying it, but she is reluctant to pay such a high price. He asks what her dreams are, and she tells him that she just wants a little place to live in and to be with him. Then she adds that it might be nice to own a small bed and breakfast together.

The phone keeps ringing, and Molly is disappointed to discover that Cheryl is selling her private information to people. She calls Mr. Snow to tell him this, and he says he will make Cheryl stop. Molly has a sleepless night, worrying about how her sudden wealth seems to endanger what she values most: her home, her job, and her relationships.

In the morning, John Preston arrives to drive Molly and Juan to work. Molly protests that she enjoys walking to work, but a news van pulls in, and she hops into John’s car to avoid the reporters. 

Molly is happy to get to work, but she learns that Cheryl has been selling photos of Molly with false autographs. Molly confiscates the pictures and throws them away, making Cheryl angry. Molly chooses to clean with Lily that day. An older couple comes into a room that Molly and Lily are cleaning. They of course recognize Molly, but unlike everyone else, they seem genuinely pleased for her, saying that for once a good thing has happened to a good person. They tell her, “Keep shining for us little folks” (92).

When Molly returns to the lobby, she is mobbed again, and Mr. Snow hurries her into the back. He tells her that Brown, Beagle, and their showrunner Steve are in his office waiting to talk to her. They have researched the egg’s provenance and are sure that it belongs to her and there will be no other claimants. Beagle suggests auctioning the egg off soon while interest is high. Molly decides that all she wants is for her life to get back to normal, and she agrees to sell the egg.