Originally posted on Tumblr, and since then, it's been edited for typos (YAY). Posted here because I realized I really like having all my stuff in one place. Thanks to everyone who liked and reblogged over there. You guys rule :)
Written for an anon prompt. "Paradise by the Dashboard Light. Joe Burns/Elsie Hughes. Up to you if they stay together in the end."
Paradise by the Dashboard Light
Elsie Hughes remembers everything as if it only happened yesterday. Out by the lake, there was not another person in sight. All the other maids back at the house were wishing they were her that night.
"Oh how I wish I could have a suitor sweep me off my feet and away from this life," sighed one of the other maids earlier that afternoon, twirling the feather duster between her fingers.
Elsie lifted an eyebrow and stayed silent. She was more than capable of doing her own sweeping, than you very much.
"You know, you'll never have a boy looking any better than Joe Burns," another swooned.
"It's not like that with him," she waved and continued her duties. Because it really really wasn't.
So when she saw him next, she could hear the other maids' voices sniggering in the back of her mind. She rose on her tiptoes and kissed him gently on the lips, trying to shut them all up. Clear away her doubts.
It was cold and lonely in the deep dark night, but with him, she was glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife. He held their bodies so close and tight and her heart was drowning out any rational thought her mind might have had. She had been waiting for so long for him to come along and have some fun. And now, they were barely seventeen and they were barely dressed.
A strangled moan escaped her lips and he jerked back.
"Did I hurt you?" Alarm crossed his face.
She shook her head furiously. No no no, it's so good. All so right.
He was nipping at her neck and she grabbed at his hair, panting, moaning, needing more. In the back of her mind she knew; they were going to go all the way tonight.
Something was coming upon her like a tidal wave and she wanted it to just hurry up and arrive. In between gasps and moans, she sore to her god, while he did the same in between breathy promises.
"God, I love you, Elsie."
And suddenly she was drowning.
"Stop right there!" she pulled away sharply, scrambling to get up and hold on to any shred of dignity that might remain.
She had to know right now. Before they went any further.
"Do you really love me?" she asked weakly.
"I'll love you forever," was his immediate reply.
She knew he would try to make her happy for the rest of her life. He tried to take her hand in his, but she shrugged him off.
"Do you need me?" she asked, her eyes cast down on the ground.
"Of course I do," he says. "If you'll let me, I'll take you away and I'll make you my wife."
She was standing by the lake with her skirts all askew and and a boy on one knee. She tried to hide the panic that erupted within her.
He took a breath. "Will you marry me?"
She closed her eyes tightly and bit her swollen lip. "Let me sleep on it and I'll give you my answer in the morning."
Years later, she knows she could have easily sworn to her god and on her mother's grave that she would love him until the end of time. But she now knows that had she done so, she would be praying for the end of time to hurry up and arrive. She would have never broken her promise or forgotten her vows to Joe, but God only knows where she would be right now.
A knock at the door interrupts her thoughts.
"Is the bride ready yet?" asks Mrs Patmore from the door.
Elsie Hughes looks into the mirror one last time.
"Yes, I am."
She's ready to start her time with him.