I own none of these characters and intend no copyright infringement
(thank you, Mr. Fellowes for such wonderful characters).
Elsie waited impatiently for the lift to reach the top floor of her line's humble headquarters. Her vintage crocodile Prada swung on her arm as she checked her watch. She was late. "What a day to be late" she thought just then the doors opened on the elegant anteroom of her main floor. She was greeted by the sight of gleaming wood floors, smooth white walls, and the sound of Ethel's assertive voice "Good morning, Elsie".
"Good morning, Ethel. Any calls worth hearing about?"
"Mr. Carson's assistant, Gwen phoned, she said they'll be late. Mr. Cason's return flight was apparently delayed. She asked if we could move the meeting to after lunch, I told her one o'clock was fine but you'd only have an hour to talk."
"Good girl" she didn't like seeming too free.
"She said that was fine and apologized on behalf of Mr. Carson"
"Very good, Ethel. Is that all?"
"That's all, ma'am."
"And Tom's here I assume"
"In your office"
"Great, thanks"
She walked around the partial wall that separated the reception area from the bright, airy work room, straight through the work room and into her rather sizeable office with out greeting anyone else.
Tom was her personal assistant and the best one on the planet. Tom was a young, beautiful, Irish flirt who had too much nerve for his own good, but Tom got things done so Elsie let him stick around and honestly she'd become quite fond of him. It was good to have an assistant who wasn't scared of you but did the job well anyway.
Her main concern at the moment was that Tom would have the coffee. She needed to see Tom.
Tom was of course in her office already. He smiled smugly as he handed her the latte which it appeared he'd been waiting by the door to give her.
"Good god you haven't been standing there the whole time have you?"
His smile remained intact
"I heard you coming. You're wearing my favorite Manolos"
"Oh shut up." She wouldn't have the patience for Tom's impropriety until she'd had at least half of her latte.
"You'll have heard about Mr. Carson's delay" he said in a more businesslike tone.
"Yes and I won't pretend- not to you anyway- that I'm not relieved. I am nowhere near awake enough to negotiate with that man"
"Are you sure it's the negotiating that's got you worried?"
She glared at him.
"What do you mean, Tom?"
"It's alright to have a little crush, Miss Hughes. Mr Carson is a very attractive man…for his age" *Here we go* she thought "Personally I see you with someone younger-"
"That's quite enough, Tom. At least until I've had another cup" She cut him off and sat down behind her large glass top desk. He smirked and handed her the presentation binder, anticipating her desire to double check it yet again.
"It's still perfect. I promise." He declared in a reprimanding tone.
"We'll see"
She sipped her latte and once again contemplated the pros and cons of firing him only to decide yet again that he was quite irreplaceable. Once she had finished her coffee she started thumbing through the presentation she and Tom had assembled for Mr. Carson double checking for about the hundredth time that she was presenting exactly the right designs to make him absolutely certain that he wanted one of her shops on the ground floor of what would be his flagship hotel in the U.S. Elsie had done very well making a name for herself in Britain, Spain and France and now it was time to expand west.
She had been acquainted with Charles for about thirty years now. They met when she was in her twenties and working as a maid in a hotel to pay her way through school. He didn't own anything back then, he was a manager at that same hotel and a very strict manager at that. Strict with everyone else anyway. Elsie had been quite intimidated by him from the start, she'd heard talk amongst the staff about the irritable Mr. Carson and his absolute love of rules and propriety. But Elsie had always kept her head down and done her job well and as a result she found him to be rather agreeable. He was never exactly warm toward her but her requests for time off were never denied, and she had plenty of those because of school and her weekends going home to visit Joe. Because of Mr. Carson's chilly, businesslike demeanor she had been very surprised that when she handed in her notice he asked if she would please keep in touch and he looked… and sounded like he meant it.
She had developed a bit of a crush on him in her time working under him so she did as he requested and sent him a letter once she had gotten settled in her next job. They wrote back and forth for a few years until she moved back to London and she asked him to meet for dinner so they could talk in person. They had both become very busy very quickly and it got harder and harder for them to find the time to meet. Since then they had seen each other once every few years and caught up on the major events of each other's lives in a light and friendly manner. These meetings had become a sort of tradition and led to a friendship she found that she valued more than she cared to admit.
This friendship was the reason she was terrified to do business with him. She knew his attitude and his reputation when it came to business and it was none too friendly. Two months ago at their last meet-up she had told him that she wanted to open a shop in New York. He told her then that there was an available space on the first floor of the building he'd just bought for his new hotel in Manhattan but that he'd had several good offers and he would have to see a business model from her. Perhaps partly because she was too concerned he might see it as cowardice for her to withdraw, she agreed and they made plans to meet formally about the matter after fashion week as there was no way in hell she could do it before then. Now fashion week had come and gone and Elsie had a temporary lull in the madness of the fashion world in which to create the best possible image of her line to present to Charles.
It was 11:00 by the time Charles got off of the plane that was supposed to have touched down at 7:00. He hated this. He hated when things did not go according to plan and this particular hitch in the plan made him look most unprofessional. Not only that, which was bad enough, but it would make him look so in front of Elsie Hughes, one of the people he respected most in this world. He had watched Elsie metamorphose from a farmer's daughter working as a hotel maid to one of Britain's most successful women. He knew that Elsie of all people would be very understanding about something like this, especially when it was obviously outside of his control but he still hated it. He hated things which where outside of his control.
He collected his bag and went out to meet Gwen at the car.
"Did you have a good flight, sir?" She asked cheerfully. Charles gave her a look that told her how stupid that question was.
"Right. No then. Well we'd best be on our way if you're to get cleaned up before your meeting."
He handed his suitcase to his driver and got in the back seat followed by Gwen who had in her loveable efficiency already begun giving a quick briefing on what he missed during his week in Paris. He found himself only half listening to Gwen, he had been this way all week. He reprimanded himself for it constantly but he just couldn't stop thinking about Elisabeth Hughes. Her smile, her voice, things she might say or do when they met in her office. Of course this whole meeting was a sham, he knew he wanted her store in his building regardless of how the presentation went, but her needed to keep up appearances. The truth was he had been looking for a reason to see more of her for quite a while now. Ever since he and Isobel divorced and he was finally free to admit his feelings for Elsie he had wanted to be closer to her. If he was completely honest he'd admit that he had wanted to be closer to her from the first time he saw her, but he was not a free man then, he had only just asked for Isobel's hand when Elsie walked into his life.
He could still remember the way she looked in her black and grey maid's uniform cut slightly above the knee. He wondered what she would look like in that uniform today … *stop it, old man , this is no time for that. This is about business. And if she knew your real motivations there's a good chance she might not even want to do that with you*.
It was one o'colck on the dot when Elsie heard a knock on her door and looked up to see Ethel poking her head in. "Mr. Carson has just arrived. He's in the conference room" Elsie felt an icy hot tingle behind her belly button, the sensation she always associated with him.
Waiting for Elsie in her conference room he sipped the coffee Ethel had poured him. He chuckled to himself. The whole place looked like her. The dark reddish wood of the floor, the elegant floral arrangement in the center of the table and the delicate china from which he sipped a dark brew of delightful earthy coffee. He heard the door open behind him so he turned and set down his cup.
There he was, as handsome and intimidating as always. It felt very strange seeing his large masculine frame in this room where she usually dealt with women and rather effeminate men. She liked the way he looked in here. "Elsie Hughes!" he boomed and reached out to pull her into a friendly hug.
"Charles Carson. It's been too long already." She said as she extended her arms toward him. She felt heavenly against his body and she smelled just as delectable as he remembered. He forced his arms to let her go after barely a second. It was almost painful.
"I'm so sorry about the delay, The weather in Paris was despicable this morning."
"So I heard. I' glad you made it home at all."
"Likewise. Elsie, I must admit, your store downstairs had me very excited to see what you've got to show me"
"Well I'm very excited to show it to you. I think you'll find that you and I are a better fit than you might have thought" He only noticed that Ethel had followed her into the room when Elsie turned to retrieve a binder from her.
"Shall we?" She gestured toward the table and went to sit down. He crossed the distance in a single stride and pulled her chair out for her. She thanked him and rewarded him with an excellent smile. His stomach tingled *butterflies. You are too old for butterflies*. He sat in the chair next to hers.
"So is it just you then?" she asked, smile intact.
"Just me I'm afraid. Didn't think I needed a panel of advisors to tell me whether I like your clothes" seeing that she didn't quite know how to take that he added "which I already know I like"
"You sound as if you've made your mind up already, Mr. Carson" she noted smugly.
"Well I know I like what you make, but it's your job today to convince me it'll look good in my hotel"
"And that it will"
They reviewed the contents of the binder and answered all of each other's questions, and before long they found that they were no longer discussing business but chatting away like the old friends they were.
Before they knew it an hour had passed and there was a knock at the door.
The person who came through it was not at all who either had been expecting.
Elsie was quite surprised to see even a spoiled brat like Mary Crawley be so bold as to interrupt one of her meetings. And surprised again to see her beaming at the man next to her and more surprised still to hear the words that came out of her mouth.
"Uncle Charlie!"
"My darling girl! What are you doing here?" He said as his massive body rose from his chair and wrapped its arms around the little slip of a girl. *Uncle Charlie?* Elsie thought. *What the hell have I missed?*
"I thought I'd show up a bit early for my photo shoot and when Tom told me Elsie was in here with you I couldn't help myself, I had to come see you."
"And I'm very glad you did!" He held her at arms length and looked at her lovingly "You get more beautiful every time I see you."
"Oh stop" *don't feign modesty girl, it doesn't suit you* thought Elsie. She stood up and waited to be noticed and clued in.
Charles seemed to notice her confusion.
"Mary's father is Isobel's cousin, Robert" he explained.
"Well that does explain it. How did I miss all that?"
"I suppose it never would have come up between us" conceded Mary "and I had no idea you two were going into business together."
"I could say the same to you" Charles interjected "You promised to keep in touch, young lady, and I've heard scarcely a word from you"
"Well you can blame Elsie for that " Mary said with a smile "She's been keeping me plenty busy"
"Now don't lie to me, young lady, I hear you've been keeping plenty busy all on your own. What about this Napier boy?"
"Oh" she sighed an exasperated sigh "Him. Yeah he's not gonna work out."
"Well I'm very sorry to hear that. His doing or yours?"
"Mine I'm afraid. But we'll talk about all that later, I'm terribly rude. *picked up on it have you?* Elsie thought but kept a smile on her face. Mary turned her attention toward Elsie now "I hope you don't fire me over this I just couldn't believe it" She said sounding very rightly confident that Elsie had no intention of firing her. Quite the contrary, if it meant a further connection to Charles she would keep Mary around as long as she had to.
"As if you believed I'd fire you" scoffed Elsie playfully "you know your contract says I have to put up with you for another year"
"God how I love contracts" Mary said with a laugh "The only way I can get anybody to put up with my antics is to get them to agree to it before they know what they've gotten themselves into" Everyone chuckled at that, each of them there was a certain amount of truth to it. Charles still had his arm around Mary's shoulders and gave her a little squeeze which made her smile and look like a child. Elsie was amazed that Charles had this kind of connection with her. She began to think she could have misjudged Mary Crawley and brushed her off as a spoiled nitwit a bit too soon.
"Well since you're here now and Charles and I have I believe discussed everything we needed to discuss" She looked at him for confirmation. Mary, too looked at him.
"I'd say so"
"And what is it? If I'm allowed to know"
"Of course you are. I'm thinking I'd like to put one of Elsie's stores in my new building"
"Well of course you will" said Mary in a very matter of fact way "I'm the new face of her brand. Isn't it what you always wanted? An excuse to hang up giant pictures of me everywhere?" once again everyone chuckled and Charles pulled her in and kissed her forehead. Seeing him like this was making that tingling in Elsie's stomach more distracting.
"Well since you're here, Mary, why don't we get started?"
"Yes, by all means, I want to see you in action." Charles agreed.
"Oh dear, action isn't quite the word for it. But yes I'm quite ready for hair and makeup" she said gesturing to her unnoticeably unmade-up face.
They all walked toward the elevator together and Elsie noticed an odd sight when they approached the reception desk. Tom was sitting behind it and she gave him a looked that asked "why?" Charles and Mary had failed to notice and continued chatting in front of the lift.
"Ethel had to run." She again gave me the look.
"Daycare called. Charlie wasn't feeling well"
"Oh no, did she say what?"
"No, she was in a bit of a hurry"
Elsie ceased her questioning but remained worried. She'd have to call Ethel once she got downstairs.
Charles was surprised by the change in atmosphere between the third floor and the second: down here there were fewer windows and the floors were concrete instead of wood. He gathered that this served as the company's main photo studio and at least in some part a storage area. Mary was greeted warmly and led away by a plain looking blonde who spoke in a Swedish accent. Beside him Elsie's phone rung.
"I'm sorry , I've got to take this" She apologized and walked away a few feet to take the call. He could hear her saying things like "glad it's nothing serious" and "of course, Tom can handle it" and finally "well he does a lot of things that aren't in his job description doesn't he". Her amused tone in that last statement worried him slightly. Surely she wasn't involved with her assistant! He was half her age for god's sake. No, not his Elsie, she wouldn't do anything so unprofessional. His Elsie… why did he think that… she wasn't his at all was she? No, not yet.
End: Chapter One.