A/N: I am floored by all the wonderful reviews! Thank you all so much, they mean a great deal to me and have really helped spur me on. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Once again, since I'm a bit of a broken records, please so leave a note if you enjoy this latest offering, they are so wonderful to receive!
Surprisingly, once they were inside Elsie didn't feel as anxious as she had before. The idea of taking any marital intimacies off the table had relieved her a great deal. Without that looming above her head she tried to focus on enjoying a nice evening, especially as she was far away from any servants bells or dining catastrophes.
"Are you hungry?" Charles asked.
"Yes, I am, amazingly. I feel I've eaten more food today then I have ever before. I should be wary of the beach, someone might mistake me for an escaped sea creature." She said giggling to herself.
"Tosh, you look lovely. The only thing anyone would mistake you for is a beautiful mermaid who'd magically grown legs." He said pulling the hamper out and making a show of setting the table.
"You do say the sweetest things sometimes." She replied.
"Mrs. Hughes-sorry Mrs. Carson, would you mind terribly if I removed my jacket. Its rather warm in here."
"Of course not!" She said hurriedly, she hadn't even noticed really that he was still wearing it. "You must be boiling, perhaps I should open a window?"
He only nodded then quickly removed his heavy tweed jacket.
"Do you think-" Elsie began as she opened the window next to the bed, a fresh breeze instantly cooling the bedroom.
"Yes?" Charles responded.
"Do you think we ought to start calling each other by our Christian names? We are married after all."
"Before God and friends." He mused.
"Hm?"
"Sorry, just a silly thought that keeps running around my head. But yes, you are right, we ought to. Would you prefer to call me Charles or Charlie?" He asked, pulling out a partial bottle of wine that had also been packed by Mrs. Patmore, he scrutinized the label before relenting and pouring the wine.
"Which do you prefer?" She asked, coming to stand next to him, glancing at the wide array of food they had been provided.
"Um…I don't know really. My mum used to call me Charlie, especially when I was running around the house, getting under her skirts, I used to run up behind her, tap her on one side and once she'd turned to reprimand me I'd dash to the other side of her and get a swipe of whatever it was she had in her mixing bowl. She caught on eventually but every once in a while she'd still fall for it."
"That's a lovely memory." Elsie commented, placing her hand atop his where it lay on the top of the basket absently.
"But most of my life people have called me Charles. It served better in a professional capacity. No one respects a butler called Charlie."
"Well you aren't my butler, you are my husband." She said pointidly, taking a small plate and filling it. "And if you are agreeable I'd like to call you Charlie. I rather like the idea of my mischievous husband." She said smiling brightly.
"Then Charlie it is." He said, getting himself a plate of food.
Once they had selected their nourishment they both glanced around the room perplexed. There really wasn't anywhere to sit. There was a single chair in the corner which was currently the resting place for her handbag and his hat. They could sit upon the bed but both looked uncomfortable at the idea. Charles stepped around for a moment, trying to ascertain if the floor was big enough for them to sit upon, or even clean enough.
"I suppose, we ought to sit on the bed." Elsie commented shyly.
"Yes…um…" he muttered awkwardly. "That…um…is really the only…option." He said stiffly. He wasn't exactly prepared to share that exact space with his wife just yet. It seemed a step too far, though he knew how ridiculous that sounded.
"Don't worry Charlie, I don't bite." She said sitting down on the edge. He gave a slight laugh and sat down on the bed as well, a good amount of space between them just to be safe.
He knew he wouldn't do anything improper, he was hardly going to jump on top of her. But he figured it would be best to minimize the temptation, and besides even if he knew he wouldn't do it, thinking about it would be just as much a distraction.
And he wanted to savor every moment of this time together.
He wanted to be in the present, not drifting into the imaginary.
"And what would you like me to call you?" Charles asked after a few moments.
"Elsie I suppose." She replied.
"Just Elsie, you haven't any childhood nicknames you'd like me to use?" He asked jovially.
"No." She said quickly.
"Come now, your parents must have had a nickname for you growing up."
"Of course they did, but its something I'd rather not have revived, thank you very much."
"Then tell me, and I'll promise never to use it." He said, his curiousity truly piqued now.
"You promise?"
"I promise on the hallowed halls of Downton Abbey." He responded, hand in air.
"I cant ask for anything more I suppose, well…when I was little I loved to swim and jump and run. One day I saw a little frog in one of the fields, far from the closest pond. Without even thinking I followed him as he hopped home, eventually I started hopping along with him, finding it to be great fun. My father followed me of course, to make sure I didn't fall into the pond. By the time the little frog got back into the water my father was crying with laughter. From then on he called me Froggy. Mind you, only he called me that. My mother and sister never did. It was reserved for just us two, our little joke between us."
Elsie looked up at Charles expecting to see him laughing at her, but all she saw was a wide smile across his face.
"That," he said pointedly, "is a lovely story."
"You can see why I didn't want to say at first, why I don't want to be called that. Its not…its not that I don't care for you Charlie, I do…a great deal. But there is something about a father and daughter, something precious-"
"I understand." He said nodding at her.
They went back to their feast, exchanging occasional shy glances as they ate. When both plates were empty Charles got up, taking the plate from his wife and depositing them on the little table. He took the two wine glasses he had filled earlier and handed one to her.
He stayed standing and looked sweetly down at his bride.
"I know I've already made my speech for the day and it would be greedy to ask to give another but, I would like to say this. What I said before, I am truly the luckiest and happiest of men today my darling Elsie. I have long dreamed of having love, of loving someone and knowing that I am loved. It was a dream I thought would never come true. But by some miracle it has and I am so grateful. I…well today I made vows…vows I never expected I would get to make. But along with those vows, I want to make you a promise here and now. That I will love you, with all my heart until the last breath leaves my body." He said, surprised by his own depth of emotion.
Elsie stood up then and placed her wine glass back on the table, without a sip being taken. She stepped towards her husband, her Charlie and placed her hands gently on his chest.
"Oh Charlie-" she began but was cut off by his lips pressing upon hers.
Her nails dug into his chest as the power of his kiss overwhelmed her.
He was startled by the passion he felt coursing from her lips and pulled back slightly. Leaning over he put his wine glass on the table as well. Gently he set his hands on her waist.
"We've taken…you know…off the table, but may I kiss you again?" He asked, trying to control the tremor in his fingers as they rested on the soft cotton of her dress.
"Yes, but you must promise to kiss me like that." She said, attempting to be both bold and flirtatious though she doubted her powers to be either.
He smiled and leaned down capturing her lips with slightly more force.
Her fingers again clutched at his chest as his lips opened slightly, hers responded in kind and before she could understand it his tongue gently touched her own.
She let out a whimper then.
Charles was startled by the noise and attempted to break the kiss only to have Elsie push herself forward in an attempt to follow his lips. He smiled then, understanding the reasoning behind the whimper.
Eventually they needed air and broke apart. Elsie stood in shock, she'd never kissed a man like that and the desire that such kisses brought felt unnatural and all consuming.
"Perhaps, we ought to sit again, least we lose our balance." Charles offered sitting on the edge of the bed.
Elsie looked warily at him.
It felt like they were dancing with fire again.
Kissing like that.
On a bed of all places.
She suddenly understood how young women could get themselves into trouble. Looking into the beautiful eyes of their beloved, offering them the world in a kiss. What girl wouldn't succumb to that?
"Its only a kiss Elsie." Charles said, holding his hand out to her.
She hesitated, then reached out and took his hand.
She knew she might regret it.
She knew it might lead to something she wasn't ready for.
But she also knew that this was Charlie.
And he loved her.
And there could only ever be joy in the embrace of one who loved you so much.
