A/N After I posted the last chapter, I realized that Peter would probably want to see Charles and Elsie's new house, so I went back and added a part. Also, Peter is going to live in Elsie's flat when he moves back to Chicago, because Elsie and Charles will be moving into their new house. It's not really critical that you go back and read that part; I've just told you about it. (But feel free if you'd like to.)
I'm grateful for your continued support. I know it's been a long journey, but we're nearing the end. Thanks for traveling with me.
Thursday, May 12, 2016
At 6:30 Thursday morning, Charles arrived at Elsie's door to walk her to school as usual, and she greeted him with her customary kiss to his cheek.
"Good morning, beautiful lady," he said. "If you happen to be walking in my direction, might I escort you to wherever it is you're going?"
She laughed. "You know very well where I'm going! And since we're both going to the same place at the same time, I'd have a hard time declining your offer, even if I wanted to! But I would never refuse your handsome, charming company."
He took her school bag and carried it for her, even though it wasn't very heavy. As they walked the few hundred yards between Elsie's flat and the school building, they chatted about this and that: wedding plans, upcoming end-of-the-school-year events, things that their students had done or said, and news about various staff members. When they arrived in the reception area of the main office at school, they greeted Gwen at the front desk and then a few others who were standing around engaged in conversation. Proceeding through the administrative suite, they made their way to Elsie's office. Charles set both of their bags down and fetched them some coffee. Once he was sure Elsie was situated at her desk and had everything she needed, he dropped a kiss to her forehead, gathered his things, and went to his own office to settle in for the day.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
At mid-morning, when Elsie presented herself at Charles's office for their quotidian coffee break, she found Mary Crawley just leaving.
"Oh, hello, Miss Crawley! It's not often you pay us a visit here in administration, but it's always nice to see you," said Elsie politely.
"Thank you, Ms. Hughes. It's good to see you, too," Mary returned, just as politely, if a bit stiffly. "It's been a slow day over in the business office, so I thought I'd pop in here and say hello to Mr. Carson. I must say: it makes me smile to see you both so happy. Wedding plans must be coming along nicely, then?"
"Oh, yes. Everything's falling into place," Elsie informed her. "Won't be long now."
"No, indeed. Just a few more weeks. But I'll leave you to it now. I presume you've come to take a coffee break with your fiancé," said Mary, gesturing to the cups in Elsie's hands.
"You presume correctly," Charles told her, coming to take one of the cups from Elsie.
"Well, then. Thank you for the chat, Mr. Carson. Ms. Hughes, please give my regards to Peter. I understand he was here on Sunday. I'm sorry to have missed him," said Mary.
"I'm sure he's disappointed not to have seen you. I'll give him your best when I speak to him," promised Elsie.
"Thank you. Enjoy your coffee and the rest of your day." And with that, Mary left and closed Charles's door behind her.
"Well!" exclaimed Elsie as she and Charles took their customary seats at his table. "Miss Crawley was certainly very pleasant today."
"And why should that surprise you? Miss Crawley is always very pleasant," Charles argued in defense of the young woman for whom he'd always had a soft spot.
"To you, perhaps," said Elsie. Charles opened his mouth argue, but Elsie help up her hand to stop him. "I will admit: it seems our legal counsel has had a softening effect on her, and I find her much more agreeable of late."
"It's true. I do think she and Mr. Crawley are becoming quite fond of one another," Charles added. "But she's always been a sweet girl. I remember a time – she must have been about nine or ten years old, year five, I think – and she had that awful Miss Reed. Do you remember her?"
"Do I?! Good riddance to THAT one! She was nothing but trouble!" recalled Elsie.
"Which is precisely why we replaced her in very short order," Charles said pointedly. "Anyway, one day little Mary came running into my office sobbing her heart out. She'd had a disagreement with Miss Reed."
Elsie arched her eyebrow. "Why does that not surprise me?"
Charles ignored Elsie's sassy remark and continued. "The children were studying the American War of Independence, and Miss Reed was ... less than sympathetic towards King George III and the British."
"Let me guess. Young Miss Crawley was less than sympathetic towards Mr. Washington, Mr. Jefferson, and the rest of the colonists?"
"Perhaps so," Charles allowed. "So I sent word to Miss Reed, telling her that I had her truant student in my custody and that Mary would be with me for the rest of the afternoon. I calmed Mary down and asked her to tell me what was wrong. She told me she'd made up her mind to quit school – didn't see any point in continuing if she already knew more than her teacher. I explained that her quitting school would certainly prove awkward for her parents.
"I took the poor girl to the kitchen and sweet-talked Ms. Patmore into giving us some ice cream. Then I took Mary to sit in on an upper-level European history class as well as a US history class. She was fascinated. She also agreed that there might be one or two things she had yet to learn.
"But then, I had to go to a meeting, so I left her with Alice for an hour. By the time I went back to Alice's office to get Mary, Alice had taught her to use a spreadsheet, and the little sweetheart sat there, typing away, entering figures into the school's budget for overhead expenses. Even at that tender age, she had a head for figures and a keen sense for business. After that day, she often visited Alice once her classes were finished for the day."
"That explains why she ended up in finance and how she became our business manager. But what happened with Miss Reed?" Elsie wanted to know.
"Well, at the end of the day, I had to return Mary to Miss Reed's class. I smoothed things over, and we resolved the situation by agreeing to schedule a class debate for the next week. Mary and two of her classmates took the position of the British, and three opposing students represented the colonists," Charles elaborated.
"And I'll wager that that contest had a different outcome from that of the actual war!" Elsie guessed.
"It did. Mary and her team put forth a rather compelling case. They were quite persuasive, and the rest of their classmates were quite convinced. Mary made a stirring closing argument, complete with "God save the King" playing in the background. Even Miss Reed had to yield on several points, and Mary and her cohorts were declared the winners."
Elsie smiled and shook her head. "Only Mary Crawley could rewrite history!"
"After that, she didn't stop challenging her teachers, but when she did, she did so more respectfully – and with greater effect. And in thanks for my help, she gave me a picture she'd drawn." Charles went to his desk, pulled a yellowed paper from one of the drawers, and handed it to Elsie as he sat back down.
As Elsie studied the image before her, she let out a surprised laugh; the picture was equally amusing and amazing. "It's the colonists surrendering to Cornwallis at Yorktown! That's incredible detail for a ten-year-old!"
"It is! She'd clearly studied the subject at length. And … she claimed the British lost only because they mismanaged their troops and resources. She asked Alice to help her make a spreadsheet to show how England should have won, had they managed things properly."
"What a precocious child! And to think I was completely unaware of all this!" marveled Elsie as she returned the picture to Charles and he set it aside.
"I believe, my dear, that you were rather busy with your own precocious child. That was around the time young Peter started winning all those science fairs and Science Olympiads."
"Yes, it was."
"He'll make a great teacher, you know," Charles offered. "You can be proud."
Elsie corrected him. "We can be proud."
Charles smiled and glanced at the clock on his wall. "I'm afraid we'll have to continue our discussion over lunch. It's almost time for class."
Reluctantly, they rose, gathered their things, and headed off to teach their classes. When they parted ways in the hallway outside their classrooms, Charles handed Elsie her books, papers, and laptop (which he always carried for her), and she kissed his cheek in thanks. The kiss had been part their routine since they'd become engaged, and by now all of their students had observed this chaste gesture of affection. Yet without fail, every day, some young girl giggled or a boy sniggered, and the unfortunate offender was met with dual scowls from the headmaster and headmistress. Today it was two students who laughed, a girl and a boy, and Charles and Elsie glowered at them twice as hard. Still, the happy couple couldn't help the fact that their matching stern expressions melted into soft eyes and warm smiles when they gazed at each other one last time before disappearing into their respective classrooms.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
That afternoon, Charles came to Elsie's office for "tea," which was no longer actually "tea" in Charles's case. Ever since he'd revealed to Elsie that he didn't really like tea (and drank it only because every respectable Englishman should drink tea), she'd begun assisting him in publicly keeping up his ruse. Every day before their usual afternoon tea time, Elsie would go and prepare two half-cups of tea in the teachers' lounge and bring them back to her office. But after Charles arrived and her door was closed, she would pull out a bottle of sparkling water, one that she'd brought from home in a small insulated sack with a cold pack, stashed away in her school bag. And Charles would sip the water while Elsie would drink both cups of tea. Today, he arrived to find her marking papers while she waited for him.
"Hello, love. I've missed you since lunchtime," he said, bending to kiss her cheek.
She stood from her desk to greet him. "I've missed you, too. It's been over two hours!"
She took his bottle of water from her bag and set it down on the table, where the two cups of tea sat waiting.
"So we're all set for the flurry of activity during the next two weeks? Anything else we need to do?" Elsie asked as they took their seats.
"No, I think we're in good shape," Charles assured her.
"Ms. Patmore submitted the menu for the awards banquet. I put it in your inbox earlier. You can take a look, but I think it's fine."
"And I spoke with Mr. Travis about the baccalaureate prayer service. We finalized all the arrangements."
For a few minutes longer, they spoke of school business, sometimes holding hands or brushing knees, but soon Charles had to excuse himself to get back to work. He thanked her for the "tea" and promised to see her later.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Charles went to Elsie's office at the end of the day, intending to walk her home. He found her with Beryl.
"Ah. Hello, ladies," he offered in greeting. "Ms. Patmore, are you leaving now, too? I can walk both of you home if you'd like."
Beryl answered cautiously. "Thank you, Mr. Carson, but Ms. Hughes and I have to tend to some business this evening."
"What sort of business?" asked Charles innocently. "Wedding business? Might I help?"
"No! You most certainly may not help with this business!" Elsie answered, a little too sharply.
Charles looked hurt.
"What Ms. Hughes means is that it's girl business," said Beryl, trying to be tactful and diplomatic. "Woman stuff, you see. A feminine matter."
Elsie buried her crimson face in her hands.
But Charles pressed on obliviously. "What sort of 'feminine matter'? You've chosen your dress. You've spoken to the Crawley ladies about the decorations and favors. We've chosen the dinner menu, the cake, and the sweets. And we're to meet with old Mr. Molesley next week about the flowers. What else can there be? Surely – " Charles inhaled sharply as realization dawned. "Oh! … You mean … ? Oh, I see. Right. Well, then. I'll be on my way."
He nodded brusquely to Beryl, quickly kissed Elsie on the cheek, and made his escape.
"Well, that was just mortifying!" exclaimed Elsie when Charles was out of earshot.
"Oh, come, now. It's not all that bad. Whatever we choose, he's going to see it eventually," Beryl rationalized. "That's the whole point!"
"Yes, but it's not 'eventually' yet. And our talking about it now and his knowing about it … Well, it's just … uncomfortable, to say the least."
"Come on, then, love. Let's go and find you something pretty."
And Beryl chivvied Elsie out the door.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Twenty minutes later, Elsie and Beryl stood in the middle of Underthings*, an exclusive, upscale lingerie boutique just a few blocks from Downton. They wore big, floppy hats and dark sunglasses lest they be recognized by anyone they knew.
"Hello, ladies! Can I help you with something?" asked a chipper young salesgirl.
"I'm sure you can, dear, in a little while," answered Beryl. "But not just yet. We'd like to have ourselves a little look around first."
"Of course. Just let me know if you need anything," said the associate, and she left the ladies on their own.
"Beryl, are you sure we should be here?" Elsie worried as she tried to hide behind a rack. "Maybe I can order something from a catalog or a website."
"No, no!" Beryl replied. "That will never do. We need to see the real article, and you need to try it on. Everything in those catalogs and on those websites looks gorgeous when it's photoshopped onto on a twenty-year-old, five-foot-ten, hundred-and-fifteen-pound model! But the real thing never quite lives up to the picture, does it?"
"I suppose you're right," Elsie sighed resignedly. "Let's get on with it, then."
And they began to look around in earnest.
"Oh, my. Who on earth would wear that?" asked Beryl, pointing in astonishment at something she couldn't even identify.
"More importantly, how would one wear that? On what part of the body does it go?" Elsie questioned, similarly flummoxed. She tilted her head this way and that. "Is it … upside-down, maybe? Never mind. I don't really want to know."
"Right. This is clearly the area meant for promiscuous young things. We need the 'refined ladies of respectable standing' section. Let's go over there. That must be the 'elegant' department."
To their mutual relief, the women did find some more tasteful items. At length, with Beryl's help, Elsie chose an ensemble to wear under her wedding dress and on the wedding night and a few additional pieces suitable for the honeymoon.
As Elsie stood at the register checking out with her purchases, Beryl elbowed her urgently and whispered, "Elsie! Elsie! Finish up, and let's get out of here quickly!"
"Why? What's wrong?" Elsie asked with mild concern.
"Don't look now, but …" Beryl shifted her eyes and inclined her head, drawing Elsie's attention to the "promiscuous young things" area of the store, where Gladys Denker-Spratt was happily perusing some of the racier items on the racks.
"Oh, dear! Right you are," Elsie said.
She completed her purchase as quickly as possible, and she and Beryl made a beeline for the door, bursting into a fit of giggles as soon as they were safely outside.
"Don't be too relieved," warned Elsie once she was calm enough to speak. "We'll be back here soon enough to find something for you after Bill pops the question!"
"Cheeky!" cried Beryl, swatting Elsie's arm.
"Let's go and have ourselves a drink. I think we need one after that!" Elsie suggested, and Beryl was quick to agree.
A/N This chapter was intended to provide a peek at a typical school day now that Elsie and Charles are engaged … so that you can compare it to a previous, typical day before they got together (see chapter 2 of the main part of the story). I also wanted to include a parallel story to the canon "young Mary running-away-with-the-silver/sixpence/kiss" story, which is one of my favorites.
*A kind reviewer, reading teacher88, requested after the last chapter that I let you in on the underwear shopping. I hadn't originally planned to write that part, but when I discovered that there indeed exists in Lincoln Park, right in the area where I imagine Downton Academy to be, a real, actual, honest-to-goodness, true-life lingerie boutique called "Underthings," I just couldn't resist. Visions of Elsie and Beryl wearing big hats and dark glasses and covertly picking through racks of intimate apparel (some tasteful and some not) were too good to pass up. Some friendly encouragement from libbybell (putmeinyourpocketmike) also helped.
Please leave a review if you can. Your reactions and feedback stoke the fires of creativity and inspiration. I will try to respond to all reviews as soon as I'm able, but this website has been acting badly again, so I can't guarantee anything. The folks in charge will fix the bug(s) eventually, but I don't know how long that might take.