Chapter 25

"Sarah … hello … I did not think you would still work here …" Charles stuttered.

"I don't … not really … I own the tea shop now … and you are the last person on earth I expected to see in here …" she smiled.

Elsie continued to hold Charles' hand as she stood silently watching this conversation unfold. There was something about Sarah that made her anxious; she was overly confident in the way she spoke to Charles. Elsie wondered if Charles was ever going to introduce her. Thankfully, he must have had the same thought.

"Oh … I am sorry … Sarah ... this is my wife Elsie …" Charles said flustered.

Elsie noticed that Sarah had been surprised at this introduction, for a moment she seemed to waver but then she regained her composure.

"It is nice to meet you Sarah …" Elsie said politely.

"It is nice to meet you also Elsie … in fact I am very pleased to meet the woman who finally got Charlie down the aisle …" she laughed cynically.

Elsie smiled at the woman despite not appreciating her humour at all. Sarah's words had a coldness to them that Elsie really did not like.

"Well Sarah … we should be going … it was lovely to see you again … but Elsie and I really must catch the train home …" Charles said, racing through his words and tugging on Elsie's hand. He knew he had some explaining to do and the sooner he did this, the better.

Elsie looked up at her man; he looked very unsettled. Who was this Sarah? Charles had never mentioned her at all. Was she a friend? Or was she an ex-girlfriend? Elsie decided the second option was most likely, given the smug expression on the woman's face as well as the sheepish demeanour of her husband. However, Charles had told her all about Alice, therefore surely if Sarah had meant anything important to Charles, he would have told Elsie about her as well. This thought reassured Elsie a little; she had convinced herself that Sarah could not have been anything more than a fleeting romance. Yet, Elsie was desperate to know more about this woman and, more importantly, to know exactly how much Sarah had meant to Charles.

"My goodness Charlie … you haven't seen me in all of these years and now you want to run off after such a brief chat …" Sarah said, shaking her head as a smirk appeared on her lips. Elsie realised that Sarah was enjoying teasing Charles in this way. She seemed to like to see him unsettled and on edge. Therefore Elsie decided to play her at her own game.

"Oh Charles and I can easily get the next train Sarah … why don't we all have a cup of tea together …" Elsie suggested, beaming at Sarah as the tea shop owner looked displeased that Elsie was so calm. Sarah tried to continue her bravado,

"That would be delightful Elsie … I am sure Charlie has told you all about me and so it will nice for me to hear all about you …" she said smugly to Elsie. Sarah knew that Charles had never mentioned her to Elsie; that much was clear from Elsie's surprised expression moments earlier.

Elsie was becoming increasingly riled by this woman but was determined to remain calm. As for Charles, he had a feeling of doom deep down in his stomach. He did not like where this was headed at all. He knew that Sarah had been left very bitter all of those years ago, although he hoped with time this had lessened. However, he could not bear for her to take out any remaining resentment on Elsie. Elsie was the innocent party here and she did not deserve to be used in some sort of tit for tat by Sarah. Charles looked from one woman to the other: Sarah had a cruel smirk on her face and Elsie looked to be forcing a smile, yet she was obviously shaken by the last few moments. Charles thought desperately that he wished he had told Elsie about Sarah but he had not done so and now he had to face the consequences; he only hoped she would understand.

######

They were sitting at a table in the tea shop; an awkward atmosphere surrounding them. Sarah had just finished asking Elsie all manner of questions about her previous career which Elsie had duly answered. However, Elsie was determined to find out about Sarah and Charles and so she decided to steer the conversation.

"So … how long ago was it that you two knew each other?" Elsie asked.

Charles jumped in before Sarah could speak, "It was about 20 years ago Elsie … a long, long time ago … we met before you joined me at Downton …"

Charles wanted to reassure Elsie; he did not want her to have a second of doubt about this woman. Charles grasped Elsie's hand beneath the table and was gazing at her intently as he spoke. He would explain all of this fully once they were alone but for now, he wanted to comfort her as much as possible. Elsie gazed at Charles but something told her she did not know the full story and she needed to know this now as this woman seemed to be dangling selective bits of information in front of her. Despite Charles' attempts to calm the situation, Elsie felt foolish and ridiculous that she was sitting here finding out information about her husband from this old flame of his. She felt vulnerable that the two people sitting at the table knew more than her, much more than her, about whatever had taken place in the past. She was furious with Charles that he had allowed her to be placed in the awkward predicament but she was even more furious with this woman, who was becoming more and more unpleasant in her tone and words. Elsie was trying so hard to rise above this, to pretend this was not bothering her but she could feel her temperature rising.

"Yes … about 20 years … we were sweethearts you see … and Charlie here courted me … quite the romantic he was ..." Sarah said with a self-satisfied smile.

Elsie's stomach lurched with that pronouncement, although she had already summised that Sarah had been in a romantic relationship with Charles. Elsie was trying with all of her might not to be jealous; this was a long time ago after all. However, Elsie did not enjoy the thought of Charles being romantic with anyone except her; particularly not this prickly woman in front of her. Elsie Carson, get a grip on yourself, she thought sensibly; Charles is yours now and he loves you. Remember how you scolded him for being jealous about Doctor Clarkson, well listen to your own advice she thought, he no longer cares for this woman. As Elsie looked again at Charles, she could see panic in his eyes and he was holding her hand even more firmly. She was broken from her thoughts when Sarah continued to speak,

"… Charlie and I were very close … very close indeed … I dare say I know Charlie almost as well as you Elsie …" Sarah claimed.

Elsie was furious now; how dare this woman claim such a thing. How arrogant for her to even suggest it and Elsie was getting more and more irked with her constant references to 'Charlie' rather than 'Charles'. Her husband could see the fire behind Elsie's eyes intensify and he knew he needed to intervene, which he did swiftly.

"Sarah … there is no way on earth that you know me like Elsie does … you and I courted in the dim and distant past … Elsie and I on the other hand were dear friends for two decades and are now very happily married … Elsie knows me better than anyone … in fact she knows me better than I know myself sometimes …" he said adamantly, smiling lovingly at his wife.

Charles felt wretched about the way this conversation was going. He knew it had been a dreadful idea to stay in this tea shop, to have tea with Sarah. He was no fool and he knew that he had left her feeling resentful and betrayed all those years ago and raking up details of this old relationship was doing no-one any good at all; not him, not Sarah and, and it broke his heart to say this, the worst affected was Elsie. Charles winced as he thought of his precious Elsie having to sit and listen to this woman, who was lauding over his wife details of a relationship Charles had long since forgotten.

"Ah but Charlie …" Sarah began.

That was it; Elsie snapped.

"Will you stop calling him Charlie! He hates to be called Charlie … and I don't care what you called him all of those years ago … would you kindly call him Charles now …" Elsie demanded.

"Well he was always my Charlie …" Sarah replied with a smirk.

"But he isn't now … he is my husband Charles … and you'd do well to remember that …" Elsie said more loudly than she had intended. She had had enough of this dance Sarah seemed to want to play. She did not intend to sit here a moment longer; it had been a bad idea of hers to stay, to try and be civil to this woman who seemed hell bent on upsetting both of them and, Elsie thought ruefully, she had absolutely succeeded. They had enjoyed a lovely afternoon until this ghost from Charles's past had reappeared. Elsie now felt completely unsettled and she felt let down by Charles. She certainly did not expect to know every single thing about his past but for her to have to sit and find out things from a stranger that she really should have found out from her husband was truly awful.

"Elsie … you have nothing to be jealous of … Charlie and I have not seen each other for decades … I hope you are not worried …" Sarah began, in a sickly sweet voice that appeared to Elsie to be completely insincere and very patronising.

"Sarah stop this right now … of course Elsie is not jealous as she has absolutely no need to be … I love Elsie with all of my heart … I have never loved any other woman the way I love Elsie … she is the love of my life and although I don't mean to be hurtful … the truth is … you are simply a small part of my past …" Charles remonstrated.

Elsie was very glad to hear this defence from Charles. However, she could see that they had both played into Sarah's hands, she wanted to elicit a reaction like this, and she wanted to cause tension between them. Charles must have really hurt her, Elsie thought, for the woman to be this bitter after over twenty years had passed. There was something Elsie had not been told, she was sure of it. She could see it in the way Charles had panic written over all of his face and she could tell there was something more in the brittleness and anger that was exuding from every pore of this other woman.

"A small part of your past Charlie … is that it … is that all you think of me? If I was such a small part of your past … why on earth did you ask me to marry you?" Sarah snarled.

Elsie looked across to the woman with total astonishment on her face. He had asked Sarah to marry him; they had been engaged. Elsie could barely breathe; how could Charles not have told her this? How could he keep this secret buried? Sarah noted the bewildered expression on Elsie's face.

"That's right Elsie … you did not know that did you? Your beloved Charlie ... who you know so well … proposed to me … was going to marry me … until he called the whole thing off and left me completely and utterly heart-broken …" Sarah barked, losing all control.

Charles looked to Elsie with fear and panic gripping his heart. He squeezed Elsie's hand, desperately trying to reassure her, but his heart sank as he felt Elsie pull her hand away from his grasp.