After dinner Charles and Elsie sat together on the sofa in the living room as was their usual custom. Elsie leaned against the arm of the sofa with her feet in Charles lap. Deftly his fingers massaged the tension out of her tired feet as she knitted yet another pair of little socks for the newest addition to the Bates family.
As Elsie watched her husband she couldn't help but smile at him. After the initial shock of her banishment from the big house she had begun to come around to the idea of spending two weeks just the two of them. Perhaps it would be a good test to see what retirement would be like, not that she was ready to retire just yet, but certainly it was becoming a more and more tempting idea as her days dragged on. Certainly she could get used to spending more time with his deft fingers she thought to herself before blushing profusely.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Charles said when he noticed Elsie's cheeks flush suddenly.
"Oh…I was just…" She stammered, embarrassed at being caught out.
"You were just…."Charles said as his hand left the delicate skin of her heel and began moving up her calf slightly.
"I was just thinking how it makes perfect sense that you are so good at giving massages." She said.
"And why pray tell does it make perfect sense?"
"Well, you've spent so much of your life polishing silver. Certainly it takes a very precise hand, deft fingers to work all the cracks, just the right amount of pressure."
"Silly me, all these years I thought I was just being a good butler, when it seems I was actually training for something much more rewarding." He said, smiling at his wife as his hand moved further up her leg to gently tickle the skin of her inner thigh.
Elsie shuttered as his touch sent shock waves to her core.
"And what is that?" She asked, her breath hitching as his hand moved up higher.
"Making love to Elsie Hughes of course." He said leaning forward to press his lips to hers.
A reasonable amount of time later Charles was sat up in bed with his book in his lap. He could hear Elsie humming from the bathroom as she prepared for bed.
Though the book was open before him, he couldn't seem to get his mind to focus on the words. Instead he was still milling over the events of the evening. Making love on the sofa, though not a completely new experience for them, was certainly a rarity. He couldn't quite decide if he enjoyed it as much as their bed. Certainly the angles were slightly different, which seemed to be an especially nice change for her, however he was also semi aware of the added danger of being discovered while that close to the front door. He preferred to keep the details of their intimate life between the two of them. Imagine if Billy had come knocking a few hours later and heard such noises coming from just inside the house, very worrying. The poor child would be scarred for life!
But Elsie was happy, as far as he could discern from the lightness with which she moved around their bedroom while brushing out her hair and he certainty felt very relaxed and happy after such a pleasant evening.
And now he had two weeks to look forward to with Elsie beside him day and night. Just like the old days.
Though of course in the old days they weren't together all night, that would have been entirely inappropriate.
No, in those days he would see her off as she disappeared into the women's corridor. A land he dare not venture. Even when they had come to their understanding he had never felt any desire to cross over into that forbidden land. It would not have been comfortable for them anyhow, with so many others around. No he wanted his wife alone, in their own home.
Their honeymoon in Scarborough had been a bit of a challenge for him. In addition to discovering a new physical relationship between them he had also been intensely aware of the sheer volume of people around them. The hotel had been full to bursting and one could hardly swing a cat on the beach without running into some snotty nosed child, blabbering about this and that. It had not been a terribly relaxing time for either of them but they had enjoyed being together in a new and pleasurable way.
He was happy though to be in their own home. It was where he felt most at ease and the idea of spending the next two weeks just the two of them appealed to him greatly, perhaps by the end of it Elsie would decide against returning to the big house and instead take the final leap into retirement. He could only hope.
After Elsie had finally brushed out her hair (for it had become horribly tangled after their interlude on the sofa) and tied it up in a serviceable braid she climbed into bed beside her husband.
She grabbed the alarm clock that sat beside her bed and began to set it.
"Elsie, what are you doing?" Charles asked.
"I'm just…oh!" Elsie said realizing what she was doing.
"I don't think you need to set that love." He said softly, taking it from her hand and moving it to sit on his nightstand.
"No, I suppose not." She said, a bit dazed by the idea of not needing the alarm the next day.
"Though you are certainly welcome to get up as early as you'd like tomorrow, it might be nice to pretend its Sunday and have a bit of a lie in." He said setting his book aside and turning off his light.
"I suppose you're right." She said turning off her own lamp.
"Goodnight love." Charles said leaning over her to kiss her goodnight.
"Goodnight Charlie."
Laying back Elsie closed her eyes and quickly drifted off.
The next morning Elsie was awakened not by the blaring of her alarm clock but instead by the gentle tap of her husband.
"Elsie honey, its almost 9 o'clock." He said softly.
"Hmm, what?" She asked her brain still foggy from sleep.
"Well, if you're going to make breakfast you should get up soon." He said.
It was then Elsie leaned back and noticed Charles was already stressed for the day.
"Oh, um…yes of course. I'll get up now." She said, slowly pulling her body into a sitting position.
"Lovely, I'll just be downstairs reading the paper." Charles said turning to leave the bedroom.
Elsie stood up slowly, feeling all the aches in her body at once, certainly a little bit more sleep wouldn't have gone amiss she thought to herself.
Charles turned just before he reached the door and called back "Perhaps, since you don't need to rush to the house we can have a proper breakfast this morning?" He asked before disappearing out of the room.
A proper breakfast? Elsie thought to herself. Hmmmm, this doesn't bode well.