The schuyler sisters are together!"Alexander, come downstairs Angelica is here", Eliza called up the stairs. She frowned when she got no response. Peggy stood at the door, bouncing on her feet. It had been months since she saw Angelica. They wrote to each other often of course but its not the same as seeing them in person. She waited with Peggy at the door. Eliza frowned when Alexander wasn't coming down.
She headed up to his office. She forgot to knock. He was sitting on his couch, rereading old letters. He quickly gathered them up when he saw her, wiping tears from his cheeks.
"Sorry. Why didn't you knock?" He asked with anger in his voice.
"I'm excited for Angelica to arrive. It slipped my mind. Alexander, what upset you?"she asked him, ignoring his anger.
"I'm reading letters from John, but my mind keeps racing. Do you ever wonder if when I say red, for example, there is no way to know if red means the same thing in your head as in mine. I wonder if inside my head I'm a little bit different from my friends. I'm sorry I'm not quite explaining it right. I wish my mind would just stop for once. Eliza I wish for silence but not really silence. Like when you turn a page in a book or you're alone in a forest quiet is what I long for. John. John was a little different too", he covered his eyes. Eliza listened to him. He was trying to tell her something. She just couldn't understand what.
"You need to take a break, you've been working too hard", Eliza hugged him. He nodded.
"The noise in my head is incrediably loud. There's this light and it's forming into anger. Why did John have to be killed? God can be cruel. I just wish for quiet. I miss him", Alexander continued to try to explain how he felt.
"You need to rest for the day. Go into our room and take a nap. Come down when you're ready", Eliza led him into their room and kissed him before he laid down.
"What about Angelica?" He asked with his eyes closed. She smiled at him.
"She understands your work is important. I'll tell her you'll be down when you're ready", she reassured him.
Eliza headed downstairs. Angelica hugged her immediately.
"Our little sister is married and you didn't tell me?" Angelica said in a shocked tone. Eliza laughed.
"Unless you expect me to send a pigeon there is no way for me to tell you of Peggy's marriage on such short notice", Peggy was only married a week ago.
"I've missed you so much", Eliza stepped back.
"John, it's great to see you again", Eliza greeted Angelica's husband. He nodded.
"Thank you for having us", he replied politely. He bowed slightly as he kissed her hand.
She led them to the parlour. Angelica's children stayed with their nanny.
"Adalyia will you fetch Philip for me?" Eliza asked the servant before she sat beside Angelica and Peggy.
"Do tell, what is the reason for moving to Europe?" Eliza asked John and Angelica. Peggy frowned.
"Yeah, why are you leaving us?" Peggy asked more abruptly. Eliza held back a laugh.
"I will be acting as a bridge between the US army and France", John explained to them.
"Angelica! My apologies I had work to finish", Alexander hugged her. Angelica grinned.
"You write to me. You hear me?" Angelica smiled at him. He nodded.
Adalyia brought in Philip. The toddler ran straight for his daddy. Alexander picked him up.
"Wave to Auntie Angelica and Auntie Peggy", Alexander helped Philip to wave. He copied him and waved to them.
Alexander stepped outside with John and Stephen. Philip followed them.
"Okay now that they're gone. Are you okay with this?", Eliza asked her sister.
"What else am I supposed to do?" Angelica shrugged.
"But moving to Europe?" Eliza wiped a tear from her eye. What if she never saw her sister again? Crossing the ocean isn't a safe journey.
"It's not safe", Peggy hugged Angelica.
"It's not really my choice is it? It will be fun, interesting, the start of a new adventure. Plus Thomas Jefferson is in France. I can't wait to give him a piece of my mind", she smiled thinking of what she would say to him.
"I suppose it is not", Peggy sighed, still holding onto Angelica. Eliza nodded.
"What do you think France is like?" Eliza grinned, thinking back to a planting she had seen of Paris, 'the love letter'. It always looked so romantic. She heard that it was always warm. They didn't experience winter in France.
"I'd imagine it's similar to America,'' Angelica replied. "They are still under British control". Peggy sat up. She took a sip of wine that was left out for them.
"It always looked so romantic in the paintings", Peggy mentioned.
"It would be so nice to be able to visit you over there for a summer", Eliza glanced over at her child and husband. "We could never afford it though".
"He loves you, Eliza", Angelica followed her gaze.
"And you love him. Paris won't be very romantic to me. We married for status", Angelica said as she turned back to Eliza. Eliza frowned at her older sister.
"Do you ever wish you could have married someone else?" She asked Angelica.
"I've always known I was going to marry rich. Why should I be ashamed of that?" Angelica shrugged.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of. As long as you love him", Eliza replied.
"Well, take you and Alexander, for example, you're in love. That isn't always the case in marriage. I do believe though that we have some power over who we love. I love John but I do not for one second believe it is in the same way you love Alexander", Angelica explained her opinion to her sisters.
"I don't think the poets would agree", Peggy laughed. Angelica sighed.
"Well I'm not a poet, I'm just a woman and as a woman I there is no way for me to make my own money ", she told them. "Not enough to earn a living or support my family. Even if I did make any money, it would belong to John. Our children belong to John. They are his property. So don't sit there and tell me that marriage isn't an economic proposition. It may not be for you but as the oldest it certainly is for me", Angelica glanced at her husband as he drank a glass of whiskey with Stephen. Alexander ran around with his jacket off chasing after Philip who squealed with laughter when he was caught. There was silence between them.
Eliza laughed at her husband. Relief flooded through her that he seemed better than earlier.
"Alexander really shows that he wasn't born to money, doesn't he?" Peggy nudged Eliza. She held her head in her hand.
"Don't remind me. I'm constantly fixing his etiquette. He doesn't exactly appreciate it but after all he could be in Congress someday", Eliza ranted to Peggy.
"I'll be back in a moment", Eliza excused herself. She checked on dinner and when it would be ready.
"Pick out a few good bottles of wine", she instructed Adalyia.
"Dinner will be ready in 2 hours", Adalyia told her. Eliza nodded.
"Shall we join the men outside?" Eliza suggested when she got back to the parlour. Peggy grinned as she stood up. Angelica smiled and went outside with them.
"Hello ladies", Stephen greeted them. Peggy smiled at him.
"The Schuyler sisters", Alexander winked at them before he got tackled by his son. He dramatically fell down.
"You got me", he tickled Philip. Eliza smiled at her husband.
"You always did get too easily distracted by the ladies", Angelica commented. Alexander shrugged. She wasn't wrong.
"Stephen, will you accompany me on a walk?" Peggy asked him. He linked her arm and nodded.
"Do you mind if I join you?" John asked them. Peggy shook her head.
"Not at all there's a lovely park nearby", she smiled at him. The three of them left for the park.
"I'm going to stay here. I am quite tired", Angelica told her husband as she sat on the bench. Eliza sat beside her.
"How is your little boy?" Eliza asked Angelica. Alexander took Philip inside and left him with Angelica's nanny.
"He is my pride and joy. He comes out with the wildest statements", she smiled. Alexander laughed.
"I wonder where he gets it from", he sat beside his wife.
"He is fluent in French already", she bragged.
"So am I", Alexander grinned as he put up his hand. She laughed at his antics. He could be so childish at times. Eliza giggled.
"On a serious note, we're going to miss you Angelica but if we must say abieu then let it not be forever. You will write to your dearest brother won't you?" He smiled at her. Eliza nodded.
"I will", Angelica promised. "I must check on my Philip". She stood up, Alexander's foot was caught on her petticoat. She fell into his lap. He caught her, his hands on her hips.
"I'm so sorry", Angelica blushed.
"If you wanted to sit on my lap, at least wait until your sister is not sitting beside us", Alexander joked to break the tension. Eliza smirked.
"Don't mind me", she sat back as she watched the situation unfold. She trusted her sister.
Angelica caressed his face. She gave him a smile that would have any man undone.
"I did say ask nicely for you to share", she joked with Eliza. Eliza laughed.
"Ha", she pushed Angelica up. Angelica laughed as she went inside to check on her son.
Eliza kissed her husband once Angelica was out of sight.
"Are you feeling better?" She asked him referring to earlier when she found him crying in his office. He nodded.
"Much better, my love", he kissed her again.
"All I needed was a nap and fresh air", he smiled at her.
"There is one other thing I need", he smirked at her.
"What would that be?" She played into him. He ran his hand along her thigh, she could barely feel it through all the layers she had on but she could quite clearly see his hand.
"We have guests who would notice if we snuck away", she placed her hand over his.
He stood them up and led them inside.
"Angelica I have work that I must get copied out for tomorrow. I apolyagise for I must steal Eliza to copy it out for me. For no one copies it out quite as fast as she does. I believe she had practice copying out your father's work" Alexander informed their sister.
"Alexander you really need to learn to take a break", Angelica rolled her eyes at him. He nodded.
"Probably but never will. I assure you it won't take more than 20 minutes", he laughed as he led her to his office.
"What do you need copied out?" Eliza asked, confused by his rushed demeanor. He laughed as he cleared the space on his desk.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her.
"I need nothing copied. You, I have you", he moaned in between kisses.
He undid her corset before lifting her onto the desk.
"Are we really going to do this in your office?" She asked him. He smirked before kissing her neck. Eliza moaned at the sensation.
"You need to be quiet", he told her. She moaned, biting her wrist to stop herself calling out.
…
Eliza fixed her hair and her clothes before heading downstairs.
"Wait", he stopped her. He quickly wrote a sentence on paper.
"Run your hand along it", he took her hand and made it look like she was just rushing to copy his work by leaving an ink stain. She frowned at him.
"Now I have to wash this off", she pouted. She put white gloves over it to cover the stain.
Angelica gave her sister a knowing look.
"Did you get the work done?" She asked Eliza. Eliza nodded.
"He's nonstop. There's always more work to do", Eliza smiled at her. "But yes we complete this one". Alexander sat down, telling the children a story.
"I'd say he's very good at his work", Angelica grinned. Eliza nodded.
"Very good indeed", she blushed slightly.
Alexander smirked at them.
"As flattering as it is. Can you stop talking about how good I am at my 'work' in front of me?" He asked them. The sisters laughed. Eliza excused herself as she checked on dinner.
Thanks for reading x