LIFE IS THE ART OF CHOICE-2
Hello dear people. As I promised yesterday, I'm back with the update. Thank you for your comments, private messages and to all the people who followed my story after the first chapter. You are giving me a lot of credit and I will try not to let you down. In this chapter, Elsie and Charlie will have few too many drinks in the evening and Charles will be very close to making a declaration. Will he do it? Let's find out...
Things have progressed recently. Elsie was really happy about the direction into which their relations were heading. Their evening talks became more and more intimate...They were not sitting far away from each other any more, like before, but very close, on the sofa and yesterday, when she was telling him about the difficult experiences from her childhood, he even put his hand on hers and stroke her gently.. That was the first physical contact which they had. She was so amazed when he did that, that she began to lose the motiv of her story, when she felt his big hand on hers...The way he touched her, so delicately, made her shiver...She rose her eyes to look at him, but he wasn't looking at her...His eyes were focused on her hand, on the way he was touching her. When he felt her eyes on him, he looked at her and she saw the softness in his eyes, the kind of softness, which he normally never revealed...
Her body was floded with hot flushes...She wanted him to continue, to go furhter with this, but he backed down...
Elsie was very disappointed, but she promised herself, that tonight, she will lead to the situation of their closeness again...Whatever it takes, she knew, that she wants to take it on another level. Once Charles will see and understand what they have, what they could have, he will no longer be hesitant towards the question of their romance and marriage. At least that was what she hoped it will be...
To be sure that her plan will work, she prepared very carefully to this evening. She asked Mrs Patmore to prepare a tray of sweets, because she knew how much of a sweet tooth Charles was. She made sure that his favorite wine-Margaux, was there and quite a lot of Sherry. She was waiting patiently for the moment, when all the Downton staff would go away for the night. The last thing that she would need tonight, would be any unecessary interruptions...
She was happy, when she saw that everything worked exactly the way she planned it. Very soon, she and Charles were already sitting on the sofa, drinking wine, eating some treats from Mrs Patmore's tray and talking...Elsie thought, that it would be a good idea to return to her childhood memories again, since this was the subject that he found very interesting and that gave hope for her, for another intimate moment, like the one they had yesterday...She was not wrong...When she started to tell him, how bad she and her sister were treated by her father, the stern man, who wasted no opportunity to teach his daughters obedience, using his belt frequently, tears appeared in the corner of her eyes..That wasn't a calculation from her side. She wasn't doing it to lure him...Those memories were simply to hard to bear for her and before she realized, tears were flowing down her face freely and he took her hand in his once more, because his heart clenched, when he saw her pain...
"Mrs Hughes...I'm so sorry that you had to go through this...It must have been awful for you and your sister...I can see how it hurt you..How it still hurts...Can I help you in any way? Do anything for you?...I will do anything to make you feel better...Please, just tell me what can I do..."
"Actually...There is something you can do for me right now..."
"Anything...You just name it..."
"Would you?...Would you hold me please? I really need this..."
Charles stiffened a bit, when he heard the request, echoes of propriety and a behavior which was adequate for the servants, sounded like an alarm in his brain, but his feelings for her were stronger than the rules...Without thinking about the consequences, he took her in his arms and held her tightly...
Elsie couldn't believe that this was really happening...After all those years, after all the waiting...Finally, she was in the arms of her beloved man...She nestled her head into the crook of his neck and the he felt wetness of her cheeks on the side of his neck...
His arms tighten around her and she put her hand on his shoulder, making small circles...She never felt so relaxed, so calm, so safe...She thought, that she would never want to leave his arms...To stay like this forever with him..The warmth of his body, caused a feeling of endless delight... She closed her eyes and listened to the steady beating of his heart...They haven't said a word...Words were unecessary in this beautiful moment...Elsie couldn't tell how long they were sitting like this, but she noticed that neither of them were eager to break this contact...She figured, that maybe it was the right time to move forward...She cautiously raised her head, to look him in the eyes and what she saw there, told her everything...He loved her..There was no doubt about that...He loved her and she saw that in his eyes...She knew that he saw the same in her eyes...Without any furhter hesitation, she neared her face to his and her lips landed on his...Their first kiss was shy at first, but gradually it became more and more ardent...After a while, they caressed their lips with a passionate movements...
Elsie was totally overwhelmed with emotions, with her love and passion for him...She never wanted this to stop...When they parted for breathe, she was determined to not loose this precious moment and she surprised herself, with her own boldness, when she put her lips on his neck and started to treat him with small kisses, nibbling his soft and scented with a nice cologne skin...
Charles felt like he started to loose control too...No woman in the world, has ever made him feel that way before, no woman in the world has ever showed him such love and passion...She made him forget all the world, forget who he was and where he was...He felt a need of letting her know, how she effected him by doing what she was doing:
"Mrs Hughes...Elsie...Do you know what you are doing to me?..."
"Yes Charles...-She whispered.."I'm loving you, the way you should be loved..."
"Oh, my darling...I love you..."
"And I love you..."
They've kissed and kissed again...They couldn't bring themselves to stop...Time ceased to exist for those two...There was nothing else, but them and their love...Elsie didn't want to break this moment between them, but she knew that they should go to sleep...If someone from the staff would get up right now and saw them here...
Charles reluctantly broke away from her and they left her sitting room together, walking side by side, in the dark corridor of the servants hall..When they reached the stairs, Charles suddenly drew her close again and gave her the last sweet kiss goodnight...She caressed his hair and his cheek gently, looking at him with a great doze of love and the words he said to her, almost made her fell down the stairs...
"Mrs Hugh..Elsie...It's late tonight, but tomorrow, I would like to talk to you about something very important...Do you agree?..."
"Yes Mr Car...Charles...I agree...We will talk tomorrow...Goodnight my love..."
"Goodnight my sweetheart..."
He squeezed her hand reassuringly, as if he wanted to let her know that a new, wonderful chapter of their life was about to begin and she believed him...
When they parted to go to their rooms, Elsie lied on her bed, unable to sleep, filled with joy and happiness...So, her dreams will finally come true...No doubt Charles will ask her to marry him tomorrow...It will take some adjustments in her life, but it didn't matter. She didn't want to think about it now...The most important thing was, that they will be together...That she will spent next years of her life caring about him and loving him and...Elsie blushed, for the very thought of what else they will be doing together, when they will get married..Those few passionate moments, that they spent tonight, stimulated some of her wildest dreams, that she normally didn't allow herself to have...
When she finally dozed off to sleep, she saw an image his face, full of love, looking at her...
The next day
Elsie was rather surprised, when she didn't find Charles during the brekfast next morning, but she figured that he probably had some important, last minute duties, that he wanted to fullfill, before the day of proper work will start...She decided to get him a coffee and some toasts to his pantry.
She knocked and entered, to find him sitting by his desk, buried in his papers...Her face brightened immediately, on the very first sight of him..
"Good morning Charles...I brought you coffee and few toasts..Since you didn't eat your breakfast..."
"Thank you very much Mrs Hughes..I really appreciate it.."
"Mrs Hughes? Yesterday I was Elsie and today I'm Mrs Hughes? What happened since last night?"
"Hmmm...About last night...I think we need to talk..."
"Yes. That was the plan. We were suppose to talk..."
Charles neared the door and closed them..She look at him bewildered, sensing that something was wrong...
"I feel that I ought to explain something to you...You see..Last night, we both drank too much and that unfortunately caused a change in our behavior and our night meeting went in a very inappropriate direction...I blame myself for this...We said and done things which are not suitable for the heads of the staff, in the house like Downton Abbey..We forgot rules and propriety, which we are suppose to follow. I'm very sorry for that Mrs Hughes. I hope that you will be able to forgive me my bad behavior and that you will be kind enough to forget that last night has happened..."
"What...? What are you saying? You want to tell me that last night was a mistake to you? That you didn't mean what you said and did?..."
"Yes. That is exactly what I'm trying to say..."
"But Charles..I don't understand it...How is that possible? Charles!..."
There was so much pain in her voice, that almost cut his heart in half and he wanted to tell her that this was not true, that he really didn't mean it...But he couldn't..Instead, he did what he always did in this kind of situation...He let his pompous and stuffy nature of his, won with the love that he had for Elsie...
"I think that I have made my point rather clear Mrs Hughes...I'm sure that you understand...One more thing-I expect us to go back to addressing each other properly, like we did before, especially in the presence of others...I would be grateful, if you would call me Mr Carson, like you did till now and I will call you Mrs Hughes. I think that's all that I wanted to say. We should get back to our duties."
"Very well Mr Carson. I understand. Yes, we should get back to our duties now.."
Elsie left his pantry and she went towards her sitting room, like a lunatic..She wasn't sure where she was going. She just knew one thing-that she has to stay alone, immediately, otherwise she won't be able to take it...
She went inside her sitting room, closed the door, leaned agains the door and she started to sob uncontrolably...She couldn't believe what he just did to her...Not only did he destroyed everything what they had last night, not only did he denied his love for her, but he also hurt her like never before...Made a fool of her...Of her dreams, her hopes for the future... She was crazy enough to think that he will ask her to marry him and instead, he rejected her and asked her to go back to the formality of their contacts...She went to the window, on shaky legs and she cried, letting all the pain outside...She felt like an idiot...Not only did she open her heart and literally thrown herself on him, but also she believed that they have a future together...Now, she will have to live here, in a constant feeling of shame, knowing that the man she loved and desired, doesn't love her back and he is probably disgusted with her actions..
She thought that there was only one possible solution at the moment...To move away from Downton...And forget that she has ever lived here...Erase that long period of her life from her mind...It was either that, or she will be forced to spent the rest of her live, working side by side, with a man, that was the whole world for her, while she meant nothing to him...She put her hands on the window sill, trying to go back to balance, when she heard knocking to her door.
Frightened by the fact that someone may discover the state she was in, she swiftly wiped of her tears and she said: "Come in", with the most normal voice, that she has managed to get out of herself.
"Mrs Hughes, there is a letter for you from the morning post."-Anna said.
Elsie never turned around, she didn't want Anna to know what kind of state she was in...
"Thank you Anna. Please just put it on my desk. Will that be all?"- the tone in her voice, made Anna realize, that there was not a proper time for a casual conversation that they usually had.
"Yes Mrs Hughes, That is all. I will go back to my duties now."
Anna left, leaving Elsie all alone with her sorrow and despair...At first, she didn't even think about opening the letter..She had more important things in her mind, then some letter, but when the first shock has gone, she slowly approached the desk and she opened it. It was a short note, but after reading it her heart skipped a bit. It said:
Dear Elsie,
"I'm planning to visit Downton Abbey next week, to participate in your local fair. I will be staying in the pub inn for few days. I'm sincerely hoping that you will find some time to meet with me and reminisce the good, old days that we used to have in Scotland. I will be waiting impatiently for your answer."
Joe Burns
That's all for today's chapter...I know...Charles acted like a pig...Normally, in my stories, I always make him nicer, than he really is, but this is closer to his real character...Of course, he had his reasons and I will try to explain his point of view in the next chapter..Also, Elsie will meet Joe Burns...How will it all go? If you wish to know, you are more than welcome to read the third chapter...As always, sorry for any possible errors...Stay safe and see you soon!