CHAPTER FOUR
Master Cullen hadn't slept well at all. His ear was glued on any sound that came its way. He practically pounced on Mrs. Cope around three in the morning when he thought he heard a crash downstairs but Mrs. Cope had dropped a plate when she was searching out a late night snack.
Master Cullen was a wreck that next morning and decided to not go into work that day. Mr. Whitlock had been by to inform him that Isabella had not turned up for breakfast. He wanted to check in on her but knew he shouldn't. He slammed his fist down on top of his wooden desk and growled in frustration.
This was ridiculous! Never had Master Cullen wasted so much effort on any person in the past few years. He needed to stay away from Isabella but the idea caused his chest to hurt. Master Cullen decided to keep his distance but if Mr. Whitlock came at noon and informed him that she had missed lunch as well, then, he would seek her out.
Meanwhile, Isabella was just finishing up her bath and plotting ways to dig into the hard exterior to her employer's heart. She thought over the guidelines that he agreed to amend with her and like lightning struck, she suddenly realized that she never did find out what the last clause was that he believed would cause her most grief.
Isabella climbed out of the tub, quickly being spurred on by her interest and slipped on the tile causing the right side of her bare thigh to take the brunt. She also managed to smack her head on the wooden part of the counter which may have caused her more pain than her naked thigh.
She rubbed her head and found a cut above her right eye with blood seeping from it. Isabella pushed up off the ground dirtying the floor with her bloody hand and hobbled toward the sink to grasp a towel.
"Silly stupid, Bella." She berated herself.
It took a few minutes to calm the bleeding down before she could get a good look at the cut. She was relieved to find that stitches wouldn't be necessary. Isabella had become somewhat of an expert on the subject since she had many accidents in her young life.
After working hard to clean herself up, Isabella finally found her way toward her drawers to pull out a clean outfit. Once again her curiosity peaked and her eyes slowly looked over toward the closet door. Wrapped in a towel, she walked toward the closet door and took a breath before opening it. She flipped the switch on and the room illuminated to find three identical dresses hanging before her.
Three incredibly plain and boorish dresses. Isabella scrunched up her nose and walked forward to touch the black fabric. The collars were high and tight and the dresses was long, most definitely too long, Isabella believed. She pulled one off the hanger and dropped the towel to the floor before slipping the dress on. It would need to be hemmed at least four inches or she would trip.
"I might as well be wearing a bag." She said to herself.
It was true as the dress was a tad too big and gave her no shape. The only part tight on her was the collar which she pulled at hoping to loosen it a bit but it would budge. Instead she opened a button or two to give her the opportunity to breathe properly.
In high school, Isabella had to work at a hot dog stand to earn money and was forced to wear a gigantic hot dog on her head but as she looked at herself in the long mirror, she would have taken the hot dog hat back gladly.
After the dress was dismissed, she climbed into a pair of old jeans and plain black t-shirt. She looked at her jeans and the stain that was on them and suddenly she was inspired. She ripped the jeans off and pulled on a different pair. These jeans could possibly be the help that young Alice Cullen needed for that evening. Excited about the prospects of her afternoon Isabella slipped on her shoes and went out in search of her charges bedroom without another thought to the final clause in her guidelines.
Since Mr. Whitlock had failed to give her the proper tour of the house, it took Isabella some time before she was able to locate the girl's bedroom. She knocked softly on the closed door and waited a few seconds before the smallest twin answered.
"Hi." Isabella greeted.
"Miss Swan." Alice gave a short curtsy.
"Do you mind if I come in?"
Alice was confused since a governess never came to their bedroom on a Sunday but she pulled the door open anyway. Isabella entered the room and marveled at the sparse space. Even her room had more character than this.
"Look, I know that you have to recite your Romeo and Juliet introduction tonight and I was hoping to help you with it." Isabella explained.
"Thank you, Miss Swan but I know the piece." She sighed, "I just can't ever seem to get it out properly. I get nervous and my hands begin to perspire."
"I understand. Your father is a little hard on you. But…I think I may have found a way to help with the nerves. She held out the pair of jeans that she had just discarded for Alice's inspection. Alice's face was filled with confusion.
"Jeans?" She asked.
"Do you have any markers?" Isabella asked her.
Alice slowly nodded her head and walked over toward her bedside table and pulled some markers out from the drawer.
"My father doesn't like us to make a mess but sometimes he allows us to use these when presenting a project." She explained.
Isabella sighed and wanted to go straight up to the office where she imagined Master Cullen to be just to give him an earful but this was much more important for the time being. Isabella spread out the jeans on the small wooden table and pulled all the markers from their container.
"Okay, this is what we are going to do. I want you to draw a picture that correlates to each line of the monologue. So we will start at the top of the jeans and work our way down. For example, the first line is two households both alike in dignity. For that you can draw two identical houses. Then tonight, instead of focusing on your father and his grumpy face, I want you to think about these pair of jeans and know that I will be wearing them underneath my dress."
Alice started giggling.
"You're really going to wear them?" She asked excitedly.
"You bet ya! It will be an Alice original that I would be honored to wear." Isabella said with a smile. She picked up a marker, "Ready to get busy?"
Alice never had more fun on a day when she had been on restriction. Art was something she had always loved but her father had never found the use in his daughters wasting their time with it. Alice and Isabella spent the afternoon drawing out fourteen different pictures up and down the legs of Isabella's old jeans. They were having so much fun that they forgot about going down to lunch.
Rosalie waited in the dining room for her sister's arrival but Alice never showed up.
"Where is your sister?" Mrs. Cope asked as she brought in the noon meal.
"I'm not sure, ma'am." Rosalie replied.
"I'll have to tell your father about this." Mrs. Cope said.
"Please…can I just go upstairs and find her. She's been studying so hard, she must have lost track of the time."
Mrs. Cope sighed but signaled with her eyes her approval.
"Be quick about it!"
Rosalie ran straight upstairs and burst into the bedroom. Both Alice and Isabella jumped back from their artwork with surprise. Rosalie didn't know what to make of the scene before her.
"Um…My apologies, Miss Swan but….lunch is ready and Mrs. Cope will tell our father of our tardiness." Rosalie explained.
"Oh! I can't believe it's already noon. Let's leave this till after lunch." Isabella said to Alice. "I am hungry myself."
Alice bit her lip and hoped that it would escape Mrs. Cope's mind of her tardiness.
"Don't worry, I will explain how it was my fault for your tardiness." Isabella comforted her.
The three of them walked down the stairs back toward the dining room. Rosalie was dying to talk to her sister but knew she wouldn't be able to have a private conversation until their new governess left. So far, Rosalie had trouble not knowing what to make of her new governess. She dressed oddly and spoke at dinners. She could tell that her father seemed more upset these days and wondered if it had anything to do with this woman's arrival.
Lunch was served with each person receiving a hearty soup and a bread roll. Isabella, having no breakfast and a small dinner the night before make the mistake of asking Mrs. Cope for seconds.
"You are given what you get and no more. If you are still hungry, you have no one to blame but yourself, seeing how you missed breakfast." Mrs. Cope admonished.
Isabella pulled back, feeling as if she had just been smacked across the face. She wondered how in the world this staff of Master Cullen's had the good fortune to be able to come together to find one another. Was there something about this town which breeds or drew together this exhausting sort of people?
Isabella began to think about dinner and if it was anything like the one dinner she had experienced before, she might have to take a trip into town soon to grab a box of crackers or something to get her through.
Lunch was finished by half past twelve and Isabella counted down the hours until tea time at four pm. Rosalie who wasn't allowed to spend time in her room while Alice was on restriction, decided to head back to the library for the rest of her day. Alice and Isabella climbed back up the long staircase to finish their art project. This time however, Isabella kept a close watch on the clock to ensure their timely arrival to tea. For one, she didn't want Alice to get into any more trouble and two; she really hoped there would be more food.
But tea time turned out to be the worst meal Isabella had yet to encounter. The tea may have been plentiful but only a couple of plain crackers which held no taste were served.
Isabella who had also been reprimanded at lunch for speaking sat at her place once again with her mouth shut, nibbling on the pathetic cracker.
"Miss Swan…may I ask you a question?"
Isabella's head shot up towards Rosalie as the young girl sat straight with her tea in her small hand.
"Uh…I thought we weren't permitted to speak at the table?" she whispered while looking around for either Mr. Whitlock or Mrs. Cope to come charging in ready to give another tongue lashing.
Rosalie looked over to her sister before replying.
"We may speak at tea…because father wants us to acquire the art of conversation. Proper ladies speak at tea and we must learn how to become a proper lady."
Isabella scrunched up her forehead at that reasoning. If Master Cullen wanted them to engage and be able to hold conversation, shouldn't they be allowed to speak at every meal?
"O…kay." Isabella said slowly feeling as if she was travelling further down the rabbit hole.
"I beg your pardon, Miss Swan, but I've never seen a lady dress like you are." Rosalie began.
"You've never seen a lady dress in jeans? Have you never been out of this house before? Never been into town?"
"Yes, we go into town when we need to visit the doctors for our annual checkup." Rosalie replied.
"And on our birthdays." Alice added.
"And…the women there, they don't dress in pants or jeans?" Isabella asked.
The girls both looked at one another and then back at her before shaking their heads. Isabella couldn't help but give a small laugh. Was Haven New York an Amish town? How was it possible for her to end up in a place so backwards? If Sheriff Black hadn't detained her, she might be able to see the archaic town for herself.
"Well…there are places outside of Haven New York where ladies wear all sorts of clothing. Do you ever watch television or go on the internet?" Isabella already knew the answer to her question before she asked it but wanted confirmation.
"No. Our father doesn't permit it." Rosalie replied.
Isabella nodded but she desperately wanted to grab the girls and make a run for it. How can this Master Cullen want his daughters educated but never given the opportunity to experience all the marvels of this earth? Granted she wasn't one for watching endless hours of television but she did see the importance of it.
"There is a huge world out there that I hope one day you two will have every opportunity to explore."
Isabella left it at that.
After tea time, Isabella helped Alice finish up her project before leaving with the newly designed pair of jeans. Alice had done such a nice job that Isabella wanted to keep them always. She went back to her room and flopped down on her settee to relax for a moment when her eyes caught the file once more.
She snatched the guidelines up once more and skipped straight to the last page.
X. All servants must submit and or disclose any current medical, personal and financial records for review.
a. If at any time a servant is seen by a referred physician, the master will have all access and permission to review physician directives and have final decision on any treatments needed.
b. All financial records will be submitted for review and if it is deemed necessary, the master can make proper financial decisions for servants.
Isabella felt herself stand in shock as the rest of the papers from the guidelines slid off onto the floor. Her mouth opened but there was no sound to compliment the utter shock and disgust she was feeling.
"Who…who do you think you are….Master Cullen?" She always said his name in the same sarcastic biting tone.
She looked over toward the window and towards the road that she had traveled down yester-evening and felt a pull back to it once more but after spending the day with Alice, she knew she couldn't abandon her.
"This is just so ridiculous. Who lives like this?" She exclaimed to the empty room.
She bent down and snatched up the pages from off the floor and walked over toward her small desk to find a red pen in the drawer. She had about an hour before she was to present herself down at the dining room table for dinner. She had just enough time to go through these rules and find her changes that she would present to this Master Cullen.
Meanwhile, up in his office where he had not left all day, Master Cullen tried fruitlessly to focus on a financial report that had been sent to him earlier that day. However, he had made little headway as images of his new servant kept popping up in his mind. Each time his thoughts went toward a darker dirtier nature, he would slam his fist down on his hard wooden desk to wake himself up from the inappropriate thoughts.
"Miss Swan made it to lunch, sir." Mr. Whitlock informed. "And according to Mrs. Cope, she asked for seconds."
Mr. Whitlock was most disapproving of the new girl's every action and wondered when his master would put an end to this nonsense. He longed for the days when it would be within his rights to take the girl outback and beat her with a branch from the nearest tree. He would see to her behavior adjustment just fine.
"Well that will teach her to not miss a meal." Master Cullen replied absently.
"She's been in with Ms. Cullen all afternoon as well. I don't know what the two of them were doing but when I went closer to the door I could hear laughter. Young Ms. Cullen is hardly being reprimanded if you ask me." Mr. Whitlock continued. "I'm not sure that this new influence is wise, sir."
"Are you questioning me?" Master Cullen asked calm and controlled.
"I don't understand what you mean by bringing that girl here. She is not going to bring you dear wife back with her presence. The Swan's abandoned this town and everyone in it. Her lineage is to blame and she should go."
"Mr. Whitlock." Master Cullen barked. "I have not asked for your opinion, nor do I need it. I have brought Miss Swan here because this is where she belongs. I have great respect for the Swans and the role that they played. Of course I didn't want to see them go but now that their family has died out and Isabella Swan is the only remaining Swan left, I will see to it that she is taken care of. I know Hope is dead and Miss Swan doesn't have the power to bring her back but it doesn't mean that she doesn't have some power here."
"Power? You believe the silly stories that the townspeople spin?" Mr. Whitlock raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know what I believe anymore but I know what is right and having Isabella return to Haven is the right thing to do. When I heard of Charlie's death, I knew I must do what I could to entice her to return. She has and she is my priority."
Mr. Whitlock breathed in deeply through his nose, holding his tongue. It seemed that Master Cullen had made up his mind and he would not be swayed to change it. He turned to leave his master in peace once more but could not help but leaving him with one more parting word.
"Then I suggest you tell her soon, sir. If she were to find out some other way, it would not do well for your cause."
Mr. Whitlock opened the sturdy dark wooden door and shut it directly behind him. Master Cullen turned in his chair to the window behind him and looked out over the maze that his dearly departed, Hope had created. The vast maze with ivy covered stone walls of varying height that in some places reached over seven feet tall. It had been many years since the last time he walked through it. He left that area for his daughters to explore these days.
What was he going to do?
He couldn't tell Miss Swan about the past just yet. She didn't trust him and it would most likely result in her trying to run once more. But, he didn't want some person slipping up and divulging her past history to her before he had the chance to thoroughly explain it.
He would need to find a way to gain her trust. To have her come to look at him as more than what she had believed. She wanted to go over the guidelines. Maybe if he was accepting to her wild ideas of improvement then that would be a start. Master Cullen knew that he mustn't lose his temper with her. A feat he knew was easier said than done.
Isabella slid the jeans that Alice had so expertly decorated, up over her now bruising thigh and zipped up before adorning the black drab dress. She had to hold it up to keep from tripping on the length of it. She hobbled downstairs as best as she could to find the dining room just in the nick of time.
She had abandoned her guidelines upstairs with the mind to retrieve them after dinner. Alice and Rosalie were already standing behind their chair waiting for their father to arrive. Isabella walked in and stood behind her chair and winked over at Alice holding up the dress enough so Alice could see that she did indeed wear the jeans, true to her word.
Alice smiled but abandoned it quickly when she heard her father approaching. Master Cullen walked in and past Miss Swan without even giving her a look over. He went to pull out his chair but as his eyes rose to meet Isabella's he became startled.
"What happened to you?" He barked.
Isabella looked herself over and the dress she was wearing.
"You asked me to wear this…this garb." She held up the dress in her hand.
"To your face. What happened to your face?"
Isabella's hand rose to her face and then she remembered the cut above her right eye from earlier.
"Oh…well the dress is rather long. I was bound to trip sooner or later. Worker's comp. if you ask me." She quipped.
Master Cullen's mouth opened in shock but before he could speak Isabella told him the truth.
"It's a joke. I fell in the bathroom this morning. But to be fair, I'm sure I will eventually fall in this dress…it's massive."
Master Cullen began to pull out his chair. "Well, than I will see to it that Mrs. Cope hems it soon. You should have brought to my attention your accident. You may need to have a doctor look you over."
"Oh, I am fine going without. No need for a doctor or for you to make any decisions for my health on my behalf." She replied pulling her chair out.
Master Cullen pulled his napkin down to his lap and managed to hide a smirk. He knew that she had finally read through the entire guidelines and it was only a matter of time before she brought up that rule.
Rosalie sat down at her place while Alice remained standing behind her chair.
"Alice, I take it that you are prepared even though it's my understanding that you spent your day having fun." Master Cullen announced referring to what Mr. Whitlock had told him.
Alice looked down and once again began to feel her hands perspire. She briefly looked over toward the new governess. Isabella smiled at her and then patted her upper thigh where the first line was drawn out, hidden beneath her dress.
Needing no more encouragement, Alice's hands dried up and she focused on a spot on the wall behind her sister and began to deliver the speech better than she had ever done before. The words flowed out of her mouth with ease and she never faltered once. Isabella beamed with pride and had to restrain herself from clapping when Alice was finished.
Master Cullen was taken aback by his daughter's proficiency but didn't make it aware to the rest of the table.
"You may sit down, Alice." He gestured toward the chair.
"And brilliant job. Really, well done!" Isabella overly praised.
She felt like teaching Master Cullen right then how to praise a child's efforts. It was obscene that he only gave his daughters reprimands or words of disappointment. If he felt that was important, than he needed to learn that it was equally important to give them words of encouragement or praise when earned.
"That will do, Miss Swan." Master Cullen reprimanded.
"Don't you think it's important to give a child praise when they have done well?" She challenged.
"If you wish to talk about this, we will do so later. Dinner is not the appropriate time." Master Cullen said. "Mrs. Cope!"
The maid came bustling out of the kitchen door after being called. This time dinner was a piece of salmon, a few stalks of asparagus and once again a fist full of rice. Isabella felt her stomach grumble once more in anticipation for the emptiness it would feel later that evening. This time she finished every last bit on her plate without having to be ordered to do so like the previous evening.
Rosalie and Alice were excused from the table first, leaving Master Cullen and the governess alone.
"Would you care to speak with me now on the guidelines?" Master Cullen asked once the girls were absent.
Isabella wiped her mouth one last time and set her napkin down on the table next to her empty plate.
"I thought we weren't allowed to speak in the dining room." She shook her head, "It might disturb the dining room spirits or something."
"I don't require your sarcasm, Miss Swan. You asked to change a few things on the guidelines and so far, I am amenable to your request. Would you like that to change?"
Sensing a losing battle, Isabella sighed and shook her head.
"May I be excused, sire so that I can retrieve my copy to go over?"
"When you can properly address me, then yes, you may be excused."
"My apologies, Master Cullen." Once again, Isabella was only able to call him this because in her own mind she was making fun of it. Master Cullen however, either chose to overlook the sarcasm or did not catch it.
"You may be excused. We can continue this in my office."
Isabella stood up from the table and before she remembered that the dress she was wearing was simply too long, she turned too quickly and tripped, sending her flying into the wall near the door.
She held out her hands to brace herself from impact but the already sore and bruising thigh took the brunt once more, causing Isabella to blurt out a cursed word.
Master Cullen was up and over to her in an instant, ready to help her but as he drew closer, he saw a curious thing.
"What are those?" He stated in disgust.
Isabella, who still rested on the floor looked down at her legs and could see the reason for the Master's disgust. The Alice Original. How was she going to explain this one?
AN: Thank you for taking the time to read and review. I am amazed at how well this story has been received. I hope that you will continue on the journey with me.
Disclaimer: Story is mine, character's belong to Stephenie Meyer.