AN: As the chapters became unbearably long (17 went over 27k words...) and it's sometimes hard to read them through, I'll be posting what is, in my editor, parts of chapters. They will still be of a healthy size - 8k words each, I suppose - but much easier to manage. Also, posted more often :)
Re: comments:
Guest: Thanks, I fixed the typos in the book title in the story description :) I only read it in Polish, so I didn't remember the English title correctly.
Kingskid: Davison will not be expelled, but he will be punished in an appropriate way. And I do bake a lot ;)
Guest: Thanks :) Glad you like the details, I try to make sure it's as accurate as I can make it.
Aphrodite in Disguise: Good! Hope this one doesn't disappoint either.
Arcane Warrior 2012: Thanks you for the support! Sometimes I worry if the tiny little details aren't too much, but I just can't let go of them.
So, now, on to the story.
####
Sunday morning was unnaturally bright and sunny for the middle of October and Elizabeth woke up cranky and wishing she could just lie in her bed until noon, when the sun would not be shining so brightly into her room. She cracked one eye open and surveyed her surroundings with a bit of a surprise.
Either she had slept much longer than she expected - and so everything was terribly delayed - or there was something wrong with the sun. Or...
William rolled to his side and pulled her closer, curling up behind her, wrapping his warmth all around her.
"Sleep" he mumbled. "It's eight."
"How..."
"Just checked. Sleep. We still have..." yawn "...at least half an hour. My alarm is set to half past."
He buried his nose in her hair and pretended to promptly fall asleep.
"William" she hissed. "We'll need to..."
"No, we don't need to do anything" he pulled her closer. "We take that half hour, we get up like civilised people, we eat breakfast with everyone and then you ladies can go shopping. But there is no hurry."
"But..."
He pressed a kiss to her collarbone.
"Sleep."
She could only feel the warmth all around her.
She slept.
####
Mina was looking miserable and Rose didn't know whom she wanted to hit more - her sister for being such a ninny or Strickland, for making her so. She sat up as her sister heaved another sigh at the phone.
And it was only half past six.
"Call him" she said sharply. "Even if you wake him, he will be more than happy to hear from you."
"I..." Mina looked at her bedspread. "I can't."
"Because you're silly and you told him that you're not supposed to talk until the competition. And now he is miserable, and you're miserable and you are making me miserable. So please, please, please for all that is holy. Call him. Or text him at least!"
Mina's lower lip wobbled.
Oh, no. No no no no no.
She moved across their room and sat next to her sister, touching her shoulder.
"Mina, what happened? Did he do something? Did he say something? Should I punch him? I don't like hitting people, but I'll hit Strickland if I have to... But it all looked fine on Friday, didn't it? We just saw him at the door, and I thought is was all OK!"
"Rose...!"
Not good. Mina was sobbing.
"What. Did. He. Do."
"Nothing! Teddy didn't do anything!"
She relaxed her shoulders - she never even noticed she had tensed up so.
"So what is wrong? Why are you crying into your phone?"
"I can't call him!"
"Mina, you're not being..."
"I don't have his number."
That stopped Rose cold.
"You what?"
"I never... I mean, first, before I was sick, when I was you, well, I didn't want to, you know."
"Thank you for that."
"And then, we were back, and then Davison, and detention, and the practice, and I only saw him when we were really really busy and then I told him..."
"And then it was too late and you never thought to ask him for his number."
Mina curled up on her bed, turning away from Rose.
"Yeah."
"So. You don't have his number. He doesn't have yours - because nobody in our school has your number, except for me. But you know what you have?"
Mina glanced at her suspiciously from under the blanket.
"What?"
"An older sister" Rose brandished her own phone. "With an extensive network of varied contacts."
"Wh-what?" Mina sat up, wiping her nose on her sleeve.
Rose handed her a box of tissues and tapped at her phone.
"There is that theory that between every two persons on the planet there are no more than six handshakes, Dad told me once. So I suppose if we look carefully, we should be able to find a link between us and Teddy that will not be very long..." she tapped her screen some more. "So, you know, we could probably call Marika, whose sister is in Teddy's homeroom, and she probably has the number."
Mina's eyes widened.
"Could you? I even don't have Marika's number..."
Rose nodded and scrolled down in her phone.
"Or I could do this" she pressed on the screen and put the phone to her ear. "Wipe your face, silly... Yeah, hi, Strickland. Sorry for... Ah, OK. You see, there is one small thing. That no-talking thing? Not going very well. Here" she pressed her phone into Mina's hand and jumped off her bed. "You have five minutes."
"I... Rose..."
"Clock's ticking. Also, my microphone is very good and he will hear everything you say now."
She watched Mina pick up the phone from where it had dropped on her comforter and put it gingerly to her ear.
"Hi, Teddy."
She shook her head and headed to the bathroom. She would need to brush her teeth properly to avoid getting cavities due to these two.
####
The breakfast was just as boisterous as everything the day before.
Jimmy had found a new love and was now devouring his third crepe with cottage cheese and blackberry preserve, while looking with fascination at Elizabeth, who was rolling the next one, while Rose spread the filling on yet another one.
"Where is Mina, kitten?"
Rose rolled her eyes.
"Upstairs, I suppose. I just hope she..."
"Thanks" Mina appeared next to her and slipped Rose's phone into her back pocket.
"That was more than five minutes" Rose remarked calmly and Mina shrugged with a slightly dreamy smile. Elizabeth watched them with narrowed eyes as Mina pressed into Rose's side and picked a crepe from the stack.
"Ladies?" she raised her brows in a question, but they just shrugged.
"It's nice to have a sister" Mina answered, still smiling, and reached for the jar of Nutella.
"Should I be worried?"
"No, unless you want me to slap you" Jane remarked mildly.
"Hey! I am just..."
"Rose's lent me her phone when I needed it" Mina explained before dropping some raisins on her nutella-slathered crepe and rolling it up. "So. Thanks."
"I just hope you added..."
"Yes, yes. And I've sent him a text, too."
"Good. I wouldn't like to be serving as some kind of go-between..." Rose made up another crepe for Jimmy and handed it to him, checking with Mary, who was sitting next to him, watching him in slight alarm.
"Elizabeth, what did you put in these preserves?" she finally asked weakly. "He hadn't eaten an honest breakfast like that in... I don't remember."
"I'd mostly blame the air and yesterday evening excitement" William came up to Elizabeth and sneaked his arms around her waist. "Now, you go and eat, love, I'll take over here. Sorry I'm so late, but Charles had a little problem with Johnny's crib and it required both of us to resolve it."
Charles - still in his sleeping t-shirt and shorts - joined them, carrying a very, very excited little Jonathan over his shoulder.
"Jackie, be a dear and bring me his high chair" he groaned. "He's as squirmy as an armful of eels and my reflexes aren't what they used to be. Ta" he plopped his son in the plastic seat and secured him with a seatbelt.
"What happened?" Jane raised her eyes from where she was watching Evelyn conquer a plate of 'scrammled eg' and a thin sausage (which she used mostly to waggle it at her sisters, to their disgust).
"I was shaving and Johnny managed to make the brakes on the crib wheels let go. Then he proceeded to run in it in such a way that he moved it across the room and wedged it between our bed and the wall. I needed Will to move the bed a bit, because I couldn't get the crib out without damaging the wall even more than Johnny had already scratched it."
Jane's hand flew up to her lips, covering a smile.
"I'm so sorry, William" she said finally. "Is this something that will..."
"No worries, we can live with that. A few surface scratches, nothing more. But I still wonder how that little gentleman managed to get the crib that far...!"
"Morning" Georgiana looked like she hadn't slept. "Ah... What's that smell?"
#
Having rescued the toast from suddenly stuck toaster and aired the dining room properly they finished their breakfast and children were removed outside by William and Charles, leaving the ladies (ages fourteen and up) inside to discuss their plans.
"We'll take my car" Jane decided quickly. "This way we can all fit comfortably and we won't have to coordinate between two cars on parking and what not."
"Hmm?" Georgiana finished stacking the plates to be taken to the kitchen. "Won't you fit into any of the smaller ones? There's only five of you."
Jane and Elizabeth glanced at each other.
"Georgie, there is six of us" Elizabeth pointed out with a smile. "Now, girls, fill in the dishwasher and we'll clean up everything here. Just remember to put the cups in the sink, Mrs Reynolds say the washer chips them. Boys can put Jackie on washing them once they are done exploring the gardens."
"B-but I..."
"No buts" Elizabeth caught her almost-sister-in-law's hand and pulled her to the side. "We're going to Matlock for a bit of shopping and you're coming with us. The girls need some new bras and swimsuits, I need a swimsuit and you, my dear, are in dire need of proper brafitting."
"Elizabeth!" the younger woman hissed.
"Georgiana. You can't run around in this" Elizabeth pointed out a slightly ratty strap of a blue bra peeking from under Georgie's t-shirt. "Come on. You need an intervention. I'll let you go after one, but you need at least that one."
"Lizzy!"
"I'll burn this blue thing" she threatened. "Come on. I have it on a good authority that you've had less than a satisfactory birthday party - if you can call it that - and I intend to make this up to you."
The younger woman frowned.
"Elizabeth, you don't have to mother me. I'm not fourteen."
"You are thirty-three and you will not be mothered, but you will be older-sistered to our best abilities" Jane joined them, smiling at Elizabeth's attempt to bully her taller friend.
"But..."
"Come on, aunt Georgie" Mina sneaked under her shoulder. "Just us girls?"
Georgiana sighed.
"OK, but..."
"Yeah, I know. I'll tell the assistants to find something perfectly smooth and without frills. Come on."
####
Aunt Jane's car was big, and after removing all the kids seats to the back they could sit comfortably, aunt Jane at the wheel and Mom next to her with a navigation app showing the way. Aunt Mary and aunt Georgiana took the second row and Mina and Rose spread over the back seat, with Rose pointing out interesting spots on the way.
"Put that phone away" she finally said when she noticed Mina peeking at the screen. "Family shopping trip now."
"But..."
She plucked the phone from her sister's fingers and handed it forward - with her own, to make it fair - to aunt Georgiana.
"Could you hold them for us?" she asked quickly. "Or Mina will go all distracted."
"Rooo-se!"
"He said he'd be on a full day training today, right?"
Mina nodded reluctantly.
"And he isn't supposed to have his phone on him, right?"
"Yeah."
It was a resentful 'yeah'.
Aunt Mary twisted in her seat to look at them.
"Who 'he'?"
"Rose" Mom's voice from the front seat made her shut her mouth before she even said a word. "There is a boy at school that likes Mina, that's it. Rose, stop it."
"But, Mom!" Mina piped up. "She's, like, right. It's just that..." she sighed. "I mean... I don't know!"
"Sounds like me at thirteen" aunt Jane remarked. "Andrea was in year ten and looked like an artistic vision, with his black curls, dreamy dark eyes and permanent tan, due to him being mostly Italian. I was tripping over my own feet every time I saw him. He asked me for a time once and I couldn't find my watch on my hand."
"I'm not that bad!" Mina protested. "It's just that it's complicated."
"What isn't, though?" aunt Jane turned the car in the direction of a small shopping centre. "Is this the shop, Lizzy?"
"Looks like it" Mom clicked the phone off. "Now, ladies. The first aim of this outing - getting the girls some bras for everyday use, and at least one sports bra and a swimsuit each. Second, Georgiana. Third, us. So please, let's keep it that way."
"I'm good" aunt Mary moved her seat to allow them to get out. "Just been shopping recently. But I will take the girls to look for something interesting in other shops. You can then, well, indulge."
Rose watched the grownups with suspicion.
Mina pushed by her, getting out of the car.
"They want to pick something sexy" she whispered and rolled her eyes. "Come on. Let's get this over with and we'll see what else we can find here. Maybe there is a craft shop here or something. We need to find a gift for Mom's birthday, too, and I'd rather start early."
Rose stiffened. She hadn't taken her card or anything but her phone, at all.
"Ah, money..."
Mina tapped her pocket.
"Dad caught me at the last moment when we were leaving and said that he'd go to the bank this week and get me a card like you have, but for the time being, he gave me some cash, in case we saw something we really liked."
"Oh. OK."
She didn't really know how she was feeling about that.
Dad was, well. Hers. Mom was Mina's.
Right?
She frowned, trying to understand why this was leaving a bad taste on her tongue.
"Rose, come on!" aunt Mary pulled her shoulder. "Let's get you two outfitted and then we can see what else can be found in this place. I'm curious about the textile museum, actually."
####
The girls were in dire need of... a lot. Both of them had grown almost two inches since spring, so part of their clothes suddenly stopped being adequate, and both had put on some mass (and, especially, volume) here and there that definitely needed more support than it was getting with their current possessions.
There were the bras that she had bought for Rose in September, which, after quick discussion, they simply divided between themselves. There were Mina's older bras, no longer really really fitting, but serviceable, in case of a crisis. There was the black monstrosity that had apparently been the outcome of some mistaken intervention of Anne's that had been quietly deposited into a box of "let's deal with them later" items that Elizabeth was planning to undo and redo once she had the workspace she needed.
And Rose's riding bra, which seemed rather uncomfortable despite being, theoretically, a sports model.
And their swimsuits, which were less than perfect, being both slightly too short and having been used in a lake for the whole summer.
The shop offered everything and the staff seemed competent, so they divided themselves - Jane and Elizabeth picking the suggestions and bringing them to the girls and Mary and Georgiana serving as sounding boards.
"Too small."
"Too loose."
"Lord, NO."
"Acceptable."
"Is there a bigger cup?"
"Oh, I like this one. I wonder if they have one my size" Georgiana helped Rose tighten the strap a bit.
Jane stopped for a moment and turned Georgiana around, looking at her critically.
"28F, I suppose" she said and returned with one in a moment. "Try it out."
Soon, the girls were out, holding their choices with twin expressions of relief and the grownups bickered about the payment a bit, with Georgiana, who had hastily thrown on a blouse, joining them suddenly.
"I'll take the swimsuits, Lizzy" she snatched the two chosen ones. "I... I'm sorry, but the present I was planning to... well, first they delayed it and then, yesterday, they just cancelled the order. So I was casting about for an appropriate idea and now I think I have it. Hence, the swimsuits."
Mina looked at her with a little frown.
"Lucy told me that the school is still trying to make a schedule for the swimming pool lessons... a card, yes, thank you... and so you won't be having swimming outings with the school for some time yet. So, you will be going with me."
Rose snatched a glance at Elizabeth, who was nodding with approval.
"This is a lovely idea, Georgie. Let me know when you'd be going, I would, maybe, join you...?"
Georgiana retrieved the package and moved to the side, making room for Mary.
"You" she nodded at Elizabeth "will be preparing for a wedding. Not sure what that would include, but I've heard these can be complicated, even if you've going small. So, in order to give you all the time and all the quiet you'll need, I'm taking these two off your hands, two to three times a week. Of course you can join us, Lizzy, but I thought you can make use of a little time to yourself."
And with Will, right, Georgie?
Elizabeth half-smiled and accepted. And the girls certainly seemed excited.
They may be all grown up and responsible, but I'd rather they didn't just grow out of being fine with being accompanied to the pool by their aunt. Well, Georgie is a cool aunt, so they won't be hearing anything stupid from their friends...
I wonder how old they will be before I manage to finally let go, just a bit.
And she wasn't sure she was more worried about Mina, for whom, despite a month and a half spent there, the area was still pretty much an unknown or about Rose, who was the unknown for her. She was definitely worried about both of them, just not for the same reasons.
She shook this thought off and picked up the rest of the choices, which was, at that point, just a sports bra for Mina.
"And I'll pay for this. Mary, we'll call you once we're done here, but text me if you find a textile shop or a craft shop, there should be one, I think."
The moment the girls and Mary marched out of the shop, both she and Jane turned towards Georgiana, who stood like a rabbit in the headlights.
"'Lucy', you say?"
Her not-yet-sister-in-law stammered.
"Come on, Georgie. Time to make sure I can burn that blue scrap of material you mistook for a bra. What were you trying on? This steel blue thing? Hop, hop, into the changing room with you. Jane, find me a bunch of 28Fs and FFs without any lace and with flat, plain straps."
"You said one!"
"One which you'll pick. But you may have to try on a lot."
"You're enjoying it, you cruel woman."
"Get in the changing room, little sister, and wait there."
She saw Georgiana bit her lip and her eyes fill with tears.
"God, Georgie, what's wrong?" she pulled the taller woman to the small sofa by the changing rooms. "I'm sorry, we went too far, right? We can leave now, I mean, it's not like you have to buy..."
"It's not that" Georgiana whispered and breathed spasmodically. "It's..." she waved, unable to find a word. "'little sister'?"
"Oh, come here" Elizabeth pulled her closer - hugging her as much as she could, with their height difference. "Yes, you are my little sister. Even though you're so much taller than me. Now, here, try this one. Big sister speaking now."
"Also" Jane dangled a very nice, no-lace, solid black bra in front of her. "Who is Lucy?"
####
The centre was full of clothing shops, which they happily ignored in search of Something For Mom.
"How much did Dad give you?"
"Thirty" Mina patted her pocket. "I don't think I have a lot to spend it on, so we can use it for a present for Mom."
Aunt Mary looked around and pointed out a bench, a little out of the way.
"Let's sit there and make a proper plan, so we don't just spend time trying to work out what we want. Do you have any ideas?"
They looked at each other and shrugged.
"I thought it should be something silly" Mina finally said. "Mom always buys stuff that she needs. And now she will have everything that she needs, because, like, Pemberley is filled with everything. Last year I bought her a set of pink silicone spatulas and so on, because someone said that our kitchen is so masculine, so we decided to just add a lot of pink and purple, because we started laughing every time we saw one of these."
"Well, they are in the kitchen now, I wonder what Mrs Reynolds will say" Rose snickered. "But, well, I have absolutely no idea what to buy. It should be pretty, though."
"But something that will be a little bit useful, somehow. Mom wouldn't want something useless."
"Okay, so, pretty, somewhat useful and possibly silly?" aunt Mary summed up.
They nodded.
"Let's go have a look at the centre directory. I wouldn't rule out the clothing shops, but let's see what else we can find here."
On their way, they passed several shops that looked promising, but neither could find anything actually interesting in them.
Until Rose noticed the socks.
A variety of ankle and knee-high socks, leggings, tights and stockings of all kinds, colours and patterns, to be exact.
"This" she pointed out something in the middle, where a number of plastic legs showcased the patterned tights.
"Yes" Mina had already changed the direction.
They only heard aunt Mary's surprised 'what?' faintly as they entered the shop.
They pointed out what they wanted. They asked for a nice gift-wrap, to avoid Mom getting an accidental peek later during the day.
They carefully stored it in aunt Mary's sizable messenger bag.
It was the perfect gift.
Useful. Pretty. Definitely silly.
Mom would love it.
####
The very idea of buying bras with more than just utility in mind was something she was not used to. It was...
...weird. Unusual. To buy clothes not only because she felt she liked them but also because, maybe, probably, William would like them.
She frowned, looking at the swimsuit she chose. This was definitely utilitarian.
But the bras were a completely different story.
Well, what was done, was done, and what was bought... could be returned. Ha.
She had to think for a moment about that morning. And the evening, when she had to take a few deep breaths before she even entered Will's bedroom.
#
It had been easier on Friday evening - mostly because it had been Will who had carried her there, and when she came from the kitchen, after fetching the water, he hadn't been in bed yet. This time she had been busy helping the girls store the presents, checking the storage of the leftovers and making sure - again - that Rose and Mina were not keeping Jackie up. They were not, but it still took a bit of time, and when she emerged from the shower and stood at the door to William's room, she hesitated.
Maybe she should have gone and slept in the study. The sofa there was unusable for a large man like William, but was more than adequate for someone her size. But what would he feel then? Rejected? Ignored?
On the other hand, she had recently made the decision not to live her life based on the expectations of others and especially not on the feeling of guilt - but what will he feel if I do what I want?
Yet, actually... She wantedthis. She wanted to curl up in his bed, feel the mattress dip when he moved, to let herself be surrounded by the bulwark of pillows and his body. Despite everything, her brain was still wired to link that bed with safety.
She wanted that safety, that stability, that secure base.
She had been balancing without a net for thirteen years. Between her own needs and paternal mix of neglect and demand, between the society norms she had to adhere to for Mina's wellbeing and her own personal beliefs, between "what will the neighbours say" of her mother and aunts and her own heartfelt "neighbours can piss off" that had earned her a stern talking-to from her distressed parents.
...as shaky as a fiddler on a roof...!
She could still go and sleep in the study. It would mean she would spend the night wishing she was somewhere else and it would leave William alone - and probably disappointed. What would be the gain?
She wouldn't have to consider what her daughters and sisters thought about it all. Nobody would have been able to say that she had been too easy - too easy to forgive him, too easy to accept him, too easy to get into bed with him again.
That was the crux of the matter.
There were questions she had to ask herself.
Would her sisters judge her negatively for seeking the comfort of his company, what with her being a grown woman and a mother of two - and these two hischildren?
No.
Would their daughters judge her, or even think about the problem at all, once they put two and two together?
That would depend on how they were introduced to the idea.
Was the theoretical societal disappointment in her being too easy - giving in to her need of William's closeness too early - enough to deter her from following her own wishes in that area?
No.
She opened the door.
Will was already in bed, reading. Square, thick-rimmed glasses perched on his nose gave him a startingly soft image.
He looked up, watching her as she closed the thick door and leaned against them.
"Switch the main light off, will you?" he suggested, nodding towards the bedside lamp.
She patted around for the switch blindly for a moment, unable to look away from him. Once she found it and the room was semi-dark, she found it slightly easier to relax, but the sound of a book and the glasses being put on the side table suggested Will had not been planning to read once she joined him. Her steps wavered, but she quickly placed her clothes on the chair next to the wardrobe and, trying to move before her doubts caught up with her, slid under the duvet and dropped onto the pillows.
"Liz?"
She sighed.
"I... I don't even know what is wrong with me" she blurted out. "It's like I can't think properly...!"
"Come here, on your side now" she felt him turn her, her back to him, and then these large, warm hands covered her shoulders.
And kneaded. And kneaded. Again. Again.
He moved lower and worked on the little area between her shoulderblades, then trailed down her spine and slowly, carefully, relaxed each muscle group separately. She felt herself melting into the soft mattress, slowly becoming one with the pillows and the sheet.
"Roll" he whispered, pushing her to lie on her stomach. "You are tense all over. You are tired andtense and even a hot shower isn't relaxing you enough. Just lie like this and let me do the work, hm?"
"But, Will..."
"I know, it would work better if we had some appropriate oil and you weren't wearing the shirt, but" he dropped a kiss on the nape of her neck "Here and now we'll make do. Don't think and, for a moment, try not to worry about anything, if possible."
Despite the missing (or superfluous) elements, the massage worked. By the time he had chased the tension away from her whole upper body, she was barely awake and communicating with him only with soft sighs. She never even resisted as he rolled her again to her side and pulled her closer, carefully lining up their bodies to ensure the maximum touching surface for the most shared body heat.
"Sleep" he said softly.
She slept.
#
She looked at the bras she was holding and made the decision.
She dropped the only plain, utilitarian one back where she took it from and brought the rest to the front counter.
The young woman at the register raised her eyebrows at the sight.
"Would you maybe like to join our club? Considering the amount you've all spent today..." she blushed. "I mean, it's not always that we get that kind group."
Elizabeth considered it for a moment.
"Why not" she smiled. "What are the discounts?"
The cashier brightened and started rattling off the potential benefits awaiting each member.
Soon, the little plastic card added to her wallet and the small fortune in bras in her backpack, she joined the rest. They stopped for a snack in one of the cafes, avoiding stuffing themselves too much - they'd be eating a big Sunday dinner with everyone back at home. The girls were smiling at each other like crazy. Mary was looking rather smug, too. Jane and Georgiana were checking off points on a TO DO list they had created when Elizabeth had been still dithering whether to buy all that she found or only the two that spoke to her the loudest.
"So, what did you two plan?" she asked over a cup of latte she had been craving for the whole day.
"We still need to buy a few things for the dinner" Jane tapped her phone. "But we should be able to cover everything by a single visit to whatever market may be on the way. Charles and Will had reported a definite demand for carrots and celery, and they ask us to buy basically any kind of vegetable we think the kids would eat. The roast is supposedly almost done, with as many potatoes as they could fit in the pan safely."
"Which means at least an hour more" Mary added. "So we have a lot of time to finish here and pick the vegetables. Elizabeth, there is a paper craft store here, you could have a look at it with the girls and we'd meet at the car, hm?"
She found herself herded towards a - supposedly - fascinating shop by her daughters, but as she glanced back at her sisters, they were already engrossed in some discussion, with Georgiana pointing out things on a list she had just pulled out of her backpack.
Uh-oh.
#
Once they were home and the three eldest children were herded into the kitchen and put to cleaning the veggies, Elizabeth and the other three chased William and Charles upstairs to ensure the smaller kids were at least passably clean for their meal and they started setting the table.
"Lizzy, have you given any thought to what kind of music you want me to play?" Georgiana asked, bringing in the bread baskets. "I will need some time to prepare..."
Elizabeth bit her lip.
"Would you, really? I mean, I wanted to ask you, but..."
"Lizzy. Really. I know you want these two to be your witnesses" she nodded towards Jane and Mary. "But I want to participate, too. So. A harp. Imagine what I could play for you."
"I can't imagine what one can play on the harp, at all" Jane provided cheerfully. "What can you play, Georgie?"
Georgiana shrugged.
"Basically, if you ask, I can play it. I just need enough time. Harp doesn't have piano's range, of course, but there are a lot of harp covers of popular stuff. I could even play some Disney tune, if you wished" she winked at Elizabeth, who felt her cheeks heat up.
"Georgie! At the wedding?"
"Why not? Like, if I played 'Let it go', that would fit, for both of you..." she stuck a tongue out at Elizabeth and swiftly turned back towards the kitchen.
"That's not that silly, you know, Lizzy" Mary started counting the cutlery. "We could pick a small medley of appropriate Disney themes. Starting with something from Cinderella, I suppose. You are marrying an owner of a half of the shire. Hey!" she ducked under a balled-up napkin Elizabeth had send her way. "Just quoting you!"
#
The dinner was absolutely delightful, messy and chaotic in the best way possible. Johnny had decided that peas can only be eaten by lining them up in a row and sucking in each of them separately, creating the most disgusting sound in the county (or so Jackie claimed).
Jackie decided to try to mimic everything Rose and Mina did, which would have been fine had they been eating the same thing. As an effect she ended up with a plate heaped with vegetables and had to eat almost all of it, despite her protests. What she didn't, went into a box with Jane's stern "tomorrow for lunch" accompanying it.
Isabelle and Yola made use of being the slightly ignored middle children and appropriated the carrot and celery bowl and were almost successful at eating the whole thing by themselves.
Evelynosaur had struck again, this time stealing her mother's piece of chicken and running around the table, waving it over her head and growling.
Jimmy quietly devoured more carrot, yellow beans and chicken than ever, or so Mary claimed, so William immediately extended an invitation for her to come over any time she wished, as apparently the local air made her normally rather picky kid hungry enough to eat a horse. Or at least a huge portion of roasted chicken.
Rose and Mina were obviously plotting something, but she had no energy left to try to work it out. She was pretty sure that if one of them tried doing something stupid, the other would have stopped her.
She rubbed her temple and sighed.
"Mina, when you three are done loading the dishwasher, come upstairs, you have to get at least one attempt today."
"You can use my room, if you need the piano" Georgiana pointed out quickly. "I'll put the leftovers in the boxes."
"Actually, Mary, if Jimmy reacts so well to the foodstuffs, why don't you take a box or two? You'll have tomorrow's lunch and dinner done then, and hey, if he likes it, I'd make use of it."
"If it's just air and exercise..." Mary shrugged. "But I will definitely take a few boxes, if only to check if the effect is permanent."
#
Mina's voice was still bearing obvious signs of strain, even though the mucus was gone and she wasn't coughing anymore at every movement.
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
By now, Elizabeth was quite sure it was a mistake, but one she would allow Mina to make, if she wished so. It wasn't as if that was going to be a full concert with everyone singing for a full hour. One attempt. If it went fine, then they'd be happy to have done it. If it went poorly, well, the explanation was right there.
"I can't just... give up like this! I mean, Mom, really. If I just say "sorry, not singing", I'll always be that girl who was afraid to sing in front of her new school!"
Ah.
"OK. I absolutely see it. But please, try not to overdo, kitten. For the next week..."
"No shouting, no chatting too much, no drinking soda, no eating spicy food and no running outside."
"Pretty much, I suppose. If you want to stand a chance, you'll need all the advantages you can get. Now, I bought some more of these Icelandic moss things - I know it sounds gross, but they help. And drink a lot. I'd say eight glasses of water is a minimum. You have to actively remember about it, because when you're focused on other things, you will forget to drink."
Mina's phone chose that moment to produce a happy chirp and Elizabeth saw what exactly "focusing on other things" looked like.
"Go on, check it" she said with a smile. "I and then get back downstairs, they will be leaving soon, so you'd better spend some time with your cousins, too."
"Mhm" Mina was holding the phone with such a silly expression that Elizabeth had to suppress a giggle. "Give me a minute. I'll be..." she tapped the screen and blushed, just a little bit.
"Mina?"
"It's just..." she shrugged a bit. "Teddy. Being Teddy, apparently."
Not that I have a lot of experience with being a fourteen year old in love for the first time...
"As long as he doesn't text anything you feel uncomfortable with, I'm OK. But if he..."
"Mom!" Mina sounded exasperated. "He just..." she bit her lip and chewed on it roughly. "I mean, he..." she finally scrolled a bit on the screen and turned the phone to show it to Elizabeth.
From: Teddy
I'm done with training for today.
Barely standing up, but I just
had to text you.
See you at school tomorrow.
Lunch together in cafeteria?
It will make Monday more
bearable...
"I suppose this is quite acceptable" she returned the phone to Mina. "Also, I have to commend his usage of proper full sentences, even in a text message. Many would have saved themselves half of that typing."
Mina smiled and - maybe, just a little bit - preened?
"He's like this" she said finally. "A bit, well, formal. I mean, not everyone at the school always says 'sir' to the headmaster and so on. And he kind of, you know, stands at attention, he's always so... so upright. I mean, guys slouch and hunch over when they are tall, but Teddy doesn't. Even when he's, like, leaning on something, or sitting down, he looks like he's standing at attention."
"So? This is what would attract you? A boy with a bit of ingrained discipline?"
Mina squirmed a bit.
"Maaaybe?" she said finally. "It's not just that. I mean, Teddy..." she leaned to Elizabeth's ear. "He's cute. Just don't tell him I said that."
She managed to stop the little smile that threatened to break out on her face as she looked at her younger daughter.
"Don't worry. I promise, I won't tell on you."
Another chirp.
"Ah..."
"Yes, yes. Check it. I'm leaving you to it. Expect you downstairs in five."
####
Their family had left. Little cousins had managed not to damage too much (except for Johnny) and Jackie turned out to be a good roommate for these two nights. Still, the silence was kind of a relief.
Mina had pulled out a silly game that was just right for their level of wakefulness - building colourful rainbow snakes - and they covered the carpet in the library with cards spread between them. Aunt Georgiana had excused herself, pointing to her phone, and disappeared into her room. Dad was sitting on the couch, glasses on and a book ready and Mom was... fluttering. Just a bit. It seemed as if she couldn't find a place for herself.
Mina pulled another card and groaned, trying to fit it somewhere.
"These cards are just mean" she complained quietly.
"Nah, it's just my beginner's luck. Here, see. I've finished this snake."
"Like I said, mean."
####
He looked down at his daughters, quietly bickering over the card game and being so comfortable in each other's presence. As he glanced up, at Elizabeth, who was just running her fingers across the spines of some books in German, he felt a slight disquiet. She was tense, again. Despite everything, she was unable to relax. And now she had that look that he knew meant some vague discomfort that she was experiencing.
He stood up, walked around the girls' game and joined her at the bookcase.
"Liz?" he asked, standing next to her. "Come, lie down, hmmm?
"I..." she looked a bit ragged, as if she just couldn't stop herself.
He caught the hand closer to him and brought it up to his lips.
"The sofa, Lizzy. This piece of furniture, over there. You, down on it."
That made her laugh, and that, in turn, made her relax, just a bit. She turned into his embrace and willingly let herself be led to the seat. He put a small pillow on his lap and pulled Elizabeth down to lie with her head on said pillow. He started running his fingers through the cloud of her hair, massaging her scalp and neck until he heard her breath come in a more even fashion.
"Two weeks" he whispered, looking down at her relaxed face. "Two weeks and suddenly, you're here."
Her lips were slightly parted and there was nothing he wanted more than to delve into it and make sure that she actually was there.
"Sometimes I'm afraid to close my eyes" he said instead. "I worry that if I do, you'd be gone when I open it. I check my phone constantly to make sure that the texts I remember reading are still there. When I get home, I first check where you all are..."
"Will..." she whispered, kissing the palm of his hand. "I am here."
"I know" he traced the bow of her upper lip with his thumb, drawing a soft gasp from her. "But sometimes, just sometimes, the primitive part of my brain is so, so afraid..."
She hummed, turning and twisting in such a way that she was half-lying on him and half-hugging him.
"Is this better?" she asked, her breath warming up the spot on his chest where she was leaning, heavy and warm.
"Definitely" he pulled her up, distributing her weight a bit better. "But you know what would really help to alleviate absolutely any of these fears?"
"Hmm?" she murmured sleepily.
"If I could wake up every day just like this" he whispered. "If I can wake up and have the absolute physical proof that you are here... Like in the last two days..."
"Ah, so..." she squirmed a bit, but never looked up at him. "But does this mean that I'm not allowed to get out of the bed before the lord and the master of the manor decides it's the time to wake up?"
He brought her face up and teased her lips with just a bare touch of his.
"And why would you be leaving the bed, Lizzy?"
"Well..." she licked her lips with just a hint of a grin. "Maybe someone would be needing me?"
"Why would someone be needing you more than I?" he felt just a tiny bit of growl entering his voice, but Elizabeth smiled a bit wider.
"There may be at some point some problem that will require my direct intervention" she suggested.
"I don't think there is anything or anyone in that house who would require you to vacate your bed at such a barbaric..." he paused, looking down at her. Ah. "Do you want..." he swallowed.
"I suppose so" her lips were trembling in suppressed mirth.
"But..."
"Not now. Just... we could consider..." she shrugged, losing her certainty suddenly. "Or not, if you don't want any... I though you might, but I suppose..."
"No, no, Lizzy, no. It's not about that, it's just..."
They went suddenly stone-still, as the door of the library closed behind their daughters with a soft "click".
"Uh" he managed to utter.
"How loud were we?" she hid her face in his shirt with a moan.
"Loud enough" he sighed. "We'll have to talk to them about this."
"But maybe first with each other?"
He looked at her, slowly peeling herself off of him, biting her lip.
"Elizabeth..."
"No, I mean, if you don't want any more, I'm fine with that. I just... Thought that maybe in a year, or two, you know. When we feel more stable, when the house is finished..."
"Yes."
"W-what?"
"Yes, Elizabeth, I want to have more children with you. However many you wish to have. And this time we'll make it all work better. There will be no getting out of bed for you, mind you."
She frowned, which looked adorable on her sleepy face.
"If there is a problem requiring your direct intervention, the problem will be brought to you, not the other way round. Also, no bloody nurseries" he shivered. "Even though we won't have stone floors in the new house, I vote for disposing of that specific custom. I was an idiot to propose it then and I won't compound my failings by continue to hold to the idea."
"Good" she closed her eyes and seemed to be falling asleep just then and there, her body a pliant weight in his lap and in his arms.
"Liz..." he prodded her carefully. "Let's go upstairs? The bed is much more comfortable..."
"Just... hold me like this, for a moment."
He felt his heart melt at the soft plea.
"Of course. As long as you wish."
####
Comments?
Oohs and aahs?
Too many silly details? Not enough silly details?
Little Bingleys still adorable? :)
What about Rose playing the Helpful Older Sister?