----

The next couple of days did little to brighten the butler's sour mood and the rest of the staff wisely avoided confrontation with him if possible. However the chef decided to brave the wrath of his friend and try to track him down before dinner.

Spotting the butler heading into the silver room, the chef quickened his pace down the corridor and slipped in behind him, glad to find the butler on his own and without any nosy junior servants about.

"Mr Kraus, how can I help?"

"Mr Jarvis, I've come to run a little idea of mine by you,"

"Oh really," Jarvis retorted as he looked up from counting the silverware, somewhat suspicious of the look on the chef's face,

"Carry on…"

"There is nothing planned for tomorrow night am I right?"

"Yes, you're right…the Earl is dining out with friends, as is Lady Caroline," Jarvis replied cautiously, wondering where this was going.

"I thought as much," said Felix, looking very pleased with himself, "Now a few of us have been thinking, we really need to do something to celebrate your engagement to our lovely housekeeper!"

"What! Felix, that's the most ridic…"

"Oh I know, I know, it's not a proper engagement," Felix cut in swiftly, ignoring the worried look the butler shot him and the indication to keep his voice down, "But if you are going to keep up the pretence then you have to do it properly."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think you and Flora should have an engagement party." Felix announced, folding his arms across his chest as he watched the butler's expression turn even darker.

"No!"

"But…"

"No buts Felix! Stop this now," Jarvis demanded "Just because you want a party does not mean that we have to go through the absurd happy couple charade just to keep you happy."

"It's all arranged, all you have to do is put in an appearance tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow!" Jarvis spluttered.

"Yes."

"No, absolutely not. I will not go through with it." Jarvis retorted firmly.

"Tough, it is all organised now, I have been hard at work for the past couple of days arranging it, you could at least be grateful," the chef huffed, "Besides, I need to get rid of the extra food that has been ordered in for the weekend dinner, that idiot Simpson you insist on keeping, got it wrong again." He added with a disdainful sniff.

"Really..."

"Yes really, it was nothing to do with me," Felix retorted as the butler simply raised an eyebrow to that remark, "So, tomorrow….?"

"Fine, tomorrow it is," Jarvis sighed reluctantly, "But nothing too fancy or over the top!" he added, glaring warningly at the chef, who shook his head fervently.

"No, no, it will be small and tasteful," Felix assured the butler.

"Good."

"And romantic even!" Felix quipped

"Felix," the butler snapped, whirling round to face the chef, "Leave it, I am not in the mood!"

"No I think we've all noticed that the past few days," Felix remarked shrewdly as the butler continued to glare up at him while resuming his count of the silverware, "What has been the matter? Not had a lovers' tiff I hope?" he joked, quickly smothering a smile as the butler failed to see the funny side of that and shot him a look that would have withered the most persistent of comics. "Fine, fine, you don't want to talk about it, I will leave you to brood in peace," he said finally in exasperation when the butler continued to stoically polish the blemishes that his footmen had left on the cutlery. "But I expect you to be in a better mood for your party tomorrow!" was his parting shot over his shoulder at the butler as he swept from the room back down to his kitchen.

---

Glancing round the hall, Flora caught sight of the butler over by the doorway looking as morose as when he had first entered the room. In fact it seemed as though there had been a black cloud following the butler wherever he went these past few days and Flora couldn't think for the life of her what the cause was. She had tried once or twice to hint that she knew something was up but each time he had brushed her off with a curt excuse of too much work and had promptly disappeared off to his office.

Other than that, the past week or so had definitely been better than the previous couple. It seemed Mr Jarvis had been a man of his word and had either had a word in Mr Adams' ear about lower servants gossiping or had inflicted a suitably stringent punishment on those he had caught himself. Whatever the reason, Flora welcomed it as she had noticed a marked decrease in the sniggers and whispering whenever she entered a room. At times it was almost as if things were back to normal and then someone would say something and it would all come flooding back. She had to then remind herself to stop the foolish fantasies that sometimes rose up; she wasn't actually engaged to the butler, it was really nothing more than a business arrangement in reality and she needed to stop deluding herself that is was anything more

Shaking her head slightly to dispel those thoughts, Flora brought herself back to the present, resolving to try and simply enjoy the evening with her colleagues and forget about why it was really being held. However on glancing back over to the doorway, she found it devoid of the butler and, on quickly checking the rest of the room, Flora realised that he must have slipped away while she was distracted. Murmuring an excuse of needing some fresh air, Flora surreptitiously made her way over to the door that led out into the courtyard, intent on locating the elusive butler and finding out just what was wrong.

A few minutes later, Flora reached the path that led round to the lake. Coming round the corner, she caught sight of the butler staring out over the still water, one hand buried in his pocket, the other holding a smouldering cigar. On hearing the slight tread of footsteps on gravel, the butler started suddenly, glancing round quickly to see who was intruding on his quiet time.

Relaxing slightly as he realised it was only the housekeeper, Jarvis turned back to staring out over the lake as Flora approached.

"Is everything alright back at the house?" he asked automatically once she was a few feet away.

"Yes, everything's fine," Flora replied quietly,

"Good."

"I came to see if you were alright though," Flora murmured in concern as the butler continued to look away from her over the lake, "Is there anything I can do?" she asked a few moments later when he still didn't reply.

"It's nothing," he said quietly, turning round and forcing a smile onto his face, "I….I've just got a lot on my mind that's all, thought some fresh air might help."

"Would it help to talk about it?" Flora said softly, unable to shake the feeling that this all had something to do with her.

"I….ummm…I," he dithered.

"It's not about….us is it?" Flora asked suddenly, watching as the butler's frame stiffened ever so slightly, "No one had said anything have they….made any comment…?"

"No, no," he said hastily.

"Is it the party?" Flora persisted, "I really wasn't so sure it was a good idea but Felix was so adamant I couldn't really say no."

"Hmmm," Jarvis replied distractedly.

"Don't you just feel like a bit of a fraud," Flora murmured suddenly, a note of bitterness in her tone "Having a party thrown for us, pretending to everyone we're getting married when really it's just that, a pretend engagement…" she trailed off, looking up at the butler expecting him to agree but catching a slight wince at her words. "We are just pretending to be engaged are we not?" she repeated, her brow creasing further in confusion when the butler couldn't meet her eye, fiddling instead with his watch chain and taking a deep drag of his cigar, "Mr Jarvis, what is going on?" she demanded worriedly.

Taking a deep breath, Jarvis eventually turned back round to face her, biting his lip slightly as he encountered her anxious expression.

"There is something we need to talk about Flora," he muttered slowly after a moment or so, "And I am a little worried about how you will react."

"What is it?" Flora asked, the knot of anxiety in her stomach growing steadily.

"I never thought this would happen, fool that I was," he muttered, "I never even anticipated it coming up."

"It can't be that bad surely…"

"Flora we…..we can't just pretend to get married," he cut in quietly, looking up as her expression turned to one of confusion, "I had a letter from the solicitor a few days ago. We need a certificate of marriage in order to inherit the money."

"Wha…"

"I know," he said quietly, stubbing his cigar butt out viciously on a nearby tree, "It's my fault. I should have checked my facts first before rushing in. I thought it was too good to be true."

"When did you…"

"Only a few days ago I promise," he replied, looking up at her sincerely.

"So, so what are we going to do?" Flora asked in confusion, still unable to believe what he had told her, "Is…I mean, what can we do?"

Sighing as he looked back at her, Jarvis replied despondently, "There isn't much we can do I'm afraid. I don't expect you to…to actually marry me for the money." Biting her lip painfully as she felt her insides clench at his words, Flora swallowed the reply that was on the tip of her tongue. "There's no reason you would want to marry me so I can't possibly ask you to do that."

Turning away slightly, Flora moved a bit nearer to the lake, leaning slightly against a tree for support, "No, it would be wrong to stand up in church and lie. I couldn't do that," she murmured eventually.

"No neither could I," Jarvis agreed dejectedly, "I have always thought if I did marry it would be a proper marriage, not a….an arrangement like this."

"Yes, it would have to be a proper marriage," Flora murmured back, glancing covertly up at the butler.

However, Jarvis remained oblivious to her subtle hint and simply pulled out his watch, sighing despondently when he caught sight of the time, "What a mess," he muttered, half to himself, "I am very sorry for all that this has put you through Flora," he said sincerely, "I honestly had no idea,"

Shaking her head slightly to wave away his apologies, Flora attempted to smile reassuringly, trying to suppress the wave of nausea at his unintentional rejection. He obviously hadn't even entertained the idea that they could ever have a proper marriage and clearly had no intention of offering such a thing. This plan was completely about the money from start to finish, not that he had ever said anything different, and it had just been her silly, childish fantasies that had made it into something more in her mind.

"We should probably be getting back to the party," Jarvis mumbled, a few minutes of awkward silence later, "People will start to wonder where we are…" he trailed off, clearing his throat uncomfortably at his implicit suggestion.

Nodding distractedly, Flora allowed him to lead the way back up to the house, feeling even less than before in the mood for a party.

----

Running his fingers across his forehead for the umpteenth time that day, Mr Jarvis tried valiantly to stave off the headache that had been threatening all day and pay attention to what the chef was saying to him.

"Are you even listening to a word I say?" Felix suddenly demanded petulantly.

"Of course I am!" Jarvis retorted, "I was just thinking that's all."

"Hmph," Felix huffed, unconvinced, "You've been like this all week, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were moping."

"Well luckily you do know better," Jarvis snapped, "I am not moping."

"If you say so," Felix murmured innocently, smothering a smile as the butler glared back at him,

"Nothing is the matter! I've just been very busy that is all"

"If that's what you call it!"

"Yes it is!" Jarvis grumbled, pacing over to the window and glaring out at the rain that pounded against the windowpane.

"Oh you English, I will never understand. I don't know why you don't just talk to her!" Felix exclaimed suddenly after a few moments.

"What are you talki…"

"Well it's obvious why you are in this mood of yours," Felix explained matter-of-factly, taking out his watch and checking the time with the clock on the mantelpiece, "And quite clear what you should do to resolve it?"

"Really?"

"Yes,"

"What then?"

"Ask her to marry you of course," Felix stated simply with a shrug, watching as the butler struggled to reply for a moment.

"But…but…"

"It seems quite obvious," the chef cut in over the butler's spluttering, "You had an arrangement with Mrs Ryan that you would appear to be engaged so as to inherit the money yes?"

"Yes,"

"But you need to be married to inherit the money no?"

"Yes,"

"So then you have to marry don't you!"

"It's not quite that simple Felix!" Jarvis snapped, finally regaining his voice properly.

"Well why not?" Felix shot back.

"Because it….that isn't the way things are done here," Jarvis blustered slightly, a hint of colour coming to his cheeks, "I can't just…just ask Flora to marry me, that wouldn't be proper!"

"You English are a funny sort!" Felix said in some wonderment, an amused smile playing round his lips, "You don't want to marry her then?"

"No! I….Yes…I mean…that is not the point!" Jarvis insisted waspishly, "It's more complicated than that," he added sullenly.

"Ahh of course, I forgot!" Felix retorted in amusement, "I don't suppose you have thought to ask Flora what she wants to do?" he added suddenly as an after-thought.

"Of course I have! I fully explained the situation to her," Jarvis retorted indignantly, "It wouldn't have been right to not tell her."

"Of course, of course," the chef placated, "But did you actually suggest out loud the idea of actually marrying, as that is obviously what you are thinking about!"

"I didn't want to bombard the poor woman with too much at once," Walter retorted defensively, fiddling with the cuffs of his jacket as he spoke.

"Hmmm," Felix replied, looking decidedly unconvinced with the butler's excuse.

"I haven't really had much time this week, what with his lordship being so demanding and everything," the butler mumbled evasively, not looking at the chef, preferring instead to gaze out the window.

"Yes I had noticed the two of you seemed a lot busier all of a sudden this week, well, too busy to spend much time with each other at any rate!" Felix smirked, "Nothing amiss I hope?!" he added knowingly.

"You can wipe that look of your face Felix," Jarvis retorted, "It's all your fault anyway," he added gloomily, "What on earth possessed you to make that toast in front of everyone!?"

"Well how was I to know you'd suddenly called everything off half-way through the party," Felix answered with a shrug, "It's not normally what happens at engagement parties. I was simply doing what was expected….toasting the happy couple!"

"Oh yes," Jarvis muttered darkly.

"Besides," Felix continued, unable to resist needling the butler further, "You didn't seem to mind too much at the time…………neither did Mrs Ryan!"

Stifling the urge to walk over and wring the smirking chef's neck, Jarvis settled instead for glaring pointedly over at his friend, hoping he would take the hint and drop this topic of conversation immediately.

"Now you're being completely childish Felix," Walter said haughtily after a moment or two.

"Hmph. I'm not the one who is scuttling around like a silly scullery maid with a crush, avoiding talking to our housekeeper!" Felix muttered under his breath.

"Besides, I didn't have any other choice," Jarvis continued indignantly, choosing to ignore the chef's remark, "It wasn't like I could announce it there and then that we'd had slight a change of plans!"

"True I suppose…."

"And now Flora has barely spoken to me since," Jarvis muttered gloomily, idly flicking specks of dust from the windowsill as he spoke, "Ridiculous idea of yours," he added, "You knew it wasn't a real engagement but you had to go and complicate matters further."

"Oh don't go blaming me for all of this!"

"Well have you tried talking to her properly?" Felix asked.

"Yes! It's just…as I said earlier, we've been quite busy lately…"

"Oh I give up!" Felix cried out in exasperation as he made his way over to the door, "Just talk to the woman Walter, you're not getting any sympathy or any more advice from me until you do!"

----

"Mrs Ryan……Mrs Ryan are you alright?"

The slight concern in the maid's voice jarred the housekeeper out of her reverie, nodding distractedly at Grace, Flora waved away the younger maid's concerns, mumbling something about carrying on what she'd been doing before. Sighing as Grace reluctantly left her office, Flora sat back in her chair, biting her lip and frowning slightly as she stared off into the distance.

She had to stop doing that; losing her thread in the middle of whatever she was doing just because something had reminded her of her increasingly confusing relationship with the butler. If she carried on like this then people would be comparing her to Lady Mary before long!

Shaking her head to try and get herself to concentrate on household matters once again, Flora glanced down at the household diary that was open in front of her. It was Friday today. That meant it was a week ago since their so-called 'engagement party', one week since Mr Jarvis had told her that the whole thing needed to be called off. At times it seemed as though the week had flown by, though that probably had more to do with the fact she was keeping herself very busy to avoid prolonged contact with said butler. Not that she was avoiding him really, she told herself, just…….keeping herself to herself, especially around the butler.

Why hadn't she just said no to his stupid idea in the first place? Then she wouldn't be in this confusing situation of….well she still wasn't sure what their situation was. Were they still engaged, or at least pretending to be engaged, or not? After their conversation in the garden she had assumed that it was all over, but then there had been the party and…..well who knew what was going on. Certainly she didn't, although avoiding him is hardly going to help resolve the matter a knowing voice in her head piped up with.

Pushing that thought firmly aside, Flora stood up suddenly. If the butler wanted to talk to her and sort out their arrangement then that was up to him to come and find her. After all, it was hardly fair of him, leaving her in limbo like this by not announcing anything to the staff if they really had called off their arrangement. Telling herself she was not in the wrong for this one, the housekeeper resolved to put all thoughts of Walter Corey firmly from her mind and go and find herself a task to occupy her right up until dinner. Preferably one far away from the butler's office so she wouldn't have to worry about him suddenly appearing and throwing her concentration she added to herself as an afterthought as she opened the door to her office and strode purposefully down the corridor

However, as it turned out, the housekeeper's efforts to avoid all thoughts and reminders of the butler were thwarted not half an hour after she had settled into a thorough cleaning of the scullery. One of the kitchen maids came running breathlessly in to tell her that chef was clean out of cooking brandy and the butler was nowhere to be found. Would she therefore mind going to fetch the spare set of keys from the butler's office. Sighing at the untimely interruption, Flora wiped her hands on her apron and made her way back to the main area of the servants' quarters and along to the butler's office. Pausing momentarily to glance in the window to check the room was empty, she pushed open the door and made her way over to the desk.

Perching herself on the edge of his chair, Flora reached for the small pot of odds and ends where she knew the butler kept the spare key for the his bureau. Quickly selecting the correct one, she moved over to the bureau and removed the spare cellar key from the top drawer. Putting it in her pocket she went back over to the desk to replace the drawer key but just as she was turning away, something caught her eye that made her turn back and sit back down immediately.

Sitting down, she pulled out the letter that was half hidden beneath a pile of other papers, like its owner had had to suddenly rush off in the middle of reading it and had just shoved it under a pile of other paperwork. Glancing around, she felt a sudden pang of conscience, this wasn't her letter and she had no business at all reading it…….but there was no one in sight and she'd been told that the butler was nowhere to be found so what was the harm really.

A minute or so later, Flora put the letter down on the desktop feeling now, if possible, even more confused than before. The letter had been from Walter's relatives that they had met a few weeks ago in Tappleton. From the sound of it, it seemed as though they were confirming they could come down and stay at the inn in the middle of town when they had their wedding! Shaking her head in confusion, Flora glanced back over the letter to make sure she hadn't misunderstood anything. But no, there it was in black and white, Walter's cousin saying they would make certain to keep that week at the end of January free. They even seemed to know when her wedding was supposed to be which was certainly more than she had ever been aware of!

Frowning in confusion, Flora slid the letter back where she had found it. Why on earth would Walter be writing to his cousins telling them that the wedding was still going ahead? And, even if that letter had been sent before he knew anything was amiss, why was he setting a date for their so-called wedding without so much as having the courtesy to let her know! Maybe he thought or hoped that she was actually going to marry him? Well if that was the case, he was going to have to mention it to her before long she thought to herself indignantly. After all, if he was going behind her back arranging all these things then there was only so long he could keep her in the dark, unless perhaps he planned on mentioning it only the day before they were supposed to be married.

Stop being so foolish, she told herself sternly. There must be some rational explanation. Probably some misunderstanding had occurred and Walter's cousin had ended up getting the wrong idea. After all, her and Walter actually getting married at the end of January, barely two months away, the idea was ridiculous wasn't it? He didn't seem particularly repulsed by the idea last Friday a voice at the back of her mind piped up. Yes, she told herself, but then why hasn't he made any effort to talk to you since. Probably because you yourself have been doing a rather good job of avoiding him as well, her conscience carried on smugly.

Sighing to herself in utter confusion, Flora glanced up as she heard voices down the corridor. Making sure the letter was properly out of view she made as if to stand but then sat back down again. If this was Mr Jarvis then she really should speak to him. However, as a group of giggling housemaids rounded the corner into sight, she couldn't help the slight sigh of relief that escaped her. Mentally chiding herself for behaving like this, her thoughts turned back to the previous Friday. It had all been going so…..well, not quite smoothly, but things had almost reached some semblance of normality again. It was Felix's fault really, she thought ruefully, if only he hadn't made that silly toast….

---

On realising that someone was probably going to note their absences from their own engagement party sooner or later, they had begun to make their way slowly back to the house. A slightly awkward silence had descended upon them as they walked back up from the lake and along the paths that led towards the servants' quarters.

"Everyone seemed to be having a good time when I left," Jarvis suddenly said, breaking the quiet.

"Yes," Flora agreed, "They probably didn't even notice we weren't there," she added after a moment or so, "I'm sure they won't notice us slip back inside."

Nodding his agreement, the butler smiled rather awkwardly at her voicing exactly what he had been thinking. Hopefully the rest of the staff would have taken advantage of the liberal amounts of alcohol available and so wouldn't have noticed the rather lengthy absence of the 'happy couple', nor the fact that they were going to suddenly reappear together.

However, despite the fervent hopes of both the butler and housekeeper of reappearing inconspicuously, these were firmly dashed within seconds of them setting foot inside the hall. Opening the door, Jarvis stepped back to allow the housekeeper to enter first and then followed her into the room, however they both stopped in their tracks as a loud, raucous cheer greeted them from the rest of the servants.

"There you are sir," Mr Adams piped up, "We were beginning to think you might have got lost."

"Yes," Felix added with a grin, "Or that perhaps you had decided to elope!"

Glaring back at the smirking chef, Jarvis bit back the retort on the tip of his tongue, instead gently grasping the now beetroot-red housekeeper by the elbow and guiding her over to the drinks table.

"Ahh no Mr Jarvis," the chef called out, "You're not getting away with it that easily."

Biting his lip in annoyance, Jarvis tried his best to wipe the irritated expression from his face as he turned back towards the chef, "Getting away with what Mr Kraus?" he asked in as pleasant a tone as he could manage.

"Why, all the celebrations of course," Felix replied with a smile, gesturing towards the rest of the staff, "After all, that's why we're all here isn't it!"

"Of course," Jarvis replied through slightly clenched teeth, "And I do thank you all for being so supportive. However, it has been a very long day and I fear some of may have to be retiring to bed ever so s…."

"Ohhh not quite yet Mr Jarvis," the chef cut in, flashing him an enigmatic smile, "Everyone quiet please!" he suddenly exclaimed, clapping his hands and waiting for the rowdiness to calm down.

"Oh god, what now." Jarvis muttered beneath his breath so only the housekeeper heard him, as the rest of the staff turned their heads towards the chef.

"As you all know," Felix began once he had some relative silence, "We are here to celebrate the very happy engagement of our esteemed colleagues, Mr Jarvis and Mrs Ryan…" here he broke off as the lower servants broke out in a chorus of cheers and whistles. Smiling broadly as he gestured for some quiet again, the chef continued, "Now I won't keep you all long, I am sure you are all anxious to carry on the party and if I make a lengthy embarrassing speech then I fear Mr Jarvis may dock my wages until Easter!"

"Next Christmas more like!" One of the footmen quipped to much sniggering from the lower servants around him.

"Anyway," Felix continued, raising his voice above the chattering and holding his glass up high, "If I could ask you to all raise your glasses in a toast……..My friends, please drink with me to two very dear colleagues….the future Mr and Mrs Corey!"

Letting out a small sigh of relief as the rest of the room echoed the toast and drained their glasses, the butler turned towards the housekeeper and smiled slightly. That hadn't been nearly as bad as he had expected, at one point he had thought Felix really was going to reel off a huge speech but at least they had been spared that tonight. However, just as he was leaning forward to mutter something in Flora's ear about making an early escape, one of the servants called out something that made him freeze in his tracks.

"Come on sir, give her a kiss!"

Glancing up at the housekeeper, Jarvis caught a sudden flicker of panic followed by something else across her face before she flushed in embarrassment and looked away. Turning to the gaggle of giggling servants beside him, intending to reprimand the insolent upstart who had dared suggest such a thing, the butler was suddenly met by a barrage of cheers and 'go on sir'. Realising it would probably be worse in the long-run if he refused and stormed off in a mood, Jarvis took a step closer to the housekeeper before leaning down and softly brushing his hand down her cheek. Feeling her tense against him, he heard her sharp intake of breath before suddenly his lips were pressed gently against hers. Pulling away after a moment or so, Jarvis paused, looking down into her eyes, expecting to see her anger at him for taking such a liberty. However, to his surprise her eyes were slightly glazed as if not properly in focus as she held his gaze for a few moments before the moment was untimely broken by the oblivious cheering of the servants.

Touching his fingertips absentmindedly against his lips which seemed to be still tingling, Jarvis kept his eyes on the housekeeper as she looked away from him, her cheeks still flushed and pink as several of her maids came over to congratulate her again.

"See, I told you the party was a good idea did I not!" Felix murmured in the butler's ear as he sidled up and pushed a drink into the butler's unresisting hand.

"Count yourself lucky Felix," Jarvis muttered as he raised the glass to his lips, "If I had it my way, I'd dock your wages until the end of the century!"

--

Back in the present, Flora Ryan sighed and ran a hand across her now aching head. Just what was she going to say to the butler now?

-------

Moving to rise from the chair and intending to hurry up to her room, the housekeeper started as the door was abruptly pushed open and someone suddenly entered the room.

"Mrs Ryan!" the butler exclaimed, coming to an abrupt halt just inside the door, the surprise at seeing her at his desk evident in his voice.

"Mr Jarvis, I was just…" the housekeeper stuttered, getting quickly to her feet, his sudden appearance flustering her.

"I hope you haven't been waiting long."

"No, not at all," Flora murmured.

"Mr Forrest just found me, something about Chef needing the cellar key urgently."

"Yes," Flora replied quickly, now recalling how exactly she came to be in the butler's office in the first place, "I was told that as well so I came down here to see if I could find it and then.." she trailed off, fiddling awkwardly with her fingers.

"Yes, of course,' Jarvis replied politely, "Did you manage to find it? I've moved it recently from the desk, I had my suspicions that some of the footmen were being a little too liberal in helping themselves from the cellar whenever my back was turned." he added with a grim smile.

"Yes, I managed to find it thank you Mr Jarvis," Flora replied, "I was just sitting down to leave you a note saying I had taken the key," she covered quickly, covertly glancing down at the butler's desk to check she hadn't left the letter out in plain sight.

However the butler followed her gaze and quickly drew his own conclusion on seeing most of the bottom page of the letter sticking out from the rest of the pile of paper on his desk.
"Have you seen…" he blurted out, turning quickly to stare intently at his housekeeper who flushed slightly under his gaze before quickly averting her eyes and staring down at the desktop.

"I….no, I wasn't looking for anything, I just happened to see it and then seeing my name caught my eye and well…"I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have…" she trailed off in a half-whisper, looking up at the butler anxiously to see if he was angry with her for snooping amongst his things.

Walking slowly over to the desk, Jarvis reached down and plucked the letter out from underneath the other papers that half-covered it before holding it out and briefly skimming over the contents. "Well I suppose I should have mentioned it to you anyway," he sighed after a few moments, folding the letter in half before moving over to the fireplace.

"Have you not told your cousins about….about what has happened?" Flora asked hesitantly.

Running a hand through his hair, Jarvis sighed deeply before replying, "No….I haven't. Mr Riley wrote to me a couple of weeks ago saying how much they enjoyed seeing us, how wonderful it was to be on speaking terms with my side of the family again and how they were looking forward to coming down to visit at the wedding."

"But why does he think it is going to be the end of January?" Flora asked in confusion, her puzzlement only increasing when the butler looked away, suddenly unable to meet her gaze.

"When I replied initially, I hadn't heard back from the solicitor about the marriage certificate," Jarvis explained softly, "George wanted to know a date and I just gave one arbitrarily, I thought it would all be sorted out by then," he added, looking up at Flora, "Alas it seems not."

"I see," Flora murmured, "But then now, this letter…?"

"Yes," Jarvis sighed heavily, "I received that at the beginning of this week. I haven't had the heart to reply yet, to tell him…well I don't really know what to tell him." He admitted helplessly, gazing into the fireplace as if the answer would miraculously leap from the ashes.

"I know the feeling," Flora murmured, watching the butler as he continued to avoid her gaze, "Walter….we really should ta…."

"I know," Jarvis cut in softly, finally glancing back over at her, "It's my fault; we should have spoken about this before but I just wasn't sure how to start and this week has been so busy, what with one thing and another so it was just quite easy to…..to brush over it."

"Yes," Flora agreed, "But we have to sort it out, if not just so we know what to say to other people." She added gently, watching as the butler nodded his agreement, "But we still need a marriage certificate to be able to do anything?" she asked softly.

"Yes," Jarvis replied with a nod, "That condition still stands."

"So without it there would be no point continuing this….this arrangement."

"That is correct Mrs Ryan," Jarvis replied slowly, a slight frown of confusion creasing his brow as he wondered where this was going, surely they had been over this last week?

"Don't you think it seems a bit of a waste….to have gone through this whole charade for nothing?" Flora suddenly said hesitantly after a moment or so.

"What do you mean?" Jarvis asked sharply, looking over at her to try and gauge her expression.

"I mean…all that planning and effort and now….now because we need to marry, it was all for nothing." Flora continued softly, nervously twiddling her ring between her fingers.

"Flora what are you saying?" Jarvis asked slowly, trying to catch her eye to see if she was serious.

"I don't know," the housekeeper muttered suddenly, whirling away and moving over to the window to avoid looking at the butler, still nervously fiddling with her hands.

"Are you…are you suggesting what I think you are?"

"I don't know," Flora repeated, feeling a knot of nervous tension sink to the bottom of her stomach, "Have you not thought it would be a possibility though?" she asked anxiously, suddenly aware that the thought might not even have occurred to him before.

"For us to...to actually marry?" Jarvis asked quietly, wanting to make sure he hadn't somehow got the wrong end of the stick from the housekeeper's cryptic answers, relieved when he saw he give a definite nod. "Yes, yes I had thought about it," he admitted softly, watching her carefully as she tensed slightly at his words, "But I never thought you would agree to it, it is such a big step after all."

"Yes," Flora said, her voice almost a whisper, "A very big step. What you're asking me…if you're asking me," she corrected herself, "It is a lot bigger than just appearing to be engaged. I would need to think about it very carefully." She added determinedly, finally turning to look at the butler, "Very carefully indeed."

"Of course," Jarvis nodded understandingly, slightly unable to believe the route this conversation had taken, "But….would you consider thinking about it?"

Freezing at the butler's question, the housekeeper turned to face the butler properly, trying to make out whether he was serious or not, "Are you…."

Hesitating slightly, Jarvis looked up at the half-nervous, half-hopeful expression on the housekeeper's face. Did he mean it? He hadn't really thought before speaking, that sentence had somehow just slipped out almost without him meaning it to. Swallowing nervously he met the housekeeper's gaze before slowly replying; "Yes, I am……..very ineptly and very unlike how I ever imagined I would but………Flora, would you…..would you consider marrying me?"

Bringing a hand up to her chest, Flora could feel her heart beating wildly, "Do...do you mean it?" she manged to stutter quietly after a few moments.

"Yes...yes I do," Jarvis replied slowly, "But please, take as much time as you need to think," he added quickly, "I do...I do realise what I'm asking you and I wouldn't want to feel like I had rushed or pressured you into doing anything you didn't want to do."

Unnerved by the butler's intense stare, the housekeeper finally turned away from him, turning back to gaze out the window once more, "You do mean it don't you Walter," she said eventually, biting her lip anxiously as a frown creased her brow, "If, and I mean if, I agree, then this is a big decision we are taking, it's not something we can just enter into lightly."

"I know," Jarvis said reassuringly, "I understand that."

"I just want you to be sure before I make any decision about it," Flora continued anxiously, "Once it's done then that's it, we can't change our minds or back out or or..."

"I'm serious about it Flora," Jarvis cut in softly, his voice low and reassuring, "Will you think about it?"

Still staring out the window, Flora paused for a moment or so before sharply nodding once, wrapping an arm protectively around her waist as she did so.

"Thank you," Jarvis murmured, letting out the breath he had unconsciously been holding while she hesitated over her answer, "You're an amazing woman Flora," he added awkwardly, noting how a slight blush crept over her cheeks at his compliment, "I can't thank you enough but please, take as much time as you need. I won't say another word about it."

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