------
The next couple of weeks seemed to fly by for the all the staff, despite the fact that Christmas was over, things barely seemed to be less hectic as wave after wave of guests arrived to see in the New Year and then for the weeks following.
The lower servants in particular seemed to be feeling the workload as well and mealtimes were usually accompanied by the customary grumbling about this guest or the other and what they were demanding now. However, on this particular occasion there was a slightly more interesting topic of conversation that the footmen had picked up on.
"Here Grace," George hissed as he spotted the maid entering the hall, smiling as she changed direction and sat down opposite him.
"Had a good morning Mr Cosmo?" she teased playfully.
"Nah, alright I suppose," he said dismissively, "but guess what Fred and I overheard!" he added animatedly as Grace helped herself to some bread.
"Ummm, Wilf has eloped with Mrs Diggins?" she quipped.
"Not quite," he retorted, "Along the right lines though!" he added as Grace raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Nah, we heard Jarvis talking to the vicar..."
"And..." Grace prompted as the footman paused dramatically.
"Well, let's just say Fred and I now know when him and Mrs R are tying the knot!"
"You know the date!"
"I might well do!" George said smugly.
"Well come on then!" Grace said excitedly, "tell me!"
"Yes come on George," Susan piped up, having been eavesdropping on the conversation, "We've all been dying to know."
"Have we?" Joe chipped in, a slight look of bemusement on his face.
"Yes Joseph!" Susan retorted, rolling her eyes in exasperation as the footman simply shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back to his lunch.
"Well," George began, pausing slightly in surprise as all the maids around him leant forward slightly in anticipation, "Between you and me, I wouldn't go getting yourself sacked between now and the beginning of February."
"Really!?" Grace gasped in delight.
"Yep," George nodded sagely, "Saturday the 12th to be precise," he added nonchalantly, grinning in satisfaction as that piece of information sent another buzz of excitement around the nearby servants.
"The 12th!" Susan gasped, "But that's….that's so soon."
"It is indeed Susan, better get planning your outfit right away then hadn't you!" Fred added, winking in amusement at George.
"George, what else did…" Grace trailed off as the butler entered the hall and a sudden hush descended on the table.
"Mr Adams," Jarvis said briskly, "Have you seen Mrs Ryan?"
"No, sir. Not a glimpse since breakfast," Adams replied, "Do you want me to pass on a message when I see her?" he added as the butler grimaced in annoyance.
"No, no, it's no matter…" Jarvis muttered distractedly, nodding his thanks briefly at his under-butler and glancing round the hall for a moment before turning and marching back out the door.
"Maybe she's done a runner!" Fred whispered mischievously once the butler was out of earshot, "She's come to her senses about having to marry old Jarvis and she's left!"
"Don't be ridiculous Fred," Charlotte rebuked primly.
"I'm not!" the footman replied defensively, a grin on his face as the maid glared back at him, "I don't know what I'd do if I was….Ow! he trailed off, clutching his ear as the under-butler caught him smartly on the side of his head with the back of his hand.
"If I was you laddie," Adams retorted, "I would eat my food and not open my big mouth so much. Now pipe down all of you and eat!" he added irritably, glaring round at all of them before stalking back to the head of the table.
----
Pausing for for a moment outside the Earl's study doors, Flora stopped to catch her breath for a moment before briefly knocking and then pushing the door to. Closing the door softly behind her, she made her way over to the Earl's desk.
"You wanted to see me sir," she said softly, pausing a few feet away from where he was seated.
"About a quarter of an hour ago I did," the Earl barked irritably without looking up from the letter he was writing.
"I'm sorry sir," Flora said apologetically, "I had to go down to the laundry and only just heard you wanted to see me."
"Well you're here now I suppose," the Earl muttered shortly, dismissing her apology with a wave of his hand, "Although you've missed Jarvis, I sent him away five minutes ago, no point having him hanging round here waiting for you."
Biting her lip anxiously, Flora held her tongue and waited for the Earl to get to the point. She'd been dashing around the house all day so it was no wonder the staff had had a bit of trouble finding her to pass on the Earl's message.
"Is everything sorted for the hunt dinner next weekend?" he asked distractedly after a few moments.
"Yes sir, Mr Jarvis and I went over everything last night."
"Good,"
"Was that everything your lordship?" Flora asked tentatively after another pause, thinking anxiously of the long list of tasks she still had to do before the end of the day.
"All in good time Mrs Ryan!" the Earl said sharply, looking up and glaring at his housekeeper "There was something else. Jarvis came and spoke to me earlier."
"Oh yes?"
"Yes, I suppose you'll be wanting that day off as well won't you?"
"Which day sir?" Flora asked in confusion.
"Oh when was it...13th...no, 12th February...your wedding day," he added as the housekeeper's expression of confusion still didn't alter, "Now don't tell me you've forgotten already Mrs Ryan, that wouldn't be a very good omen eh!" he added, snorting in amusement at his own joke.
"No...no, of course not," Flora managed to stutter, trying to inject an air of confidence into her tone and mentally making a note to have a few strong words with the butler when she next saw him, "That is...I mean... Mr Jarvis and I will obviously be unavailable that day if that's..."
"Yes, yes," the Earl said grudgingly, "I've already arranged it with Jarvis. Staff can attend the ceremony as long as there's enough people here to run things and Adams can take over for the day."
"That's very kind of you sir," Flora murmured, "Thank you."
"And what about afterwards?" he asked, graciously accepting her thanks with a nod of his head.
"Afterwards your lordship?"
"Yes, afterwards," he repeated impatiently, "I've said you can both stay for the meanwhile once you're married but I know what happens; people get married and suddenly decide they don't like being in service any longer and they up and leave."
"We haven't really decide..."
"Well it might not be up to you," he carried on, interrupting the housekeeper, "I mean you are getting married and stranger things have happened to married couples you know eh!"
"What do you..."
"Well if nature takes its course and you...ah...I mean if..." he suddenly trailed off awkwardly, unable to think how to suitably phrase it and glancing down pointedly at the housekeeper's midriff.
"Ohh," Flora suddenly exclaimed, catching onto his meaning as she caught the direction of his gaze, "Well we...I mean...we really haven't spoken about that at all and I don't know..." she managed to stutter, her cheeks flushing bright red in embarrassment as one hand subconsciously crept over her stomach protectively.
"Well anyway, we can discuss that another time," the Earl said abruptly, wanting to leave this rather embarrassing topic of conversation. Clearing his throat self-consciously, he didn't look up at the housekeeper, instead loudly shuffling the papers on his desk.
"Yes, of course," Flora agreed quickly, "Was that everything sir?"
"Yes, yes," he muttered hurriedly, "Oh and if you see Jarvis, remind him I want to see him before dinner quickly," he added as the housekeeper began to make her way towards the door.
"Yes m'lord," Flora murmured. Opening the door, she quickly left the room and marched down the corridor in the direction of the butler's office.
----
Reaching the butler's office, Flora knocked briefly before quickly pushing the door open, stepping inside and closing it firmly behind her.
"Mr Jarvis," she said loudly as the butler's head shot up in surprise at the sudden intrusion into his peace and quiet.
"Mrs Ryan," the butler's replied formally, glancing at her for a moment before returning his gaze to the mountain of paperwork that lay stacked in front of him, "How can I help?'
"I've just been to see his lordship." Flora said curtly.
"Oh yes,"
"Yes," Flora replied sharply, her irritation growing as the butler continued to focus on his work instead of her, "He told me something rather interesting as a matter of fact….."
"Which was?" the butler prompted eventually as the housekeeper trailed off.
"Oh nothing important really….just the date of our wedding!"
Pausing for a moment, the butler sighed heavily before putting down his pen and turning round to face his housekeeper properly. "I see…."
"Oh you do see do you!" Flora cut in angrily.
"I'm sorry Flora, I didn't think he was going to tell you," Jarvis said apologetically,
"Well he most certainly did!"
"I spoke to the Vicar earlier and have been trying to find you all day, and then his lordship put me on the spot and I had no choice but to tell him. I did want to tell you in person and check with you that date was suitable…" Jarvis added, brushing over the housekeeper's exclamation.
"Well it is a bit late for that now!" Flora retorted, "I even overheard some of my girls talking about it on my way over here. It seems I'm the last to know as always!"
"Hardly!" Jarvis scoffed, "No matter what you may think, I have not been telling every servant I meet just so that you would be the last to know."
"Well it seems I am anyway!"
"Flora, as I explained already, I have been all over the house trying to find you all day!" the butler repeated, a touch of annoyance entering his voice.
"Well you can't have looked all over the house or you would have found me!"
"I do have one or two other things to be doing with my time Mrs Ryan, other than conducting a futile search of Taplows for you."
"I know that Mr Jarvis," Flora shot back, "But as a common courtesy, you could have had the decency to inform me when we were going to get married. I don't expect the Earl to have to be the one to tell me things like that."
"I didn't mean for him to tell you Flora," Jarvis exclaimed in exasperation, "For god's sake woman, when has his lordship ever taken the slight bit of interest in our affairs? I fully expected him to forget it as soon as I told him. I hardly thought he'd take it upon himself to go and tell you."
"You thought wrong then," Flora muttered rebelliously.
"Flora, I have said I'm sorry," the butler said, his patience with the conversation wearing thin, "What more do you want me to say? I can't very well go and un-tell the Earl."
"Well as long as this isn't the way you intend to tell me everything when we're married," Flora replied petulantly as the butler glared over at her.
"Don't be absurd,"
"I'm not!"
"You are. I'm very sorry the Earl told you about the wedding date, but he did and it's done." Jarvis exclaimed impatiently, "For crying out loud woman, it's not even as though it's a prop…."
"Not a what?" Flora asked sharply as the butler trailed off all of a sudden.
"Nothing," he muttered, turning back round in his chair and picking up his pen once more.
"What were you going to say?" Flora demanded, pacing over to his desk so she stood only a couple of feet away from him.
"It doesn't matter,"
"Yes it does," Flora retorted, "You were going to say it's not even a proper marriage weren't you?" she added accusingly, trying to stop her voice wavering slightly at the end.
Biting his lip slightly, the butler paused in his writing, before slowly putting the pen down and glancing up once more at the housekeeper, "No I…."
"Yes you were!" Flora interrupted him angrily.
"Alright yes I was!" the butler retorted angrily, "I didn't mean it like that, it's just….." he trailed off as the housekeeper turned away from him and stormed over to the window, "Flora you know what I meant…ours isn't a completely normal situation. You couldn't say ours was a proper marriage in the normal sense."
"Yes I know what you meant," Flora replied coldly, "It's not a proper marriage so you don't feel like you have to really bother doing things properly."
"That is not what I meant at all!" Jarvis retorted indignantly, "I don't like what you're implying Mrs Ryan. I have always been completely honest with you about the situation….well nearly all of the time…" he corrected himself hastily as Flora glanced back at him, an expression of disbelief on her face, "I've always made my intentions clear however."
"Perfectly so Mr Jarvis," Flora replied icily, "Now that we've cleared that up, I'll leave you to your work and won't disturb you any further," she added, turning and marching towards the door without a backwards glance, leaving the butler to glare after her retreating figure.
-------
"Mrs Ryan?"
Glancing up on hearing her name, Flora caught the chef's eye who was looking expectantly at her, "Sorry Mr Kraus," she murmured, "Did you say something?"
"Just once or twice Mrs Ryan," Felix replied jovially, "Could you please pass me the salt?"
Smiling distractedly, Flora nodded before passing over the salt cellar to the chef.
"You were miles away there Mrs Ryan," Felix continued after delicately applying a pinch of salt to his food, "I do hope we are not boring you?"
"No, not at all," Flora murmured, managing a weak smile in the chef's direction, "I'm just rather tired that's all. It's been a busy few weeks."
"It has indeed!" Felix replied, "For some more than others though!" he added teasingly with a knowing wink at the housekeeper.
"I'm sure we've all had our fair share of the workload," Flora retorted primly, not acknowledging the chef's non too subtle dig.
"I hear there have been some developments recently though!" the chef continued, ignoring the pointed glare shot at him by the housekeeper, "Should we all be keeping the 12th of February free then Mrs Ryan?"
"I think Mr Jarvis is going to announce it formally in the next couple of days," Flora replied sharply, noticing the way everyone's ears suddenly pricked up at that little announcement.
"Oh of course!" Felix said with another knowing wink, "Until then I will keep hush hush. Not a word will pass my lips…" he added with a smirk as the housekeeper looked up at him disbelievingly.
"Where is Mr Jarvis?" Mrs Diggins suddenly asked,
"He's not coming to dinner tonight," Felix explained with a nod at the empty chair at the head of the table, "He told me he had too much paperwork to catch up on," he added with a disdainful sniff at the butler's poor excuse.
Clenching her fork so tightly that her knuckles went white, Flora bent her head over her dinner once more so her colleagues couldn't see the look of anguish that crossed her face. That man! That infuriating man! How did he have the ability to make her feel like this? He had deliberately made that excuse because of her interrupting him earlier. Suddenly feeling nauseous and as if everyone's eyes were focused on her, the housekeeper pushed her plate away and stood up abruptly.
"Leaving us already Mrs Ryan?" Felix asked in surprise.
"I'm sorry, I'm suddenly feeling a little unwell," Flora murmured, not making eye contact with the chef, "Please excuse me," she added as she turned and made her way towards the door.
----
An hour or so later, the housekeeper was pacing restlessly around the icy gardens, a shawl clutched tightly round her to try and keep the chill out. She had been trying to stop thinking about her argument with the butler earlier but was failing miserably. Berating herself for this foolishness, after all, she told herself, she had known what she getting into all along. But maybe Walter didn't, a voice at the back of her mind piped up. After all, she thought, he does think it's a marriage of convenience, he's offered nothing more. How was he to know she was in…..how she felt about him?
Coming abruptly to a halt, Flora suddenly span round and headed back towards the house. Flinging open the side door, she made her way down the corridor to the butler's office. Reaching the door, she took a deep breath, trying to shake off the strange light-headedness she was suddenly experiencing, before opening the door firmly and stepping inside the dimly lit office.
"Walter…..I need to talk to you," she blurted out, as the figure in the fireside chair started slightly as the door closed, "I can't carry on like this, I have to…..I have to tell you something about me….about how I feel for you…"
---
Muttering in annoyance to himself as he stormed along the corridor towards the Earl's study, Walter Corey cursed his bad luck and willed with all his might that this wouldn't take too long and he could finally retire to bed. It had been a bad day to begin with and it had got steadily worse, not least because of his quarrel with Flora. It had just been bad luck she had caught him when she did and he regretted being so short-tempered with her.
He had honestly being trying all day to try and find her and it was simple bad luck that the Earl had had to go and let the cat out the bag in such a manner. He probably shouldn't then have said what he had about it not being a proper marriage but, damnit, what the hell else was it? As he had said, theirs was not a normal engagement and it was definitely best not to be under any such illusions.
However, judging by the look on her face after he said that, he'd be lucky if she turned up at the church at all, let alone helped him organise the damn thing. Sighing as he reached the study doors, he tugged sharply on the bottom of his waistcoat before entering. Perhaps he could go via her office after he'd finished here and talk to her then.
-----
"I think that should probably wait until Walter returns don't you…" a voice that was certainly not the butler's suddenly cut in apologetically over the housekeeper.
Gasping in horror at her blunder, Flora moved further into the room, bringing a hand to her mouth as she caught sight of the chef looking round at her in curiosity from the butler's fireside chair.
"Mr Kraus…." Flora managed to stutter, "I'm so sorry, I didn't think….I mean… I thought you were…" she gabbled before hurriedly turning to leave, intending to flee to the safety of her room.
"Mrs Ryan," Felix called, jumping up from his chair and striding over to the door, catching it and holding it closed before she could escape, "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked gently, laying a hand softly on her shoulder, "Walter won't be back for a while," he added as the housekeeper bit her lip in indecision, "The Earl only just called him away."
"I….I'm not sure if I do," Flora replied anxiously, turning away from the chef, twisting her hands nervously as she leant back against the butler's desk for support.
"Forgive me for asking," the chef began hesitantly, "But what were you going to tell Walter just now?'
"I…it doesn't matter," Flora whispered, keeping her eyes locked on the floor.
"Are you in love with him?" Felix asked softly, watching as the housekeeper's head shot up suddenly and she tried in vain to stutter out an answer, "I think that answers that question," he said gently as Flora blushed and looked away again.
"Please don't tell him?" Flora suddenly asked pleadingly, looking imploringly up at the chef.
"Do you not think he ought to know?"
"Yes….yes, he should," Flora murmured, "But I have to be the one who tells him. Promise me you won't say anything?"
"But…"
"Promise me Felix?" Flora begged insistently, watching as the chef's resistance crumbled, "Please?"
"Very well," Felix sighed reluctantly, "But you must tell him soon."
"I will," Flora sighed, "But….not yet."
Nodding his reluctant agreement, Felix paused for a moment, watching the anxious woman in front of him as she fiddled with the ring on her finger, "I had my suspicions anyway," he said quietly after a moment or two, "How long have you…"
Glancing up at the chef, Flora gave a small shrug of her shoulders, "A while…" she said wearily, suddenly feeling that through that simple admission she was completely drained of all energy.
"Is that why you agreed to this….this whole engagement…marriage…thing..?" Felix asked, gesticulating vigorously.
"I….I'm not sure," Flora mumbled, "Partly I think, if I'm being honest."
"And now?"
"What do you mean?" Flora asked, glancing up at the chef in confusion.
"Well what were you going to say to Walter? You're not going to pull out of it are you?"
"I…..I don't know," Flora murmured anxiously, "We had a fight this afternoon…"
"Ahhh," Felix murmured knowingly, more to himself than the housekeeper, "I thought Walter was in a particularly foul mood earlier."
"I just don't know what to do anymore," the housekeeper trailed off despondently.
"Well you must have made up your mind if you came here tonight to tell him?"
"Yes…but…."
"Flora! You have to tell him! You can't just back out now because….because of a silly little bit of timing!"
"I can if I want to.." Flora muttered to herself.
"Ach, you English," Felix tutted to himself in exasperation, flinging his hands up in the air in despair.
"I am not English Mr Kraus!" the housekeeper retorted indignantly.
"Pshh," Felix replied dismissively, as he sank back down into the fireside chair in resignation, "English, Irish….is all the same to me. You're all as stubborn as one another……and don't try to deny it!" he added as the housekeeper opened her mouth to refute it, "You are the only couple I know who could get engaged without actually telling each other how you really feel and carrying this whole ridiculous marriage of convenience charade on," he continued, waving his finger knowingly at the housekeeper.
"What do you….What has Walter said?"
"Oh nothing of course," Felix said hastily, "But this is our Mr Jarvis we are talking about. It's obvious how he feels."
"Is it?"
"Of course." Felix replied confidently, "Now you must talk to him Flora my dear."
"I…"
"Or I will find it very hard to keep my promise…" Felix added pointedly, "You know how easily these little details just slip out."
"Very well," Flora murmured reluctantly, mentally noting she had made no mention of when exactly she would speak to the butler and so it could be put off for a little while longer.
"I'm glad to hear it."
----
Running a hand wearily through his hair, Walter glanced down at his pocket watch, grimacing slightly as he noticed the lateness of the hour. He had been much longer than he'd thought he'd be with the Earl and he doubted the housekeeper was still up at this hour. Approaching her office, he noted with annoyance the darkness of the windows and pushed the door open slightly just to check it was indeed empty.
Letting out a heavy sigh, he turned to go back up the stairs and turn in. For a moment he thought about heading back down to his office to see if Felix was still there but, after a moment or so, dismissed the idea, he had after all told the chef not to wait up for him if the Earl kept him longer than expected. He would just have to try and find a moment tomorrow to speak to Flora and hope that she wasn't planning on doing anything silly like pulling out at the last minute.
----