Overprotective

Chapter XII

Over the next few weeks, Spencer and I barely spoke. He would attempt to speak to me, but I would just pass right on by him. I wasn't much up for conversation. It was now mid May, a month after the sinking, and things hadn't changed much. Mrs. Welch was still pretty broken. She was eating and talking more, but still spent a lot of time in silent seclusion. Aunt Gwen was just herself, busily planning my wedding that I had no interest in. Spencer kept trying to get my attention, without success.

I was leaving my bedroom, about to walk down stairs, when Spencer called my name. I didn't turn. He jogged down the hall, "Meredith!"

"Not now, Spencer." I snapped, and walked down the stairs. Things had been slightly tense between him and I. Actually just from me. I'd been feeling very uncomfortable after that kiss, so I distanced myself from my fiance.

He had been trying and trying day after day to speak to me, but I just was not in the mood, clearly. He just wouldn't give up.

Spencer was barreling down the stairs after me, "Meredith, I'd really like to speak to you. Please. Just for a few moments."

I sighed. "I was going to get a cup of tea, Spencer."

"I'll join you." he replied quickly, and before I could utter another sigh, he grabbed my and dragged me out to the garden where a black iron table with intricate patterns was on the cobblestone patio. The sun was out, and the multitude of flowers created a sea of colors all around us.

"Can I get you two anything?" A maid came outside and asked.

"Two cups of tea. You know already how we like them, right?"

The maid nodded and left. Spencer gestured for me to sit down. We were awkwardly silent until the maid returned with our tea, and I nervously stirred it for what felt like minutes but that was most likely a mere ten seconds.

"So how was your night?" he asked.

"It was fine." I looked up from my cup.

"You haven't been speaking to me very much. Might I ask why?"

"I think you know."

"Is this because I kissed you?"

"You tell me."

"We're engaged. I thought it would be alright."

"Well, it's not alright."

"Meredith," he began, and hesitated, "Why are we getting married?"

"What do you mean? You know the reasons why."

"I know. But if you don't have feelings for me, why are we going to get married?"

"Because it's all we can do. It's what everybody wants us to do. Hell, I don't know, Spence."

"If you don't have feelings for me, why should we be married?"

I stayed silent.

"I'm going to make you love me, Meredith. And if I fail at that, then we'll just go our separate ways." he leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs.

"Fine."

I stayed there and finished my tea, then excused myself to go back inside.

"Oh, Meredith," Aunt Gwen saw me and approached, "I saw you and Spencer out having tea on the patio. How lovely."

"Yeah. It was." I lied.

The next few days, I was still ignoring Spencer. I just felt so awkward around him.

I was heading back up to my bed room, when I heard a shrill scream. I ran up the stairs and saw Iris standing outside of my room staring into the opened door while covering her face with her hands.

"Iris, what happened?" I asked immediately.

"Miss Meredith, I was making your bed when I swear I saw a rat move beneath the sheets!"

I peered into my room, and slowly entered. There was a small moving creature underneath my bed sheets. I cautiously reached out and grabbed the edge of the sheet, then quickly ripped it off the bed to reveal what wasn't a rat, but a small black kitten. It looked up at me and meowed, causing me to smile uncontrollably. "Hello, sweetheart." I said softly as I picked her up gently. I carried her out to the hall. "Iris, it wasn't a rat. It was a kitten. Isn't she adorable?"

Iris stroked the kitten with one finger. "She's precious."

"I wonder how a kitten got into my room."

Spencer was coming up the stairs, looking around every direction possible until he saw us and stopped. "That's where she went." he came up to me and took the kitten from my hand.

"Yea, she was in my room. May I ask why you have a kitten in the house?"

"I bought her. For you." he held her out towards me, and I took her back.

"You bought me a kitten?"

"Yes. You've seemed lonely, so I figured you could use a little companion. Plus she was just too adorable to not take home."

"Is my aunt alright with this?"

"Yes, I've asked her. She thought it was a sweet idea."

"Well she is adorable." I tried to conceal my excitement. "Thank you, Spencer." The kitten fell asleep in my hands. "What's her name?"

"I was leaving that up to you."

I stared at her, and stroked her back softly. "Her icy blue eyes remind me of my Aunt Eleanor. She's my father's older sister, a year younger than my Aunt Gwen. She died a few years ago though. She was very sweet, and she adored me. I'm going to name the kitten Ellie, after her. Hopefully Aunt Gwen won't notice who I named her after. She couldn't stand Aunt Eleanor. She was always jealous of her. Gwen was always the greedy type, while Eleanor was more giving. Complete opposites, really."

"Ellie sounds like a fine name."

I carried Ellie down stairs, and brought her into the kitchen. There was the head cook. "Penny, do you have anything I could feed this kitten?"

The cook, Penny, turned around from her work. "Of course, Miss." she poured milk into a bowl and put it on the counter. I placed Ellie on the counter, and she sniffed the bowl, then began to sip the milk.

Once she was done, I picked her up. She had milk all stuck to the fur on her face. It made me laugh uncontrollably as I wiped it off. Then I carried her into the dining room, where my aunt was reading a paper. I walked over and stood beside her. "Aunt Gwen, look what Spencer got for me? Isn't she adorable?"

"Oh, yes. She's very pretty." Aunt Gwen pet the kitten's head for a moment. "Did you name her?"

"Yes." I hesitated for a few seconds. "Ellie."

"Oh." she looked down at her paper again. "That's lovely." I looked down at the paper too, and I saw a picture of Clarissa in the corner. "Aunt Gwen, is that Clarissa Buller-Hewitt?"

"Yes, it is. Her family just had a memorial service for her last week."

"I wish I could have gone."

"I would have let you go had I known there was one. The ride to their home only takes about forty five minutes, I'd assume."

"Could I go visit her family? Just to talk to them about her. She was my friend, after all."

"If you wish to. I'll arrange for my driver to take you and Spencer tomorrow."

"Spencer?" I asked and sighed. Must he follow me everywhere?

"Is that a problem, Meredith?" Aunt Gwen asked.

"No, ma'am. No problem at all." I lied. I went back upstairs, and I knocked on Spencer's door. He answer.

"Hello, Merry. Enjoying your kitten?" he asked with a smile that was actually sort of cute.

"Yes, she's wonderful." I looked down at Ellie, who was asleep in my hand. "Tomorrow we're going on a trip."

"Oh?" he asked curiously. "Where to?"

"We're going to visit Clarissa's family. They apparently don't live too far from here. Less than an hour's drive. If you'd like to go-"

"Of course I would!" he answered quickly.

"Alright. Be ready tomorrow morning. We'll leave at 11 o'clock sharp."

"I'll be ready." he answered in a slightly flirtatious tone.

I walked back to my room, and placed Ellie down on my bed. I laid down, and put her on my stomach, then fell asleep, cuddling with my new pet.

The next morning, I awoke by myself, and picked up Ellie, then placed her on my pillow so she could continue to sleep. I went to my wardrobe, and pulled out a dark blue dress. It reminded me a bit of the dress I wore as the Titanic was sinking, only it was simpler. Tracy came upstairs and helped me into a corset, and the dress. She pinned my hair back and put a matching blue hat with a black sating bow around it onto my head. I looked very nice, in my opinion. Tracy took Ellie down to the kitchen to feed her. The maids would watch her for the day.

I went down to the dining room, and asked the maid for a cup of tea which she brought to me in a few minutes. Aunt Gwen walked in soon after. "Meredith, finally decided to wake up, have you?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Spencer arrived in the room, wearing a pair of dark black pants, an off white collared shirt, and black suspenders. His hair was hanging freely in his face. "We going soon?"

"Yes, once I finish my tea." I responded, taking a sip.

Five minutes later, we both got into one of Aunt Gwen's car.

"So why are we visiting Clarissa's family?" Spencer asked.

"I'm not sure. I just felt like it's something that should be done. Perhaps we could tell them about what we learned about her, and they can tell us about her. Perhaps they'd feel more at peace knowing about her final moments… How happy she was with your brother."

He looked sad at the mention of Adam. We hadn't spoken about him in such a long time.

"Yeah, it probably will be good to meet her family. I miss her. She was a sweet girl. I miss Adam pretty badly too… This isn't something men like to admit, but I've cried every night since he died."

I put my hand on his shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with admitting that. It means you have feelings. That's perfectly normal."

"Seeing Clarissa's family might be something Adam would have wanted us to do."

The rest of the ride, we would awkwardly discuss the weather or other random topics. We pulled up to a large brick house, and the driver opened my door to let me out. Spencer took my arm, and we walked up to the front door. I knocked on the front door, and a young woman opened it. She had straight honey blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, and murky see green eyes. She looked so much like Clarissa, I felt like I might faint. Spencer and I stood there with our jaws dropped.

"Can I help you?" she asked, and we didn't answer. "Good gracious, you both look like you've seen a ghost." she waved her hand in front of our faces. "Hello?"

I snapped out of my daze. "Oh, sorry. You just look so much like a friend of mine…"

She studied our faces. "Come in." she lead us into the parlor, and gestured for us to sit down. "I'm assuming you knew my sister, Clarissa, right?" she opened a decanter of brandy, "Either of you care for a drink?"

Normally I would turn down a drink, but right now I said yes, and I drank the brown liquid, letting the fire burn down my throat. "I'm Meredith Lowe, and this is Spencer Welch. In case you were wondering."

She put down the decanter and joined us with a glass of her own. "I'm Charlotte. Clarissa was my twin sister, in case you were curious about the resemblance. What brings you here?"

"We met Clarissa on the Titanic. We befriended her. She was very sweet, and we thought we should pay her family a visit to answer any questions they might have about her last moments."

"My sister and I haven't spoken in a while. We went to Paris, and she met that man, Tyrus Barks. They 'fell in love'" she laughed, "And she ditched us to go off to London with him. We hear she was 'with child'. Our family was pretty embarrassed. Then she went and got herself drowned in the damn North Atlantic." Charlotte filled her glass again and downed it quickly.

"She was pregnant. She told us. And she died only because she wouldn't leave the man she loved."

"She fell in love again? She was always a bit boy crazy."

Spencer spoke up, "She fell in love with my younger brother, Adam Welch. They both died together…."

"I'm sorry to hear about your loss, sir." she said sincerely, and placed her hand on his. I felt my face getting hot. But I didn't like Spencer, so why did I feel this sudden surge of jealousy?

"My mother and father are out of town. You won't be able to speak to them, if that's what you were hoping to do."

"I really didn't care who I spoke to. I just wanted to meet somebody related to Clarissa. Maybe learn a bit more about her."

"My sister was a brat. She always had her head in the clouds, never thought about the consequences of her actions. Whenever anything bad happened to her, it was always 'oh poor me'. She wasn't as bad off as you'd think. She was a spoiled little princess."

"I take it you didn't think too highly of her." Spencer commented.

"We were twins. Sisters. And we fought like any normal sisters would, I suppose. As twins, we wanted to get as far away from each other as possible. I wanted to be my own separate person, and we went our own separate paths. I can't help that she chose the wrong one."

"I'm guessing your family isn't very close…" Spencer spoke up again.

"You're right. My parents, Jacob and Rosaline, had three children. They decided it'd be cute to give us all the same initials too. Charlotte Aimee, Clarissa Anisette, and my younger brother, Caleb Alexander. They treated us the same, and didn't really see us as anything special. We were raised mostly by maids, while our parents traveled all over. Even now, a week after their daughter's memorial service, they've gone off to Madrid. Clarissa enjoyed the traveling though, whenever they'd take us with. Like when we all went to France. She met that god-awful man, and they'd fool around. She'd tell me all about how he desired her, and how she gave in. She thought she was in love." she let out a laugh, "She couldn't even see the old man was just using her. She got what she deserved. I tried to warn her, but she was too thick to listen."

"I actually found your sister to be quite sweet. She was a good friend of mine."

Charlotte poured herself another glass of brandy and took a big sip. "She was an idiot."

I needed a break from her. "Might I use the loo?" I asked.

"The what?" Clarissa took another sip from her newly filled cup. "That means the bathroom, right? You silly Europeans." she laughed again in a haughty manner.

I shook my head and left the room, walking down the hall looking for the bathroom since Charlotte hadn't exactly told me where it was. I opened a random door, and saw a boy there. I was so surprised I screamed.

"Jeez, lady. Shut your mouth and cool the hell down." he said rudely.

I stopped and looked at him. "What did you just say to me?"

Spencer and Charlotte came running down the hall (actually Spencer was the one running, Charlotte was dragging behind). "What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing." I answered. "I just got a bit of a fright. That's all."

Charlotte laughed again, obviously a little more than just tipsy. "A bit of a fright." she mimicked me in a high voice. "How cute." she giggled.

I sighed.

"Who's the broad?" the boy asked Charlotte and pointing at me.

"This is Mary…?" she looked at me curiously.

"Meredith." I corrected. "Who's the kid?" I looked at him.

"I'm Caleb Alexander Buller-Hewitt the III. Named after my grandfather, and his father." he answered, sounding proud of himself. "And I'm not a kid. I'm fifteen."

"Well I'm not a broad. So now we're both a bit more educated." I snapped.

"She and this man here were friends of Clarissa's on the Titanic apparently." Charlotte explained.

"You knew my sister?" he asked slowly.

"Yes, I did. She was a very sweet girl. I'm sure you miss her terribly."

Caleb's eyes suddenly filled with tears.

"Aw, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry." I reached out my hand to put it on his shoulder, but Charlotte smacked it away.

"Caleb, grow up. Stop crying. What would father say?!" she scolded.

"Sorry Charlie…" he brushed at his tears angrily, and turned away, walking down the hall and disappearing into a room.

"We should probably go…" Spencer was standing behind me, and he whispered into my ear.

I leaned back an inch, "Yes, I'd really like to leave."

Spencer placed his hand gently on my back and led me forward, "We should be leaving. Thank you for your time."

"Oh, alright. Bye bye now." she said in a very obnoxious way.

Spencer led me out of the house and back to the car. He opened the door to let me in. "Did you hear that girl? She's horrible! And she was saying Clarissa was a bad person. Has she look in a mirror? She's absolutely dreadful!"

"Calm down, Merry. We're out of there. Charlotte will probably drink herself into a nice nap before two." he smirked.

"No wonder Clarissa fell for Mr. Barks. She needed love from somebody, and she wasn't getting it at home. Her siblings are insane, and her parents were distant, literally. They pushed her to it."

"I know. I feel horrible for her, and I still miss Clarissa. And Adam."

"She's happier though at the moment…" I stated, but meant it as a question.

He understood, "Yes, she is happier."

We went back home, and Spencer and I sat on the parlor floor with Ellie. She was playing with a small ball of yarn we stole from my Aunt's attic, but soon fell asleep on the floor.

"I used to have a cat when I was younger. My parents got him for me after Harry left, because I just looked so lonely. His name was Caratacus."

Spencer lifted an eyebrow, and then laughed. "Caratacus? That's a bit of an odd name, don't you think?"

"It meant 'beloved and amiable'. But I just called him Cat for a few years. He was a handsome orange cat, with brown patches. He got a bit fat later in his life though. He died two years ago."

"Well you loved Caratacus," he laughed as he said the name, then quickly composed himself, "And now that he's gone, even though you still love him, you love Ellie too, right?"

"Yes. She's very sweet." I rolled her over onto her back and pet her tummy while she snoozed.

"Then," he cleared his throat, "does that mean that even though you cared for James, you could care for me now that he is gone."

"Spencer, that is entirely different."

"Really, Mer? How?"

"We were talking about kittens, not us." I went to get myself off the floor, but he grabbed my wrist.

"Meredith… Tell me honestly that you don't care for me."

"I don't." he must have noticed I was staring down as I spoke.

I once again attempt to get up off the floor, but he moved closer to me, and then to my surprise moved himself above me, holding me gently on the floor beneath him.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't feel anything for me."

"I-"

"Honestly." he interrupted me.

"I… I think you should let me up."

"Meredith, just answer."

"You're making me uncomfortable, Spencer."

"Then answer and I'll let you get up. Tell me honestly, and look me in the eyes. I just want to know-"

His green eyes were looking into mine expectedly. His look paralyzed me to that spot.

"Spencer… I… I…" I couldn't seem to get the words out.

"Yes?"

"I do care for you." I finally admitted, defeated. "Only a bit." I added quickly. His eyes searched mine again, and he looked suspicious. "Maybe more than just a bit."

He smiled. "How much?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Yes, it does."

"I really don't know how to explain."

"Okay then. Do you like me like this?" he leaned down a bit and kissed my lips quickly. "Or like this?" He kissed me like he did before, passionately with a bit of tongue. I didn't stop him this time. He pulled away, and smiled. I returned the grin, and lifted my head to meet his lips again in another passionate kiss, only this time I left my tongue in my own mouth.

"Like that." I answered once we parted.

"I'm not quite sure I understand. Like this?" he kissed me again. And again. And again. This went on for several minutes, and I felt butterflies. I hadn't quite felt this way since last month with James. For so long I've tried to keep Spencer away and hide my feelings, but now I realized giving in felt so good, and so right.

"Yes, Spence, exactly like that." I smiled seductively at him, and he went on to kiss my cheek, my jaw line, my neck, and my collarbone. I found myself giggling like a child, enjoying his lips on my skin.

"Excuse me." Aunt Gwen said, standing in the doorway. "I hate to interrupt," she smiled, "But could you two just calm this down a bit. And please get off of my floor."

"Yes, ma'am." Spencer answered, moving away from me, and helping me stand up. I picked up Ellie, and we all walked upstairs, with Aunt Gwen's eyes following us as we disappeared onto the upper level of the house.

I stopped by my bedroom door, and leaned against the wall. He stood in front of me, holding himself up with one hand on the wall beside me. "I'm going to go lie down for a bit. I need some rest." I couldn't stop smiling.

"Alright. Same." he was smiling uncontrollably as well. "I'll see you later." he kissed my cheek, and disappeared into his own bedroom.

I carried Ellie into my room, laid down, and fell asleep.

Hey. I'm sorry this took awhile, and I know it's not as good as it should be. I'm getting my computer taken away for a few days, so I had to post this right niow and finish it quickly. I was in the emergency room, and there's been a lot going on. I'll try to get chapter 13 done as quickly as possible. Thank you for reading. please review. I'll cheer up a lot from a review from one of you lovely readers. Hehe. Thanks everyone. Enjoy.