Thank you; beMMADfabulous, mellastar, 18tilldie, vanillapod, lucysmom, kouw and especially themaidsdiares who has convinced me that my exams are pointless and I should write instead :p
Btw shoutout to watergirl135013, you favourite me and my stories but I can't send you a message saying thank you – you really make my day by favouriting these things, I can't tell you how much it means to me. So THANK YOU! ;)
I didn't like leaving you with a heartbroken Elsie so the next chapter was kinda called for asap.
Choosing not to knock her opened the door to see her on the floor with her back to her settee, legs clutched to her chest, attempting to make herself as small as possible – but it wasn't her position that frightened him, it was the waterfall of tears cascading down her face.
He stood frozen, staring at this woman, or girl as she now seemed – so young and vulnerable crying uncontrollably on the floor. This kind of behaviour he might expect from Daisy at the most but not Mrs Hughes; she was so strong, able to hold all the pressure and work on her shoulders but now, everything'd just crumbled. He could never bear to see women cry, but especially not her, how could he comfort her when she was in this state? He usually got away with a hand on her shoulder and a more gentle voice but now she needed to be held – and that was not the kind of thing the butler should do.
She didn't seem to have noticed his presence in the doorway, she just kept crying, the tears kept falling with no foreseeable end. Knowing the door was still open behind him he closed it quietly, the last thing she'd need would be any other servants to see her like this.
Her body shaking violently, her head resting on her knees and her nails puncturing holes through the telegram – this wasn't her, this wasn't the Elsie Hughes he knew. 'That name' he thought, had he ever even used it when he wasn't saying her entire name? Had they ever got past the formality and addressed each other by their given names, even when discussing personal matters or comforting each other they still used Mr and Mrs. The words stung in his mind, of course they'd never used their first names, it simply wasn't proper.
However, to him, Mrs Hughes signified a strong willed woman, the housekeeper of a great house, who held so much responsibility and yet handled it with ease. She was a surrogate mother to about 20 young maids a footman but she was stern and had a no nonsense nature but inside she had their best interests at heart.
But this wasn't Mrs Hughes, this was Elsie, the woman who clearly felt alone in her mind, no one to help her when she was upset, she could only ever comfort other people. Elsie was a lost woman in a forest of sadness that she had to keep bottled up for her own sake. The little things she would share with him, but clearly she held back a lot more, she'd need to be Elsie for him to help her and to him she wasn't, it just wasn't appropriate for her to be Elsie around him – just Mrs Hughes.
The sinking of the titanic had thrown everyone – this ship that was supposed to be unsinkable hadn't lived up to its name and taken far too many lives in the process, he thought the servants had got over the travesty well, no point dwelling on it, but now it'd hit too close to home. Charles thought for a moment, the ship was supposed to be this and should have been that but it wasn't – it didn't do what was right and look what happened. A prime example of what happened when things weren't done right, surely that was a sign he had to act as he would usually and not just hold her.
Seeing as he was standing in her sitting room, he knew he'd have to say something, even if it was just words from a butler with so much held back. He took a few steps forward, years of working on a stage had left him with the ability to tread lightly. He knelt beside her, he knew he'd struggle to get back up at his age but he needed to be at her head height.
He took the telegram from her hand and read it fully this time, those words, those words which would have no doubt broken her heart entirely. They made him sad just looking at them, but the effect on her was so much more extreme;
Mrs Hughes,
Upon investigation of the deceased bodies found from the Titanic, we have identified 4 of them to be your sister Eleanor, her husband George and children; James and Harvey.
Your niece Lily is still unaccounted for – you will be further contacted.
He read the words over and over, there was no emotion in them at all, no sense of sympathy in them, simply facts – your sister and family are dead. The little of her past he knew, he knew that her sister was the only family she had left, as if she didn't already feel alone. He prayed Lily was alive and safe, it would be a glimmer of hope that she could cling to for a while.
As he looked up from the paper, his gaze was met by a pair of once sparkling blue eyes now overcome with grey and red rimmed from the tears that now stained her face.
He couldn't help but just stare at her, she needed comfort, she needed his arms around her but it wasn't right, he shouldn't overstep the boundaries like this, no matter how sad she was. Her eyes almost begged him to hold her but she wasn't in the right frame of mind and he could hardly take advantage of her in such a way. A lump formed in his throat, if he continued to look into her eyes no doubt he would cry and that would be completely inappropriate. The voices in his head shouted different things, everything was contradicted, he was usually very sure of what he was doing but when it came to her he was lost and unsure what was right.
She was his housekeeper, his colleague, his confidant, at best his close friend – but he was completely in love with her.
You'll hate me I know but the next chapter will be up soon, don't worry.
Please review, I was so happy at the response I got from the first chapter.