Unexpected Correspondence
Chapter 5
Elliott had been having a very good morning, his divorce had just come through and Vera had accepted his proposal. She wasn't quite the catch that Catherine had been, but she did come from a very rich family, not quite as rich as Catherine's father but that attractive inheritance hadn't been an option since Richard Trevelyan had disowned her on the wedding day. Vera would be a more than adequate replacement, and hopefully without the wilful streak that had been so very irritating.
The sound of someone clearing their throat distracted Elliott from his contentment, and he peered over today's newspaper to see the housekeeper, Julie or Julia or something else beginning with a J, looking a little apprehensive.
"Yes, what is it?" Elliott demanded. She stepped closer and held a piece of paper out to him.
"One of the maids found this when waking Miss Sylvie, I believe it will be of some interest to you." Elliott snorted, it was incredibly unlikely that a frivolous little girl's document could be of any importance to him, but he laid his newspaper down and took the sheet. Having completed her task, and having no interest in being around for the outcome, Julie nodded respectfully and left to perform her other duties.
As Elliott read through the first lines of the letter his expression abruptly morphed from disinterest to ice cold fury. He was not a man prone to loud outbursts of anger, he found such men rather uncouth. He preferred to handle his business efficiently and with the decorum that befitted a man of his station, but if his disposition had not been thus, he might have smashed every piece of glass in the room.
He knew that Catherine had always been stubborn but he had never believed she would dare to try to contact Sylvie. She knew the law as well as he did, the law granted him sole custody over Sylvie and thus he was the only one who had any say in any communication between the two. No doubt Sylvie had already read the poisonous words that were blatantly an attempt to turn Sylvie against her only respectable parent and- he paused as he reread the second sentence of the letter. "I was so excited to get your letter, I didn't think I would hear from you."
Sylvie had begun this correspondence. He would be having words with that girl soon, but she was not as much to blame as her mother. Sylvie was only a child and children made stupid decisions all the time. Perhaps, Elliott mused, in some way his ex-wife was correct. If Elliott had explained to Sylvie what her disgrace of a mother had done, Sylvie would have known to sever all ties with Catherine.
He forced himself to calmly read through the paragraph where Catherine advised Sylvie on her future marriage. That was a particular problem that would be a pain to deal with, hopefully Sylvie had not understood what it had meant but if she had he would have to waste a lot of time dissuading her of any idea of future independence. A firm reminder that, as an adulteress, Catherine could never remarry and would have to work in a job that would barely support her, let alone Sylvie, might be enough to make Sylvie reconsider any notion of leaving home.
He read on, skimming through the irrelevant natter about Catherine's work in France and her friends, who probably wouldn't been so kind if they knew what she was really like, but he found himself slowing down during a certain passage.
Not all my friends are women, there are quite a few men here who are very kind. There's an orderly called Peter who spends quite a bit of time with us VADs, he's a bit abrupt and fairly sarcastic but he is great fun. There's also Miles who is always cracking jokes, no matter the situation. It can get a little irritating but he usually does manage to cheer me up when I'm feeling down.
The one I am probably the closest to is a captain called Thomas. He is very kind to me and I really hope that you get a chance to meet him as I think you would like him very much. I've spoken about you to him quite a lot, he managed to convince me to send you a letter. We've been spending a lot of time together recently and he's told me a little about his family. He has four siblings, a fact which in a way makes me a little sad because I think about you not having anyone to play with when you're living with your father. Maybe after he marries his new wife you will have some brothers and sisters to play with.
I sometimes wonder whether or not I will have any more children. I send quite a few letter to parents to inform them that their children are dead and it makes me glad that I don't have to worry about my children being shot in a trench or dying of gangrene. The colonel in charge of our hospital lost a son one night, I remember hearing him crying. I can't imagine what he is going through, I might be separated from you but I know you are alive and well, to lose a child so completely seems like such a distant concept.
The first and third paragraphs were disregarded almost immediately as Elliott focussed on the second. It sounded as though Catherine had already found another man to spread her legs for. Elliott thought back to the time he has spent in France visiting Catherine to arrange the divorce confession, there had been a man there, one who thought he could speak to him as an equal. Had that been Thomas? Elliott had clearly told the man that Catherine was a whore, so why was the man still speaking to her? It was probably only because of her loose nature. Elliott refused to believe that a man would take any serious interest in Catherine after what she had done, whores were not allowed second chances.
The rest of the letter was inconsequential to him. The letter was carefully folded and put away, he would have burnt it but he may have use for it later. For now, he had a daughter to speak to and travel details to arrange.
AN: So the Crimson Field has been cancelled. I'm both disappointed and relieved at the news. Disappointed because it was a great show and it's a shame we'll never see another episode, but I'm also a little relieved because the fact that Kitty and Thomas got together at the end of the first season is a little worrying in terms of a long term tv show. I've usually found that in multiple season tv shows, if a couple gets together in the first season then other seasons will then try to force stupid conflicts and idiotic love triangles and all sorts of other crap. So yeah, sad that I can't watch any more but also relieved that BBC doesn't have a chance to fuck it up.
Anywho we have a chapter in Elliott's point of view now, as well as a few allusions to the kind-of-sequel I mentioned last chapter, there should be one or two chapters left of this before I start writing the post-war fic. Thanks to through-the-eye-of-a-needle for reviewing last chapter!