B&B OF LOVE AND FUN-16

Hello everyone. I'm happy to be with you again. Thanks for all your support to this story, all the comments and constantly growing number of people who have read it. I'm happy that you liked it so far. I will try not to disappoint you with next chapters. In this one, the big group is staying in the B&B and there will be troubles of different kind ;-) Hope you will like it.

During the preparations, for the visit of the group of preservation of the old churches, Elsie as always, was the one who kept her coolness. Beryl and Charles were doing their part of the job, but they were stressed with everything that was suppose to happen.

Katie was helpful and she not only did everything she was told to do, but often she came with her own initiative, which Elsie fully appreciated. She promised herself, that once the group will left, she will let Katie know, how valuable she is for all of them.

When the group arrived, it turned out to consist of men only, very committed to the cause of saving the old churches. Very Christian too, from the moment that they arrived, they let everyone know, that they are extremely religious. In the beginning, it all seemed to be perfect, they loved the location, the liked the rooms and everything indicated, that things will go rather smoothly. However it was not the case.

Half of the group of six men were rather quiet and not complaning about anything, but the other half...

Mr Davis...

Mr Davis was the chairman of the group and ever since he arrived to the B&B and sat to the first meal, he made a big deal of his stomach problems, so he asked to speak to the cook directly and came to visit surprised Mrs Patmore in the kitchen. He gave a ten minute speech, about all his food limitations and enlisted the number of diseases, which didn't allow him to eat like all the other people.

Mrs Patmore, as surprised as she was and a little troubled with all this, has solemnly promised, to make special meals for him, even though she was aware, that it will bring her extra work. Working in Downton for many years, she was used to all kinds of caprices from the upstairs people, so she knew, that she could handle that...

Unfortunately, it quickly turned out, that the situation with Mr Davis was much more serious, than they thought it will be...Even though Mrs Patmore made all the meals according to his instructions, he was not satisfied with it and kept complaining about the poor quality of food...

After another dinner, that came back to the kitchen almost not touched, Beryl had her first angry outburst, with Elsie in the kitchen...

"I swear to God Elsie...That man is intolerable! Nothing I make gives him satisfaction... Do you know how long it took me, to prepare this extra meals for him, with all those rare ingridients that he wanted? And there he goes again...Not eating anything...I swear, that this is the most difficult person that I ever had to serve..."

"I know what you mean Beryl...He is difficult...Yesterday he asked Katie three times, if the sheets are well cleaned, he said, that during one of his stays in some other B&B, he found bugs in the bed and now he is afraid, that it will happen again and then he made a fifteen minute speech, about how it effected his health condition..."

"I wish I was there...I would have something to say to him...How dare he suggest, that the sheets are not clean? In our B&B, where you are taking care of things like that..."

"Well, he doesn't know me like you do..."

"I admire your patience Elsie...I really do...How are you so calm about people like him?"

"For starters Beryl, we have to get used to the fact, that we will have different guests...They will not always be nice and kind...People like that will visit us from time to time and we have to make sure, that they feel well...You wouldn't want him to go away and tell people some made up stories..."

"With someone like him, I bet that he will anyway..."

"I hope not...Besides there is one more thing, that helps me to deal with nagging people..."

"Oh yes? What's that?"

"My husband's character...How to put it mildly?...I'm used to constant nagging..."

Beryl looked at Elsie and they both burst with laughter, covering their mouths with their hands, so their laughter wouldn't spread to the dining room for the guests...Beryl was laughing so hard, that she could barely stand and Elsie had to sit down...

Mr Ruben

From all the group, Mr Ruben was definitely the most religious one...They all noticed it right from the beginning...He was the one, who was interested with the religious aspect of the group and he was the one, who was saying silent prayers before each meal...

That would be pretty harmless and generally nobody would have anything against that, if it wasn't for one incident, during their first dinner in the B&B.

Charles, proud as always, about his wine knowledge, was willing to offer the group the finest wine, so they could fully enjoy their meals, during their stay. But Mr Ruben had other plans...When Charles served wine, he met with firm objection from the group, expressed by Mr Ruben...

"I'm very sorry Mr Carson, but I'm afaraid, that we are not allowed to drink wine to dinner. This is immoral, inappropriate and totally against our strictest rules. You see, we are not only a group trying to save the old churches and it's heritage, but we are also trying to live by the strictest Christian rules, which means, that we are not smoking, not drinking and not visiting any rotten places. We would be very grateful, if you could respect our rules.

Charles humbly apologized and went back to the kitchen, where Beryl and Elsie were doing the dishes..

"What's the matter Charles? Didn't they like the wine that you gave them?"- Elsie saw Charles's face expression and she immediately knew, that something was wrong...

"They didn't even taste it...Would you believe that?"

"Maybe they don't like the one that you offered them...Maybe it was not the right choice?"- Beryl asked

"Beryl, I ask you...If there is one thing that I know about, it's wine...It was not about the type of wine, it was about the idea of drinking wine in general...Mr Ruben gave me the speech, about how they are a religious group and drinking wine is out of the question for them..."

"My, my...They are really strict...One can't handle Beryl's food and the other one is making moral speeches about wine..."- Elsie was kind of amused...

"I can't believe this...I tried to serve them the best wine and they are rejecting it, just like that...It's outrageous...Oh and do they forget, that Jesus was drinking wine?"

"Obviously they are more hollier than Jesus himself..."-Beryl had a wide grin on her face too and Charles, seeing his "two women" smiling, couldn't help but join them...

Mr Stevens

From the very beginning of their arrival, Mr Stevens seemed to be a person, who will not cause any trouble...He liked the place, liked the food, he wasn't complaining...However, ever since the first moment, that he laid his eyes on Elsie, the troubles began...

He was a part of the Christian group and he was aware of the fact, that Elsie and Charles were married, but it certainly didn't stop him from letting Elsie know, that he finds her very desirable...He was constantly looking for an opportunity of talking to her in private, he was giving her thousand compliments about literally everything...

Her looks, her skills as their hostess, her opinions...Elsie was not naive and she knew exactly what was going on in his head...For her, it was not a problem at all...If anything, she felt rather amused by the whole situation...Living in Downton for so long, as a servant and being deprived of normal, inter human contacts for so many years, she almost forgot, what it's like to have a suitor, if Mr Stevens could even be called that...

But it was different with Charles...He was madly in love with his wife and extremely sensitive about even the slightest signals from other men, who have fancied Elsie and God knows, that Mr Stevens was not the first one, that he had to deal with...There was Joe Burns and few other local men, who were trying to impress Elsie, while she was still single.

Charles was painfully aware, of all of them and every time that happened, in front of his eyes, he was clenching his fists in his pockets and trying not to have an angry outburst...It was impossible when Elsie was single, because he wasn't her husband back then, so he couldn't do anything about any man who was trying to seduce Elsie, but now, Elsie belonged to him and seeing all the clumsy attempts of Mr Stevens, to impress Elsie, woke up the ferocious instincts in him..

He knew, that Elsie was wise, he knew that she was handling that all very well, so he didn't react, when he noticed how he was following Elsie like a puppy...He had his eyes on Mr Stevens, but he didn't intervene...Until the moment, when Elsie came from the garden, holding a boquet of wild flowers...

"Elsie? Where did you get those flowers from?"

"Mr Stevens just came back from his walk and he brought those for me...I think that we can put them in that green vase, in the living room...Don't you agree that they will look lovely?"

"No I do not! And we will not put them in the green vase, in any vase in this B&B!"

"Charles, calm down please...What is the matter with you?"

"What is the matter with me? Elsie this man is cheeky! Ever since he came here, he is hitting on you...He is following you like a puppy, looking for an opportunity to talk with you, he is making sweet eyes to you...Who does he thinks he is? I will teach him a lesson!"

"Charles, you will do no such thing..."-Elsie stopped Charles, in the middle of the way...She took the flowers and put them into dust bin...

"You see Charles? This is what they mean to me and this is exactly what his attention means to me...Nothing...You are my husband and you know, that I love you and only you..."- Elsie climbed on her toes and gave Charles a sweet kiss..."Don't you ever forget it and I love the way that you are jealous..."

"I'm not jealous...I'm just..."

"Oh you are my love...Very much...It's always been like that with you...It was like that, when I was wondering whether I should marry Joe Burns and it was like that, when few local men were making advances to me in the church..."

"And you knew that Elsie? You were aware that I was jealous?"

"Of course I knew that Charlie...How could I not?...You are not hiding your feelings very well...I could easily see the signs...Red face, clenched fists, hidden in your pockets...It was sweet my love and it still is..."-Elsie gave Charles one more kiss, a little deeper and longer, than the last one...

"Elsie...I love you so much...I still don't understand how you knew this..."

"A woman's intuition Charlie...It's all there is...And who knows? Maybe next time, you will give me some flowers..."

"I promise my love...The most beautiful boquet, that you have ever received.."

"I will take your word on that..."

That's all for today my lovelies...Just a difficult/funny chapter in the life of our B&B...If anyone of you has ever worked with clients before, you know that people can be like that and even worse...I certainly know that...Hope you had fun reading it, because I was certainly having fun writing it... Let me know what you think and have a great weekend!