B&B OF LOVE AND FUN-41
Hello all. After a little break we are coming back to B&B again. In this chapter our wonderful hosts will have an anniversary and a special visit, but it's not about guests this time. Plus some nice reflections about their life from Charles and Elsie. Hope you will like it ;-)
Elsie was trying to hide her smile, as she saw Charles pacing through the living room in a great stress, making sure, that everything was on it's right place. It was not as if she was not used to seeing him like this, because she certainly was.
He was always stressed when it came to hosting guests, but this time it was even more significant, as they were celebrating two years of their B&B. From this ocassion, the Crawleys from Downton Abbey, who never bothered to visit them before, announced the intention of having an afternoon tea with them. Naturally Charles was thrilled about this.
Elsie, Beryl, Bill and Katie took it very calmly, but Charles was restless. He wanted to be sure, that their former employers will have no reasons to complain. He was annoying Elsie and Beryl many times, asking them the same questions, wanting to be sure, that they were as ready for the visit as he was.
After all, it wasn't everyday when the Crawleys visited them. Lord and Lady Grantham, Lady Mary, Lady, her husband and their children.
"For heaven sakes Charlie, would you calm down? Everything is ready..."
"Oh Elsie, it's easy to say...I just want us to look good..."
"Why? They are not your bosses anymore. You don't have to show off in front of them."
"I know Elsie, but how many times do we host Lord and Ladies here?"
"Not a lot, I have to admit..."
"This is a great honor...Lord and Lady Grantham and Lady Mary..."
"Ahh...Of course. The blessed Lady Mary...You can't risk any sort of bloopers with her around, huh Charlie?"
"Of course not! I would die of embaressment, if anything went wrong..."
"Everything will be ok, I promise.."
"Where is Oliver? Did you lock him in the stable? I don't want him to hang around here..."
"He is in our room, sleeping soundly...He won't disturb us..."
"Maybe it would be safer to lock him in the stables?"
"No, it would not...We've been through this before Charles. Please don't start again..."
Beryl entered the room..
"They are here...you better prepare yourself..."
Charles straightened himself like he was ready for an inspection and Elsie sighed heavily, thinking, that she simply has to put her good face and get through this...She never admired this family like Charles, she only liked them, but not all of them...
To her own surprise, the visit turned out to be quite pleasant. Everyone were drinking tea and eating delicious desserts and sandwiches, prepared by Beryl for the occasion. Lord Grantham even mentioned, how much he missed her cooking. Lady Grantham was asking a lot of questions about the daily way of functioning of the B&B, which Elsie and Beryl gladly answered.
Katie & Bill were rather quiet in this conversation, they were a part of B&B too, but during ocassion like this, they were aware of playing second fiddles, to the trio, who were working for the Crawleys for so many years.
Lady Mary sat next to Charles and she had his constant attention, which did not come unnotice to Elsie. She was no longer jealous of that, because Charles fully belonged to her and she was aware of that, she decided to let him enjoy such rare moments with his favorite.
All the Crawleys were congratulating them of the great success, they were really impressed, with all the hard work that has been put here. They knew about the fact, that they were almost fully booked all the time, they knew about the award.
Overall, it was nice to share their success with their former employers. The afternoon quickly transferred into night and the Crawleys were asked to join them for dinner. Luckily, Beryl was prepared for this kind of eventuality.
It was a nice night, even sceptic Elsie had to admit that. When they finally left, she, Beryl and Katie were quick and efficient with cleaning and when Elsie entered their bedroom, Charles just lit a fire and it was really cozy. She sat on the armchair, next to him, taking little Oliver to her knees. He was so fast asleep, that he only opened one eye, to check who took him from his warm spot and fell asleep again, seeing that it was Elsie.
"Thank you for lighting up the fire Charlie...That was quite a night, wasn't it?"
"It was Elsie...I feel so proud...So exceptionally proud...They were actually here, in our own B&B, admiring our work, isn't that marvellous?"
"It is Charles, although you know, that I do not adore them the way that you do..."
"But you had fun tonight Elsie?"
"I did...I'm very glad that they saw us in different roles...For the most of our lives, they only saw servants in us, now they see that we are human beings..."-Elsie was petting Oliver's head...
"Ehmm Elsie...Should you not let Oliver go to the kitchen? If he won't, he will spend the night with us."
"Would it be so terrible Charlie? He is just one, very quiet cat. He won't disturb your sleep..."
"But..But..."
"Running out of arguments? Charles...Just let him stay...He is like our baby..."
"He is not our baby..."
"Well if he was, we would have to take him to our room...Babies often want to sleep with their parents..."
"That's true...I would let our babies sleep with us, if we had any..."
"Too late for that kind of talk now Charlie..."-Elsie's face became sadder suddenly and Charles's heart was aching, when he saw her pain...
"Do you wish that we had a different life Elsie? You know, with children and everything..."
"Of course I do, you know that...I always wanted to have your children...But I do not regret even one year spend with you...If we actually had children, we would hardly see each other. I would be in the cottage with them and you would be working all day long...Because we don't have them, we could spend together so much time and I certainly don't regret that..."
Charles took her hand and kissed it gently...He was squeezing it lovingly...
"It's the same for me Elsie...I love that we could spend all this time together...You know how much I adored working for the Crawleys, but the best part of this job, was to be with you...The worst time was always the London season, when we were separated..."
"Tell me about it...I wouldn't want to go through this again...Luckily we are together now, for always.. Charles don't you find that wonderful that by the end of our lives we created something so big together? This is our hard work, our everyday life...And now we are celebrating two year anniversary"
"It's amazing Elsie...Everyday I'm waking up, thanking God for two things- that you are my wife and that we have health and energy, letting us to run this B&B together...With a little help of our friends of course..."
"Speaking of our friends...What the heck are they doing in there? Do you hear those noises?"
"Yes, I do...And I think that we both know what they are doing there Elsie..."
"Beryl and her endless energy...She was working so hard today, to prepare all this delicious food and Bill was actively helping her and they still have the energy for this..."
"Well, they are still almost newlyweds, so why would it be any different? Do you remember our first months Elsie?"
"How could I forget? We had quite a stamina back then and we had a lot of fun..."
"Elsie...I'm happy, that from time to time, we are still having that kind of fun..."
"So am I Charlie, so am I...Being married to you, is the most wonderful thing in my life...Regardless of our successful careers, this is the most precious thing for me..."
Charles bent down and kissed Elsie gently...He loved hearing such confessions from her...
"Elsie...Can we now tuck Oliver to sleep and go to bed?"- he asked with a hope in his voice...
"But you won't make me move him to the kitchen?"
"No, he can stay with us..."
"My Charlie...I will put him on the chair to sleep...We need to block the noises coming from the wall somehow..."
"I agree Elsie and there is only one efficient way to do this...Make even louder noises..."
"Thank God that Katie lives in the attic...Otherwise her morality would be severly damaged..."
"Thank God for the house with an attic..."
That's all for this chapter...I thought, that it would be nice for them if the Crawleys would acknowledge the incredible success of the B&B. Charles certainly appreciated it. Plus Elsie won again and Oliver could sleep in comfortable conditions ;-) As always, it was a pleasure to write for you. Hope you had fun reading it. Have a very good week!