The Solicitation

by Bella Bryce

  “Say a proper good morning to your Uncle Bennett,” Brayden said, nodding toward him. Alice let go of Brayden’s hand and walked around to Bennett’s chair.

  “I was going to,” Alice said, glancing back at Brayden with a visible scowl.

  “Don’t answer your father back, Alice,” Bennett said. Alice immediately pulled away from his cheek , deciding he didn’t deserve a kiss.

  Bennett looked over at her, wondering why she didn't greet him properly. Brayden didn’t say a word as he walked over to Alice, took hold of her ear and pulled her straight to the nearest corner. He bent down to Alice as he put her to face the wall.

  “I will deal with you after breakfast. Don’t you dare move,” he said, and then stood up and returned to his place at the head of the table.

  Bennett shook his head as Brayden sat down.

  “Don’t even get me started,” Brayden said.

  They ate breakfast all the while Alice sniffed and had several quiet bouts of tears as she faced the wall. She also gasped and had a bit of a coughing episode. Bennett and Brayden exchanged looks several times throughout Alice’s subtle presence in the corner of the dining room. She was standing a good hundred feet away, but she could still be heard.

  “I’ve told chef about Alice’s predicament; he’s asked if you would like him to prepare a plate for her, Sir,” Wellesley said, as if reporting on current affairs.

  “Well, I suppose I shouldn’t starve my child as well as spank her,” Brayden said, and looked at Bennett.

  “She would go without breakfast if she were mine,” Bennett said, wiping his mouth with his napkin, in a very matter of fact tone of voice.

  Brayden took Bennett’s comment as wisdom, and thought it over for a moment. He wasn’t sure what kind of message it would send to deliberately withhold food from her. Surely, punishing for back chatting was best dealt with as physical correction and not fasting.

  “Or perhaps washing her mouth out with soap, considering it was her cheek that got her into trouble,” Bennett said, placing his napkin on the table.

  “I haven’t done that one before; nor ever received it,” Brayden said.

  “I have,” Bennett said.

  “Alice, come here,” Brayden called.

  Alice removed her hands from her head and walked across to where Brayden sat. She stood beside him with her hands behind her back, still sniffing.

  “I’m sorry, father,” Alice said.

  “I’m sure you are, young lady. Had I not just smacked your bottom two minutes before you were cheeky to me?” Brayden asked, still sitting in his chair.

  “Yes, Sir,” she replied.

  “And in that amount of time you managed to misbehave again,” Brayden said.

  “Yes, Sir,” Alice answered, feeling more guilty.

  “Right, so clearly a smacked bottom with my hand wasn’t enough to make a point. Next time I’ll take my belt to you,” Brayden said, glancing at Bennett.

  Alice’s eyes went down to the floor. She was hoping her father had finished lecturing her and she could sit down to eat what had smelled like French toast.

  “Uncle Bennett is going to deal with you, since it was him you refused to greet and by your cheek you answered me back. You’ll go straight to your room after that and remain there until I tell you otherwise, do you understand?” Brayden asked.

  “Yes, Sir,” Alice said, looking up as Bennett took Alice’s arm and lead her out of the dining room.

  “Uncle Bennett - “ Alice started.

  “Hold your tongue my girl, it’s what got you into trouble in the first place,” he said, and lead her up to her room and into her own en-suite bathroom.

  “NOOOO!” Alice shouted, when Bennett placed her on the counter top, and then began to cry.

  Bennett ignored her and unwrapped one of the bars of hand soap that had already been replenished in the soap dish.

  “I will bite you if you come near me,” Alice said, angrily.

  “Is that so?” Brayden’s voice called, from the doorway where he stood. He walked over and took hold of Alice around her waist, held her over the sink and took over, running the bar of soap under the tap and then pushing it into Alice’s mouth and then using the excess soap to rub it up and down her tongue. He covered the entire inside of her mouth and wet his hand to repeat the process. Alice was kicking and wriggling, crying and choking throughout, meanwhile Bennett watched in surprise at Brayden’s expertise of it.

  “You’ll bite your Uncle Bennett, will you?” he asked, putting more soap into Alice’s mouth. “Are you going to bite me as well?” he added.

  “No, father,” Alice managed to say, between coughing and sputtering soapsuds. She had tried to manage her crying so that she didn’t choke, that was what she had learned last time.

  “You will learn to hold that tongue and to do as you are told, Alice James. Do you hear me?” he asked, rubbing more soap along her tongue.

  Alice began a fresh round of tears.

  “Yes, Father?” Brayden asked, suggesting the response to Alice.

  “Yes, Father,” Alice repeated, crying more deeply.

  “Otherwise, I will wash your mouth out with soap and then I will put you across my knee for a jolly good spanking. You do not answer me back, and you certainly do not answer Uncle Bennett back,” Brayden said, leaning down so that he could look at her. Bennett looked at Brayden, who seemed visibly upset in a way he hadn’t seen in a long time. He put his hand on Brayden’s shoulder as if to say, ‘I think you should stop now.’

  Brayden did stop, and he left Alice in the bathroom with the door closed to rinse her mouth out with water and to tidy herself before reporting to him.

  “Bennett, may I have a moment with Alice?” Brayden asked, as he stood in the centre of her bedroom, his hands on his hips.

  “Of course. I’ll be in the drawing room,” Bennett said, and left Alice’s bedroom.

  Alice emerged from the bathroom moments later, walking across the large room with her eyes on the floor all the way to Brayden, and then she stopped in front of him.

  Brayden stared down at her until Alice felt she should look up at him.

  “That was the worst five minutes I have ever spent with you, Alice,” he said.

  Tears began to form in her eyes and then rolled down her cheeks. Alice nodded and wiped them away with the back of her hand.

  “Father, I was going to greet uncle Bennett properly. I was,” she said. “You didn’t trust me to do it.”

  Brayden’s hardened gaze lightened and he realised that perhaps he had acted too quickly.

  “I only said what I did because I knew what I was meant to do. I know what you expect of me, and what uncle Bennett expects of me,” Alice said, so quietly it was as if she were nearly whispering.

  “All the same, young lady, you do not speak back to me,” Brayden said, in a much less firm tone. “You are to do as I tell you with a “yes, Father” or a “yes, sir” and then get on with it. Do you understand?” he asked.

  “Yes, Father,” Alice said.

  “Good. Now come along, you need your breakfast,” he said, holding his hand out to her.

  Chapter Nineteen

  At the end of August, Bennett left Greystone Hall with his parents’ blessing and moved into Barton-Court House. He had used a good portion of his trust fund to purchase the Grade II listed mansion, furnish it to his specific standards and hire a team of live-in staff to maintain and run it. He planned to host a party for his family, Brayden, Alice and several of his friends from boarding school after he had settled in September. Brayden hadn’t had the opportunity to introduce Alice to his and Bennett’s friends from school, although he had meant to months before. It was a good job he didn’t because looking back she really wouldn’t have been ready. Alice hadn’t even been exposed to a social event outside of Waldorf because Brayden had declined the various invitations he’d received since earlier in the year when Alice moved in.

  “It’s a dinner party to acknowle
dge Uncle Bennett’s new estate and to make him feel welcome in his new home,” Brayden said, whilst Alice leaned on his shoulder from where he sat in the leather wing chair. The fire was roaring in the drawing room and September meant autumn, autumn in England really meant winter. Especially in the evenings.

  “Am I invited to the dinner party, too, father?” Alice asked, peering down at the invitation.

  “You are, my darling. See, it says, “Mr. Brayden James and Miss Alice James,” he said, pointing to where their names had been written in calligraphy at the top of the invitation.

  Alice hadn’t ever seen her new name written anywhere since the adoption papers and she smiled. She was quite looking forward to seeing Uncle Bennett’s estate, mainly because she was happy that if Brayden went to visit it meant that his mother probably wouldn’t be there and Alice could escape the usual fussing and doting that Aunt Evelyn did whenever she saw her.

  On Friday evening Celia redid the curls in Alice’s hair, which were always done in the mornings, before she added a navy blue satin bow to one side of her parting. Brayden had insisted Alice wear her smart sailor dress with white knee socks and her black patent shoes.

  “Father, I’ve worn this sailor dress more than anything else in my wardrobe,” Alice said, when he stopped into her bedroom on his way down the stairs.

  “It’s such a darling dress, and you look adorable in it,” Brayden said, double-checking his flawless three piece suit in Alice’s freestanding mirror.

  “Can’t I wear a more grown-up dress?” she asked, as Celia signalled that Alice could get up from the dressing table stool where she sat.

  “You’re wearing age-appropriate clothing,” he said, holding his hand out to her. Clearly the matter wasn’t open to discussion.

  When they reached the foyer, Brayden waited for Wellesley to bring their coats. September evenings were cold enough to require bundling up.

  “Her navy blue woollen coat, Wellesley, please. And my black one,” Brayden said.

  One of Brayden’s uniformed female staff appeared moments later carrying Brayden’s coat and scarf. Wellesley followed just behind with Alice’s coat and beret and then held it out for her. He also placed the beret on her head with expertise, and then turned to receive Brayden’s coat from the nearby maid. Wellesley held out Brayden’s coat and then stepped back because Brayden James always did his own buttons. He finished by laying his scarf around his shoulders and then they departed hand in hand.

  “You’ve not met anyone who will be there tonight except the Fowlers,” Brayden told her, as they sat side by side in the Rolls Royce

  “You’re not going to leave me there on my own?” Alice asked, a worried look crossing her face. She was concerned that Brayden might go off and speak to his friends whilst Alice felt awkward and abandoned.

  “No, my darling, of course not. You can stay with me or the Fowlers.

  “I want to stay with you,” Alice said, leaning against his arm.

  “You’ll need to get used to this,” he said, kissing the top of her forehead.

  Brayden recalled his first proper social when he was five years old. His mother had taught him how to greet guests and he was expected to do so to every single one who attended the dinner party. He even remembers his father encouraging him to run along and begin polite conversation with the guests on his own. It had been a real building block for him because Brayden had since never really struggled to interact with people. Socialising was not his favourite activity, but he knew it was necessary and appropriate to further relationships and he felt very strongly about social obligation. His hope for Alice was that she would be her usual charming and adorable self; that alone did a lot of hard work for her. She was hard to take one’s eyes off of because of her very China doll-like features and the way in which she was dressed.

  “Mr. James, Miss Alice James,” Willis said, smiling at the familiar faces as he opened the doors of Barton-Court House for them. Jon and Evelyn Fowler had borrowed Willis out to Bennett for the evening in lieu of him finalising a decision on candidates who had applied as his butler.

  The foyer was marbled, just like Waldorf, and a large ornate chandelier hung from the high ceiling. There was also a double-grand staircase like Brayden’s. Although, the major difference between Bennett’s new home and all the others Brayden knew of when considering the price range, was there were no rooms jetting off from the foyer. One had to enter straight ahead through double doors, which were between the staircases to get to the rest of the estate on the ground floor.

  Brayden had been disappointed he hadn’t seen the estate before the dinner party – there had been various hiccups along the way and Bennett insisted, even to Brayden, that he not see it until it was ‘properly finished.’ It was meant to have been properly finished a week before the party, and it wasn’t. It had in fact only been at Bennett’s standards just hours beforehand.

  “Bennett, it’s absolutely lovely,” Brayden said, shaking his best friend’s hand.

  “Thank you, I’m very pleased with it. Mind, I nearly gave my contractors a jolly good belting. They cut it so close that my event’s organiser was in tears trying to do the job I was paying her to do around the dust and mess. But I shan’t think about it now because here we are,” he said, looking around, at the reception room they had walked into straight from the foyer.

  “Good evening, Uncle Bennett,” Alice said, when Bennett and Brayden had paused their conversation. She approached to give him a kiss.

  “Hello my darling,” Bennett said, and bent down to receive the kiss and to give one back.

  “Your house is really lovely,” she said.

  “Thank you,” he said, and stood up.

  Willis came through the reception room and took their coats before Bennett lead them into a second reception room, the Great Room. Damian saw Brayden and Alice and immediately excused himself to greet them. They exchanged greetings and Bennett returned to the reception room to continue greeting his guests on arrival.

  “Did you see Bennett invited the entire sixth form prefects from your last year?” Damian asked, discreetly glancing in the direction of six well-groomed gentleman in suits who all seemed to look the same. Well-combed hair, good posture, tailored jackets and trousers, confident smiles and charm that could win the entire room over. Brayden was far more natural in the very same league and he looked down at Alice and decided it would be best if he just took her over and introduced them rather than prepping her for it. She would need to learn sometime.

  “Brayden James, is that you, Sir?” Alex asked, pulling his free hand out of his pocket and offering it to his former Deputy Head Boy. His other hand held onto a brandy.

  “It is indeed, Taylor ,” Brayden said, shaking his hand whilst still holding onto Alice’s with his left. Most of the eyes of his six friends darted to Alice and then back up to Brayden, all of them too polite to ask if she was indeed his. Their natural thinking told them he had gotten someone pregnant whilst he was still in school and nobody had known about it.

  Brayden shook hands with the rest of the clan and then turned his attention to Alice.

  “Gentleman, may I introduce my daughter, Alice James. I adopted her eight months ago,” he said.

  Alice knew she wasn’t to shake any of their hands, and she did a small curtsey to acknowledge all of them at one time, still holding onto Brayden’s hand.

  “How do you do?” she asked, politely.

  Alex looked at Colin, who stood beside him, as if to say he was touched. A few of them exchanged knowing glances. If anyone would adopt a child and raise her in an extremely traditional way it would be Brayden James. Any one of them could have made that call when they were still teenagers. Several of his school friends were rather intrigued as they observed Alice’s sailor dress and decorum.

  Damian approached the group to chat with the former Prefects who had been two years his senior when he was at the same boarding school with his brother. Bennett finally rejoined his guests after h
is parents arrived last. There was an hour’s worth of pre-dinner drinks and chatting before the party was called through to the dining room. Dinner was a five course meal and then coffee and tea were taken back in the Great Room at the various places to sit on the half dozen sofa’s tufted leather ottomans and wing chairs arranged throughout. After dinner there was more conversation and socialising followed by Champagne and a toast to Bennett’s new home. Alice toasted with sparkling water. Alex and Brayden hadn’t spoken in nearly a decade and had a moment to catch up when Bennett took Alice by the hand.

  “You’ve met my niece, Alice James?” Bennett asked, speaking to the same couple of gentleman who Brayden had introduced her to.

  “Yes, we have. She’s Brayden’s little girl,” Colin said, not having taken his eyes off of Alice. He could sense there was something strangely attractive about her.

  “She is indeed,” Bennett said, holding Alice’s hand and his other holding his Champagne. Damian stood nearby.

  “Your niece?” Peter asked.

  “Yes, we are Uncle Damian and Uncle Bennett,” he clarified.

  “How old is she?” Colin asked, still not averting his stare.

  “She’s eighteen,” Bennett said.

  The six old school friends turned their attention to Bennett. Colin in particular, was amused and terribly interested. . He met eyes with Bennett promptly. It was as if he'd known the entire time Alice was an adult, despite eighteen being a young one at that.

  “Is she really?” Colin asked, trying to mask the sparkle in his eyes. It certainly was a good intrigue if he could ever have imagined one. Bennett could see Colin wanted to chat to Alice, and he gripped his niece's hand more securely.

  “Wouldn’t it be lovely if all eighteen year old girls dressed so nicely and stood so quietly with such good manners?” Peter asked.

  “And did as they were told,” Alex added.