The Courting

by Bella Bryce

  Elisabeth shook her head. “You’ve really settled in, haven’t you?” she asked, giving Alice a meaningful look.

  She played with one of the traditional Aran wooden buttons on her cardigan and shrugged. “As much as anyone can. Brayden is my father; I’ve never had one before. I don’t really know anything different,” Alice said, looking up.

  “Was your family horrid to you? Is that why you came?” Elisabeth asked quietly, her smile fading.

  Alice stared back at Elisabeth.

  “I’m sorry, that was rude. I didn’t mean to pry,” Elisabeth offered.

  “Yes,” Alice replied, almost as if Elisabeth hadn’t apologised. “Yes, my family was horrid to me. Enough that I wanted to get out. Brayden James is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  Elisabeth watched Alice’s attention return to the button on the cardigan.

  “I hope you feel that way someday, about my Uncle Bennett,” Alice added, her eyes still averted.

  Elisabeth produced a smile and looked across the room.

  “I used to hate him, you know,” Alice offered, her concentration moved to tracing the lines of cable-knit. “He’s changed a lot since you came,” she added.

  In the pensive silence between the girls, their ears perked up when they heard voices in the corridor. Alice and Elisabeth looked at each other and their eyes widened. Alice stifled a laugh, rolled off the side of Elisabeth’s bed and landed on her feet with a surprising amount of momentum.

  “Blast,” Alice giggled.

  “Alice!”

  “Shh!” she said, laughing as she quickly hid beneath the valance of the luxurious bed.

  “I’ll never be able to keep from laughing if he walks in and I know you’re under there,” Elisabeth said, hanging over the side.

  The bed was so tall that Elisabeth would have had to hang upside down and do a bit of a handstand in order to see Alice beneath it because it was so far off the ground.

  “Try then, because I know my father’s voice and he’s coming,” Alice said, chuckles escaping between her words.

  The girls heard two knocks on the door, causing Elisabeth to quickly haul herself back atop the bed. She grabbed her book and stared at the first page she opened to. Her heart was pounding from the amusement of Alice hiding underneath while she sat reading and the hilarity of it all.

  “Good girl. Bennett said he left you reading,” Brayden said, as he crossed the large room. Elisabeth heard Brayden’s comment, although it was faint because of the size of the room.

  Alice snorted from beneath the bed and Elisabeth bit the inside of her cheek to keep from reacting. Elisabeth was clearly trying not to smile.

  Brayden finally reached the bed and sat on the side as he always did with Alice.

  Elisabeth closed her book out of politeness.

  “Celia stopped me in the corridor just now. She said your cases were unpacked during dinner and she stocked the armoire in your en-suite. Are you feeling a bit more settled now?” Brayden asked.

  “Yes, Sir, thank you,” Elisabeth replied.

  “I’m glad to hear it. Bennett just left. He wants you to have breakfast at Barton-Court House in the morning. Celia will choose your dress in the morning and hang it on the side of the wardrobe. Wellesley will bring you a tea tray so you can wake at quarter of six gracefully.”

  “Thank you, Uncle Brayden,” Elisabeth replied. She was trying very hard not to think about Alice hiding under the bed. It wasn’t working.

  “You’re welcome and I will make sure to see you off when he collects you. Alice will only just be waking up, so you’ll see her tomorrow evening, perhaps. I’m not sure where you’ll be dining,” Brayden said.

  Elisabeth nodded, taking in all of the changes and details, of which she needed to be aware.

  Brayden looked at his watch and then back at his newly acquired niece. “Bennett would like your bedtime to be ten o’clock beginning tomorrow. I would have said half ten, but it sounds like he will be collecting you very early most mornings if you’re not having breakfast with us, and I want you to be getting enough sleep.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Elisabeth replied.

  “Now then, is Alice going to sleep under there this evening or does she want to get back into her own bed?” Brayden asked, ensuring his voice carried enough for her to hear.

  Elisabeth’s eyes widened and she bit her lip. There was a moment of silence before Alice could be heard crawling across the floor. She stood up next to the side of the bed looking at Brayden and Elisabeth, although the mattress was practically up to her neck with how high it was off the ground.

  “How did you know?” Alice asked, as if she were disappointed in his discovery.

  “I’m your father; I know everything. Now, say goodnight to Elisabeth, young lady,” he said, as he stood up from the bed.

  “Goodnight, Elisabeth,” she said, in a bit of a singsong voice as she walked around toward Brayden.

  “Goodnight, darling,” Brayden said, and then kissed Elisabeth’s forehead. He also took her book and placed it on the nightstand.

  “Lights out in five minutes, please,” he told her as he took hold of Alice’s hand.

  “Yes, Sir. Goodnight, Alice,” Elisabeth said, giving her a look.

  Alice grinned and looked up at Brayden as he led her out of Elisabeth’s room and closed the door. “No, really, how did you know I was under Elisabeth’s bed?” Alice asked, as Brayden led her down the wide, wood panelled corridor back toward her bedroom. Sconces lit the way every couple of feet on both sides, and the grand Persian runner seemed to go on for miles ahead of them.

  “Because I really do know everything,” Brayden replied.

  Chapter Five

  It wasn’t without reservation that Bennett returned to Barton-Court House after saying goodbye to Elisabeth at Waldorf, fully aware that he felt empty-handed without her.

  He sat in the Great Room in his leather wing chair facing the fire feeling the warmth slowly drain out of him. Bennett knew he made the right decision by insisting that Elisabeth live outside of Barton-Court House for the duration of their courtship. It wouldn’t have ever been an option to reside under the same roof as the woman he intended to marry, until they were married. The point of his courtship with Elisabeth was to get to know her intimately through open conversation, over candlelit dinners and during quiet strolls in the gardens and to abstain from behaviours that had no place in the courting part of their relationship, which did not exclude discipline. He just hadn’t realised how blatantly empty his mansion would feel without her.

  Quite unlike him, Bennett was tempted to phone his father and ask if he could understand those feelings, but it would have been a marathon and a half out of his comfort zone. Jonathan Fowler didn’t talk about feelings. Of course, neither did Bennett Fowler – well, that was, until he’d met Elisabeth.

  He tired of the fireplace and left the Great Room as quickly as he’d settled to keep his thoughts from becoming forlorn. Upon reaching the study, he settled with a brandy and a brand new gold iPhone 5S behind the large, imposing desk. He’d bought the mobile as a gift for Elisabeth. Bennett had also contracted a graphic designer to build an entire library of custom backgrounds and wallpaper for her and the files had been emailed earlier that day thanks to a hefty and quick PayPal transfer.

  Google images could be accessed by anyone to satisfy their wallpaper needs on mobile devices, but that wasn’t good enough for Elisabeth. She wasn’t everybody, not to Bennett. The new iPhone barely felt good enough for her, so getting it as personalised as possible was one way to show Elisabeth he was thinking of her when they were apart. Bennett scrolled through the options and settled on a photo of Barton-Court House, which included the fountain and gates. The graphic designer had photographed the house, cropped and edited the images so they fit perfectly on the iPhone 5’s new layout.

  He removed his debit card from his wallet and purchased several apps he wanted her to have, one in particular was a sleep app
– which recorded one’s patterns of sleep. He wanted to know for a fact that she was going to bed on time and getting enough REM. He also downloaded the Tiffany’s app and created an account with her new iCloud address so she could utilise the wish list feature. Bennett fully intended to buy everything Elisabeth added to it, completely unbeknownst to her. He finished sorting her phone and then passed it to Sullivan to be charged and wrapped before breakfast the following morning. Bennett also made a mental note to phone his mother, but reconsidered when he realised how long that conversation could take. He reconsidered a second time when he realised how happy he was and didn’t want to keep the news to himself any longer. He glanced at his watch and unlocked his iPhone.

  “Mother,” Bennett said, as soon as she answered.

  “Bennett, darling, is everything all right?” she asked. “It’s nearly midnight.”

  “I apologise, I couldn’t wait. Are you sitting down?” he asked, in his usual straight tone.

  Any intense emotion of joy was completely masked by his usual manner.

  Evelyn Fowler frowned and glanced down at the upholstered chair nearest to where she stood. “Must I?” she asked, confused.

  “Certainly not, although you’ll end up there I’m sure. Elisabeth moved to Waldorf Manor this evening,” Bennett started.

  “Oh... is everything all right? I thought you were supposed to be looking after her. I like Elisabeth,” Evelyn said.

  The truth was, Evelyn hadn’t been terribly amused at the idea of a young lady moving in with her eldest son so that he could ‘raise and platonically discipline’ her. She’d supported him despite the fact she would have preferred him to have been looking for a wife. Evelyn and Jon Fowler had hosted a dinner at Greystone Hall for Bennett, Elisabeth, Brayden and Alice so they could meet her properly and found that they rather liked her more than just the girl their son was attempting to provide guidance to.

  “So do I, Mother, and that’s precisely why she’s living with Uncle Brayden,” he said, raising an eyebrow in anticipation of his straight-laced mother’s reaction.

  Evelyn’s mouth opened and she covered it with her free hand.

  “I can’t hear you walking, Mother,” Bennett said, hiding his amusement.

  It was unheard of for anybody to speak to Evelyn Fowler out of tone, even her grown sons.

  “All right, darling, I will sit down,” Evelyn said, removing her Prada reading glasses from her nose as she walked across to the sitting area of her and Jon’s master suite. Evelyn crossed her ankles and neatly lined up her Louis Vuitton heels.

  “I’m sitting,” she said, holding her glasses in one hand as she leant her elbow on the carved wooden frame of the chair and held her iPhone with the other.

  “Good. Elisabeth and I are courting and I intend to propose to her early next year,” Bennett report factually.

  Evelyn Fowler gasped without reserve. “Darling! Oh Bennett, really?” she asked, holding one hand across her fitted tartan dress and finishing with another gasp.

  Bennett couldn’t help but smile on his side of the phone. He had one leg crossed over the other as he sat in his usual authoritative position behind his desk. He picked a piece of lint from his waistcoat.

  “It sounds as though you approve,” he said.

  “Oh darling, you’re finally courting! Of course I approve,” Evelyn said.

  Bennett raised an eyebrow. “Thank you, Mother.”

  “Your father and I simply adore Elisabeth, darling. I thought it a shame when we met her that you were keeping things platonic.”

  “Well, you have Brayden to thank for that. He’s the one who encouraged me. Anyway,” Bennett cleared his throat. “She moved to Waldorf Manor this evening and tomorrow we will begin to court properly. We’ll carry on until I feel we are ready and then I will propose to her. Elisabeth knows this arrangement will end in marriage.”

  Evelyn shook her head with a smile and cleared her throat. “Darling, I am pleased. So pleased.”

  “Thank you, Mother,” Bennett replied.

  “I want to have a dinner party next week to introduce Elisabeth to the ladies. She’ll need to meet - ” Evelyn started, trying to distract her emotions.

  “Mother,” Bennett warned. “I don’t want Elisabeth having any part of that.”

  “Darling! The ladies are perfectly harmless! She simply cannot be my daughter-in-law or your wife without knowing the right people, my love,” Evelyn said, her mind racing over the ramifications.

  “She can and she will,” he calmly, but firmly, told his mother.

  “Bennett, darling, this is important,” Evelyn started. She didn’t take kindly to not being in control. She frowned.

  “Not to me. Elisabeth will meet enough people now that she’s part of my life, but I will not allow her to be dragged to every ladies luncheon and gossip circle so that she can be subjected to the social jungle gym that is the life of many upper-class ladies. Absolutely not. Elisabeth is a polite and quiet girl and I do not want her corrupted,” Bennett said firmly.

  The phone went completely silent. “Are you telling me no, Bennett?” Evelyn asked.

  The phone returned to its previous deafening silence.

  “Bennett?”

  “It isn’t fair for you to do this to me, Mother. I moved out of Greystone, I’m no longer subjected to your thrashings,” he replied.

  Evelyn stood up from the chair she’d been sitting in. “But you feel that after twenty-nine years of mouth washings and trips across the arm of the sofa, it’s acceptable to tell your mother ‘no’ outright? Just like that?” She put a hand on her hip, her shapely designer dress accentuating her enviable shape as she held her phone with the other. The normal Evelyn was returning from her place of joy that her eldest son was finally speaking of marriage.

  Bennett looked up at the ornate ceiling in his study, trying to control his tone. “No, Mother, I don’t. I apologise,” he said.

  There was only one person in the entire world who could intimidate Bennett Fowler and that was his mother. She had, as she previously reminded him, disciplined both Bennett and Damian regularly, especially in their father’s absence. That included up until Bennett left Greystone Hall only months before. He’d met frequently with Evelyn’s wrath and even as an adult, if he so much as looked at her with attitude, she had him bent over the arm of the Chesterfield in any given room on the estate and dealt with him as though he were still in prep school. Bennett and Damian’s parents were as adoring as any parents, but they were also very strict and Evelyn had a very short fuse for disrespect, which included posture and exasperated sighing, and neither one of her grown sons were too old to be corrected for these offenses. Of course, they also had access to their trust funds from the age of 25, so if they chose to remain at Greystone Hall and not withdraw the funds that would purchase their own houses and domestic staff, then they were, rightfully, subject to the same rules they’d always been subject to in their childhood home.

  “If I may say, Mother, I did in fact move to Barton-Court House in September. The rules were that once Damian and I left home, we weren’t to be disciplined like prep school boys anymore,” he said, still maintaining a bit of a careful tone. It was rather unlike Bennett to mind his tone, but Evelyn had that effect on him and she knew it. His comment also reminded himself that he needed to cut the apron strings and the sooner, the better, so that Elisabeth didn’t have to be dragged along.

  “Mummy just finds it rather alarming that you can so easily dismiss her when she knows if you were here, you daren’t have said no,” she replied, her tone clearly unhappy.

  Bennett gritted his teeth, pulled the phone away from his ear and leant his head back against his tall, executive wing chair behind his desk for a moment. “Even so, Mother, if I were there, you must remember that I have withdrawn my trust fund and left home,” he said, finding his backbone again.

  “It took you four years to do so,” Evelyn retorted.

  Bennett shook his head and bit his ton
gue.

  “Well, this phone call was good news up until you spoiled it.”

  “Father should have spoiled it a long time ago,” Bennett replied.

  Evelyn wasn’t sure what to say to her grown son taking the reins in their conversation.

  “Now, I must go to bed, Mother. I’m collecting Elisabeth very early in the morning.”

  “Very well. Good night, darling,” Evelyn replied, although she wasn’t entirely endearing about it. She hadn’t gotten her way about Elisabeth joining her for the ladies luncheon and she didn’t like it.

  “Good night, Mother. Tell Father the same.”

  Bennett ended the call and shook his head. He had very nearly felt a child again when her tone came out of nowhere, challenging him on his lack of submission. Bennett was anything but submissive, except to her, the woman who had birthed and raised him, disciplined him and sometimes cuddled him, but also pushed him to become both a perfectionist and a man who detested women pushing men around. He was getting closer and closer to wanting to have a word with his own father about how downtrodden his mother often made the Fowler men feel. Jon Fowler did exactly what his wife wanted and never really questioned her. Bennett, on the verge of entering courtship with a girl he intended to make his wife in the near future, wouldn’t stand for even a fraction of the kind of behaviour he knew his mother got away with. Evelyn Fowler ran his father’s estate and always had, but Bennett was beginning to wonder if it wasn’t time that Jon put her in her rightful place, and that included telling her to stop trying to control everyone.

  He would have gone to bed rather irritated, although the thought of his mother going across his father’s lap suddenly lightened his mood. In fact, the thought was too deserving of a smile not to grant it one.

  The next morning, Bennett sat in the back of the limo and watched the passing scenery as his driver took the country lanes. He told himself there would be countless trips to and from Waldorf in the coming months as he intended to spend every day with Elisabeth.