Chapter 16: Chapter 16
Days passed and a month flew by. Louisa and Paul kept up their morning walks on the beach. Most of the time, they didn't say anything, just stood next to each other in comfortable silence. It helped Louisa not think about Benjamin all the time.
Jackeline, encouraged by Emily and Judith, acted like a tick: she stuck to Benjamin all day. He, in turn, became more and more apathetic, as it was the way he found not to freak out and say some truths to not only Jackeline, but to his mother as well. He would look far away and Jackeline imagined he would be thinking of Louisa. She'd already accepted the fact that Benjamin only had that maid in his heart, and no matter how hard Jackeline tried, she would never get a pass to that much-desired place. However, she didn't need his love for the two to get married.
Paul and Benjamin didn't talk to each other, just exchanged half-words when necessary. Jackeline wanted to know what had happened, when she saw that Paul also had a bruised face. However, Emily said that the matter should be forgotten and that Jackeline wasn't supposed to ask anyone about it. Soon it would be no more than an unfortunate event in the family.
Judith came downstairs that morning and headed to the kitchen to talk to Eva. The forty-day period was coming to an end.
"Eva?" She called, entering the room.
"Yes, ma'am?" Eva replied, getting up from the table, where she and the other two girls in the kitchen, Kate and Dani, were gathering grain.
"News?" She asked. Eva didn't need her mistress to explain what it was about. It was about Louisa, clearly.
"In three days Louisa goes to my sister's house. We go-"
"Excellent." Judith said and turned around. She wasn't interested in Louisa's fate, she just wanted to know if the girl would leave that house or not. Judith knew that Benjamin had a special fondness for the girl, and she feared it was more special than she dared to imagine.
"Witch!" Dani whispered, casting a death glare at the spot Judith had just passed on her way out of the kitchen.
"Dani!"
"What?" The girl replied. "That old hag gets to find ways to trouble Louisa all the time. And now, our little girl will have to go away. You know, Eva, in a way, maybe this is a good thing for her. She will be able to stay away from people who only wish her harm." Kate nudged Dani under the table, as Eva was down and, at that moment, her eyes were watering.
"I don't know how I'm going to do without my daughter. Maybe I'll look for a job close to her so we won't be too far apart." Eva said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "But I'll try to look on the bright side, like you, Dani. Being away from bad people is good, isn't it?" Eva gave a weak smile and got back to work.
Judith hadn't told Harry about her decision to send Louisa away. She knew that her husband liked that family and he felt almost like the girls godfather. She knew that Harry had planned to offer the Dubois to take Louisa to London for her to debut in two years. Judith was against spending money on a girl who wasn't theirs at all. Yes, she wanted to have a daughter, and while Louisa posed no danger to their bloodline, Judith liked her. However, the moment Benjamin returned home and laid eyes on the girl, Judith became angry just knowing Louisa lived there.
Two knocks on the office door made Harry look up and allow entry, before returning to his papers.
"Dear, can I talk to you?" Judith asked, poking her head inside the door.
"Sure." Harry replied, not looking at her. "Did something happen?"
"It's just about the Dubois daughter." Judith said and closed the door behind her. "She's leaving."
Hearing this, Harry looked up from his account books and stared at his wife in astonishment.
"What do you mean by 'she's leaving'? When? Why?"
"Something to do with her aunt. I think they decided to give the girl a better education." Judith said. "She will be gone in three days."
"Three days? I do not understand." Harry said, plopping down in his chair, frustrated. "Olivier would tell me about something like that."
Harry and Olivier were good friends, even if they were from different classes. In Harry's mind, it was inconceivable that his friend would send his only child away and not say anything to him at all.
"Don't question it too much, dear. They probably didn't have anything confirmed until today and didn't want to hurt us. And you're not going to embarrass them, are you?" Judith was afraid that Harry would talk to the horseman and learn that the girl had been expelled from Iontach. Harry could just undo the whole situation with a word and that would be humiliating for Judith.
"No, I would never embarrass them." Harry replied. "Oh, I need to review some books, Judith. Can you excuse me?"
"Oh, of course." She answered and left the office, going to look for Emily to share the good news about Louisa's departure.
Harry put down the quill he was writing with as soon as his wife left. He wasn't buying that 'better education' story. Not that the girl didn't deserve it, and he knew she had an aunt and godmother in excellent financial condition. In fact, better than the Dankworth'. The woman was married to the Duke of Windsor's second son.
He would talk to Olivier at some point about this. But something about Judith's request that he not mention the matter made him suspect she was lying regarding something. And he would find out sooner or later.
Louisa had everything ready. Confirmation from her aunt had arrived two days prior, but she still hadn't told Paul. Even less to Benjamin, after all, the two didn't even speak to each other anymore. Since the day of the fight, she has hardly seen him since.
"I'm leaving on Sunday." She announced it to Paul as the two of them were throwing rocks into the water. Paul stopped with his hand in the air and turned to her.
"Sunday?"
"Yes, right after church."
"But I thought we would have more time." He said.
"She gave us forty days, Paul. I still had five days left, but my mother thought I'd better get going soon and avoid getting into trouble with Mrs. Judith." Paul approached Louisa and hugged her tightly.
For the first time, Louisa caught Paul's scent. He was always clean and well dressed, but she'd never really noticed he wore cologne. The smell was fresh, like some flower, maybe bergamot, and lemon. Louisa loved the smell of lemons. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. That smell gave her a good, cozy feeling. like home.
"What's it?" Paul asked, realizing that Louisa seemed to sink her face even further into his clothes. Not that he was complaining, but it was uncharacteristic of her.
"You smell like lemons. That's my favorite scent." She answered, pulling away from him a little and lifting her face to look at him.
"It's my colony. The name is Eau de cologne." He leaned over to Louisa and nuzzled her hair. "We have something else in common, because my favorite scent is also lemon. Or rather, it was. Now, I have a new favorite one." He inhaled the scent of her hair and Louisa understood what he meant.
"We have to go back." She said and Paul smiled. He knew she wasn't in love with him yet, but he believed she could like him as he liked her, one day.
"Sure, my lady." He said and released her slowly.
The two climbed the slope and Paul helped Louisa onto the horse, joining her shortly thereafter. This time, he got closer to her. He wasn't inappropriate, but still, he was more intimate than other times. When Louisa didn't complain, he was pleased, seeing this as a breakthrough in their relationship.
Jackeline was bored. She watched her father and Benjamin play chess. She didn't see any fun in that game, but, she wanted to be close to the young man, so, she would have to put up with it. Hearing the sound of hooves, she looked around and saw Paul and Louisa, riding the same animal. She didn't like the closeness of her brother to the maid at all, though, she remembered, rather 'Paul than Benjamin'.
As she suspected that the fight between the two friends was caused by something involving that blonde girl, Jackeline decided to test Benjamin.
"Paul is very friendly with this girl. Almost clingy to her." she commented. The two men hadn't noticed the horse approaching the property, after all, they were focused on the game. Richard, who was sitting across from where Paul and Louisa were, looked up and saw them.
"Let him have some fun, Jack." He said. Paul was helping Louisa off the horse and Richard, who was no fool, noticed his son's eyes on the young girl.
Richard still hadn't stopped to look at the girl and quickly understood the reason for his son's fascination. She was young, but it was already possible to see that she was almost a woman. Her breasts were reasonably voluminous for such a young lady, in fact more so than his wife's. The wind blew and her dress clung lightly to the girl's body, and Richard didn't miss the moment when her waist was marked by the cloth. Besides, her face was something else: the contour was light, not too sharp, the nose was small and thin, but proportionate; the eyes he could not distinguish the color, as it was a little farther away, but the shape was slightly slanted upwards; and her mouth, plump, well made. All this framed by beautiful golden hair, like strands of gold.
Richard had not yet retired from his amorous adventures, even though he had been married for years. He wouldn't walk over his son, of course, but if the girl accepted, in at least two to three years, he'd offer her a few good moments of pleasure. She was not ready yet and he was not into kids, even when they were like Louisa that could pass as a young adult.
Benjamin didn't turn to look at Paul or Louisa, but when he looked at Richard to ask him to play, he caught the man's greedy gaze. Benjamin's nostrils flared. He had already heard some gossip about the libertine that Mr. Russell had been in his youth and word through the grapevine that this was not interrupted by marriage. Seeing the way the man looked at Louisa made Benjamin's stomach turn. She was a child next to him!
"You better concentrate here, Mr. Russell, or you will end up losing." Benjamin said in the most controlled voice he could manage.
"Oh, yes, of course." Richard replied, looking away from Louisa and back to the game.
Jackeline didn't notice her father's behavior as she was focused on Benjamin. Although he didn't turn around or make any comment, she noticed how he tensed at the mention of Paul's approach to that girl. That was enough proof to her that the fight was really over Louisa.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone