Lovely weather for tree sitting… Cece
CHAPTER 25
Elias had thought that after kidnapping (it was a long story) and marrying his reluctant bride (with the help of her uncle- the archbishop, truly it really was a long story) his life would settle down into a somewhat regular pattern. Why on earth he had ever thought such an absurd notion he would never know.
“Eli, Sophie… where are you hiding? The staff is nowhere to be found, and I am dreadfully tired of searching for… Oh, hello, Eden. Well, this is interesting. Hello there, Randall - why is Eden entertaining you in a tree? Eli, there you are!”
In a bundle of skirts and frills a lovely, tall, auburn-haired woman threw herself at the baron. She was followed by a taller, slender, devastatingly handsome blond gentleman with a humorous twinkle in his eye.
He nodded his head toward Randall in greeting, “Lovely weather for tree sitting, Randall.”
Randall smiled, “Quite, Rotherford. Always a pleasure to see you, of course.”
Charles smiled at that response, which grew into a small chuckle, “Always a pleasure to be seen.”
He turned to Eden, who had been watching Eli and Cece conversing. It was truly a thing of amazement to watch the twins greet each other after being separated for a spell.
“You will never believe what Lizzie has done now!” Cece boasted, leaning on Elias' arm, squeezing it tightly.
Elias gave her an affectionate kiss on the top of her head, “I cannot imagine she has done anything that Robby cannot handle, unless you have been involved, pet.”
Charles laughed aloud, causing Cece to pout and Sophie to swallow her sudden smile.
“I didn’t have anything to do with this latest fiasco,” Cece interjected hotly. “It was all Bex this time. She thought it might be a good idea to let Margo raise a few chickens. But Margo wanted to bring them into the nursery, like she does Puppy. Well, the chickens started to shat everywhere as I suppose all chickens do. So, they tried to chase them down, but did you know that, when chased, chickens can be rather fast? And I guess the nannies and maids began yelling out curse words, which the children were learning at a rapid pace, much to Lizzie’s dismay. Bex said it was hilarious.”
Cece turned to Eden, who had been listening from the chair, and Randall, who had been leaning down and peering in to listen through the window. “I am terribly sorry, I suppose I should clarify. Margo is our young niece, and Puppy is her kitten.”
Randall looked at Eden and mouthed, “What the hell is she talking about?”
Eden flushed but raised her shoulders as if to say she had no idea.
Charles was watching the whole exchange in vast amusement, “I think that is clear as mud, darling. Let’s leave these marvelous friends to their previous conversation, and we can speak with Elias about our boring family news. How does that sound?”
When Eden realized that meant they would be taking Elias with them and leaving Randall with her, she was terrified.
“Oh, you do not have to leave - I would love to hear the end to that story,” Eden looked frantically about, getting up to stop them at the door. But it was of no use. They were all leaving, and the door closed in Eden’s face.
She turned around and leaned against it, feeling the hardness against her back and wishing that she were on the other side of it. Slowly she brought her eyes up expecting to see his languid form lounging on that large tree trunk. What gave her the fright of her life was that he was no longer sitting two and a half feet away in the old oak tree. He was currently climbing over the window pane into her bedroom.
“What….” her voice squeaked, and she could barely get the words out. “What do you think that you are doing?”
“I won’t touch you. I won’t do anything that you do not want me to do.” He turned to look at her. His eyes didn’t sweep the length of her body as they usually did. She didn’t feel him assess her or visually take her clothes off like he would have normally done. He looked at her like he may not ever see her face again. And if this was his last moment, he wanted to remember every feature: every line, crease, freckle, and curve. Because if it was the last time, he never wanted to forget it.
“Why are you here, Randall?”
He closed his eyes like she had hit him, “You never call me Randall. You only call me Phillip.”
Eden colored, “I was a naiveté fool, living on a foolish sentiment that I could get away with behavior that is not becoming a young woman. I know better now. I know that a young lady does not throw away her reputation.”
He nodded slowly, “I too, was a fool. I had stupid rules and beliefs for myself that were unpardonable.”
She looked up at him confused, “What rules?”
He shook his head, “I will tell you more about them when the time is right. They involved my wastrel of a father. I just didn’t want to be like him. I didn’t want to hurt you and ended up doing just that.”
“I don’t know if we can be friends, Randall,” Eden whispered.
“That’s probably for the best,” he replied. And Eden looked at him shocked by his candid reply. “I find that it’s never pleasant to be in love with your friends.”
He moved in close to her and then bent his head and placed a single kiss on her upturned lips. It was soft and moist, decadent and promising, but most of all it said he still cared, he still wanted her.
“Please don’t give up on us,” he pressed one last kiss to her forehead and then swung back out the window to the large oak branch and shimmied down the tree.
Eden went to the window and laid her head against the pane. She raised her hand to the wall before whispering her reply. It was so soft that he barely heard it before the wind took it away, “Oh, Phillip, please don’t disappoint me.”