An Improper Courtship

An Improper dream

The two had separated when a maid had entered and had literally startled them apart. Knowing that the maid would most definitely gossip at the way Blake and Rosalie had stood centimetres away with his hand on her cheek, her hands covering his, they had left the room abruptly. In the hallway Blake had mumbled a joke about how the rumours would spread so fast, tomorrow they would hear that they were married. Rosalie forced a laugh despite her shock.

After bidding each other Goodnight and turning in, Blake had fallen asleep quite easily that night, dreaming vividly.

The kitchen was dark with an only candle lit in the corner, robed legs dangled from the countertop as Blake reached the figure he noticed Rosalie's brown locks and her hands in a bowl of strawberries.

"Blake, why are you awake?" Rosalie whispered.

"I felt cold without you beside me," Blake replied, stepping forward to stand directly in front of Rosalie.

"I had such cravings it was driving me insane," Rosalie stretched out, to hold her protruding belly through her silk nightgown. Blake placed his hands on top of his wife's belly, stroking it through the silk layer, his hands trailed slowly north to find his other favourite curves. Rosalie's breathing hitched and she stopped chewing the strawberry in her mouth.

"I have cravings too," he whispered, stepping forward and leaning down to the soft spot behind her ears. Rosalie's legs widened to accommodate his hips and Blake moved in to place himself comfortably. His lips trailed her jaw slowly and lightly leaving a tingling sensation along the path he'd chosen. When he reached the corner of Rosalie's lips, he darted his tongue to lick the faded strawberry remnants.

"Delicious," he grated from the back of his throat as he moved his lips onto hers. The kiss was slow, there was no need to rush. Rosalie bit back, pulling away to place a strawberry in his mouth and then one in hers. She rolled her head back, flitting her eyes closed and biting back a moan. Blake watched her hungrily placing his hand on her hips placing her body up against his chest.

"Not here, Blake" she murmured against his lips,

"Don't tease me then," Blake urged, pushing his hard body against her soft curves, his hands trailing firmly down to his wife's backside. Blake felt a shiver of excitement run down his body and a sudden enveloping light turned the dark kitchen into a blanket of white light. Blake's eyes fluttered open adjusting to the fact that he was no longer in a kitchen nor with Rosalie but instead staring at a skinny man's silhouette in his room.

"Good morning, Master Blake" a manservant ordered with a cheery voice, pulling the set of heavy velvet curtains open on the second window. Blake stared up at the ceiling of his four-poster bed, swallowing his shock. What on earth had he dreamed? Some parts of his body felt too awake, he closed his eyes and groaned loudly, rolling over and pulling a pillow over his face.

"You, William have soured my morning" Blake grumbled his voice husky from the morning and the dream.

"Apologies master, but the Mistress of the house orders you to be out of bed and downstairs for breakfast, she would like to see you in her office once you are fed." The servant bowed his head and fled the room.

Rosalie, Alyssa and Honey sat at the breakfast table, there was a comfortable silence as the two of the sisters ate their breakfast. It wasn't early but a trait that seemed to run through all the girls was that they were not morning people. Numerous cups of tea or coffee were needed before a coherent conversation could commence.

Blake climbed down the stairs, his hair damp and curling from the cold bath he had submerged his whole body in. He was starving. When he entered the room, he saw his two cousins facing him and smiled,

"Morning, Cousins", they nodded in reply, Honey smiled mid-toast, he knew words weren't their forte in the morning. Rosalie's back stiffened when she heard his morning voice, slightly raspy from sleep, her imagination flashed to him whispering morning to her in the intimate setting of a double bed showered by first light.

"Good Morning, Rosalie" he breathed, bending down close to her ear, startling the daylights out of her. He seated himself in a chair right beside her. Servants brought a plate filled with fried foodstuff.

"Bonjour, " Rosalie replied, hoping her voice was steady, "No rumours yet,"

"Did you sleep well?" Blake asked as his breakfast was placed before him, he nodded at William, who pointed at the clock.

"Very well..." he paused, turning back to look at Rosalie "...perhaps too well."

"How can you stomach so much in the morning?" Rosalie inquired whilst Blake inhaled his meal,

"He is a man, Rosalie, they always want to eat." Honey answered, "And they don't seem to gain anything at all,"

Rosalie tried to suppress her thoughts, she was well aware of Blake's sculpted build. Blake could feel the energy return in the room, fatigue leaving through the cracks as the hot drinks worked their morning magic.

"You should have seen the breakfast buffet at Cambridge,"

"Perhaps not, I think I'd feel sick, as much as I love food, I can't do too much in the morning," Rosalie started, half of her croissant still on her plate.

"I feel like I am always worried about eating too much," Honey shared. Honey was healthy and had soft curves but when she sat beside her sharp-edged sister, the differences were distinct.

"I cannot fully answer, but I understand gaining weight has something to do with the amount of food you consume and then the exertion of the body to lose it but I honestly don't know the details." Blake then paused and stared intensely at Alyssa, who would have shrunk under his gaze if she hadn't grown so resilient "perhaps Alyssa would know." The last sounded more like a statement than a question. Honey looked confused, turning to her sister beside her,

"Why would Alyssa know?"

"Honey, ignore Cousin Blake, he says the strangest things sometimes." Alyssa tried a thin smile and turned to Blake, giving him a cold direct look. It seemed to say Don't test me.

"Alyssa seems to constantly lose weight " Blake strained out, Rosalie and Honey turned their heads from Blake's direction to Alyssa's. Rosalie noticed Alyssa's collar bone and her pale complexion, she tilted her head to see if it was the lighting doing bits to create darker circles under Alyssa's eyes. Was that padding peeking from under her dress? Impossible. Alyssa trembled slightly and stood up and raised her chin.

"I am done here," Honey's blue eyes widened, as she watched her Alyssa storm off in

"Blake, what do you mean by what you said?"

"Someone needs to talk to Alyssa, Honey, I may have handled that poorly."

Honey stood up delicately, biting her lip anxiously and flitting to the door barely making a sound. Rosalie was unsure of her position in all this, she was family by blood but barely by interactions, she shouldn't have witnessed such an intimate spat of underlying tensions.

"You probably should have said something in private," Rosalie stated, "It was ill-timed"

Blake nodded, she was right, he knew that already but he hadn't expected Alyssa to storm out, she'd always been stubborn, not someone who ran away from confrontation.

"I know," he paused and turned to look her in the eyes, "I think there's a lot at play here,"

Rosalie pursed her lips, "I thought the same thing when I entered the family, the illusion of perfection shattered almost instantly,"

Blake smiled distantly if only she knew. They were increasingly close again, it seemed that whenever they were alone, a gravitational pull overpowered them. He could smell the linger of coffee twirled with a perfume of lavender from Provence.

"How do you think I should handle this issue of great sensitivity?"

Rosalie lifted her hand to place it on his upper bicep, it hadn't been a planned action because when she did, she realized the mistake she'd made. It was toned and solid and radiated a warm heat through his shirt, Rosalie kept her hand in place slightly longer than she should have and tried to collect her thoughts before speaking " Perhaps talk to your Aunt and follow your good intentions"

The two finished their breakfasts, discussing their plans for the day.

"Do you ever crave strawberries?" Blake asked randomly.

"I actually detest strawberries," Rosalie replied. Blake choked back a peal of laughter and tried to regain composure.

"Are you okay, that piece of information, shouldn't be so startling,"

"If only you knew," Blake chuckled.

As Blake left, he turned at the doorway, "With regards to how I can stomach so much in the morning, it is because of huge cravings at night." He grinned from ear to ear and winked before disappearing. Rosalie furrowed her eyebrows and turned around staring at the empty table before her.

Cravings?

Alyssa turned the corner, into the servant's corridor and fell to the carpeted ground. Her shoulders hunched and her breath haggard. The tears fell and her energy fell with each of the droplets of water. She had to get to her bedroom without anyone noticing a thing. She was done with her cousin, done with his presumptions. She had worked so hard to get to where she was now.  Anger raised within Alyssa's skeletal chest and it seemed to give her a slight adrenaline rush enough to raise her frail body from the ground.

When Alyssa caught her reflection in the mirror, which was not often, she did not see the bones covered by a thin sheet of her skin, her anorexic body dull with a grey sheen, she saw soft edges of fat. Alyssa climbed up the stairs, slowly using the hand barrier to adjust her. She was making great progress, she thought, her body feeling faint and weak were part of the transformation process.

Honey rushed through the hallway to see her sister's figure climbing up the stairs, she froze, unsure of what to do or what to say to her sister. She'd noticed her sister's weight loss, she would have been a fool not to and she'd also noticed the way her sister's skin had turned a dull white, rather than the porcelain it had been growing up. It was just that whenever she broached the topic, her sister flipped the focus on Honey herself, sometimes quite rudely.

Honey decided that speaking to her sister wouldn't work, so she decided she'd speak to her mother. When she had located her mother, she saw her with Blake, sitting in the pastel flower decorated room, looking too big to fit on the armchair. His limbs overflowed from the petite chair. It was a funny sight. She knocked tentatively on the oak doors.

"Honey darling, what is the matter?" Her mother sighed, as she walked to the door, to take her daughter in her arms. Her mother always knew when something bothered her, Honey's face was an open book.

"I do hope I'm not interrupting." Honey tried to be strong and not sob into her Mothers shoulder,

"Of course, not dear" Kate replied, stroking her daughter's head.

"It's Alyssa, she worries me," Honey whispered. Blake got up from his seat, walking towards his cousin and aunt.

"I think I know what she suffers from, " He led the two women to the couch, and waited for them to settle comfortably. He delved into what he'd learnt at his years of school, it wasn't a scientific explanation, but enough details to stress the importance of getting a doctor involved now. Kate who always seemed so put together, through sickness and health, nodded throughout the whole explanation. She thought that if she stopped moving her head, the tears would fall and that would be unlike her. She'd been so immersed in her own issues, she had barely seen past her daughters fake façade of good health. Her right hand started twitching and she let go of Honey's hand to cover it. Words were coming out of her nephew's mouth but after a while, she could hear nothing, she felt movement beside her as Honey got up to pace. Blake took hold of Honey's shoulders to keep her steady, his lips were moving and she was nodding frantically. They both turned to look at her.

"What do you think, mama?"

They searched for confirmation and Kate, who had heard nothing, nodded.

"Okay, I'll go write to my old colleague," Blake said with a confirmative stare. Honey moved back to sit next to her mother, taking her hands into her small laps.

"Do you think it'll work, mama?"

Kate stared at her daughter's face, she saw the little features quiver as they tried to be strong, her eyebrows arched in worry.

"What is it that worries you about Blake's proposition?."

"I don't know, she'll be away from us, alone, without family?"

Kate hid her confusion, she had to figure out what had been decided when her ears stopped working.

"Why would that not be good for her?"

"You'd think family and loved ones should be with you in those times, never mind all the doctors and nurses, they don't know her as we do," Honey shivered.

Kate closed her eyes and listened carefully to the silence that surrounded the room, Honey's breathing a distant faded noise. Random parts of what Blake had been saying fitting into place with Honey's worries."Are you tired, mother?" Honey said stroking her mother's hand, "Should I let you rest?"

Kate nodded, "Tell your cousin, I want to see the letter before it's sent." It would elaborate on what she'd missed. Honey kissed her mother's forehead and gently tiptoed out the room.