The Solicitation

by Bella Bryce

  “Everything alright?” Bennett asked, as he offered him the glass.

  “Thank you. Yes,” Damian said, and stood up straight away from the mantelpiece.

  “Shall we sit down and have a proper chat, then?” Bennett asked, nodding toward where he, Alice and Damian had previously sat down to have tea.

  Damian reclaimed his seat on the sofa across from Bennett, who sat on the adjacent one.

  “I’m sorry, Bennett,” Damian said, unable to look at his brother. Bennett resisted the urge to respond until he said more. “You’re right. I’ve not been myself, really. I don’t know who I’ve been. I don’t enjoy being miserable, and I certainly don’t enjoy rejecting everything that I’ve been given and have been taught. It’s just easier sometimes to do so,” Damian finished, finally able to meet his brother’s eyes.

  “I’m glad you feel that way, Damian, because to be perfectly honest with you, had I not heard such words I would have rather liked to take my belt to you. The time had really come,” Bennett said, in a very simple way. “You’re my brother, I love you dearly, we were raised together, and I know what you’re capable of and what is expected of you. I have no problem with nudging you back to where you should be and I think a jolly good reminder two years ago would have done you some good. I’m sorry it’s taken this long and I wish I would have talked with you before now. I don’t find you have been easy to get on with recently,” Bennett said, placing his crystal tumbler down on the table and leaning forward, letting his forearms rest on his knees.

  “I suppose it’s arrogant to say that I am too old for that,” Damian said, taking a sip of his brandy.

  “Mother disregards such notions,” Bennett replied, as if on autopilot.

  Damian nodded, and kept his eyes downward. He knew Bennett had missed the comradely of his brother, which he had found in Brayden years before.

  “I don’t wish to say anymore. You seem to have figured this out on your own this evening,” Bennett said, raising his tumbler to Damian.

  Damian clinked tumblers with his brother and drank to it. Without having to say anything verbally, Bennett felt as though his brother had returned. It would make things a lot easier moving forward, being able to include Damian in events and socialising with Brayden. The three of them used to enjoy such things, that was, until Damian had a quiet rebellion which overtook him shortly after secondary school.

  True to his word, Damian departed in Bennett’s Jaguar to drive himself home, leaving Bennett at Waldorf with Alice. Bennett waved his brother off from the front steps and returned to the foyer to find her standing at the top of the stairs.

  “Alice, you are not to get out of bed,” Bennett said, his shoes making a very deliberate clack across the floor until he reached the carpeted stairs and made his way up to her.

  “I heard a car on the drive and it woke me up, I thought my father was home,” she said, looking up at him as he reached the top stair.

  “That was Uncle Damian driving home. Your father won’t be home for another couple of hours, come along, back to bed,” Bennett said, and picked Alice up.

  “I can walk, Uncle Bennett, I’m eighteen years old,” Alice said, annoyed that he had chosen to carry her like an infant. She was getting tired of people just picking her up whenever they pleased.

  Bennett reached Alice’s bedroom, turned on her bedside lamp, put her on the bed and bent down to her.

  “Do I need to wash your mouth out with soap?” he asked her.

  Alice shook her head and then remembered to verbally respond, “no, Sir.”

  “Every so often you decide it necessary to remind those of us who look after you just exactly how old you are. In this house, under your father’s orders, you are ten. Until he tells you otherwise, that is your age. It is a direct insult to continuously say otherwise. Do you hear me?” he asked, taking hold of her chin.

  “Yes, Uncle Bennett,” Alice replied, quietly.

  “Indeed. Now up you get, you’re going over my knee. And I will tell your father what you said as well, because you know better than to say such a thing,” Bennett said, and sat down on the bed. Alice stood beside him and he pulled her over his lap before her bloomers came down. Her nightdress was short enough it barely needed to be moved in order to expose her.

  Bennett smacked Alice ten times, only getting a small whimper out of Alice. Six months at Waldorf had her extremely practised in discipline and her tolerance had certainly grown.

  “How old are you?” Bennett asked, before giving her an eleventh smack.

  “Ten, Sir,” Alice replied.

  “Are you eighteen?” Bennett asked.

  “No, Sir,” Alice said.

  Bennett gave her another nine smacks, bringing her total to twenty.

  “Right,” Bennett said, and picked Alice up and put her back under the duvet. “You do not get out of bed, young lady. Go straight back to sleep,” he said, pointing his finger at her.

  “Yes, Uncle Bennett,” Alice said, quietly, and turned over onto her side facing away from him.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “I haven’t been to eat in London in donkeys,” Jade said, as the waiter filled her wine glass.

  “I don’t make a habit of it, considering my chefs began their careers in Mayfair and Belgravia and I can have the same food at home,” Brayden said, as his own wine glass was filled.

  “Thank you for the walk along the river, what a lovely idea. I have a proper appetite now,” Jade said, picking up her wine glass.

  Brayden smiled and then glanced at the menu. There were no prices, and he didn’t need to worry although he hoped Jade understood he would be paying. Jade wasn’t as traditional as he was, and he dreaded any kind of scene that would leave him insisting she back down and allow him the honour.

  After they had ordered, Jade looked across at Brayden.

  “What have you done with your degree then, Mr. James?” Jade asked.

  “Absolutely nothing,” he said, offering a half smile. Jade could literally feel a piece of her heart melt right off and fall into the pit of her stomach when he had smiled at her. Where it would go from there she hadn’t any idea.

  “I haven’t any need for it; it was to appease my father. He was concerned I might look spoiled one day inheriting his fortune and not at all appearing to have a brain,” Brayden added.

  “You were top of the class,” Jade said.

  “And he made sure of it,” Brayden replied. “And yourself?” he asked.

  “I’m using my degree to get another degree to hopefully earn a living one day,” Jade replied, winking at him. She really had no business winking at Brayden James but it was worth a try, considering he had offered her an unforgettable smile.

  “That sounds very ambitious and productive,” Brayden concluded, producing a chuckle from Jade. Although, he had been rather serious.

  “So what do you do all day?” Jade asked.

  Brayden knew the moment would come when he would have to tell Jade about Alice, and he wasn’t concerned. He was more concerned about Jade, because she wasn’t as well trained as Alice had been. There was a bit of an unknown side to her, he had picked up on.

  “Well, up until six months ago I was living alone, enjoying my estate and a rather quiet life. I’m very close with the Fowlers, as you know, so I see them quite often,” he said.

  “What about now? You said six months ago,” Jade said, wondering what the connection was.

  “I adopted a little girl named Alice, so I’m quite busy raising her at the moment,” he said.

  “You have? Oh how lovely,” Jade said, smiling. “What brought that on?” she asked.

  “Alice is eighteen years old, and she was living in a very unstable place with her mother. I was at the same time looking for someone who needed guidance and discipline and when I met Alice, I knew she needed me. And I suppose I rather needed her,” Brayden said, reflecting on his last statement.

  “Wow,” Jade said, feeling slightly confused. “Well, eighteen
years old isn’t really a little girl, is it?” she added, raising her eyebrows. When in reality, at twenty-eight, Jade very often still felt a little girl. The situation was starting to hit home with her and she didn’t like it.

  “Her chronological age is eighteen, but under my care and in my circle she is regarded as being in junior school. So she’s ten,” he said.

  Jade wasn’t quite sure how to respond, or even how she should respond.

  “How did you meet her?” she asked, picking up the slack on her obvious silence.

  “I advertised for such a person and interviewed sixteen girls for the role. Alice was the right one,” Brayden replied.

  “You advertised for a legal adult to come and live with you and pretend to be a little girl and then adopted her as your child?” Jade asked, her tone suggesting not only was she not impressed, but she was completely put off.

  Jade’s tone of voice didn’t sit well with Brayden. At all. He focused his attention completely on Jade and adjusted his shoulders so they were squarely facing her.

  “That is exactly what I’ve done,” Brayden answered. “Am I to understand by your tone of voice that you take an issue with it?” he asked.

  “Who wouldn’t?” Jade asked, her voice rising slightly. Brayden looked at the nearby table; the couple had heard a few words and seemed interested in their conversation.

  “Kindly lower your voice,” Brayden said, turning back to Jade.

  “I just can’t believe anyone would do that,” she said, frowning and shaking her head.

  “I have,” Brayden said.

  “Yes, and it’s quite bizarre,” Jade said, realising that her thoughts were coming across as incredibly rude insults.

  Brayden raised an eyebrow at Jade.

  “Is this how you normally speak to gentleman who take you to dinner, or am I to understand you usually skip it and go straight for dessert?” he asked, before putting his napkin on the table.

  Jade understood the insult and her shocked gaze followed as Brayden stood up from the table.

  “Excuse me, the lady’s coat please. There will be no dinner,” Brayden said, to an attentive waiter.

  Brayden turned to Jade. “Come along, I’m taking you home,” he said, offering his hand to Jade.

  She was too shocked to argue with him. First, he had somehow managed to insult her in a very calm manner, and then he was cancelling their evening and very politely helped her up from where she sat. Brayden took Jade’s coat from the waiter, left him the cost of the uneaten and undelivered meal, wine and a generous tip in cash, then turned to Jade and placed her coat over her shoulders before putting a firm hand on the small of her back and encouraging her out the door.

  “I can’t believe you just did that,” Jade said, once she was in the Rolls Royce, sitting across from Brayden.

  He turned from where he had been looking out the window and looked across the car at her .

  “I think it’s best if we don’t say another word. Neither of us behaved properly,” he said, giving her a serious look. Jade felt a flash of guilt run through her and she quietly stared out of the window. When they reached Jade’s house, Brayden stepped out of the car and waited for her. Jade faced him, hardly able to look him in the eyes. Something about the way he had handled the conversation left her feeling like the one who had an issue, not him or his decision to adopt this Alice girl.

  “I apologise for offending you with my lifestyle choice, it was not my intention to do so,” Brayden said, both of them still standing in the doorway of the Rolls Royce. Jade noticed that his driver, Jude, was standing right behind her. She didn’t like the presence of another person witnessing a rather private conversation.

  “However, your rejection of Alice is a rejection of me, and your misplaced judgment follows suit. It was lovely seeing you again, Miss Grey, I wish you the best in your studies,” Brayden said, and kissed her cheek merely out of obligation before stepping back into the car.

  Jade stood back and watched Jude closed the doors and then get in and drive away. She was still trying to coach herself through what had just happened. No one had ever been so polite and yet so abrupt with her at the same time after she had blatantly insulted them. And she hadn’t a clue what to do with herself after that.

  Brayden asked Jude to drive him through the back entrance to Waldorf where there was a private lake. He hadn’t yet told Alice about it for fear she would one day intend to go swimming but drown in it. He realised it was a ridiculous fear, but he wasn’t quite ready to allow her to run off on the several hundred acres of property he had not knowing where she was or what she was doing.

  Jude waited in the car whilst Brayden wandered, his hands in his trouser pockets, across the cut grass over to a wrought iron bench on the bank of the lake. He pulled up his trousers and sat down, looking out across the lake. There were small ripples in various places and crickets were chirping. It had been a long time since he sat on that bench and looked at his lake.

  Brayden sat quietly for an hour and then returned to the car and Jude drove him back to Waldorf’s front doors.

  “Is that a brandy?” Brayden asked, upon entering the drawing room.

  Bennett looked at his watch and frowned, and then said, “it is, let me pour you one,” leaving his on the table where he sat near the fire and walked across to the drinks cabinet. Brayden sat down beside where Bennett had been and waited.

  “This isn’t brandy,” Brayden said, upon receiving a filled crystal tumbler from Bennett.

  “You don’t need a brandy, you need a scotch,” Bennett told him, and reclaimed his seat.

  “You realise this isn’t any stronger,” Brayden said.

  “There are times when a gentleman needs grapes and times when he needs grains; hence, you’re having scotch,” Bennett said, and took another drink of his brandy.

  Brayden couldn’t help but half smile, and did so before drinking the tiniest mouthful of scotch. He was well versed in how to properly digest all manner of things from the drinks cabinet and reminded himself scotch was one that required barely a pinch.

  “She was very vocal about her opinion on Alice’s age and my adoption of her,” Brayden suddenly offered insight into the reason for his nearly three hour early arrival home.

  Bennett looked at his friend, knowing Brayden would explain eventually.

  “Vocal?” Bennett asked.

  “In the middle of The Ivy, she tells me in an elevated voice that the situation here with Alice is rather ‘bizarre,’ Brayden said.

  Bennett laughed with disbelief.

  “Did you very nearly bend her over the bonnet of the car?” Bennett asked.

  “Very nearly,” Brayden said. “She’s one of these feminist sorts who could use a jolly good spanking,” he added. “If I had begun to court her, in another life, she would have paid for that behaviour properly. She wasn’t worth it because it was just plain ignorant so I told her we were leaving. I said goodbye when we dropped her off and then Jude took me round the back to the lake so I could have a moment to think. I daresay Alice would be destroyed if she found out Jade rejected her, or merely the idea of her. Her own mother did enough of that to last her a lifetime.”

  “She deserves better. You deserve better, old chap,” Bennett said.

  “I should hope so,” Brayden said.

  The next morning Alice entered the dining room at 8:05 am. Brayden and Bennett had been chatting and starting on their coffee but the moment Brayden saw his daughter enter through the dining room doors several hundred feet away he put his napkin on the table and excused himself. Brayden walked toward Alice, who stopped when he reached her. Alice knew she was late but she had been fussing over her dress and her hair, trying to look her best since missing her father when he had taken Jade to dinner the night before.

  “You know what happens when you are late,” Brayden said, taking a smiling Alice by the arm and leading her straight back out of the dining room.

  “Father,” Alice said, her smile
disappearing as she was briskly lead away.

  “Five minutes, Alice,” Brayden said, as he walked her next door to the music room and closed the door behind them. “Breakfast is at promptly 8 a.m., you know this,” he said, bending down to her. “Lateness shows a complete lack of respect,” he said, remaining at her eye level.

  "I've been late before and you've not been so cross," Alice replied.

  Brayden raised his eyebrows at his daughter as if to challenge her statement. Alice knew saying such a thing was ridiculous, because her father could decide when and where he would show her grace. Clearly, that was not the morning for it.

  “I’m sorry, father. I wanted to look nice for you,” Alice said, quietly, her head dropped, causing her curls to fall downward as well, and her eyes went to the floor.

  Brayden shook his head. “I do not wish to hear any excuses at the moment, but I appreciate your effort. Now over you come, you know what happens,” he said, taking Alice’s wrist and pulling her along to a nearby armless Victorian chair.

  Brayden sat down and put Alice across his lap and then lifted her dress and pulled her bloomers down to her ankles, leaving her knee socks intact.

  “And you would do so the very morning your Uncle Bennett is here for breakfast,” Brayden said, both annoyed and disappointed, before beginning to use his bare hand on Alice’s bottom. He smacked her twenty times, and then stopped. Alice hadn’t cried, but she winced and whimpered throughout. Brayden was still rather annoyed about her lateness when she knew after a long enough induction period to Waldorf that lateness was unacceptable. He laid another twenty smacks on her bottom, causing Alice to begin crying halfway through, and then gave her another ten. Alice was crying properly by the time he finished with her and stood her back up.

  “If you cannot be trusted to come down for meals on time, I shall escort you myself from now on,” Brayden said, his hands on her shoulders.

  “Yes, Father,” Alice said, still crying.

  “Right, dry those tears. We’re most definitely late now,” he said, handing Alice his personalised handkerchief. Alice quickly dabbed her eyes and took Brayden’s hand when he offered it to her. He led his daughter back into the dining room.