With My Body

by Jo Briggs

  E: Ok I am going to sign off.

  J: Ok give a kiss to Christian for me, and I will catch up with you later.

  Turning her phone to silence, she moved back to William's side, slipping her arm into his as they headed into the kitchen, to let Mrs. Button know it was safe to come out of hiding.

  Once settled at a table, Elle touched William's hand gently and asked, "How are you feeling?"

  "Relieved that if she follows through on the legalities, that I can finally make an informed decision about Lily, once and for all," He offered her a brief smile.

  Elle understood William's sense of duty.

  “Do you still want to do the DNA test?”

  “Yes, because there is always the chance she could come back and say that I do not have any rights to Lily, rather than hand her fully over to me.”

  "So, how is this going to work?"

  "Richard will make sure Charlotte attends a doctor's appointment with Lily, so that a sample of Lily's DNA by a recognised health professional is procured so that it will stand in court. Once that is done, I have to have a DNA sample taken as well, and then they are sent off for matching. Hopefully, it won't take more than a couple of weeks to know one way or the other."

  "I hope so, too. It would be advantageous to come back from Paris with some firm news."

  "Will you be gone for long?"

  "Probably seven to ten days. I have to make some time to see Cate, as well as some business meetings," she explained.

  Elle remained quiet for the rest of the meal, unable to stop herself from contemplating the what ifs of their past and present.

  “Do you want to have a quick nap before we take you to the airport?” William asked, noting how subdued she had become, after her argument with Charlotte.

  Elle smiled and nodded.

  Retiring to her bedroom, William’s arms were soon wrapped around her, as they slipped into their familiar spooning embrace, her back moulded perfectly against his muscular chest and lower torso. "Are you feeling all right?" William asked, moving her long hair out of the way, and kissing the back of her neck in a way he knew she liked. "You seemed quiet towards the end of lunch."

  "No, I am fine, just saddened by what addiction can do to a person."

  William did not press the subject any further, not actually wanting to discuss Charlotte anymore. He had other more enjoyable thoughts occupying his mind and hands…

  Parisian interlude

  Later, that evening, Edward drove the three of them to the airport, William and Christian wanting to remain with Elle until the last moment. William knew he was going to miss her desperately, and after making love that afternoon, he had wanted to savour every touch they had shared, to enable him to get through the lonely nights that he expected to experience until her return. Christian would miss his mother, but the prospect of being alone with his papa for a whole week both excited him and made him anxious.

  With departing farewell hugs and kisses complete, she was soon settled on the short plane ride into France. Although she was genuinely looking forward to seeing her sister, Cate, she could not help but pine for her son, and the man who still held an invisible string from her heart to his. She was due to spend her stay in one of the suites in the Pemberley Parisian, where her sister had recently started to rent a suite on a permanent basis.

  Cate greeted her at the arrival gate. Cate and Elle were more similar in features than Jess. Where Elle had chocolate caramel curls, Cate had a darker toffee brown shade, in stark contrast to Jess's light blonde, but Cate and Elle shared the same almond-shaped emerald-green eyes, button nose and naturally plump lips.

  Both women had dressed casually, in mid-thigh length dresses, with a small cardigan to shield them from the spring chill that was still lingering.

  It had been nearly six months since the women had last seen each other, so they hugged each other with an affection that only a sister could understand. They usually conversed, by text, phone and email, weekly when, not in the same country. They were extremely close growing up, as they bore the brunt of disdain, their parents seemed to have for them. To them, Jess was a perfect angel, with her much more demure temperament, everlasting smiles and immaculate blond hair, whereas Cate and Elle were considered dark hearted, insolent and argumentative, as they stood up for themselves, and provoked their mother into complaining incessantly about her nerves, whereas Jess was the one to soothe them.

  "So, why you are driving this?" Elle asked as they settle into a plush car.

  "It's Evan's."

  Elle smiled knowingly, "I had heard through the grapevine you have had quite a few dinners with him lately."

  Cate rolled her eyes. "Even living in another country doesn't seem to stop the all-knowing Elle from finding out the latest gossip."

  Elle smirked. "Actually, I only found out myself through William, but I think you need to point the finger at Gina."

  "Ahh, so it seems you have your own gossip to divulge then."

  Elle blushed. "Actually, I do have some news on that front, but I will wait to until later, when I presume I will see you and Evan for dinner or something?"

  Cate nodded. "We should be able to draw Evan out of his office for one meal later at least; he is flying out back to England tomorrow."

  "Have you been looking after yourself?" Cate asked, as she noted Elle’s yawning, despite it only being early afternoon. Cate knew too well that Elle had a tendency to work long hours, despite having more reason than most, to need to take it easy.

  "Yes, although I have been feeling a bit more tired than normal."

  "Have you been keeping up with your medication?"

  "Yes, but the doctor did say at the previous check-up I was becoming more resistant to it, so the benefits were diminishing. I think I may need another transfusion soon. William has been nagging me to go see the doctor, so I will probably go once I get back; otherwise I imagine he will be dragging me there of his own accord."

  "He seems to have become involved in your daily routine quite quickly again."

  Elle smiled, and merely nodded in agreement.

  "Is there something you need to tell me?"

  "We have become quite serious again. He also met Christian, and is looking after him, while I am away."

  Cate frowned slightly. "That is a swift turnaround; does he know about everything."

  "Nearly everything; he knows that Chris is his, but he does not know about the need for all the medication and transfusions."

  “Was he mad when you told him?"

  "To begin with, but after some soul searching for both of us, we made up. Christian has to take priority over any hurt pride."

  "Hmm, I bet it didn't take too much convincing on his part to make up eh?" Cate laughed, knowing how amorous the pair used to be with public displays of affections

  "You could say that," Elle blushed.

  The rest of the afternoon was just the two of them relaxing, and taking in some spa treatments that the hotel had to offer. She had texted William to let him know that she had arrived safely, and to confirm she would try to call him before dinner, so she could talk to Christian before his bedtime.

  ~~~

  With a brief bedtime story plucked from Elle's imagination given on the phone, Christian went off to bed without much drama. Once William was sure, he was drowsy enough to drift off to sleep without reappearing downstairs, when he heard William talking on the phone, he made a call back to Elle to have a more private conversation.

  He grumbled about missing her and how lonely his bed was going to be, teasing him at first, Elle did reassure him that she felt the same.

  "What are doing for the rest of the evening?"

  "Due to go and have dinner in Evan's suite in a few minutes with Cate."

  "Has she said anything about dating him?"

  "Not yet, but I will see what I can tonight with the both of them there."

  "Anyway, I will let you go, I am in meetings tomorrow at the house, but I will give you a call a
gain before Christian goes to bed."

  "Ok, darling."

  As soon as she cleared the call, her mobile was ringing once more, this time it was Cate detailing which room to come to for dinner.

  Taking the lift up to the top floor, she was soon knocking on the relevant door. After being greeted by a butler, she was led into a separate sitting room area, where Cate and Evan were sitting on a sofa, Evan had his phone glued to his ear, but waved her further into the room.

  The girls chatted briefly, as Evan wound up his phone conversation. He had not changed much; he certainly had the tall, dark, and handsome Dexter gene in abundance, but he carried it in a different way to William. He was probably as tall as William was, and had jet-black hair worn longish. He wore a slightly crumpled dark brown, pinstriped suit, with a beige shirt beneath that showed off his broad shoulders and muscular torso.

  "Finally," Evan spoke as he cleared the call from his phone. "Elle, it’s marvellous to see you again after all this time." He stepped closer, and gave her a brotherly hug.

  "Thanks, it’s good to see you too," Elle smiled brightly. They had once had a close, brotherly relationship, but when she had disappeared to New York, that fizzled out due to the awkward situation between her and William.

  "I hear you are back keeping William on his toes?"

  She smiled "You could say that. Has he updated you about our plans?" She was not sure whether William had told Evan or Gina about their new living arrangements yet.

  Evan shook his head, and Cate stepped forward to listen to the conversation.

  "We are going to move into Pemberley together."

  Both looked rather shocked.

  "We have sorted out our past differences, and are moving forward for the sake of Christian," Elle continued when neither of them spoke.

  "Christian?" Evan questioned.

  Elle looked at Cate.

  "Christian is their son." Cate injected.

  Evan continued to look shocked.

  "Wow, I know Cate mentioned you had a son, but I never imagined this. Has William been understanding about it all?" Evan was slightly worried that William may have given her a hard time, especially since Evan was aware of the on-going problems with Charlotte's child. He also knew William could be extremely blinkered, at times, when he felt someone has not been truly honest with him from the word go.

  "We had a serious disagreement the first day I told him, but I think Richard talked it through with him, and he calmed down enough for us to discuss the future

  "Well, despite the initial shock of this news, I am glad for you. I hope this is just the first step in having you as a proper sister in law. I look forward to meeting my nephew very soon." He gave her another hug. He was genuinely pleased for them, but he wondered what Gina would make of this news, as he knew that she was not exactly happy with Elle being back on the scene. She had made it quite clear that she blamed Elle for William being restless, and the cause of his two-year hiatus to Chile.

  ~~~

  The next day, Cate and Elle, spent their morning shopping down the Champs-Elysée and Avenue Montaigne, and the afternoon at a cafe discussing the ins and outs of Cate joining Elle's design company in a few months while she went off to work on a film shoot location.

  “So, what will you want me to do? You will still be running things overall, won’t you?”

  “No, I won’t have the time, Luke can carry on the design side of things, but I need you to oversee everything else. I do not want this just be a short-term thing either, I want you to be a full partner on this. I may have a fashion degree, but you have always had a flair for designing outfits and understand trends.”

  “But, I am not sure I can be much help for you when I live in France. I am happy to move back temporarily, while you do the film shoot, but beyond that, I just do not know. I will have to discuss it with Evan.”

  “As long as you are reachable by email or Skype during office hours, I do not need you to be in the same country as me, constantly. Just business trips back to England once or twice a month would suffice.”

  “And, what about my photography work? I don’t want to stop that.”

  “You wouldn’t need to. We are always in need of in-house photographic work, done and if an exciting opportunity came up outside the company, then I am sure we could accommodate that as well.”

  Cate was quite looking forward to getting involved with something new. She just was not sure Evan would be terribly pleased with her disappearing for two months to England, but he would come around to the idea, especially since they were planning to move back after they got married. The fact that they were getting married was still only a secret, kept between the two of them, but they would be announcing it to their families once Evan returned from his business meeting with William in a few more days.

  With Evan away, the sisters enjoyed time just catching up and indulging in their weakness for shoes and handbags.

  Each evening, Elle would talk to William and Christian for an hour or so before having dinner with Cate. The tiredness had subsided slightly, but Elle had always given into the urge, to have a brief nap before calling William. She knew that she would make an effort to go see her doctor as soon as she came back, as it was starting to worry her.

  William had been to see his own private doctor, to have his and Lily’s DNA sample sent off for testing. The results, his doctor had said, should be back in 5 days, so by the time she arrived back, they should know their next step concerning Lily's place as William's true daughter, or as just a child, he intended to seek adoption for.

  On Elle’s final night there, Evan had arrived back from his business trip to see William. He and Cate held a large dinner party together, with some mutual family friends, so they could make the announcement of their impending marriage.

  By the next day, certain newspapers had already run the story that the two famous Dexter brothers were now involved with the equally well-known sisters, remarking particularly on Elle’s known past relationship with William, and commenting cynically about long it would last this time.

  Malicious intent

  1 May 2010

  Cate drove Elle back to the airport alone. Evan was conveniently stuck in meetings - at least that was the story, Cate, and he had come up with earlier that morning, so Cate could talk to Elle privately during the journey. Evan wanted Cate to warn Elle that there was probably going to be a surprise visitor at William's home when she arrived back.

  "Gina had called Evan last night after our dinner, as she generally does a couple of times a week, and when Evan mentioned about you and William moving into Pemberley with Christian, she had gone silent, then hung up. Later, she apologised by text to him, saying she was extremely concerned that William was doing something foolish, and said that she was going to fly over, and see him personally." Cate explained. "Evan tried to convince her not to fly over, as he knew Will would not take kindly to her interfering in your relationship, but she would not accept his advice." She offered Elle an apologetic smile as she finished.

  "Well, I guess she is entitled to her own opinion, but I will not care for her upsetting Will or, more importantly, saying something inappropriate about our relationship in front of Christian. Don't feel bad about it Cate, I am sure I can handle a bit of disapproval from Gina Dexter nee Hoffmann." Elle reassured Cate in her self-confident way.

  Inside, Elle felt extremely angry about this situation, they had enough to worry about with Lily's test results due back any day now, and she felt unwell, so dealing with Gina as soon as she landed was the last thing she had the patience for.

  Cate smiled at her sister's self-assured manner. She looked forward to being able to spend more time with her when Evan and she moved back to England permanently. She was hoping to get Elle to be her maid of honour; Jess would likely be showing her bump quite prominently by then, and would not unlikely want to waddle down the aisle, so she was sure Jess would rather be involved in the wedding in some other way.

  The rest
of the journey was filled with small talk, and plans to meet up again in few weeks, when Cate and Evan were going to fly over and start looking at properties. They were considering settling in West or South Yorkshire.

  At the airport, Elle called William to let him know what time she would be landing. He sounded very distracted when he first picked up the call, and said he would get Edward to come and collect her, as he had been caught up dealing with something and was now running behind schedule. "That's fine; you deal with what you need to, and I will see you at home later,” she responded, not sure, if Gina was the reason for his distraction, and not wanting to bring it up until she got home to discuss it with him in person, in case it was not.

  "Ok, see you later," he offered, cutting off the call before she had a chance to respond with her own farewell.

  The annoyance she felt towards to Gina's impromptu trip began to build. She had better not been putting pressure on Will she seethed inward to herself.

  ~~~

  Elle arrived back at the house two or three hours later.

  Christian waved at her eagerly, from the window on the lower staircase that descended into the large hallway, before he rushed down to open the door to her.

  She had several bags of duty free in her hands, in addition to her two Louis Vuitton cases, that Edward was carrying in behind her, from the car.

  As her little boy threw his arms around her in greeting enthusiastically, she wondered where William was, surely he was not too busy to notice her arrival. "Darling, I have missed you so much." Elle hugged Christian close. "Have you enjoyed being with your papa?"

  Christian beamed brightly. "Yes, it has been nice, thank you."

  "Do you know where you papa is now?" She questioned, as they moved over the threshold into the hallway.

  He shook his head. "Some blond lady arrived earlier, called Gina, and she started raising her voice at papa, so he told me to go to my room while they talked."

  Elle frowned deeply at this snippet of information. "Hmm, did your papa explain who you were to Gina?"

  He shook his head again. "She was rather rude as soon as she arrived, and they shut themselves away in his office almost immediately after sending me upstairs. I don't think she took much notice of me." She hugged her son once again, getting more annoyed with each nuance of new information.