Hat Trick

by Morris Fenris

  Elisabeth was thankful to see the back of Thomas. She really did not want to speak to someone who wanted to buy her. She admitted that even though it hurt her so much, he may not have actually meant what he said. He was probably confused why she stopped working on her designs. And offered her money so that she gave it as much importance as in other work of hers.

  Elisha decided to spend her day holed up inside her room. She asked Martha to prepare some food and put it outside her door as she was not feeling very well. She barely ate the soup though. She had a splitting headache that she knew could only be cured with sleep.

  Thomas thought long and hard about what really transpired in the sewing room that morning. He did not mean to make the slightest inclination that he wanted to purchase her. He was only trying to get her to continue her work. Perhaps he could have rephrased how he said it. But he really did like that she thought of so much and went to such great lengths to think of a gift for him. And he really did like what she was doing with the place. That was what his house was lacking. And he knew it as soon as he saw the work start.

  Thomas felt the urge to bring things back to the way it was before he had that conversation in the sewing room and with Adelaide at the ball. He wanted to express gratitude for the pain she had taken to come up with a plan to redesign his interiors. And he knew the perfect way to make it up to her. He called for Martha and asked her to quickly make the arrangements.

  Elisa woke up to find that the sun had already sat and there was flicker of lamps outside her window. She was used to find that area of the house pretty much devoid of any light after dark and it piqued her interest to know what was causing the flickering of the lights. As she rose from her bed, she saw that some of trees outside the window had lanterns fixed on them that led to small table that was sitting quaintly under a makeshift tent made out of bed sheets. It was not the best erected tent but it looked really enticing with the dark background, surrounded by trees. Did Thomas think of all this? It seemed a scene out of a dream. She dressed up in a gown to match the setting and as she opened the door to find that Thomas was standing just outside her door with a bouquet of roses in his hands.

  “Good Evening Madam! A night of splendor and amazement awaits you outside.” Thomas said she handed over the bouquet of roses to Elisabeth.

  “Might I also add that you look exquisite in that red gown.” He gushed as came out of the room.

  Elisabeth stifled a giggle and blushed on hearing the compliment.

  Thomas smiled and held out his arm for Elisabeth to put her arms through as he led her to the tables outside. He lifted the lid off the plates one by one. Elisabeth stared in wonder at the spread that was set out in front of her. There were lobsters, lemon tarts, freshly baked bread and sautéed fish fillets. She also saw hash brown roasted to a crisp.

  “And to wash it all down we have one of the finest champagnes that this city has to offer!” Thomas exclaimed as he popped open a bottle and served Elisabeth some of that bubbly delight.

  They had their food and after they had their fill, two hammocks were placed between two trees on each side that gave a full view of the twinkling sky when one lay on them. This was really beyond what Elisabeth thought was possible to be carried out by a person whose library looked like a landmine. She was impressed by the whole setup. As they lay hung on the hammock, counting stars, Elisabeth wondered if this was a desperate attempt by Thomas to get his way with her. After what he put himself through to pull this off, she told herself that if he tried something tonight, she would not stop him.

  As the night started to set in, they brought themselves back inside the house and sat in the balcony and continued their chat there before she stood up to call it a night. She had waited long enough to give him time to make his move and all that champagne made her drowsy. As she swiveled around to leave, Thomas held her hands and pulled her towards himself.

  Elisabeth was already feeling drowsy and she fell in a heap on Thomas’s lap when he pulled her. Elisa immediately started to kiss Thomas, frustrated with all the playing around. She felt the manhood inside his pants start to harden as her mouth engulfed his. She ran her hands over his bulging pants to egg him on. Thomas let out a slight moan as she ran her fingers over his pants scratching on the surface. Elisabeth felt his hands search for the laces of her gown on her back. Elisa got up from his lap and turned around to help him in this endeavor. He fumbled and pulled at the laces without any idea, but he figured it out soon enough and as soon as she untied it, Elisa slipped it off herself to reveal that she was not wearing anything underneath.

  Thomas stared at her naked body unflinchingly, as if this was the last thing he could see before he went blind forever. He could barely contain himself any longer and flung his shirt over his head and slipped out of his pants and carried Elisa in his arms towards his bedroom. As soon as they reached his bedroom, Thomas pushed Elisabeth on the bed and dug his face in the place between her thighs. Elisabeth felt as if her world was crashing down on her. She had never felt ecstasy like this before as she pressed his face further towards her insides. She knew she was gushing like a girl down there and she blushed a bright pink as she shamelessly pushed his face and held it between his thighs, her body squirming and contorting in various ways.

  Thomas had made up his mind that he would try to go on further. Elisabeth sensed his apprehension and asked him to enter her right then.

  Thomas obliged and his manhood pierced through her thin skin, her moist insides enabling it to slide right in. Elisabeth felt as if it had gone in and reached the stomach. She let out a loud scream, half in agony and half in ecstasy. She had never suffered sweet pain like this before. The steadier Thomas’s thrusts became, the harder it pained but she did not want it to stop. As the thrusts became steadier and less painful, she felt waves after waves of orgasm sweep her body. She felt a trickle of tear drop from eyes. She wondered if those were for the immense pain that she felt or the waves of pleasure that seemed to encapsulate her body.

  Thomas had never felt this way with another woman before Elisabeth. It was barely a few minutes before he lost control and let himself go. His fumbled to get himself out from inside her and finished on top of her. In the years since he first had sex, this was the first he lost control of himself and finished within a few minutes.

  Both Thomas and Elisabeth were out of breath even though it had barely lasted a few minutes. And before they realized, they were both in deep slumber.

  * * *

  Chapter 33

  Elisabeth woke up the next morning surprised, for a moment, to find herself in unfamiliar surroundings. Then the events of last night came back to her as a blush came over her face. She was happy that she finally knew what it felt like, making love to a man. No amount of training from Adelaide would ever have prepared her for the sweet pain that she felt when Thomas penetrated her for the first time. She could still feel the soreness between her thighs. She tossed on to her side to face Thomas.

  Thomas was already wide awake. But he shut his eyes as soon as Elisabeth turned. He did not if this was great timing, but just had to ask and get it out of the way. He did want it keep hanging between them like noose for the rest of the day. It is wasn’t meant to be, he would be heartbroken but he had those before and he would deal with it again if necessary.

  Elisabeth touched his face with her fingers and felt the warm skin. She was happy that she had finally made love to a man. She was even more happy that the man was Thomas. It was obvious that she loved him like she had never loved anyone before. Even with her limited sexual experience she understood the connection that she shared with. She knew that like with Adelaide, this relationship will not go the distance either, but till the time it all goes south, she would hang on as dearly as she could. She closed her eyes and held him tight against her naked body.

  “This question might come as a surprise to you, but it has to be said and there is no easy way for me to ask this. We obviously have a connection and I do not want lose th
at at any cost.”

  All this suspense was killing Elisabeth from the inside.

  “I have thought long and hard about this and I want you to be my mistress.” A sudden hush came over the room as he said that.

  Elisabeth kept repeating the words in her, certain that she must have misheard a word or misunderstood the context. But as she repeated those words in her head, she let out a shrug of laughter and got out of the bed calmly and not make a scene. She was left aghast with shock at the timing of what Thomas said. Now that he had had her way with her, she did not mean anything more to him than any other item that he bought for his house. She felt used and violet and felt like throwing up. She rushed to the sink in the bathroom adjoined to Thomas’s room and let out all that she had eaten from the night before. Most of it was only liquid, indicating the copious amount of alcohol that they had consumed.

  Thomas came out from under the sheets of his bed and offered to help her but Elisabeth just said “You have already done enough, Thomas. Please get away from me.”

  Thomas still tried to place his hands on his shoulders nut dodged his attack and screamed “Do not touch me, you scoundrel!”

  Thomas was shocked to see the rage in her eyes. The sight of her eyes, burning like charcoal in the dark bathroom, sent a chill down his spine. He continued to hear the faint humming of his eardrums, an after effect of the hellacious scream that Elisabeth had let out.

  “Listen to me, Thomas, you have already gotten what you wanted from me, last night. I understand that and I learn to make my peace with it. But don’t you dare try to belittle me by offering me the chance to be a mistress at the mercy of your whims and in need of your permission before I make any move.” She managed to say it out loud and clear without having to scream at the top of her lungs.

  She left the room with whatever shred of dignity that she was left with and went straight to her room and changed into something that she would wear outside. She barely cared for the color of the dress or how it looked, she just put something and skipped across the line of trees to find Thomas’s coachman who was just outside the gates. At her command, he readied the carriage and pulled out from outside the estate. She directed to take her straight to the Lovelace’s without wasting another moment.

  Adelaide came bounding down the stairs when she heard that Elisa had landed early morning at her door crying inconsolably. Adelaide scolded Lissa why she did not being her straight up to her room. Adelaide found Elisa crumpled up into a ball in the sofa, clutching a handkerchief to rub the snot from her nose. She turned to face when she heard the footsteps alighting the stares.

  Elisa’s eyes looked bloodshot and there was make up all over her eyes, which she had not bothered to clear or wipe off. She was wearing one of her most ill-fitting dresses and she just generally looked to be in pretty bad shape.

  “Is it because of something that Thomas did? Tell me right now and I am going to have a word with him.” She asked her voice shaking with the sadness that she could see in Elisa’s eyes.

  “I had nowhere else to go”, Elisa said as she rubbed the handkerchief across her nose again.

  Adelaide held the back of her head and put them on her lap as she cried some more.

  Robert came running down the stairs as well hearing all the commotion.

  Elisabeth felt so embarrassed all of a sudden on seeing him that she gestured to leave. “I will head on over to the shop now. I am sorry, Robert, I did not intend to create such a ruckus around the house,”

  “Nonsense”. He voiced echoed throughout the hall.

  Robert softened his stance when he looked into her eyes and hugged her purely out of instinct. This surprised both Adelaide and Elisabeth.

  “You are a friend both of my wife and myself. You can come to this chateau whenever you want and at whatever time you see fit.” Robert’s presence brought a sense of calm over her proceedings.

  Adelaide rushed in to embrace both her husband and her friend in a group hug and said “Robert, you need to speak to Thomas and resolve this.”

  Robert responded and said, “I am going to go and have a work with Thomas, right now!”

  Robert strode off towards his chamber and emerged dressed, within a few minutes’ notice. He bounded over the steps and made a dash for the gate after hailing the coachman.

  “We need to rush towards Thomas’s estate in double quick time.” Commanded Robert.

  His coachman nodded his head and rode off down the street and quickly picked up pace. Robert knew that he behaved this way because he has never had real parents growing up. His father was either involved with work or busy drinking in his chamber. His mother was his only hope to a fair chance at retaining some sort of civility growing up. But since she passed, he had basically being his own parent. And taking over the family business which was already under tremendous losses at such a young age made him the ruthless man that he was. But Robert knew that there was another side to him. He barely ever made friends, but for the few ones that he had, he was ready to lay down his life. Robert was certain that he could talk some sense into him especially because he had gone through a phase like this not long ago.

  Robert was lost in his thoughts when he realized that the carriage had come to a halt. He was surprised to see that he already made it to Thomas’s estate. He galloped down from the carriage and went straight to the entrance door and used the door knockers to knock on the doors. Young Martha opened the door and ushered him in.

  “What have you done, Thomas?” asked Robert as soon as he saw him walking down the stairs.

  “I really do not have an idea. I had only asked her to be my mistress!” Thomas said plainly.

  “Mistress? Do you really think that a person like Elisabeth is suited to be someone’s mistress? Are you absolutely mad?” Robert knew that all the questions that he asked were rhetorical in nature and continued.

  “I made the mistake of choosing to marry someone just to inherit my father’s property. I had thought at that time that we would be good together because of the way we were with each other sexually. That was probably one of the worst decisions of my life. But when I look back at how our relationship has turned out eventually, I wouldn’t want to change any part of it. If you think that Elisa is fit to be your mistress because of the background that she hails from, you are a bigger fool than I thought you were. When you marry someone, you make the choice of spending the rest of your life with that person. That is not an ordinary feat to achieve. And that is not achieved because of what you do between the sheets but what how you gel as human beings and how much camaraderie you share with the other person.”

  Thomas knew that he dare not interrupt Robert when he spoke like this. But he also listened intently to whatever he was saying and nodding when she understood or agreed with him.

  “Whether you love her or not, is something that you will have to find out yourself. But I implore you to let her go, if she is not someone you want to spend the rest of life with. Do not tarnish the good name that she has made for herself. She had worked night and day relentlessly to reach a position of stature and you do her no favor by asking her to be your mistress. Do you understand what I am trying to tell you?” asked a thoroughly exhausted Robert who had spoken continuously for the last few minutes.

  “I do. I really do.” Said Thomas.

  “Very well then. I am not going to tell anybody about what we discussed. I leave it to you make an informed decision and not try to tarnish the name of a good woman like Elisabeth. She does not deserve this. And I am fairly certain that unless you have a change in heart, she does not deserve to have her life drawn into your mess as well. Just think how things will change in your own house if you trusted her enough to marry her. And societal classes are only in our mind. As long as you are comfortable with your wife, there is no person in this world who can challenge the class and societal status of your wife.” Robert had completely exhausted himself by now and was trying to catch his breath.

  What Robert said, came
as a rude shock of sudden realization for Thomas. He never thought of her side of the story when she thought of her as her mistress. Robert was right and Thomas never wanted to see Elisa ashamed of being with her or hiding in embarrassment from public view. He never realized how much of a taboo, being called a Mistress, would feel for a woman. It was as if he was looking at his relationship with Elisa in a completely different light. For the first time he felt inclined to look at their relationship and weigh his options more fairly. It was as if a veil had been lifted from his face. Thomas realized how fearful he was about being committed to a relationship. Listening to Robert was like speaking to his own image on a mirror.

  Robert left soon thereafter as he had some prior business commitments to attend to and he realized that he had gone inside the mind of Thomas and was hopeful that he will manage to salvage this relationship yet.

  * * *

  Chapter 34

  Elisabeth could not sleep the whole night because of the flashes of images that kept coming to her mind whenever she tried to. She cursed herself for falling for Thomas and even thought about inflicting self-harm if only she could set the record straight. She cried for hours thinking that she was fooled into losing her virginity to a person who looked at her as nothing more than object of pleasure. It hurt to think how low she had stooped to explore her carnal desires. She wondered if mistress was the only title that any one would ever confer on her. That was all she was worth now. She started sobbing at the thought of such a thing and yet she could not keep herself from thinking about such things. It was vicious cycle of crying and self-loathing that kept her sleep at bay. It was already morning as Elisabeth could hear the birds start to chirp outside.