by A. R. Rend
“Good evening, wife,” Phillip said, wondering what she was here for.
He could count the number of times she’d visited him in such a way on one hand.
“Ah! There you are,” Alice said, turning toward him and smiling. “I thought we should finish our conversation from earlier.”
“Oh. Well, that’d be rather nice. Thank you,” Phillip said, pleasantly surprised.
Alice smiled at that and then walked over to his sofa and sat herself down. Patting the seat next to herself, she cleared her throat.
“As I said earlier, it’s very simple. Performers remain, those who don’t, don’t. It keeps the family growing,” Alice said, jumping right back into their previous conversation from earlier.
Getting up, Phillip made his way over to Alice and sat down next to her, turning partially toward her to listen.
As casually as could be, Alice laid an arm around his shoulder and shifted herself around. She was now nearly facing him and had tilted his shoulder up under her armpit.
“I’m more or less the heir of the family at this point. Unless I somehow squander a significant portion of my own wealth, it’s unlikely I’ll lose my spot,” Alice admitted with a smile. “Except if I want to be able to keep growing my fortune, I have to keep taking risks. Keep taking on deals and keep working.
“Because next year is always another war. Another battle and fight for the top ranks in the family. Mother has sat atop the family for the last fifteen years by hard work and determination. Not through sitting around and waiting for things to happen.”
“Okay. But… I really am just here to help,” said Phillip, once more feeling like he had to press this point. “I’m out to grow your wealth, because in a way it’s my own wealth. It’ll be the wealth of whatever children we have. I’m not out… to ruin you or make bad deals or… cause you to lose standing.”
“I know. And I’m sorry for dismissing you that day,” said Alice with a nod of her head. “That was rude of me. Very rude. I just didn’t know how to handle you asking such… apparently correct in hindsight… questions. When I hadn’t asked them myself. It made me feel stupid.”
“That wasn’t my intention at all!” Phillip assured her, his right hand grabbing at her knee.
“I know it wasn’t, and I reacted poorly. I’m sorry for that,” said Alice. “But that’s where we are. I’m fighting to keep my right to be the head of the family. Or the next… head of the family. I don’t think anyone can come close to my mother. She has so much personal wealth at this point that she could swallow losses that would bankrupt me.”
Somewhat shocked, Phillip sat there. Staring at Alice as if she were a different person altogether.
“Thank you,” he said after several seconds. “For your apology, that is. I accept, and thank you.”
“Of course. You’re my husband. I have to take care of you and watch over our interests,” Alice said with a small bob of her head.
Sitting there, she seemed to have nothing else to say, or offer.
As if she’d run out of words and couldn’t figure out where she could get more.
Okay, this is… a good opportunity.
Let’s ask about Mim.
“About Sophia,” Phillip said cautiously.
“What about her?” asked Alice before Phillip knew how to continue.
“She’s telling people that her plans are to marry me. A lot of people,” said Phillip, deciding to get straight to his concern.
Or more to the point, why it didn’t seem to concern Alice.
“Yes, I’d heard she’d done that today,” Alice said with a sigh. “It’s always the same with her. Competition, wanting what’s mine, and generally trying to battle me on any point that she can.”
“Really?” asked Phillip, suddenly feeling a strange and ugly hole in his heart.
The idea that Mim was only after him to make a point had definitely crossed his mind. Several times in fact.
But he’d dismissed it every time under her own assurances that it wasn’t the case.
“Yes. If it was something I had, there was always a chance Sophia would want it. Sometimes to keep it, sometimes to get rid of it as soon as she had it,” Alice admitted with a casual shrug of her shoulders. “Truth be told, at one point she’d even gone after my fiancé. This was before Mother made the deal with your family obviously.”
She… did have her own fiancé then.
Her own Kathryn.
“I had no idea,” murmured Phillip.
“There was no sense in bringing up James,” Alice said with a wave of her right hand. “A friend of mine is now engaged to him and I wish them nothing but the best for the future.”
Nodding his head at that, Phillip realized there was certainly more to Alice than he’d thought up to this point. More so than he’d given her credit for.
“So, no. Sophia doesn’t bother me at all,” said Alice with a smirk. “It’s just who she is. What she is. It’s frustrating to be sure but… I’m confident in your loyalty to me. And that realistically, Sophia will give up after some time. You’ll only have to put up with it until she finds something else to fight with me over.”
Certainly… not what I wanted to hear. But… good to hear, I suppose.
It’s what I really should have been thinking all along.
“Now… I know for certain that our little snack I asked for is going to take at least another twenty minutes,” Alice said with a growing smile. “How about… you take us to your bed, and show me again what it’s like to be married.”
“I… yes. Yes,” Phillip said, agreeing quickly.
***
“Ah-ha!”
Looking up from his board, Phillip was rather surprised to find Mim standing there.
“Good morning,” Phillip said, giving her a smile.
After his talk with Alice last night he felt a certain amount of emotional distance from Mim. Distance he found he was actually suddenly grateful for.
“Good morning indeed. Ooh, what are you up to? Making something?” Mim said, bouncing into the room and coming over to him.
She was dressed immaculately today. In blues and grays that complemented and held to her body shape. It also drew his eyes to her cleavage.
Which she showed to him in an obvious way by leaning forward over the counter top directly across from him.
“Scones. I want to toy with my recipes a bit,” explained Phillip. “Local ingredients might be a bit different than what I’m used to so… why not try some things. That and I’m rather bored, if I must be honest. There’s only so much time I can spend reading.”
“I bet I could come up with a few things we could do that’d be fun. And it might even involve putting a bun in an oven. Feeling up to be adventurous?” Mim asked, waggling her eyebrows at him.
“Oh sure,” Phillip said dryly. “Let me just, flip my apron up. You can pull your pants down and we can take care of that right here and now. Put a child in you just like you asked. That’d certainly win you points against Alice.”
Mim’s eyes clung to him, her mouth pursed somewhere between a frown and a pout.
Considering him, she said nothing. She just stared at him, her head slowly moving to the other side.
Unable to keep eye-contact with her, Phillip looked back to his work. Picking up his dough punch, he cut out two circles from his current batch of dough.
“Ahh! Alice made a move on you last night because she heard I was serious,” Mim said and stood upright. She clapped her hands together once and nodded her head. “That’s exactly it. She probably went and got advice from her cousin, Auntie Til, or someone like that. Got a script on what to say and how to act.
“Put it to action, and somehow I came up. Probably… probably from you, actually. Likely asking her why she wasn’t worried about me coming after you. Am I right so far?”
Staring at the two dough circles, Phillip didn’t know how to respond.
He found himself suddenly doubting Alice. That maybe
she had indeed gone to someone else for help. That last night had been nothing more than someone else’s input.
Another person’s suggestions, rather than Alice’s.
Sniffing, Phillip rubbed his nose with the back of his wrist.
“I did bring you up to Alice,” he admitted. He saw no reason to lie to her.
“Ha. And she of course played it off as if this was all part of me stealing from her, yeah?” Mim pressed, slowly walking around the counter.
“I… yes. She did. Apparently it’s fairly normal for you.”
“I can’t really deny that part of it at least. I do like to… contest things with her. I really want to beat her and show her my family is just as good as the Rias family,” Mim said with a shrug of her shoulders, her blouse sliding down partially and revealing more lovely skin. “You can’t blame me for wanting to step up, can you?”
“Ah… that is… no. Mother… Mother used to say the same thing about colleagues,” admitted Phillip. “That it was those who rose above her that spurred her on to greater heights.”
“Exactly! I knew your mom and I would get along. I can’t wait to meet her,” Mim said, coming around to stand at Phillip’s side.
“What about James?” Phillip asked, blurting out the single thought in his head.
“James?” Mim asked, looking very confused. Several seconds later it cleared in a flash and she smiled, shaking her head. “Jay, you mean? Jay Breaux? He was my fiancé for a time. He… wasn’t an idiot.”
Mim came to stand next to Phillip, leaning up against the counter with her hip.
“The Rias family bought the marriage arrangement from my mother. Without consulting me,” Mim said, taking in a short breath and then letting it out. “For a short time, I tried to get him back. Then I let it go. I realized I was free. I was old enough to have a say in who I was going to marry. My mother likely regrets that sale very much since she’s had no hold over me ever since.”
“He… was your fiancé first?” Phillip asked, now doubting everything around him.
“He was indeed. Then Alice’s. Now he’s… I don’t remember,” Mim said with a wave of her hand. “Nor does it concern me. I’m interested in only one man. One who makes amazing little snacks, pastries, and sandwiches. One who seems to have a good head for smelling out good and bad deals. One who’s handsome and isn’t afraid to speak his mind.”
Shaking his head, Phillip was feeling weak. Weak and unsure of anything at the moment.
If everything Mim said was true, then Alice had left some large gaps in the story she’d been telling him.
All told dutifully true, and honest, but with gaps.
Holes made to fit a story that would make Mim out to be not as honest and forthright as she’d claimed to be.
“I must say, I’m rather flattered Alice went to so much trouble to besmirch me,” Mim said, gently easing Phillip back away from his counter space. “I mean, she must really be concerned that I’m actually going to steal you away.
“Little does she actually realize, it isn’t that I’m stealing you away. Just giving you the attention you deserve. Deserve and yearn for.”
Phillip didn’t quite know what to say or how to respond any further.
His mind was a convoluted knot of what he felt for Alice, and what he believed he should feel for her.
“Now,” Mim said, looking down to the counter in front of herself. Where Phillip had been working on his scones. “I’ve never been with a man. The odd kiss here and there. A cuddle. But nothing more than that. They were all so… boring. Dull. Uninteresting.
“But you, Phillip Curis, are a man I’m deeply interested in. And you just made me an offer I can’t refuse.”
There was a clack-like noise that Phillip couldn’t identify.
Mim’s pants shifted at her waist, then dropped all the way down to her ankles.
Bending forward, she pointed her very naked rear end at him.
“So, flip that apron up and crack my maidenhead open. You’ll know I’m serious. And when you’re done you just finish up in me and put that bun in my oven?” Mim asked. “That way we can skip all the back and forth and I can just get your contract from Alice. And we can live happily ever after.”
Turning her head, she looked back at him with a dangerous smile, deeply blushing cheeks, and far too much excitement in her eyes.
“I’m waiting for my bun. My oven is warm and ready,” she purred at him. “It really would make buying your contract much easier.”
Phillip fled very quickly.
Ten
Moving quickly down the hall, Phillip was really just looking to get as far from Mim as possible. There were two reasons motivating him to do so.
The first was that if anyone had walked in, there would likely be very little room for him to explain anything at all. There’d be no way for him to really convince anyone of his innocence, he imagined.
Unfortunately the second reason was he’d been sorely tempted to simply dive right into Mim.
Phillip couldn’t deny she was lovely. That she gave him attention that he craved. Made him feel special and needed.
And he wanted to do exactly what she’d told him to do. A temptation so strong he’d considered dropping his pants and having at her.
All he had to do was get down this particular hallway, turn, and he could get back to his guards.
Around people who would be able to vouch for him if something happened. People he could rely on to keep his name and status safe.
A door opened, causing Phillip’s heart to squeeze tight in his chest.
Shit, she knows the rooms and halls better than me. Did Mim get ahead of me?
That’s the last-
Lenore stepped out of the room she’d been in, her head turning toward him.
“Oh thank goodness,” Phillip said in a rush of air.
Moving straight for the young woman, he got up on her before she could even react.
Grabbing her right hand in both of his, he held onto it.
He also realized in that moment that Lenore was as tall as he was. In the short time he’d known her, she’d grown a bit more.
“Lenore, I need you right now,” said Phillip, shaking his head. “I really have to talk to you. Can you take us somewhere we won’t be over-heard?”
Blinking twice, Lenore’s head shifted to the left, her mouth partially open.
Then she nodded her head once. Her hand clasped his, and she pulled him back into the room she’d just left.
Moving through it, she pulled him along, exiting into another hallway. From that, she took him into a small library he vaguely remembered, through a servant area, into a small storage area, and into what he was pretty sure was the family wing.
Opening another door without hesitation, she pulled him inside and closed the door behind him.
Looking around, he realized he was in Lenore’s private apartment.
It was smaller than Alice’s, though furnished nearly exactly the same way.
“We won’t be overheard here,” Lenore said, moving over to a small seating area. Taking a seat at the sofa, she looked to him and held her hands up. “Well? What is it, Phil? You look rather panicked.”
Following after her, he sat down right next to her and grabbed her left hand, holding it between his own once again.
“Alice and M-Sophia are playing games with me,” Phillip said, getting straight to the heart of it.
Lenore let out a slow and annoyed sigh.
“I’d heard Sophia was rocking the boat. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that Alice is playing into her,” Lenore grumbled, shaking her head. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“Sophia is claiming she wants me. Alice is saying Sophia is just doing that to take me from her. No-one seems to care that Sophia is publicly claiming she’s after me,” Phillip said. “Even to her family and friends.”
“Okay… but you’re married to Alice,” Lenore murmured.
“Sophia dropped her pants in
front of me, bent over, and told me to put a bun in her oven,” said Phillip in a flat voice.
Lenore frowned, squinted her eyes, and then finally tilted her head to one side.
“I… what?” she asked.
“Sophia… Sophia got in front of me, dropped her pants, bent over, and told me to… put a bun in her oven. So that it’d be easier to buy my contract,” Phillip said.
Looking off and to the side, Lenore actually looked surprised and flustered. Then she nodded her head, and promptly shook it afterward.
“Well!” she said, looking back to Phillip with a mildly surprised look. “Let’s jump straight to the part of this I think would help the most. Sophia and Alice.”
“Yes, please. Alice… said a lot of things recently that she hadn’t before. As if she were prompted,” Phillip explained. “Sophia said she was probably coached and… it kinda felt like that in retrospect. But Alice said Sophia just wants me because I’m Alice’s. That it’s just a chase and nothing more.
“And then there’s this fiancé that they both shared?”
Phillip couldn’t quite explain it but he felt confused about both parties involved and didn’t know which way to think.
With Lenore being one of his only two confidants, he could at least ask her about Alice and Mim.
Lenore’s left eye twitched at that and then laughed in a choked sort of way.
“My goodness. They really did start a little war between themselves over you, didn’t they?” Lenore muttered once she stopped laughing. “We’ll… start from the top of that I guess. Alice being coached.”
Phillip nodded his head at that.
Alice was his wife and his primary concern.
Or at least, she should be.
“I… want to believe that she likely listened to me and put some thought behind it,” Lenore started cautiously. “But… this occurred after Sophia started in with what she’s been doing. To me that feels more like Alice probably went to Mom for advice. Once she realized that Sophia was earnest in taking you she no longer saw it as you simply being hers, but being a possible loss.”
Wincing, Phillip couldn’t quite disagree with Lenore. Given what he’d seen of Alice, he could easily believe that opinion.