Ella - [COMPLETE]

Chapter 14

Cecil had not told Ella about the afternoon in the garden. He wasn't sure if it was because he was ashamed he had been with a servant, or if this whole freedom to choose their own partners intimidated him. He loved Ella. He didn't want her to worry that he loved her any less.

When his wife arrived home from her weekend at Nikola's summer house, Cecil was full of questions. "Isn't it a lovely place," he said, as soon as she walked through the main hall. "I mean the wildflowers upon the entrance. But also the thought he put into the decor. Oh, and what did you think of the fountain in the garden?"

"It was all very nice," Ella smirked, though she seemed disinterested.

"The fountain was per my suggestion," Cecil said. "I thought it was clever."

Ella greeted Cecil's siblings as they poured into the main hall. Gave a kiss to his mother, bowed to his father. They all gathered around as she told stories of a part of the countryside that was lush with wildflowers and sunshine. Yet, much to Cecil's surprise, she did not seem enamored with this way of life. Ella came from a different sort of house, one with significantly less servants, and certainly no fountains. Cecil was enthralled with the beauty of architecture, the subtle cues that a home can give off. The way that buildings communicate. The way that the right tablecloth can influence the outcome of a dinner party. Ella seemed completely oblivious to all of this. Perhaps it was her upbringing.

When at last the husband and wife were alone in their room, Cecil sat in his chair as Ella undressed from her travel clothes.

"So," Ella said. "Do you or don't you want to hear the details of what we got up to?"

Cecil leaned forward in his chair. "Oh," he said. "I think I do. There is nothing to be embarrassed about. I mean, you and I both know Nikola intimately. The more I think about it, the less unusual it is." What was unusual, he thought to himself, was having an affair with a servant in the middle of the family garden, but he did not say that out loud.

Ella removed her corset, letting her heavy breasts swing free. Then she removed her dress and began to walk around the room showing off her figure, a brutish yet delicate figure, one that Cecil had very much missed.

"Well," she said. "You'll appreciate it, I think, because he was trying to show me ways to make you happy. He said he met a sailor who taught him how to do a few things with rope, and that you rather enjoyed them. So he was teaching me the different knots, of course, and what better way than to demonstrate."

"Right," Cecil swallowed nervously. She sat across from him now, completely nude and powerful. Something had changed about her since the first night of their marriage. She seemed at last aware of her own beauty, and comfortable in her own body. Perhaps it was the way that Cecil looked at her now, drawn to her form as if it would soon disappear, that had aided in her confidence.

"I think you're familiar with the knots," Ella said. "But now I'll know how to tie you up in them." She shifted in her chair, crossed her arms and in doing so pushed up her breasts. "To be truthful, I'm a little exhausted to do anything tonight. Which I know isn't fair, because you've been so patient."

He looked away, nervously scratched his chin.

"You have been patient, haven't you?"

How was it that in only a few months of marriage she could already tell when he was lying?

"Yes, of course," he said. Immediately, he regretted it. "Well, there is something you ought to know," he said.

"Out with it then," she said. She seemed more bemused than angry.

"Your lady's maid," he said to the floor. "One morning she climbed into the bed with me. I--I did not ask for her to do this, you must understand."