Chapter Text
"Polly Rae! Sunday Best please, we have been invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace." Polly Rae Eden's mother called to her from the bottom of the stairs. Polly sighed and put down the book she had been enjoying. She got so frustrated when her mother just dropped things like this on her. However, her mother probably knew that Polly would of feigned illness to get out of it if she'd of known in advance. Polly hated garden parties. She hated any social function of any sort really. They were so tedious and boring. Plus, Polly wasn't very sociable. She was shy and found it difficult to talk to strangers. Most girls would of been full of excitement at being able to go to Buckingham Palace, but Polly really wasn't interested. She would much rather stay in her room with a good book.
Still, Polly changed into a beautiful, pale yellow day dress and clipped up her long, auburn hair. The yellow of her dress made her crystal blue eyes sparkle even more than usual. Of course, there was still no satisfying her mother. She demanded to know why Polly wasn't wearing a hat, but Polly refused to go and fetch one. Elizabeth Eden threw open the carriage door and got in, huffing to herself. Polly couldn't help smirking at her father. As an only child, Polly was doted on by him. In turn, there wasn't another man in Polly's life that she loved more than her father. Then again, there wasn't really another man in Polly's life full stop. Polly and Thomas Eden joined Elizabeth in the carriage, and they were on their way.
Polly gazed out of the small window as they trundled along the streets of London. The air was cool, but the sun was shining, and the citizens were all going about their daily business. Polly noticed a couple of gang members on a street corner. Gang crime had fallen since the unexpected death of the underground criminal bigwig Maxwell Roth, but it was still present in some areas. Polly tried not to worry about all that though. She pulled away from the window and turned back to her parents.
"Will Her Majesty be at the party?" she asked curiously.
"I doubt it. It's not a party hosted by her, it's just in the Palace ground." Thomas explained to his daughter.
"Well we all know how the last Queen's Ball ended." Polly pointed out with a little smile. "Let's see who dies at the garden party."
"I'm sure the business with Crawford Starrick is something Her Majesty wishes to forget," Thomas said firmly. Loosely translated to Polly as 'that's none of our business.'. Which was a shame. It had actually brought some excitement to what had been, quite frankly, a pretty dull Ball. All Polly could really remember of it was eating some cake, and seeing a rather attractive young man for about two minutes before he disappeared.
When the Eden family arrived at the garden party, they were greeted by Prime Minister Disreali and his wife Mary-Anne. Polly liked Mrs Disreali. She found her incredibly entertaining and friendly, unlike most of the uptight, first class women of London. Mrs Eden's dislike for Mrs Disreali fuelled Polly's need to be friends with the Prime Minister's wife. The Disrealis were friends of the family anyway. Polly's father was Governor of the Bank of England. A job that had been bestowed on him after the murder of his predecessor Phillip Twopenny. Polly was...well...nothing. Just 'the Governor's Daughter'. At eighteen, she had finished her schooling, but didn't have a paying job. The only work she did do was help out at Lambeth Palace Library, teaching young children and orphans how to read.
Whilst her parents were distracted by their friends, Polly decided to quickly slip away and take a walk round by herself. She watched all the high society guests swan around, each one acting like they owned the place. Sometimes Polly hated being upper class. It pained her to see how some of these women behaved. Snotty, rude, arrogant. Polly didn't want to be associated with that. Manners cost nothing, that's what she'd always been taught. To Polly, everyone she met was human, therefore everyone was the same. Polly decided to do some people watching. She saw a young woman talking to an Indian man Polly didn't recognise. Polly didn't like to eavesdrop so she went to walk away, not wanting to be caught being nosey.
But something stopped her.
A voice.
And this voice belonged to a man Polly had seen just once before. She gasped and dived behind a tree. No-one had told her Sir Jacob Frye would be here! Sir Jacob had been the man who had caught her eye at the Queen's Ball, and she'd been so taken with him that she'd even asked Mrs Disreali who he was. She knew everyone in London. At that point he was simply Jacob Frye, and apparently he had saved the lives of the Prime Minister and his wife once. Shortly after the Ball, Mrs Disreali had mentioned in passing that Jacob and his twin sister Evie had been Knighted, but she hadn't said why. Polly presumed it was for stopping the assassination attempt. Either way, it had just made Polly admire him more. The fact that he was pretty good looking in a rugged sort of way didn't hurt either.
Heart beating fast, Polly peered round the tree. Jacob, his sister and the Indian man had gone. She made her way over to the drinks table to get herself some champagne. She didn't particularly enjoy it, but it gave her hands something to do so she wasn't just awkwardly standing around doing nothing. She suddenly spotted her mother looking around, obviously trying to find Polly, so Polly made a hasty retreat away from the main party area. After a few minutes she caught sight of the Frye twins again. There were a couple of woman floating around, fluttering their eye lashes at Jacob. Despite herself, Polly leant against an oak tree a few yards away and just watched them. Well, she watched Jacob. She thought she was safe at this distance. However, as Jacob turned round to say something to his sister, he spotted Polly. Polly shot behind her tree, her cheeks burning red with embarrassment.
After a minute, she took a deep breath and took a sneaky peek around the tree. Jacob was gone. Sighing with relief, Polly turned back round...and gave a squeal in alarm. Jacob Frye was stood right in front of her. He looked even nicer close up, top hat perched neatly on his dark brown hair, and his piercing hazel eyes sparkling to match the cheeky grin on his face. There was just something about this man that captivated Polly.
"Sorry to startle you," he greeted her, his voice deep, but friendly, "but were you spying on me?"
"No! No I was just... I was...spying on that other man," Polly babbled in panic, the champagne glass slipping from her hand. It was a good job it was empty, and it made little noise as it rolled across the grass. "I'm sorry Sir Jacob, I really must get back to my parents."
Polly started to make a hasty exit, but Jacob wasn't done with her yet.
"Oh, so you know who I am then?" he called after her, a slight hint of self-assurance in his voice. He was clearly pleased with the fact that Polly had heard of him. Polly stopped and turned back to the charming young man.
"I've heard good things about you from Mrs Disreali," she told him with a smile. "Now if you'll excuse me..."
Before Jacob could say anything else, Polly was off like a shot. She could barely feel her legs, and her hands were shaking. Things didn't get any better either. Mrs Disreali had seen Polly and Jacob talking, and a lightbulb had seemed to go off in her head. Before Polly could protest, the Prime Minister's wife was dragging Polly back over to Jacob, insisting on introducing her properly. Polly tried to resist, but Mrs Disreali seemed determined to play cupid, whether either of her targets liked it or not. This was Polly's worst nightmare. She hated meeting new people as it was, nevermind someone she found herself quite attracted to.
"Mr Frye!" Mrs Disreali called out as they approached Jacob. "It's so good to see you again."
"The pleasure's all mine Madam," Jacob replied, a bemused look on his face. He looked at Polly, and she quickly broke eye contact with him, pretending to cough. He turned back to Mrs Disreali. "How's Desmond?"
"He's very well, thank you," she replied cheerfully. "Mr Frye, I'd like you to meet Polly Rae Eden. Polly Rae, this is Sir Jacob Frye."
"Hello," Polly said in almost a whisper. She wanted to run. However, the person who did the running was Mrs Disreali. Before either Jacob or Polly could say anything else, 'Cupid' had excused herself, abandoning the pair of new acquaintances in an awkward silence. 'So this is what hell feels like' Polly thought to herself. She didn't know what to say. Luckily Jacob seemed more confident, and he broke the silence between them.
"Well, Mrs Disreali certainly has an interesting way of introducing people," he joked. Polly gave a little giggle, her nerves starting to ease a bit.
"She's a very interesting lady," Polly said.
"I can't argue with that," Jacob agreed. There was another silence between the two of them. Jacob now seemed a little uneasy too, perhaps because he'd been caught off guard. However, this put Polly off even more. Did he not like her? Was she boring him already? In the end Polly asked him about the first thing she could think of; him saving the Prime Minister. Jacob played it down, no sense of arrogance or anything, which Polly liked. She tried to concentrate on what he was saying, but she was struggling to think straight. Every time she looked at Jacob, she lost herself in his beautiful hazel eyes.
"Saving someone's life is quite heroic," Polly said, impressed but slightly confused that Jacob was making no big deal of it. "The only life I've ever saved is that of a mouse. Like that made a difference to the world."
"It made a difference to that mouse." Jacob pointed out kindly. "And if you can make a difference to even one person, surely it's worth it?"
"Hmmm, I suppose you're right," Polly replied with a smile. She was screaming at herself inside though. Why was she talking about mice? Was that really the most interesting thing she had to talk about? It was a good job Jacob was such a gentleman, otherwise Polly had a feeling she may have cried.
However, as shy as she still felt, Polly was incredibly perturbed when they were interrupted by her mother, waving at her to rejoin her parents. Out of the corner of her eye, she just caught Jacob rolling his eyes, and she had to stop herself from laughing.
"My apologies Sir Jacob, but it seems I must leave our conversation here," Polly sighed. To her surprise, Jacob actually looked disappointed too.
"Well it's been nice to meet you Miss Eden," he told her, smiling warmly.
"You too. Have a good day."
Polly slowly walked away, cursing her mother under her breath. After a minute she couldn't help stealing a little glance behind her. Jacob had remained in the same spot. And he was looking straight back at Polly. She felt her heart skip a beat. The two of them smiled at each other, then Jacob walked away.