Work Text:
“Yes”
It had been Enola’s turn to plan their date. They don’t often get days where they both have the day off, so when they do, they take turns planning activities.
They’d gotten breakfast at Edith’s. Tewkesbury is quite keen on the danishes there. Then she’d taken him to the flower market and made him laugh by telling him to get any bouquet he wanted, her treat. They’d grabbed meat pies to eat on a bench in the park before heading to Enola’s flat for a game of chess, that she’d won (he was getting quite good, but Enola will never tell him that.) They’d also played a round of inside tennis, which he had won, before laying down on her bed for a quick rest.
Enola reaches for a newspaper, one she hasn’t had the chance to get all the way through yet, but Tewkesbury lies still with his eyes closed, he sighs deeply, but Enola doesn’t turn away from reading.
Tewkesbury’s mind is racing. She’d beaten him at chess again, but he’d put up a good fight, and the relieved, yet proud expression she showed when saying checkmate almost made him blurt out the question he’s been waiting to ask for days. He’s been waiting for the exact right time, but now he’s thinking that doesn’t exist. That any time can be made special. That the day they’ve spent together so far has been as perfect as any day they spend together can be. He sighs again.
He doesn’t have the ring with him. Their dates are always surprises for the other, he didn’t want to risk losing it. He looks to the bouquet he picked out earlier and sighs for a third time. Enola finally looks over at him.
“Are you alright?” She truly can’t comprehend why he’d sigh three times in a row.
Tewkesbury is still looking at the bouquet. He stands up and grabs a lone flower from the bunch. He begins to manipulate the stem.
“Tewkesbury?” Enola is slightly concerned now. She moves to sit on the edge of the bed.
Perfect, Tewkesbury thinks. His fingers are still moving to make a ring with the flower. He keeps his back to her when he answers, “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” Tewkesbury finishes with the flower and turns back to Enola and the smile he gives her both puts her at ease and gives her pause. Her held tilts slightly to her right and he knows now is the right time. He gets down on one knee and watches her eyes widen.
Every piece of information her brain holds has disappeared except for this, is he proposing right now? Every feeling her body can feel has disappeared except for the smallest tinge of excitement (something she will be shocked about when she has a moment to replay this scene.)
“Enola Eudoria Holmes, will you take I, Ernest Augustus of the House of Tewkesbury, to be your husband?”
“Yes.” She responds, faster than she ever thought she’d answer a question, especially that question.
Tewkesbury sees the surprise on her face at her answer. “Yes?”
Enola looks down at the flower he’d sneakily wrapped around her finger and quickly looks back into his eyes. “Yes,” she says, this time with even more conviction.
The smile that graces his face will be etched in her mind for the rest of her life. Tewkesbury stands, grabs her around the waist, and spins her around. The squeal of laughter Enola lets out will live in his mind for the rest of his life.
Enola, who has always had very complicated feelings toward marriage, has only felt this happy a few times in her short life. She knows she’ll sort through all her thoughts later, alone and with Tewkesbury, but for now she’s enjoying his delight and she really wants to kiss him. So, when he finally sets her down, she grabs his neck with both hands and hauls his mouth down to hers.
They don’t kiss as often as they’d like, they know they can’t afford to get carried away – especially more than they already have. But they allow this kiss to become more. Tewkesbury pulls Enola achingly close; the surprised gasp she lets out makes his arms tighten further. Enola bites his bottom lip and makes sure his mouth opens to hers.
The newly engaged couple stay in their intimate embrace for a few long minutes before Tewkesbury pulls away and presses their foreheads together.
“God, I love you,” he whispers to her, his voice breathy.
Enola softly snorts and smirks, but she’s so happy she doesn’t make any sarcastic remarks. “And, I love you. Now tell me how long you’ve been thinking of asking me that.”
“I don’t think you want to know the real answer.” Tewkesbury says while finally leaning back enough for some space to exist between them. His answer only makes her want to know more.
“Tell me. Please,” she adds, giving him the look she knows he can’t resist.
He turns away and takes the place she previously occupied on the edge of her bed. “If you want total honestly – and I know that you do – the first time I ever thought about it was when you hugged me after I woke up from my grandmother’s shot.”
Enola goes to interrupt him, but he beats her to it. “No, let me finish.” She closes her mouth and motions for him to keep going.
“I knew that was crazy. I knew only knowing someone for a few days wasn’t enough to build a life on, but I also knew, even then, that I never wanted a day to go by that I didn’t talk to you. You keeping away for so long afterwards hurt more than it should have, we’ve talked about this already, but I’m saying it again.”
Enola doesn’t have many regrets, but she does wish she hadn’t been so hard headed then. They’ve made up for the lost time, surely, but she wishes that time hadn’t been lost in the first place. Her face softens as he continues his tale.
“When we reconnected for the matchbook case, I vowed that I wouldn’t let a day go by without talking to you, even if it was just sending a short note, and you know I kept that vow.” Enola nods, a small smile on her face. She was and is a busy woman, but she couldn’t pretend with herself that Tewkesbury’s vow wasn’t one of her favorite parts of her days.
“The second time I thought about marrying you, and this time I knew that someday we would get married, was when I saw you fall from that theater rafter – before you grabbed the rope. You see, the thought that you could have died, been taken from my life so quickly, scared me more than I’ve ever been scared. I knew then I’d spend my whole life loving you.”
Enola can’t help but interrupt now. “You can’t seriously have thought I’d marry you back then, you know how I was raised in regards to marriage.” Enola is flabbergasted at his admittance. She loved him then, of course, but marriage hadn’t crossed her mind for almost two years after that case.
Tewkesbury gives her an exasperated look, “If you let me finish my story, you’ll get your answer.”
“Oh, all right, go on.”
“I did know that you never would have married me then, but that didn’t stop my hope for the future. I knew that we’d be courting for quite a while before I’d ever be able to bring the topic of marriage up, so I bided my time. I think it’s safe to say that over the years we’ve both fallen more in love with each other.” He pauses to gauge her expression. Enola nods again, a slight flush to her cheeks. “I think we trust each other explicitly, that we know how to handle each other’s moods, that we know what the other needs 99% of the time.
“I waited and waited and then, one day, about three months ago, at that indoor market, you mentioned a wardrobe for sale would look nice in my bedroom. A wardrobe that is definitely meant for women’s clothes. It made me think, but I didn’t allow myself to hope. A few weeks later you said that June would be the perfect month for a wedding. I started hoping then, but I wanted something a little more concrete. You gave it to me two weeks ago; can you think of what it was?” His tone challenging.
Enola is stunned. She remembers saying both of those things, (in her deepest down thoughts she has considered what a marriage to Tewkesbury would look like,) but she didn’t say them with any underlying double meaning. But, maybe, unconsciously, she had? Her brain is working overtime, what did they do two weeks ago? They’d gone to the museum, they’d picnicked on Basilwether’s grounds, they’d spent a rather lovely night right her in her room – that’s where her mind stops.
Her virginity is still intact, he’s too much of a gentleman to go that far, but that hasn’t stopped them from doing other, very scandalous, very married people things. That particular night had started with a downpour, with them sprinting down the road to the closer residence – hers.
Flashback
The pair walks up the stairs to her flat as quietly as they can. The building matron doesn’t mind visitors during the day, but she’d unleash hell if she saw a man go through her door at this time of night.
Tewkesbury whispers something into Enola’s ear as she’s unlocking her door and she stifles the laugh she wants so badly to let out. Tewkesbury loves making her laugh and he’s so, so good at it.
The pair makes it inside and Enola immediately goes to the dresser. He keeps spare clothes here just as she does at his home. She grabs him a dry shirt and pants and socks before grabbing her night clothes. Changing into clean clothes is nothing new for them. Enola, specifically, ends up dirty or wet or bloodstained more than any young woman should. They set their dry clothes on each side of her bed and then turn so they face away from the other. For a few moments the only sound is wet fabric being shucked off wet arms, shoes being tossed to a corner.
Enola is the first to look. She’s reaching to take off her stockings and she sees Tewkesbury’s shirt come off, she turns back before he sees her looking. What she doesn’t see is Tewkesbury watching her take her second stocking off. They go back and forth this way before their eyes catch and they freeze. Tewkesbury sees Enola take in his bare chest – his undershirt, that he would usually keep on, was soaked through. Enola sees Tewkesbury’s throat bob as he swallows. No one could say who moved first, but before any sane thought enters their heads, they’ve crashed together feverishly.
She’s in her combination. He’s still in his trousers, but his shirts are gone. No more clothes come off, but they spend half the night discovering ways to bring the other pleasure.
They wake the next morning wrapped around each other. Tewkesbury knows he needs to go – parliament waits for no one – so he starts to disentangle himself from a barely awake Enola. Before he’s too far away, she squeezes his bicep, “I want to wake up every morning this way,” she whispers.
Tewkesbury stops for the quickest of moments, his stomach clenching. He reaches down to press a kiss to Enola’s forehead and then, because he can’t help himself, to her fingers. “I love you, go back to sleep.”
“Yes,” she responds, her eyes already closed. He knows she’s agreeing with both his statements. He knows now, with complete certainty, that he can start planning for their future. He dresses and leaves her flat feeling lighter than he ever has, like he’s walking on air.
End of flashback
Enola rips her mind from the memory, she’s slightly breathless when she answers him. “When I said I wanted to spend every morning together?”
Tewkesbury’s eyes are burning. “That’s exactly it. I went to the lords’ and when we got out, I went traveled to Basilwether, even though I told you I was going to a dinner with Lord Holland and Lord Abernathy. Mother and Uncle were visiting old friends in Manchester, so the house was empty.
“There’s a, I suppose you could say a vault, with an outstanding number of valuables, including rings. I picked one out for you and I’ve carried it with me ever since.
“Except,” he speaks before Enola can interrupt again – she only has a flower on her finger after all. “Except for last night. I think the universe is laughing at me. I put it in my bedside drawer because I didn’t know what you had planned for us today, I didn’t want to lose it. So, if you’d like, we can put ourselves together, go to my place to retrieve it, and then go out to celebrate. I know you’ve been eyeing that new French restaurant a few streets over.”
“Tewkesbury, why are you so good to me?” Enola is not one to wear her emotions on her sleeve, but the pressure behind her eyes is mounting and she knows he can tell.
Tewkesbury just holds her face in his hands. “We’re going to have the most exciting life together Enola.”
“Yes, we are,” she nods. She stands on her tiptoes to press a swift kiss to his lips. “Can we celebrate first? I’m famished. Then we can go tell your mother and get this ring you’ve promised me.” She grabs one of his hands and leads him toward the door. Tewkesbury, never one to shy away from her pulling him along, grins.
Before they get to the street, Tewkesbury offers her one last piece of information. “Oh, I think you should know, that women’s wardrobe that you liked, it’s waiting for you at Basilwether.” All Enola can do is gleefully laugh.
*************** I saw in an interview that the proposal scene starts with them in bed and I need them to release that full scene immediately. So, I wrote this while I wait. The only thing I would have added to the third movie is more scenes showing their lives before the proposal. Also, I don’t think there’s any way they’re completely innocent by the time the new movie comes along, but if you do, that’s fine! Happy Reading!