Imagining Us

Ch.35- No one puts Esi in a corner

The man in front of her looked like a replica of Porte. His close cropped hair was a lighter shade of blonde and mixed with grey. His eyes were more blue than Porte's pale seafoam eyes, but sharp nonetheless.
She could see who the boys got their height from, although Luke was the tallest of the three. Slightly different noses, but they all had the same mouth, albeit, Mr. Danvers' was thinner from age.

Luke cleared his throat behind her—she was staring and blocking the doorway.

"Good Evening," she said. Looking at Mr. Danvers then to the other people who flanked him. There was a slight twitch of his eyebrow when he heard her speak.

Mr. Turner was present as he had assured Luke, and there was a lady, dark-skinned with wiry grey hair tucked into a bun. She wore a white apron over her dress–she must have been the Delphine that they were referring to earlier.

Esi could see the woman quietly assessing her, and she looked her right in the eyes. Something told Esi that she needed to stand firm and hold her ground. That she should not cower under the weight of the gaze.

She felt Luke's presence behind her as he shifted closer to her. She tracked the eyes of the three persons as they looked up at him. There were slight expression changes on each face that she didn't have the time to decipher.

"Miss Solomon," Mr. Danvers drawled in an accent that was clearly English. It was significantly more posh than hers. "Welcome to our home...we are delighted to have you."

His face was anything but.

"Thank you for having me... your home seems lovely," she replied.

"Seems?" he asked sharply.

"Far–

Luke began to interject.

What had she gotten herself into? And what was this man's problem? Tension rolled off of Luka in waves, and her defenses rose slightly. She glanced at Mr.Turner who had seemed so friendly before.

Conveniently, the tablecloth was suddenly interesting to him.

"Yes, it seems quite lovely," she took a breath and said tightly. "I haven't seen the extent of it to say conclusively how lovely it is...although I am sure your generosity would permit me a tour so that I can be more definitive in my answer...sir."

She was vaguely aware that this man had the sort of wealth and power that could affect her life, so she added the last word to smooth over her previous words.

Esi held her breath and no one said anything–she disliked being cornered;sometimes, it made her feel so defensive. Mr. Turner's eyes were widened significantly, and Delephine's brows were pulled to each other.  She may have gotten ahead of herself a bit, and hoped that she hadn't offended enough to make things worse for Luke.

Nothing on Mr.Danver's face betrayed his thinking–none of his thoughts towards what she said. Porte must have learned it from his father–that reading gaze. Because that was what it felt like...like her soul was being read in front of her.

"Fair enough," he responded drily. "I can't wait to hear your conclusive answer."

Esi gave him a tight smile.

"Please, have a seat." He gestured to his right. To the seat next to where Mr.Turner stood. Luke moved to follow her, but she saw when Delpine gestured for him to sit opposite her. It didn't seem like she would have the support of him sitting beside her especially with whatever weird family dynamic was at play.

It did speak volumes that it didn't seem out of the norm for the people who worked for them to be eating dinner with them. She could feel Mr. Danvers' gaze boring into her every movement. Avoiding that didn't give Esi much time to observe the decor of the room since her eyes were glued to the tableware.

Something nudged her foot, and she looked up. It was Luka giving her a small but apologetic smile.

"Shall we bow for grace?" He asked from the head of the table. Again, watching her reaction to his words, calculating her expression.

"Luka, you may do the honours."

And he did, and she hoped that he would say one for her as well.

A/N

Enjoy! The next chapter will be long, I just couldn't possibly cut it down, so prepare yourself.