— the conservatory —
July 24th, 1937
THE CONSERVATORY WAS Giselle's favorite room in Dare Manor. It was a decent sized room with floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides and a glass-paned roof for the sunlight to shine in. Plants were everywhere—some hanging from the ceiling in planters, others placed around the windows.
A small table with chairs sat in the center of the room, a floral couch opposite it and pushed to the wall.
She often liked to come curl up on the couch for a nap, or water the plants and tend to the herb garden Selene had planted.
It had been a week since Giselle had been shoved into the past. She had spent most of her time helping Selene out with chores and watching Dorothy and sometimes the other children when they came home from school.
She didn't see Will that often, only around dinner time when he got off of work.
That's why she was so surprised when he had shown up in the conservatory around lunchtime when he should've been working.
"What are you doing here?" Giselle asked, standing up with the metal watering can she held.
Will waved a book in his hand. "I came to read." He walked over to the couch, making himself comfortable by resting his head on the armrest and laying across it. "Keep doing what you were doing."
Giselle did, moving over to water the mint plant Selene had showed her how to repot earlier. "I meant what are you doing here. At the house," Giselle elaborated. "You're never here during the day."
Will opened his book, looking to it as he spoke. "My partner let everyone off early to throw a party. Apparently, he thought it was a swell idea to celebrate the company's twenty years by partying instead of working."
"Oh," Giselle said, moving onto the next plant. "And you didn't want to go?"
"No. It's a waste of time."
"Well you're a ray of sunshine," Giselle mumbled. She looked over her shoulder to meet Will's unamused eyes before he delved back into his book. "So, what exactly is your job?" She smiled when she heard him sigh in exasperation.
"I co-own Dare & Sandoval Lumber."
"Oh, how big is the company?"
"Fairly large," he replied, voice gruff with annoyance.
"So, what book are you reading?" Giselle inquired, finding the annoyed glare sent her way to be amusing more than anything.
"Bleak House," Will told her, brandishing the book cover. "Charles Dickens."
Giselle crinkled her nose. She hadn't read the book, and had vaguely recognized Charles Dickens'name from it having been brought up in a past English Lit class. Based off of what little she knew about Will and his personality, she guessed that it was probably a very boring book.
Will noticed her distaste. "What? Do you not like the book?"
"No, it just sounds boring."
Will frowned. "But you've only heard the title. How could it sound boring?"
"Because I feel like you would enjoy reading boring books. Then again—every book in this time seems boring to me. I mean, they're all pretty much classics."
"Well, what books do you enjoy?"
"I like crappy romance books. Sappy stuff. Tacky young adult fiction with all the cliches you could imagine," she told him. "You'd probably rather choke on a young adult romance book before you read one."
"Why do you say that?" Will challenged, setting his novel down and sitting up on his elbow to look at her. "Do you think I'm not a romantic person?"
Giselle smiled. "Pretty much. It seems like the only romance is between you and your job. I mean, I've barely even seen you this week."
He rolled his eyes, dismissing her words. "It's important that I do my job well. I've got many mouths to feed."
Giselle sighed, moving on to water another plant. "Yeah, but you shouldn't let work consume your life. Even when you are here, you're holed up in your study doing work."
"I'm not right now," he pointed out.
"True, but that's pretty much because you don't have any work to do, right?"
He gave her a look before picking up his novel. "I don't see why you are so concerned with my work. You're putting your nose where it does not belong."
"Uh, I think it belongs wherever it wants to go," Giselle told him. "And like you said to the kids; I'm family. Family looks out for each other."
"You are not my family," he said coolly. "You have no obligation to 'look out' for me, nor shall you. I can look after myself. I don't want your input."
"Geez Louise, I'm just trying to help you," Giselle said in exasperation. "Working your life away is never a good thing."
"I thought I told you that I don't want your input."
"Well maybe you need it," she countered. "And get used to my input. I'm very generous with it." She smiled sweetly at him, earning a glare.
"Are all women in your time this maddening?"
"Are all men in this time this rude?"
"That tree needs to hurry up and call you back," Will spat. "I don't know how much more of you I can take."
"You know, I thought old geezers like you were supposed to be all chivalrous and respectful." She shot a look at him over her shoulder. "Clearly you didn't get the memo."
"Maybe I would be chivalrous and respectful if you deserved such a thing," he said.
"Well maybe I wouldn't be so maddening if you were chivalrous and respectful. See? My behavior depends on you."
"I highly doubt that," he deadpanned. He sighed, looking back to his book. "Will you be leaving anytime soon? I was planning on enjoying myself with my time off. I certainly can't do that if you're around."
"You know, just 'cause you said that, I'm thinking I might go check all the plants again. Just to make sure they are perfectly watered, of course."
Will frowned, closing his book loudly and standing up. "Go check your plants, then. I'll find somewhere else where there isn't an incessant woman yammering about." He began to cross the room.
"Good riddance!" Giselle hollered after him as he left the room. "What an rude, irritating man!" she said to herself once he was gone. "I was just trying to get to know him a little better."
She huffed out in frustration. All she wanted was to get along with him, yet it seemed like a feat to even have a civil conversation with him.
She rolled her eyes. Maybe she should just avoid him all together. That had seemed to work out perfectly the past few days.
Little did she know, that would never work, either.
• — • — •
"Please! I wanna do it! Please, Will!" Barbara begged, arms desperate to grab onto the old camera in Will's hands.
"Barbara, no," Will said. "You can play with it later." He scooped up the little girl, earning a giggle as he plopped her onto the bench Giselle sat at with Selene to her right and a squirming baby Dorothy in her arms.
Will turned to Selene. "Are you ready?"
"Yes," she looked to the boys behind the bench, positioning them just right before getting herself settled. "Alright, kids, hold still while Will takes the pictures."
"Do we have to take pictures?" Albert asked from behind Giselle, a hint of complaint in his voice.
"Yes, we have to. They're to show Giselle's family when she goes back home." Selene and Giselle shared a look.
The pictures were much more than that. They were evidence—evidence that the tale of the tree was real and that Selene was trapped in time.
"Barbara smile. You too, Albert. Hold it! 1 . . . 2 . . . 3." Will snapped the picture. "Alright, there you go," he said, holding out the camera to Selene. "I'll be in my study if anyone shall need me."
"Wait," Selene stopped him, "let's take some with you."
Will frowned. "No, all you needed was a picture of you and Giselle. There's no need for me to be in a picture."
"But we don't have any recent pictures of all you guys," Selene said. "Come on, let's get a family picture together."
Giselle stood up from her place on the bench, handing the baby out to Selene. "Here, I'll take the picture for y'all." Selene took Dorothy into her arms, going to sit back on the porch.
"This is pointless," Will muttered. "I don't know why she insists on this."
"Because you always regret the pictures you didn't take," Giselle told him. "You'll never get this moment back in your life, it's best to cement it into a photo."
Will stared at her as he handed her the camera, seemingly perplexed, but he said nothing of it.
"So, how do I work this thing?" Giselle asked, looking down at the camera.
He showed her what to do before departing to stand at the back of the group in between Frank and Albert. Unlike the others with their bright, happy smiles, Will had a scowl.
"Smile, Will," Giselle urged him.
His frown didn't budge, even when Giselle sent him a sharp glare. Eventually she gave up and snapped the photo.
"Good. Are we done now?" Will asked.
Selene shook her head, propping Dorothy up on her hip as she went to take the camera from Giselle. "No, I want to take a few more pictures."
And she did, getting shots of each person by themselves and making the kids take a group picture. By the time she had finished taking an all-boys picture to match the one she made Will take of all the girls, everyone had thought she had run out of ideas.
Until, "Giselle, why don't you and Will take a picture together?"
Giselle and Will looked to each other and then to Selene. "Why?" Will asked.
"Just because," Selene said, smiling. "You two go sit on the bench."
They did, keeping about a foot of space between them. "Oh, squeeze in closer, would you?" Giselle scooted over an inch, but Will remained in his spot. Selene frowned at Will. "Follow my directions, and I promise this will be the last photo."
Will sighed, moving in closer to Giselle. "Good, now smile."
They did, and Selene took the picture. "Oh, that wasn't a good smile, Will. Give me a real smile," she told him.
"I don't think he's capable of that," Giselle mumbled.
Will shot her a look. "Maybe I would smile if there was something worth smiling about."
"Think about your precious study."
"No, I think I'll try to conjure up the image of you leaving. That should do the trick," he smirked.
Giselle smirked back. "What? You can't handle a girl who will call you out when you're being rude—?"
Click.
Giselle and Will looked up to Selene, who grinned at them, lowering the camera. "Alright, you two are free to go."
"But we weren't even posing," Will pointed out, unmoving from his spot, his arm still draped around Giselle.
"You didn't need to. The shot I got will be perfect, I'm sure."
• • • • • • • • • • •
Word count: 1,879 words.
Question: What musical artist have you been listening to recently?
I have been almost exclusively listening to Dionne Warwick. I barely knew her before writing this book, but got into her music when I was doing research for an upcoming chapter revolving around old music.
I listened to one of her songs and then found a Top Hits playlist of hers and ONLY listened to that whenever I would work on this book.
I am seriously thinking about dedicating this book to her when I get it published, because somehow her music shoots me into a writing mood.
PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT TO MAKE ME SMILE!!!
P.S. I LOVE YOU DIONNE!!!