Never Gone: A Study in Suitors Part Two ⭐

19 - Dinner at the Holmes Estate

A few weeks later Sherlock and I had been out of the hospital and were fully recovered from being poisoned. Watson was on a case and found a lead he wanted to follow. We hadn't heard from him recently, but Sherlock informed me he would get word to us if anything had changed.

We were in the carriage on the way to the Holmes Estate and I was just watching Sherlock stare out the window being pensive.

"You want to share your thoughts?" I asked.

"Why do you think this dinner was called?" Sherlock asked and I just looked at him.

"Why are you so suspicious of your family?" I asked and Sherlock sighed.

"Portia, my mother planned and called this dinner. One thing you should know about my mother is she never plans dinner parties." Sherlock said and I sighed.

"Sherlock, my love, your mother is celebrating a lot of things recently. First and foremost, you didn't die." I spoke. He turned to look at me and placed a hand on my cheek.

"More accurate, we didn't die." Sherlock said and placed his lips on mine gently.

"I love you." I said as we broke apart.

"I love you." Sherlock said and I then placed my head on his shoulder. He placed his head on top of mine, and I just felt like this was going to be a perfect night, I knew it was Irene or not.

Once we got to the estate Sherlock got out of the carriage and then helped me out.

"Can you be on your best behavior tonight?" I asked Sherlock as we walked to the door.

"I'm always on my best behavior." Sherlock said and I just looked at him as he smirked down at me, and I shook my head. The door opened and we were ushered inside. We walked to the sitting room where Eudoria, Beatrice, Enola and Tewksbury were. Emilia was out of town visiting her mother with MJ.

"Good evening, everyone." I said as we walked in and gave hugs.

I sat beside my mother, and I looked across the way at Enola and she was looking nervous. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Portia, can I speak to you privately?" Enola asked and I nodded as we both stood up.

"Dinner is served." A servant said coming into the room and I looked at Enola.

"After dinner?" I asked and she nodded. Sherlock came over and escorted me to dinner as well as my mother. Tewksbury escorted Enola and Eudoria.

As Sherlock and I sat down to eat I could feel his apprehension beside me since I felt the exact same way. This was the first meal we had since we were poisoned that we didn't cook ourselves. We were very leery of food now from others. The plates were set down in front of us and we just looked at the food.

"Everything okay?" Eudoria asked and I looked at her giving a small smile.

"Sherlock and I have been cooking a lot of our own meals since the poisoning and this is the first time someone else cooked our food since." I explained. Eudoria sighed and placed her fork down.

"I know what happened to both of you is scary but please know nothing will happen to the two of you here. Everyone here loves you and wants to see nothing happen to you." Eudoria said and we nodded. I grabbed my silverware and started eating, Sherlock followed suite and we enjoyed dinner with small and polite conversation.

Once dinner was over, we retired to the salon for after dinner drinks and conversation.

"Misses Holmes, Sherlock...I was wondering if I could speak with the both of you." Tewksbury said and looked at Sherlock and then at me. "The original Misses Holmes." He said and we laughed.

"Of course, we can. Let's go to the office." Sherlock said, kissing my cheek and they all walked out.

"We need to talk...now." Enola said grabbing my hand and dragging me from the sitting room to the library and shutting the door.

"Enola, calm down..." I said as she started pacing.

"I don't know if I can! Tewksbury is about to ask Sherlock and my mother for permission to marry me!" Enola said and I just looked at her confused.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Okay so the other evening Tewksbury and I had dinner with his mother. They went off to talk for a moment leaving me alone. Well, I started wandering around looking at things at the estate when I heard her say to him to be sure of his choice, the ring was a family antique. He said he knew he was sure about his choice. Now he is wanting to talk to my mother and Sherlock...he is wanting to ask me to marry him!" Enola said and I just smiled and looked at her.

"Okay...still not seeing a problem." I said and she groaned.

"I don't know if I ever wanted to get married Portia! I like my life, I like my adventures..." Enola said, and I just walked over to her and placed my hands on her shoulders to stop her from her pacing.

"Enola, calm down..." I said as she looked at me and took a deep breath. "Do you think if you were to get married you would have to quit working or doing whatever you want to do?" I asked and Enola nodded.

"Of course, I would. His family is going to want to have him to have a little housewife and serve him as a wife." Enola said and I groaned.

"Would Tewksbury want that from you?" I asked.

"No...he loves who I am."

"Right, so why are you freaking out? Marriage is not a scary thing Enola. I mean look at Sherlock and I. We have someone trying to kill us and we are still so much in love and married." I said making light of the Irene situation trying to make Enola laugh which worked.

"I guess you have a point." Enola said.

"I love you, I love Tewksbury and I love you both together. What you need to understand is, if you go into a marriage and the person tries to change you, it's not meant to be but since he hasn't tried yet and neither has his family, he knows he can't Enola. He loves you for you like you said. Have the two of you even talked marriage? The future?" I asked and Enola half nodded. We both went and sat down in the chairs in the library.

"We have, we discussed what we wanted, and I told him I didn't know how I felt about marriage. I told him I didn't think it was for me." Enola said.

"Okay well you two should talk about this together. Not you pulling me in here to panic. Maybe he isn't even planning on proposing soon, maybe he is just getting his ducks in a row. Enola, either way, talk to him." I said.

"It's a good match thought right?" Enola asked after a few minutes of silence, and I nodded.

"It is."

"How does Sherlock feel about him?" Enola asked and I chuckled.

"The thing you need to know about Sherlock is he is very protective over the ones he loves and after everything he has been through, he just wants everyone to be safe and happy. As long as Tewksbury can make you happy and safe, he will be fine. We all see the love Tewksbury has for you, there is no denying that fact." I explained and Enola smiled but shook her head.

"And if he won't come around?" Enola asked.

"Then as his wife, it's my duty to make him. I will beat him up, don't worry." I said as we both broke into a fit of laughter. As we were laughing there was a knock on the closed door.

"Come in." I said. When it opened Sherlock was standing there smiling at Enola and me.

"What are you two up to?" Sherlock asked as we stood up.

"Girl talk." Enola said and walked up to Sherlock. "Don't worry dear brother, she isn't leaving you for something better." Enola said walking past Sherlock but stopping to stand on her tip toes and kissed his cheek as I hid a laugh. Enola walked out and I walked up to Sherlock, and he wrapped his arms around my waist as I placed my hands on his chest.

"Something better huh?" Sherlock said.

"Never." I said, he leaned down and kissed me. "Everything okay?" I asked and Sherlock winked.

"Everything is perfect." Sherlock said as he released his hold on me, and we walked back into the sitting room.