Classy

Chapter Five

And so the Netherfield visit begins - this is honestly one of my favourite parts of the original book because Caroline is such a delightfully infuriating antagonist, everything she says is pure spite and I love it.

Love, Cam

♡

Frankie Bennet

In which I gain some unwanted roommates

I had gone from relatively content, strolling home after my shift, to soaked feet and misery over damaged furniture and anything that we had left on the floor. Poor Jane had been trying to get hold of me for an hour by the time I'd arrived home to find it semi-flooded.

I was grateful to Gates, but I had just intended to call him to ask to borrow his car. I hadn't expected an open invitation to stay. We turned up to Netherfield Park, bedraggled and exhausted, with a very irritable child in my arms. He was squirming to get free, moaning about wanting to be at home, not wanting to be here, and I couldn't blame him. I didn't want to be here either.

Gates exited the big house and descended the entrance stairs quickly, opening his arms to me. "Frankie! Are you okay? God, you must be freezing - let's get you in."

He hurried us in, fussing over me and Jane to the point where even Thomas quietened to watch him flutter about. "I made some calls, to see if I can hurry people up with the repairs," he told me, like that was a normal thing to do. "They said the damage was quite extensive - is that all you could salvage?"

I nodded, looking at our suitcases. It was, to be fair, most of our stuff, but it did look quite pitiful in comparison to the grandeur of Netherfield. "Gates, I really need to get Thomas to bed. And we're probably soaking your carpet - I'm so sorry."

"God, don't apologise, it'll just give me something to do while my panic subsides," he said, and we turned a corner to see Caroline, Louisa, and Madeline waiting for us. Great. Just what I needed.

"Francesca," Caroline said, looking genuinely concerned, and therefore making me feel guilty for not wanting to see her. "Jane, I'm so sorry to hear about the damage - is there anything we can do for you? We've had your rooms prepared, and we thought you might want a nice bath so we've had those drawn for you. If you leave your clothes in the bathroom, the maid will have them laundered tomorrow morning."

That was very considerate, and the thought of a hot bath was a relief after wading in ankle-deep water through my flat. I smiled gratefully at her. "That's amazing, thank you. And thank you for having us, we really appreciate it, I promise we won't be underfoot."

Madeline's face was rigid, but she gently said, "Of course, you needn't worry. We're happy to have you. I'll show you to your room, if you like, I'm sure Thomas wants to get to sleep."

I nodded. Gates whisked Jane along with me, aiming all his fussing at her while Madeline walked with me and Thomas. Jane was in the room next to me, and she smiled and said goodnight to us, kissing Thomas on the forehead before stepping away. Gates hesitated, like he was going to go into her room with her to make sure she was alright, but then he just beamed at her and wished her a good night's sleep.

"Thank you," Jane said, the tiniest spots of pink on her cheeks.

Madeline gestured to the door next to her room - although 'next to' was a generous term, because there were a solid few metres of space between the doors. These were not small guest rooms. "We weren't sure if Thomas would want his own room, given the stress," she said, her voice lifting at the end questioningly.