Trading Up

"Not around here, Mother, but here in Barton Grange, he has a suite of rooms in the East Wing, actually."

"A suite?"

"For his surgery practice, you know, his waiting and examination rooms plus an apartment of two bedrooms, kitchen and drawing room, it's cosy," Isla said, with a toss of her long red tresses, "As for Sofia regarding me as a big sister, it was once a sort of joke between us that she's called me 'Sis' since virtually Day One."

"What's 'Day One', honey?" Brenda asked, "And why would calling you 'Sis' be a joke?"

"Well, that brings us to the Valentine Ball. You know what surprises women can spring on Valentine's Day in a Leap Year, don't you?"

"You - you're going to propose to Harry, or even Lady Sofia's brother, the young Duke?" her Mother stuttered, her eyes wide open at the thought of her daughter becoming titled.

"Get real, Mother, Harry's fun to be around but he's a bit immature, and Jeremy's a sweet guy who will make a fine Duke once he settles into the job, but he's just not my type, he's more like a ... brother, really," Isla said, in a slightly exasperated voice, "No, Sofia's Mummy Maria is going to be proposing to Dad on the stroke of midnight, which will be the start of Valentine's Day. So eventually, I will actually become Sofe and Jeremy's sister!"

"Your Dad and ... and the Duchess? But, but - how the fff-?"

Just then Sofia returned to the tables ladened with a large platter of smoked salmon. She took over the commentary from Isla with a wide grin.

"Oh, it wasn't the most romantic of starts between the loving couple, admittedly, more carnage than carnal, you could say," she giggled. "All due to a misunderstanding on Mummy's part, and easily cleared up once our lovely physician healed himself," Sofia and Isla laughed, "But Mummy kept apologising for what she did until Dad eventually shut her up with a kiss which absolutely rocked her world."

"Kiss ... Dad?" Brenda asked, bewildered by events.

"Sofe's been calling Dad 'Dad', almost since Day One, haven't you, Sofe?" Isla chipped in. "And it looks like I'll be calling Sofe's Mummy 'Mum' very soon as well. I might even start doing that from tonight."

"But I'm your 'Mum', Isla dear," Brenda whined, her bottom lip wobbling with emotion.

"No, Mrs Brenda Stevens, you're my 'Mother'," Isla said firmly, "You stopped being my 'Mum' when you passed over my lovely Dad for that fat pimp sleazeball boyfriend you've since married."

"Isla!"

"Face it, Mother," Isla said, "Your trip up here to get back in either Jeremy or Maria's good books was a complete waste of time. The reason why the Bartonshire Estate have completely dropped all trading with your husband's dodgy meat company is because they habitually supplied whore parties for their major suppliers, including the late Duke, who caught a sexually transmitted disease as a consequence. That singular misfortune put the kibosh on his marriage and any chance of the Estate renewing any business relationship with Stevens here."

"No!" Brenda screamed and turned to her husband, "Neville?"

Neville Stevens was already beating a hasty retreat towards the entrance, leaving his wife behind in tears. Even his bald head shone red with embarrassment.

"Never mind, Mother," Isla said, as she put a comforting arm around her mother's shuddering shoulders, "You're well rid of that rubbish."

"But how will I get home, will I even have a home to go to?"

"We can put you up here for a day or two, Mrs Stevens," Sofia offered, "And I'm sure Dad'll sort out something for you long term. He's like that, a real hero."

"Will your Mummy be OK with Ian helping me out?"

Sofia and Isla looked at each other and grinned.

Sofia started, "I think that she will be otherwise ..."

"... Engaged!" finished Isla.

They both laughed.

Brenda looked at both of them in turn, realising that far from trading up by leaving Ian and taking up with the odious Stevens, she had traded down.

"Ah, here comes the happy couple now," Sofia said, smiling, looking up to the top of the grand staircase.

Brenda looked up, as did everyone else in the ballroom. The arm-in-arm couple, the Ball's hosts, were walking slowly down the stairs, clinging tightly, one to the other. The Duchess was absolutely stunning, glowing even, thought Brenda. She was tall and slim, elegant in her long silk dress in a deep emerald, bringing out the best in her olive skin and black hair, piled up thick and high on her head. The jewels around her swan neck and one slender wrist sparkled in the light from the crystal chandelier overhead. The lamps couldn't outdo the sparkle in her eyes though, or outshine her spectacularly joyful smile.

Brenda turned her attention to her ex-husband, who was proudly holding the new love in his life by her arm. Ian looked handsome in his smart tuxedo, slim and relaxed, comfortable in his relationship with such a beautiful woman. The gracious lady on his arm was someone who loved him so completely that she was prepared to give up the grandeur of her title by proposing marriage to the common man she loved completely.

Brenda couldn't avoid the comparison between the handsome man so clearly adored by her daughter, Isla's best friend, and the vision of loveliness by his side, that she had so recently given up for the cowardly fat sleaze ball, who ran away at the discovery of practices that Brenda had suspected but ignored until now. Brenda felt emotion rising at the image of Ian and Maria before her, looking every inch the perfect couple, both wreathed in smiles. The whole assembly, who funnelled into the entrance hall from the ballroom, started clapping spontaneously as they progressed down the staircase, Brenda included.

"They look such a beautiful couple," Brenda sniffed, blinking away the tears, and whispered aside to her daughter, "So the Duchess is going to propose to Ian this evening?"

"Yes, immediately after midnight, just as it becomes Valentine's Day," Isla smiled.

"And it's going to be a surprise for your father?"

"Well, Mummy thinks it's going to be a surprise," Sofia added, "But 'Dad' knows what's going to happen."

"Suspects or knows?" Brenda asked.

"Well, Mrs Stevens, I can tell you that Mummy and 'Dad' have discussed marriage before but 'Dad' was nobly insistent that he wouldn't want to rob Mummy of her title until Jeremy properly took over as the head of the family. Mummy decided to outmanoeuvre him tonight," Sofia whispered, "But then, a loving daughter couldn't possibly keep such an important secret from her adopted 'Dad', could she?"

"So you're the loving daughter, eh?" Brenda cocked an eyebrow at Sofia, who merely smiled and nodded. "Ian looks too happy to be thinking about turning her down," Brenda suggested, "And Maria looks, well, blissfully happy and beautiful."

"Maria will get down on one knee and ask for his hand," Isla said, "And Dad will say 'Yes'. He already knows before Maria tells him the good news that they have to get married because he'll be a father again, about late August, early September."

"But what about her grand title?" Brenda continued, "I really should have been happy just being Mrs Cameron, but won't she miss being the Dowager Duchess of Bartonshire?"

"Don't worry, Mother," Isla assured her, "Mum will have to give up the title when she marries Dad, but she won't be trading down at all as she can always fall back on the original title that she was born with, can't she, Sofe?"

"She certainly can and I'm sure she will, Sis," laughed Sofia.

"And that title is?" enquired Brenda.

"Princess Maria, of course," Sofia said proudly, "Her Royal Highness Princess Maria of Greece."

The End.