The CBB :: View topic - Edmund and Stacie

#1: Edmund and Stacie Author: Cathy, Location: Sydney, Australia

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:05 pm

Another Christmas drabble. I have another one half-written, but I doubt that I'll get any more done this side of Christmas. I've been dealing with a child who is being bullied at school. Addressing her problems and looking for a new school for next year has eaten into my free time. Not that I mind -- I'd spend all the time I had to help her. But it's certainly meant I didn't get a lot of writing done.

It was very quiet in the study. The only sound to be heard was the scratching of pen on paper as Stacie wrote frantically. She hadn’t planned on working so late on Christmas Eve, but she had again lost valuable writing time that morning. An unusual lethargy, coupled with the nausea she’d been experiencing lately had made her decide she’d just stay in bed and when she did get up, she still hadn’t felt like writing at all. Fortunately about mid-morning she had begun to feel better and made straight for thestudy to to lose herself in the life of Aschyllus.

Stacie was so involved in her work that she never heard the door open and her husband walk into the room. Edmund stood quietly inside the door, smiling fondly at the fair head bent so diligently over the manuscript. He thought he had never seen his wife look more beautiful. Stacie’s cheeks were flushed pink and her hair was escaping from the loose knot she wore it in while working.

Edmund walked over to the desk and lightly dropped a kiss on her head. Stacie dropped the pen with the start and looked up in delight.

“Darling! I never heard you come in.”

“I’m not surprised”, grinned her husband. “You were fathoms deep in Ancient Greece, weren’t you?”

Stacie laughed. “Something like that”, she admitted. She stood up and stretched. “Goodness me, how tired I am.”

Edmund eyed her in concern. The delicate pink of her cheeks had faded and she looked rather pale and yes, tired.

“I think you’ve been overdoing it”, he scolded gently. “Did you stop to eat lunch today?”

“Noooo”, confessed Stacie shamefacedly. “But then I’d lost so much time this morning and then I sort of lost track of time.”

“Well you’ve done enough work for one day”, decided Edmund. “So we’ll retire to the drawing room where you shall put your feet up and I will wait on you hand and foot.”

Stacie made to protest, but Edmund forestalled her by simply picking her up and carrying her out of the study. He deposited her unceremoniously on a sofa and ordered her to stay there while he built up the fire. Stacie was too tired to protest and snuggled back into the cushions, enjoying the glow of the fire and the companionship of her husband.

Edmund turned around from his ministrations with the fire and met Stacie’s eyes with a smile. “Well that should do it for a couple of hours”, he announced. “Tea?”

“Please.”

Edmund disappeared in the direction of the kitchen and Stacie leaned back against the cushions once more and closed her eyes. She didn’t know why she was so tired lately. Perhaps she was coming down with something.

At this point Edmund arrived back with two steaming cups of tea. They had given Bessie a few days off so she could vist her family, insisting they could fend for themselves quite well over Christmas. Neither of them liked a large meal on Christmas Eve and they would spend Christmas Day with Lucy and Jack and the rest of the family.

Stacie accepted her cup from Edmund blissfully and curled up in a corner of the sofa, tucking her legs up under in a way that would have brought Matey’s wrath down upon her head at school. Her husband settled himself next to her and for a minute or two there was silence, punctuated only be the clinking sounds of cup on saucer.

“Well I enjoyed that”, remarked Stacie, settling her cup on a side table and relaxing back against Edmund with a sigh. Edmund laughed. “I’m not surprised, if that’s the first thing you’ve had since mid-morning”, he remarked. “You should really eat too. Shall we go and forage in the kitchen?”

“Sounds good”, said Stacie. “I’m starving.” Hand in hand, they made their way to the kitchen, where Edmund presided gravely over a frying pan containing a couple of kippers, while Stacie assembled plates, knives, forks and then buttered slices of bread. Their students would not have recognised the dignified and quiet Professors in the cheery couple exchanging banter over their supper preparations. The kippers being done, Edmund slid them onto the plates and then presented one to his wife.

“Modom’s supper is served!”

Stacie began to laugh, but as the aroma of fish reached her nostrils she was suddenly overcome with nausea and then turned and fled into the scullery. From the sounds drifting out of there, she was thoroughly sick and Edmund dropped the plate in alarm and rushed to the rescue. He found Stacie, white and exhausted, crouched in a corner with her arms wrapped around her legs. She raised miserable eyes to his and whispered “darling I’m sorry, I think I’m coming down with something”.

Edmund picked her up again and cradling her against his chest, took her upstairs to their bedroom. Once Stacie was comfortably installed in bed, with a hot water bottle for company, he returned to the drawing room and telephoned his brother-in-law.

When Jack arrived he was accompanied by Lucy, both of them looking worried. Edmund had been almost incoherent on the phone and they had decided it was an emergency. Edmund took them upstairs and hovered anxiously around the bed while Jack unpacked the contents of his medical bag. Jack looked meaningfully at Lucy, who nodded and slipped her arm through one of Edmund’s.

“Come on Ed”, she said cheerily. “Jack will get on much faster without our help and I really need a cup of tea.”

Edmund accompanied her silently downstairs and back to the kitchen, where the detritus of the abandoned meal greeted them. Lucy raised her eyebrows at the mess, but made no comment. She made tea and then gently forced Edmund to eat some supper, cleaning up while he nibbled absently at a piece of bread. Then the two of them returned to the drawing room. Edmund paced up and down in front of the fire, while Lucy settled herself in a chair to wait for Jack to return. She allowed her eyes to roam around the room. How different it was from their own home, yet how well it suited Edmund and Stacie.

A fire crackled merrily in the grate. Comfortable chairs and sofas were scattered about and framed papyrus and illuminated manuscripts added plenty of colour. A piano stood in one corner, but it seemed to be used mainly as a stand for busts and stacks of manuscripts. Lucy chuckled inwardly. Neither Edmund nor Stacie were particularly tidy people and although Bessie did her best, it was hard to keep up with their habit of leaving things lying around in any convenient spot.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs and Jack entered the room, grinning broadly. Lucy stood up quickly and Edmund rushed forward.

“Stacie?”

“She’s fine Ed”, answered Jack, still grinning. “Go up and see for yourself.” His eyes met Lucy’s laughingly, as Edmund vanished. A series of thumps suggested the dignified Professor Pevensie was taking the stairs two at a time. Lucy stared at Jack.

“Is she all right?”

“She’s fine”, replied Jack. “But let us just say that she’s going to be very busy in about nine months time.” Lucy shrieked and then stopped and eyed her husband speculatively.

“What?” asked Jack. She said nothing, but pulled him towards the door and pointed upwards. “Mistletoe.”

Jack needed no further invitation.

Upstairs, Stacie smiled at her husband as he rushed into the bedroom. Edmund approached slowly, the anxiety fading from his eyes as he saw the joy in hers. Stacie patted the bed and Edmund sat down beside her, taking her hand in both of his.

“I have something to tell you”, she said simply.

****
Come, come and behold the Son
Come, come and behold the babe
Come, see what the Lord has done
Come, heaven has made a way

See, see in the east the star
Come, now as the angels sing
“All glory be unto God”
Born, born is the saving King

O Rejoice, Rejoice
Heaven sings tonight
Rejoice, the Lord is come

Still, still is the weary world
Still but for the humble praise
Hear, hear as the shepherds sing
Join, join as the drummer plays

Fall, fall on your knees all men
Joy, joy to the world this day
Here, find ye the word as flesh
Here, here on a bed of hay

©2005 Mia Fieldes/Hillsong Publishing

#2: Author: Fatima, Location: Sunny Qatar

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:33 pm

That was so lovely, thank you, Cathy.

#3: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:59 pm

Awwww! And what a lovely little window into the married life of Stacie and Edmund - deosn't it sound idyllic?

Thanks Cathy.

#4: Author: Dawn, Location: Leeds, West Yorks

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 7:16 pm

That was utterly lovely Cathy - thankyou

Hope you manage to sort out a new school and help rebuild confidnece for the childd

#5: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 9:07 pm

That was lovely, thanks Cathy.

Sorry to hear about the bullying - hope you get a new school sorted out.

#6: Author: Cath V-P, Location: Newcastle NSW

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:50 pm

Oh, thank you, that was lovely.

And I do hope that everything gets sorted for your girl.
Sends hugs to you both.

#7: Author: tiffinata, Location: melbourne, australia

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:23 am

How lovely!
Do they by any chance have a large wardrobe in their Spare room??

#8: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 12:42 pm

Thanks for the drabble, it was noble of you to write it with so much on your plate.

#9: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:43 pm

That was lovely, Cathy.

Sorry about the bullying. One of my grandsons has just been through the same and it was horrid.

#10: Author: Cathy, Location: Sydney, Australia

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 9:13 pm

Thank you all for the flowers! I actually wrote the drabble a couple of weeks ago and saved in for December.

It looks like the school has sorted out the bully and my daughter is getting back to being happy again. However, we've decided that a fresh start is called for (there are other factors -- it's not just the bullying) so we've found a small school quite close to our workplaces. It's still in the local area of where she'll go to high school and we think she'll be much happier there. We took her there yesterday afternoon to meet the principal and have a look around. She was very enthusiastic about everything, so that's good. Now we just have to get a transfer form from her old school and fill out all the paperwork!

#11: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent, England

Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 9:20 pm

Thanks, Cathy. I'm sorry to hear your daughter has been having problems but I'm glad you've been able to find a solution. I really enjoyed this drabble and it's lovely that Stacie and Edmund are going to have a baby.

#12: Author: Chalet_school_lover, Location: Gloucester

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 8:16 pm

Wow that was nice! Thank you very much! Very Happy

I'm sorry to hear that your daughter was having problems at school!

#13: Author: aitchemelle, Location: West Sussex

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:09 pm

Thank you Cathy!
I really enjoyed that and it made me feel all Christmassy - was their any Narnia relatedness or was it a coincidence? (sorry if I'm being dense!)
*hugs* for the bullying issues

#14: Author: JackieJ, Location: Kingston upon Hull

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:12 pm

That was lovely Cathy, thank you.

JackieJ

#15: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 9:09 pm

Glad to hear the school situation's sorted out.

I think you have a few small gaps to fill in about the CS-Narnia world! Edmund and Stacie?! Very Christmasy, though. Very Happy

#16: Author: Liane, Location: Manchester

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 12:27 am

Sorry RL is being a pain.
I have just spent the last few days reading this entire drabble and I think the whole Narnia/CS thing was a fantastic idea, thanks for keeping it going through your various traumas. Hopefully RL will leave you in peace for a while now!
Thank you Very Happy

#17: Author: Róisín, Location: Vancouver for now

Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 2:44 pm

Thank you so much, this was the perfect drabble to read on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas!

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