Published at 7th of February 2023 10:58 am

Chapter 86: The Watts Estate IV

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The tea party had officially started now that everyone was in attendance. The centre table that previously had a few snacks to indulge on was now slowly starting to fill up as servants of the Watts family began coming out from the kitchen with more prepared food.

There were several types of confectionery, such as scones, cupcakes and shortbread cookies, as well as some light meals and finger food for those who wanted something more savoury, such as a large variety of finger sandwiches and quiches.

The servants began making their rounds to each table, asking everyone what type of tea they'd like. When the servants came around to Arthur's table, his group ordered three Earl Grey teas and one Darjeeling, with Maria being the odd one out.

The second large cakes were introduced to the table, Acai had practically vanished from his chair to grab a slice or two, everyone else chose to wait for their tea before jumping at the food. The girls seemed to continue a conversation they were having before the boys arrived.

"So, we probably can't do it tomorrow or the day after because of the game thing, so does Monday work for you?" Maria asked Holly in a hushed voice. "I've got some ideas in mind for yours."

"Monday works." Holly answered, "But remember, you cant go over the price limit."

"I won't, promise... Here, I'll show you one." Maria pulled out her phone, swiped for a few seconds and then pointed the screen towards Holly.

Arthur caught a glimpse of the screen, it seemed to be some kind of store page for a dress. From the context clues he realised that they were probably picking out outfits for each other.

A few minutes later the tea had been served, and Acai came back to the table with a plate stacked with slices of all of the cake options and a few smaller confectioneries. The rest of their table went for food, and Arthur came back first with a few finger sandwiches and a slice of quiche.

"Your dentist must love you." Maria remarked sarcastically as she watched Acai devour a plate of sweets, to which she received a playfully rude gesture in response. Arthur was surprised at how close these two had gotten in such a short period of time as well, to the point they could banter like siblings.

The group enjoyed their tea, and once they were satisfied their group decided to pay a visit to the garden. Out of the entire group, Holly seemed to be the most excited for some reason.

Where the front garden was just a field of flowers, the garden behind the house was significantly larger, and rather than just a field of flowers it was more fair to call it a paradise or what was essentially a private botanical garden.

There was a vast range of plants, all separated into their own categories and labelled, Arthur followed along as Maria lead the group down one of the various paths that cut through the garden, but he walked behind everyone else as he started reading all the labels on the plants.

"Oh wow, this place is amazing." Arthur said with excitement. "You've got so many protected species."

"See? I told you he'd love it." Holly remarked.

As they continued down the path it eventually opened up a bit, and there were a few statues and other pieces of art scattered around, but Arthur noticed that Holly began hovering towards what looked to be some kind of rusty cannon with an excited grin on her face.

"Come check this one out!" Holly said to the rest of the group.

Arthur approached the cannon, and his eyes locked onto a podium that was situated next to the cannon, featuring a plaque that had more information about it.

According to the plaque, the cannon was extracted from the shipwreck of the SS President, a British passenger liner that was lost at sea in March 1841.

It was an interesting find, but it didn't seem so important that the history buff Holly would be this ecstatic about it. And it was only once he began thinking like this that his eyes skipped to the next line, then it all made sense.

"Well would you look at that." Arthur said with an impressed tone in his voice.

The next line on the plaque mentioned that the archaeologists responsible for its extraction just so happened to be Holly's parents. He now knew why she was acting like this, of the dozen or so cannons that they extracted, one of them just so happened to land in the lap of someone she knew.

Arthur figured it wouldn't have been that big of a coincidence. His own family had been close friends with Holly's family long before Arthur and Holly started going to school together, and if this were before the estrangement, that meant that Maria's family could have also been rather close as well.

Still, Arthur liked that Holly found happiness in seeing traces of her parents in the most unexpected of places, due to their line of work they rarely ever came home, so she had to savour little encounters like this.

They had left her alone for most of her life in search of exploration and adventure. And in her later years, Holly finally admitted that she believed her parents considered adventuring as something far more important to them than their own daughter.

Even though her own house was more like a national museum with how many relics were stored inside of it, it wasn't the same as seeing their name in public. When she saw the relics at home, she was just reminded that her parents considered their house as nothing but a place to store things they didn't want, including her.

The reason Holly excelled in history above all else was because she wanted to understand why her parents went to the extent they did for discovery. Because maybe if she could experience the same thing, she would be able to forgive them at least a little.

The group eventually made their way around a large section of the garden, and they eventually came across a bed of roses. The most interesting part of this area of the garden was that the seven different types of roses that were growing in the one rose bed each had a separate colour and were arranged in such a way that they created a rainbow.

"Oh, that's cute." Arthur praised while closely inspecting one of the blue roses. He wanted to see if it was genetically altered or if it was just dyes, but from what he could tell, it seemed to be genetically altered. "Your gardener is very good at their job, this is quite the collection."

Maria and Arthur lead the next conversation for a while, Maria mentioned that Arthur should visit some other day when the gardener is here. Their conversation was abruptly stopped when Holly pointed out that Arthur's hand was bleeding.

"Oh, that's weird, I must have cut it on something earlier." Arthur looked at his right hand with a confused expression.

A servant came to inform the group that the rest of the party had begun leaving, and that she was looking for Arthur for their promised conversation. The group made their way back to the patio at the front of the house.

"Well, I think this is where I say goodbye." Acai broke away from the group after seeing his driver step out from the car. "Thanks for the cake, I'll see you guys tomorrow."

The group watched as Acai hopped into a car and drove away. Maria's mother noticed the group, but was currently too busy seeing all of her guests off.

Once everyone was gone, and only Olivia, Maria, Holly and Arthur remained. Everyone took a seat around a table and the other two just listened as Olivia and Arthur began talking.

First they had covered the events that lead up to the death of Arthur's mother, and the issues that followed. Maria and Holly had begun tearing up when they heard about it. Holly was previously told that Arthur's mother had died of natural causes when he was younger, but she had just suddenly been told that she was murdered instead, it left her feeling shocked. Maria had finally put some pieces together, and now knew why her mother had hugged Arthur the way she did.

Instead of focusing on some of the darker parts of their lives, Olivia began asking Arthur about the life he lived. Arthur began explaining that the earlier parts of his life were just a blur for him, but he remembered that his father never came home, and he was taken care of by various servants instead, especially Donovan. He then told her that his father suddenly started paying more attention to his family after an incident occurred that almost cost Arthur his life.

They continued talking about several more things that happened in his life. He noticed that Donovan's car had arrived, it flew down the street, stopping once it reached the large parking space they parked in earlier.

"Well it seems our conversation must come to an end." Arthur said as he watched Donovan leave his car and approach. "Thank you for the invite. This was lovely."

After several goodbyes and a couple quickfire questions, Arthur had made his way to the car. He made sure to ask Holly if she needed a ride home, but she said she had it handled. With one last comment from Olivia telling him that his mother would be proud of him, Donovan began driving him home.

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