Somewhere Only We Know

Henry straightened his uniform as he stood up and left the train. He was finally back in English soil and he had never felt happier to be home. He had received a letter from his father minutes prior to departing, where he was informed about their family visit to France for Camille’s birthday. Henry had no recollection of the girl or her family whatsoever but a ball meant fun and fun meant young women, so he was more than willing to go.

Carrying his belongings, Henry walked around for a bit and then he smirked when he spotted his brother standing by his Aston Martin. He wasn’t sure of who would pick him up and apparently Benedict had been the lucky one.

“You look old.”

Ben couldn’t help but to grin at his younger brother.

“And you’ve managed to look uglier.”

After a brief moment of silence, the brothers laughed and shared a hug. They were completely different men but that didn’t mean they didn’t love and respect each other. Benedict considered some of Henry’s attitudes to be wrong, especially when it came to women, and Henry found Benedict’s work ethic to be extreme but what tore them apart were their parents, especially their father. Patrick couldn’t hold himself back when comparing his children and ended up praising Henry more than Benedict. Jane condemned this attitude but Patrick had never apologised or corrected it.

“How are mum and dad doing?” Henry asked as he placed his things inside the car.

“Good. Already preparing everything for the trip.” Ben replied as he got into the driver’s seat and waited for Henry to settle in.

Deep down, Ben had missed his little brother. Henry always managed to make things much lighter at home and, as much as Ben hated to be compared to him, he was glad to have Henry back because now he wouldn’t be so nagged since Henry would steal all the attention again.

“Ah yes, France.” Henry nodded “Dad mentioned something about a birthday ball in the last letter he sent me.”

“It’s for Aaron Dubois’ daughter.” Ben quickly explained, both men recognizing the name instantly because their father mentioned him constantly.

“I bet they’ve been nagging you to go, as always.” Henry commented, used to having his parents always putting pressure on his older brother to go with them to events and social occasions but Ben escaped and declined at every chance. Henry always wished his brother would come more often and he never quite understood why Ben decided to always stay away.

“Mum did, for a moment.” Ben nodded “But I’ve decided to go. I am in need of a vacation.”

Henry turned his head to his brother, his eyes widening.

“This must be a miraculous day.” Henry said slowly “You admitting that you need time off work? Wow… I never thought I’d hear it.”

“And you won’t hear it again, if you mock me.”

Ben’s tone was cold, even a bit harsh and Henry sighed. His brother could be so defensive and sensitive sometimes that, with the years, Henry had lost the ability to communicate with him sometimes. Henry was very playful and he loved to tease however Benedict was almost always serious, getting him to laugh was a victory and he rarely had any fun, which to Henry was unthinkable.

“I’m glad you’re going, that’s all.” Henry said carefully, so his brother wasn’t offended “Have you sorted everything out with your patients?”

“My friend from university, Matthew, will cover for me. He graduated a couple of years ago and he’s excellent. I’ve taken care of the most pressing cases, though,” Benedict explained, rambling a bit about what he been dealing with before he could actually take the trip.

Henry listened for the first minutes but then he wandered off to his own thoughts, trying to imagine what the ‘coming of age’ Camille looked like and he smirked. She had to pretty, he was certain and he’d find out in just a couple of days.



Aaron watched as family members began to arrive early in the morning of Camille’s birthday. His daughter was still asleep but he was too giddy about the day to actually stay in bed. He had told nobody of his plans to marry Camille soon, probably by the end of the year but today was the perfect opportunity for him to see if there were any suitors amongst their friends. Aaron intended to be the one selecting the best and then, upon agreement with the boy’s family, the marriage would be set.

He was also over the moon to see his friend Patrick. It had been years since they had seen each other in person and Patrick would be bringing his whole family for the party.
Making his way down the stairs, Aaron paid assistance to his wife with the decorations, his breath taken away by how beautiful their whole house looked. He also stood at the entrance, welcoming family members and asking the servants to take them to their rooms.

Aaron was a discreet man but he had missed a huge celebration like this one. Deep down, he was very excited.

While the Dubois’ prepared the house, the Cumberbatch’s made their way from Paris to the village where they lived. Patrick and Jane had gone first, Benedict and Henry preferring to drive other than taking the train, so they agreed to meet them before nightfall.

Neither Patrick nor Jane had spoken to Benedict about their plans for setting up his marriage and Patrick had made no mentions of his intentions in his letter to Aaron either. He preferred to speak it in person with Aaron but even his wife Jane seemed to be immediately approving of it, however she insisted that she wanted to meet the girl first, she wanted to make sure Benedict married a nice woman. That made Patrick sigh but he had to agree. If Camille wasn’t proper, he wouldn’t make any propositions to Aaron but Patrick had many high hopes for the girl. He really wanted that bond to exist between the families and it would be perfect for Benedict.

Allowing himself to daydream, Patrick imagined his old son being able to introduce himself and maintain a conversation with Camille. Patrick assumed she was at least eight years younger than him but that made no difference to him, he was sure they could get along. Perhaps she even liked older men. With a little smile, Patrick recognized the station of the village approaching and he took Jane’s hand before they shared a look.

“Mel… Is it clear?”

Mel peeked out of Camille’s bedroom. The hall was empty, gifts already stacking up closer and closer to the door to the bedroom but the noise and confusion were downstairs.

“Yes, nobody here miss.”

“Great.” Camille grinned, stepping out. She had overslept and she planned to keep away from her mother for as long as she could so as to avoid a sermon.

Camille and Mel rushed downstairs and into the kitchen to get breakfast. As usual, Camille wanted to spend her day outdoors before having to come for the ball. She liked the balls best when she was a child but as she grew older, being the centre of attention wasn’t something she liked much but she did like celebrating her birthday.

Luz, Mel’s sister, recognized them both and grinned as she helped around, being one of the most talented cooks inside the kitchen.

“Good morning birthday girl.” She beamed as Camille went over to hug Luz.

Luz was the oldest of the girls, Camille always seeing her as the older sister she never had.

“Hello Luz, what are you making?”

“Your breakfast.” The dark-haired young woman said, making room for Camille to sit while Mel helped around to give her time to eat. Within minutes a stack of pancakes was placed in front of hers, with honey, berries and strawberries on top.

“You spoil me.” Camille grinned, also thanking her for making tea.

“Only once a year.” Luz laughed, knowing it wasn’t true. She adored cooking for others so she made Camille’s favourites several times. “Excited for tonight? Some guests are already arriving.”

“Just another fancy ball.” Camille shrugged. “Are you making the cake?”

“You mean the fancy one?” Luz asked and Camille shook her head “Ah you mean the triple-chocolate one with strawberries and whipped-cream?” She grinned.

Camille nearly drooled just thinking about the cake and nodded.

“Of course I’m making it. We have to give you a proper celebration after the ball is over.” Luz replied with a playful smile.

Camille smiled happily. Usually she celebrated her birthday in two days: First at the ball with her family and guests and then, after everyone went to bed, with her friends, who happened to be servants as well. The second was by far her favourite.

Finishing her food, Camille and Mel rushed outside. Since the house was a bit isolate from the village in itself, woods surrounded it after the gardens and the gates so that’s where they went. They got out of the property and headed down the path they knew so well. It led down a beautiful and easy trail of the woods and, in the end, it took them to the lake just about forty minutes away from the house.

Camille always felt perfectly peaceful there. It was a perfect place. Sitting down with Mel, both girls chatted as Camille watched the water. She felt like today something was going to happen but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.

Benedict and Henry arrived each of them in their own car. Henry was naturally excited to be there and Ben was surprised to find himself already enjoying it. Everything was gorgeous, the people were nice and he had never been to that part of France, so everything was new.

Even driving all that way there had managed to clear his head from all the concern that was in his mind before he left England: his patients and then whether this was a good idea of not. He knew what was expected of him but he was not sure if he could deliver to be sociable, it had seemed like ages since he had been to a ball.

His thoughts were interrupted when he and Henry were noticed and re-introduced to Aaron and Carol, Camille’s parents.

“It’s a pleasure Sir.” Benedict said, shaking Aaron’s hand before he greeted Carol with a polite kiss on the cheek.

Henry followed his manners, both of them standing by as the parents spoke. Getting easily bored, Henry caught the eyes of one of Camille’s cousins and he elbowed Ben playfully.

“Want to go and have some fun? I’ve spotted something interesting already.”

Ben glanced over at the girl and shook his head at Henry.

“You go little brother. I’ll see you later, I want to take a walk,” Ben said, leaving his parents and brother to be.

Just as Ben left, Patrick turned to Aaron, a bit too anxious.

“So, when will we have the pleasure to see your lovely Camille?”

“Sadly, I believe that only later tonight.” Aaron sighed, knowing his wife was doing the best to keep distract before she flipped at Camille for not being here to receive guests but she hardly ever did so
“Camille enjoys to spend her day outdoors.”

“Oh who can blame her? With such fine weather,” Jane said softly, rubbing her husband’s arm so he wasn’t so obvious. Patrick had thought that Ben and Camille would be immediately introduced and all this delay only made him more anxious.

Keeping to himself, Ben roamed the first floor of the house, observing guests and then the servants who went around. He couldn’t forget to congratulate Carol afterwards for how hard she had obviously worked. Everything looked beautiful and Ben didn’t remember ever being in such a party before. Whoever the birthday girl was, Ben considered her lucky for having all this prepared just for her.

As the hours passed, Camille and Mel walked around a bit, stopping at a little clearance filled with little stones.

“Mel, can you sit for a moment?”

Mel furrowed her brow but obeyed, sitting on a little rock. Camille smiled and followed the trail of a few rocks, which took her up to stand in a bigger one.

“You aren’t going to do what I think you are… Miss!” Mel called out, watching as Camille removed her shoes and picked up her long skirt to stand on her tiptoes.

“I’m fine Mel. Sit back down.” Camille stated, ignoring her friend’s comments as she allowed the calmness of the woods to soothe her “I’m becoming lazy. I used to practice my stance for at least two hours every day but not anymore Mel and that cannot be.”

Unaware of their presence, Ben had started to explore the woods. He felt most himself when he was alone with nature but then he heard two female voices and, as much as he didn’t like to pry, his curiosity took the best of him. Making sure he wasn’t seen, Ben found two young women in the clearance. One was sitting down on a rock, her back facing him. Her hair reached just a bit below her shoulders, it was dark and straight, her dress was a light pink colour and her skin was a silky brown. Then his eyes landed on the other girl and he felt his race skip a beat.

What utter perfection.

She was wearing a dark brown dress and her skin was pale, and looked so pure. Her hair was the longest Ben had ever seen on a woman, at least when she wore it down but it was beautiful. It was light brown with little highlights from the sun. She wasn’t very tall but she was slender and elegant and Ben realised she was dancing, which turned her even more graceful in his eyes. He had seen many women in his lifetime but something about that one was special, he could just feel how it made him tingle.

He was star-struck by the image before him and then he realised the girls were speaking in French. Sadly, his French was a bit rusty so he didn’t get much of what they were saying and he didn’t get the name of the beauty either.

While the girl sitting hummed a song, the other smiled and danced what seemed like ballet to him but he was no expert. He watched them intently, his heart warming up when he heard her laughing but then he quickly looked away.

This was wrong of him.
This was something Henry would do.
To spy on young women, watch them, desire them, that was something Henry did but not Ben. Henry was physical, for pure attraction, even lust. Ben had been like so once but not anymore.

Not since that time years before. Not since Jocelyn. Not since he had truly fallen in love with someone, thought about proposing, gotten a ring, even without his father’s full support, and then being rejected because she was meant for someone else, for someone of her own class: another servant.

Ben had fallen in love with a servant from the Cumberbatch house hold when he was much younger and just finished with medical school. As soon as his eyes had landed on Jocelyn, the day he returned home, he knew he wanted her to be his but then he had been led through the most horrible year of his life. Jocelyn was his first in many things and, sometimes, he feared she would be the last.

Having learned his lesson, Ben was a man of emotions now, of intellect, but finding a woman to his standards had proven impossible so far and yet he wasn’t really looking. Despite the stunning beauty just steps away, he suddenly felt sad. He shouldn’t get his hopes up, he shouldn’t let looks deceive him again. He knew better.

With a heavy heart, he moved back and left without being noticed. He returned to the manor a while later, avoiding anyone who might want to talk to him. That girl remembered him of Jocelyn, she was probably a servant as well, and so he had to get her off his mind right away. And so he did, with a cigarette in hand as he stood in the balcony.

The ball was just about to start and Camille had managed to slip into the house with enough time to bathe, have her hair done and be able to calm her mother. Once Carol was convinced, she returned downstairs.

By this time, all the guests had been settled in and changed. Camille was being waited on so the ball could start. Allowing Mel to give a few finishing touches on her discreet makeup, Camille was left on her own to go downstairs. She knew that many people that were there hadn’t seen her in years so this would be a revelation.

Her father waited for her at the bottom of the stairs and smiled, offering her his arm.

“You look gorgeous, mon ange.” Aaron beamed, kissing his daughter’s cheek, wishing her a happy birthday for the fourth time that day.

“Merci Pappa.”Camille smiled happily, kissing his cheek before taking his arm so he would lead her in. Mel watched for a moment, joining her sister in the kitchen afterwards.

Camille took a deep breath as the doors to the grand ballroom opened and she was overwhelmed by how many guests were actually there. Not all were sleeping over but even still, this was the biggest gathering to date.

A wave of ‘happy birthdays’ flew her way as people approached for a hug, a kiss and so on. Her aunts coming over to pinch her cheeks and her uncles praised her beauty, Camille constantly shifting from French to English.

As soon as his eyes set on the Dubois girl, Henry grinned. His guess couldn’t be more right, she was gorgeous. He had had the opportunity to speak to Aaron throughout the day and both men had gotten along well wonderfully, Aaron spoke so much of his daughter that Henry felt like he had known the girl for years.

However, just like Patrick, Aaron hadn’t made his intentions clear to anyone. Nobody knew of his true intentions of finding a husband for Camille but all options were still open. The man was paying attention to everything around him.

Seeing his vision clearly come true, Henry couldn’t help himself as he went back to get his brother from the balcony.

“Put that cigarette off, you need to see this.”

“What?”

“The reason why we’re here.”

Furrowing his brow, Benedict followed Henry inside. He was pretty much unaware that the ball was about to start. Ever since his little vision in the woods that he had lost track of time.

When both of them stopped on their tracks, just behind their parents, Henry motioned discreetly to the girl being greeted by their parents. Aaron was beside her, beaming as Camille spoke to both Patrick and Jane, blowing them away with how British she sounded despite the French influence.

Ben looked her over and nearly paled, his blue eyes widening. It was the girl from before, the one doing ballet on the rock. He felt his heart racing as his eyes took in her features more carefully. She had well shaped cheeks, pale skin with freckles adorning it, her lips were thin but her eyes were a bit wide and blue. The way she spoke to her parents was nothing but kind and she seemed like she wasn’t nervous. She was so natural and graceful in every move.

She is not a servant.

The thought baffled him. All his thoughts after seeing her in the woods came flooding back and he felt an instant relief. She wasn’t a servant, she was the exact opposite.

Spotting Henry and Benedict, Patrick did the honours.

“Ah finally, here they are. These are my boys,” He started, Henry already giving Camille a charming smile while Benedict just kept staring at her, like had seen an angel.

Camille observed them both. The one in front of her had to be Henry. He was the youngest and the liveliest, he seemed very excited to be there too. Then there was Benedict. Camille’s eyes roamed his face for just a moment but she thought his features to be rough, even cold. He was staring at her, she could feel it, and he made her feel small because of his height but he was a well-built, attractive man so it was no surprise that she saw him get so many looks.

“I’m Henry,” Henry introduced, taking her hand, “Happy birthday.”

Camille smiled and thanked him “Thank you, Henry. Also, I appreciate that you took the time to come. Your father told me about your military career,” She said, trying her best to be sociable and nice but all she wanted was to go off and meet Mel, Luz and Claude for a true celebration.

“Oh he did? My, what did he leave for me to talk to you about then? I fear I may bore you now.” Henry said with a playful grin, kissing her knuckles.

Camille chuckled and before she replied, she turned to Ben and she smiled his way, not wanting to be rude. As she was about to speak, Ben gained courage and Henry seemed a bit shocked. Normally, Ben only spoke when spoken to and for the first time he was taking the first step.

“Bonsoir, Camille. Je suis Benedict. Joyeux anniversaire.” Ben said with a tender smile, taking her hand to kiss her knuckles.

He had no idea of what had gotten over him but, for the first time, he didn’t want to let his brother over-shine him. Not this time. This was his opportunity to be normal for one evening, to be as sociable as everyone wanted him to be. That girl had fascinated him somehow that afternoon and he wanted to use his best assets for once, he wanted to impress her.

Camille beamed. He didn’t only say her name properly, like her father, but he also spoke French and his accent was gorgeous. She felt immediately more comfortable.

“Merci monsieur.” She said with an honest smile. “Pleasure to meet you.” She added, returning to English to make everything more comfortable for all.

“The pleasure is all mine.” Ben added still looking deep into her eyes.

His family watched in quiet shock as Ben suddenly got out of his shell like they would never expect. Patrick was beyond pleased, if Benedict liked Camille his plans to marry them would be even easier but Ben’s attitude fell a bit oddly to Aaron. He had barely spoken or seen him during the day so to see him nearly flirt with his daughter was unpleasant but he needed more time to observe. So with a polite smile he led Camille away, the girl taking a moment to overcome her surprise over the intensity of Benedict’s eyes when their glances locked just before she was led away.