Chapter 2. The First Breakfast
"Ashley!"
Her eyelids fluttered open slowly, drowsily. Her large, richly golden-flecked ochre eyes gazed sleepily at hew new room. Ashley awoke, disoriented, slightly dazed. Simultaneously she realized that she felt jet lagged and that she had been woken by someone's knocking at the door of her room. She groggily examined the room, taking in the old-fashioned stuffy furniture, and the weak, overcast light coming from the window across from her bed.
"Ashley, are you awake? I've brought you some tea. It is quite late and we've been waiting for you to get up." Her uncle was at the door. Before she could respond, he had pushed open the door and entered, smiling.
"Good morning, Ashley!" he said enthusiastically, "you've slept in quite a while, and Ralph has arrived. We've been waiting for you to make an appearance, but I thought that you might perhaps need something to wake you up a bit." Cheerfully, he placed the steaming teacup he was carrying on the dresser and sat in the chair next to it. "Up girl," he urged, "you'll be needing to be up early so that you can bring me the tea from now on. Well, just this once we can make an exception for my tired niece! Come have your tea."
Ashley, fumbled with her covers, and sleepily sat up. Her shortish brown hair was charmingly mussed, and her pretty face puffed a bit from her profound sleep. She yawned a bit and responded, "Good morning, Uncle Edward." She was unaware, for the moment, that, due to her uncle's doctoring of her clothes the night before, her pajama shirt was fastened with only two buttons, one above her bust and one at her bellybutton, her full figure causing a substantial gape to form in the loose front of her shirt, showing the creamy-skinned inside of her proud, round breasts.
She stood up, intending to reach over and take the cup of tea Edward held out for her. Just as her shirt inadequately covered her, the waistband of her pants also failed to stay up, and her pants drooped down exposing one hip to the top of her thigh. She became aware of the unaccustomed looseness of her clothes at precisely the same time as she heard her Uncle's shocked, indignant exclamation:
"Ashley! What in blazes are you wearing?" She froze as he pulled back the proffered teacup, setting it down again, while fixing her with a stern gaze.
"Young lady! Is THAT what you consider appropriate attire in which to present yourself to your new family? Have you not been taught some modesty and propriety? You are dressed like a SLATTERN after a night of debauchery! Your clothes are deplorable; they look like they have been ripped off you!"
"We will not condone" he continued, gazing at her with a new sternness, "such wanton sloppiness here! Why look at you, your body fairly bursting out of your clothes in public. What have you to say for yourself?"
Ashley was horrified and abashed. She was standing in front of her uncle with clothes which gaped and practically fell off her, and the modest girl felt exposed in front of s practical stranger for the first time. She stammered, "I... I... didn't... I mean..."
"Enough!" interrupted Edward. "I know how to educate young ladies who are willful and wanton. I want you to go into that bathroom, brush your hair and teeth, and come down to breakfast EXACTLY as you are! You are not to put on any clothes, even shoes. If you are so eager to parade yourself in this fashion, you shall have ample opportunity. Now, go, and be downstairs in 3 minutes dressed precisely as you are, or you shall be punished severely! Do you understand?"
Taking the teacup with him, in fact sipping from it as he left, Edward strode out of the room and down the stairs, leaving an astonished, barely awake young girl in his angry wake.
Ashley stumbled forward to the bathroom, where she brushed her teeth and combed her hair. She looked at herself in the mirror, and embarrassedly explored her shirt for signs of what had happened. Evidently, two buttons had fallen off the old pajama during the night, leaving her shirt gaping hugely in the center. Though her breasts were big enough that only the inner flesh between them showed, she was, nevertheless, quite provocatively exposed. In addition to her disheveled top, her pants would not stay up without being held, but hung loosely from one hip or the other, showing a good bit of her lacy panties. She desperately considered changing clothes, or at least putting on a bra to hide her naked chest, but was too timorous to disobey her Uncle's direct order to go to breakfast exactly as she was dressed. He'd mentioned punishing her, and she didn't want to start her stay in Britain being grounded or having to do extra chores! Hurriedly, she finished combing her auburn hair, arranging it into the charming, neat longish page-boy she liked, and headed downstairs, holding her pants up with one hand.
The stairs in the old house were narrow and spiraled down. The steps themselves were irregular in width. Ashley had to step carefully to avoid tripping on the unfamiliar steps. As she reached the bottom landing, she was called into the dining room by her uncle's stern voice:
"Ashley! Come in and meet your cousin Ralph." She entered the room. The room was wallpapered in an old fashioned raised felt in a sepia pattern, sporting urns and intertwining vegetation. In the middle of the room was a fair sized round table. The far corner, by the large glass doors leading to the back garden, was taken up by a small grand piano. Several bookcases and a small side table took up one wall, and several paintings were arranged around the room. Most of these, though the distraught girl was too preoccupied with her predicament to notice it, featured partially unclad, somewhat cherubic, young females sporting with numerous, properly clothed men.
The compromisingly clad young girl stood just inside the room, holding her pants up with one hand, and attempting to keep her shirt closed with the other. Gazing at her coolly from where they sat at the table were sat Uncle and a young man who she assumed was her new step-cousin, Ralph. Ralph, Ashley noticed, had sandy hair combed neatly to one side, was tall and lanky and appeared slightly older than herself. He was well dressed, and looked at her with a sardonic, but perhaps sympathetic smile. Ashley thought he was quite good looking, with strong features, and an athletic build. She was keenly aware of being presented to this young man in pajamas, and, worse, in pajamas that would practically falling off her were she to let go of the various bits she was holding tightly!
"Ashley is under the impression," Edward explained to Ralph, staring at the girl sternly as he said this, "that the style of undress she is in is appropriate, and to indulge our guest, I have decided that she should be permitted to wear it for us. Ashley, say hello to your cousin. And stand properly. Hands at your side!"
The girl let her hands drop slowly to her side, releasing her shirt and pants. The shirt promptly gaped open and her pants slid down one leg, baring the sleek bone of one hip, showing a glimpse of her panties, and her thigh on that side. She shuddered in humiliation, but managed a meek greeting. "Hello, Ralph."
"Hi Ash!" responded the youth, with a friendly intonation. Ashley decided she liked him, and began to hope they would be friends. Relief flooded her momentarily. She blushed furiously as she saw that Ralph was casually and freely examining her body, realizing that the disarray of her clothes gave him plenty of opportunity to gaze at exposed flesh.
"Go into the kitchen, Ashley, where you will find a tray of breakfast items prepared for us, and bring it here. Quickly girl!" Ashley turned and fled into the small kitchen and picked up the tray she found waiting there. She walked back to the dining room balancing the tray's contents carefully, and lay it on the table. Following her uncle's instructions, she poured tea for each of the men, leaning forwards with the hot, heavy, teapot to pour into the small cups. As she lent forward, she could feel her shirt spread itself wider and her breasts swing free and towards the opening in her shirt. She dared not look up at the men, and prayed that they were not watching her.