Unchaining Alice

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Harrison left the siblings to it, electing to go and refold the bandages rather than talking about James’ feelings. 

Little J brought him into her compulsively clean office. Seeing everything in order made him realise how together Little J finally was. She was truly happy. He was so proud of her, and of everything she’d achieved. She really was one in a million.

Little J dragged her chair out from behind her desk and brought it beside the patient’s chair that sat before her desk. James sat down without being told do and slumped his shoulders.

“So,” Little J began.  “Love at first sight?” she said, raising her eyebrows. “We obviously can’t be talking about Sarah, thank God,” she giggled.

James just rolled his eyes. “It might not be love,” he clarified. “But it’s strange. I’ve only ever seen her twice but I feel this great need to impress her. I feel like I have to prove myself to her. I want to ask her questions without being too intrusive. She’s so innocent, yet so mature. She had scars, Little J, deep scars.” James threw his head back and groaned. “What is wrong with me?”

“Nothing is wrong with you, James,” Little J assured him. “We can’t help who catches our eye. I think I know that more than anyone,” she said with a sparkle in her blue eyes. “What’s her name?”

“Jacqueline,” James replied, emphasising the French pronunciation. “She’s the French matron at Joseph’s orphanage.”

“Jacqueline,” Little J repeated, over doing the French accent. “Pretty,” she noted.

“She is,” he agreed. “Beautiful, in fact. ‘Pretty’ does not do her justice.”

“Aw,” Little J gushed. “When I first saw Harrison, I found my thoughts drifting to him when I wasn’t aware of it and suddenly I would realise I was thinking about him. It progressed quickly, so much so that I yearned to see him, to hear his voice or to see him smile or to just merely watch –” she rambled before James interrupted her.

“Enough,” James groaned. “I don’t want to hear about your obsession with your professor. It’s bad enough that you carry his spawn,” he said, gesturing to her still flat stomach.

Little J’s jaw dropped. “Spawn?” she repeated, surprised. She wasn’t angry with him, she knew that James did not think her child was evil in any way.

“The thought of Harrison and you … well, you know,” he mumbled. The thought of any of his sisters fornicated made him want to empty his stomach right onto the floor. He still saw Little J as that seventeen year old girl with her nose permanently in a book as she refused to take part to society events. Now that he liked. At least she was a married woman. He was the one bedding unwed women like the rake he was.

Little J let out a light laugh as she nodded. “I understand,” she smirked. “But what I also know is that you have a strong affection for this young lady. You can’t, and I trust you won’t, ignore it. But this is different, and from how you’ve described her, she’s different. I don’t know if you love her or not, it might be too soon to know but I think you might get there if you give her a chance.”

The real problem was Jacqueline giving him a chance. Normally women fell at his feet willingly. He hadn’t managed to get her to smile except for the forced one she’d given him when she’d met him. He didn’t know why he was so infatuated with her – she hadn’t given him anything in return. But perhaps that was why he was so infatuated with her, because she was the first to ever resist his charms.