Tales of the Big Bad Wolf: The Red Riding Hood Arc (A Fairy Tale)

Chapter 20, Part B: Loose Ends (cont.)

Nearby, the small wall clock continued its mechanical commentary. Its ticking provided the only noise in the room aside from the sound of two persons breathing.

Elanore regarded the young man with wonder.

In the conversation’s pause, the object of her study wrinkled his brow. The woman’s silence left him unable to determine whether his confession had inspired joy or distaste. She did not smile or frown. Instead her look could be best described as solemn.

Calmly, he tried to keep his wits about him as he stumbled through something to fill the yawning quiet.  “I suppose that might sound peculiar to you.”  

She blinked once, twice.  Her mind had been considering the possibility that he was teasing her again while oblivious to the cues that suggested otherwise.  Elanore knew she must respond with something and so chose her words carefully.   “Do you mean the idea that they might be able to read minds?”

A frown played across the young man’s face for the briefest of moments.  He opened his mouth and then shut it, evaluating how to continue this unexpected dance with words.  Edmund chose to keep his voice light and even.  “How dreadful that would be if those stone creatures could read minds.  No secret would then be safe from you, no surprises could be had.”   

The young woman decided he was teasing her and turned her nose up in the air.  She matched him tone for tone in reply. “I am not the sort of person who would pry that information from them.”

He observed a hint of reproach in her voice and quickly cast aside his teasing. He reclaimed her hands in his.  “I know that. However, at times I wish you would pry.”

Her chin lifted, illustrating her surprise.

With something like his usual intensity and calmness he tried to explain himself. “I did not mean for us to be discussing the lions or their ability to mindread.”  Again he stopped, his lips pursed as if he had more to say but was lost as to how to proceed. 

It was she who found the means to urge him to continue.  “Then let me restart the conversation again. You were glad that I kissed you and made an utter fool of myself.”

Having been sufficiently provoked, Edmund was quick to respond.   “I would never think of you as a fool,  Elanore! ”  He wrinkled his forehead.  “If I have been overbearing and overstated any opinions about your choices and actions it is only because I have wanted to protect you.”

“You have always been done so,” she answered soberly. “And yet I feel that I often take advantage of your kindness and I don’t want to. I don’t want Grandmother to do that either. What I mean to say is--”

“You don’t need or want a protector,” he finished her thought for her.

She dropped her eyes to their hands, still entwined on her lap.  Then she nodded slightly, admitting it to be so.

The birds outside began to make noise, to assert their presence as they continued to gather around the house.   Inside the house, the young lady and gentleman paid them no heed.   Another long silence had unfurled itself heavily over the young couple.    Edmund had turned his head away from the lady, leaving Elanore to once again study the gentleman’s profile as he closed his eyes and dipped his head. This time, she wondered if she had hurt him with her words.

 As he slouched and sighed, she stiffened but did not say anything. 

The second hand of the clock continued to move --  marking ten, twenty, then thirty seconds before the wooden box announced the quarter hour with an abrasive clang.  He opened his eyes and watched the sunlight trickling through the window. In a low voice he began speaking to himself.  “It is as exactly as our house guest said it would be.”