𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐒

Chapter 26

"AH, THERE ARE OUR GIRLS," Mr Arthur Fleming announced as he looked towards the drawing room entrance, his arms unraveling from a grip at his back as he spread them into the air, at the approaching figures of his nieces. He seemed to forget, at the sight of them, that he wasn't indeed in Southampton. They just reminded him so, his nieces, along with his sisters and other nieces and nephews, he felt like they belonged in that county; they all belonged where there was spring even amidst winter, and summer even between autumns.

"Uncle Arthur," Lady Diana Beaumont and Lady Alicia Kirkpatrick gushed, as both the ladies approached their uncle, with genuine smiles and laughter of excitement.

"I hope you both are well? You cannot fathom the shock I had to overcome upon this news on my arrival," Arthur Fleming started as he parted after placing a kiss on their foreheads. A shudder danced off his back as he thought of the paranoia that had befallen him. That feeling of self doubt would have eaten him up, the fact that his nieces were here because of him and had been victim to such an accident, how would've he faced his sisters and brother-in-laws?

"We get stronger by the day," Diana assured him, a confident smile on her face. Ever since they had awoken yesterday, Diana and Alicia had indeed felt better, brighter and more themselves, each passing hour. There were many things that had kept them going, their aunt, their little cousins, their Uncle Arthur and, their curiosity.

"I-I am so glad you and Alicia a-are alright," a tiny voice suddenly came and before Diana could do anything, her skirts were embraced in an equally tiny hug. "Theodore," she smiled as she bent down to properly hug the little child as he buried his face in her neck, not wanting to part.

"I am glad too," Michael's mature voice came as he joined his father's side, standing tall, "Mother said we weren't allowed to visit your chamber because she was afraid Theodore would cry, and she said you both needed smiling and happy faces at the moment. So I had to watch Theo while Mama tended to you."

"That was a mighty fine job you did," Alicia chimed in, and Michael smiled proudly.

"Although, we could've used a good cry," Diana added with a laugh as Arthur Fleming shot her a concerned expression. "I'm just joking," she added teasingly and watched her uncle's expression dissolve into a relaxed one. Inside however, Diana felt sure she did need to have a good cry, perhaps, a wail; to rant about everything that was weighing on her mind. Her deep feelings towards someone who despised her, her unfeeling heart towards a cousin who felt everything for her, her worry of leaving her uncle and aunt to the cruel life they were accustomed to again, they were all too much; knowing the fact that were she to return to Southampton, nothing will be as it was before. All of her energy was being used, her heart and mind constantly at work against each other. Crying would not solve anything, it would not get rid of her problems and vanish all her doubts, but it was a way to cope.

All her life she'd been told that tears don't solve anything, when she was twelve and she missed the last step of the staircase at Bellevue Hall, 'crying won't make the pain go away,' she'd been told. When she was fourteen and she accidentally broke her favorite floral vase, 'tears won't piece it together dear,' she was reminded. And when she was nineteen and she refused Frank Templemore's marriage proposal, 'crying won't give rise to feelings in you that aren't there,' Alicia had insisted, and she'd been right. Everyone who had ever told her not to cry over a circumstance, had been right, but they had all been secretive of the solace it offered; shedding those hot tears and hoping each drop would lighten the pain and fury just the tiniest bit. There was comfort in that hope, comfort in letting it all out in just drops of water.

By lunchtime that Saturday, The Countess insisted on having another picnic on the grounds, claiming that everyone was in dire need of a breath of fresh air after the events of the days gone by. Only this time, she persisted on hosting herself, claiming her son's abilities were more or less mediocre.