The People of Dewbrook

Chapter Five

That lasted until, one day, Caroline decided that it was time for her to do something about it at once. She walked to the fence at the same hour as she always did, smiling innocently as though nothing was going to be different, seeing that the candles within the manor were not lit through the windows and that he was standing there all alone while the winds of cold were lightly blowing at his back, also smiling with a smile that did not seem genuine whatsoever. Right after they had greeted each other, she noticed that he was getting ready to talk about a book she had never heard of beforehand thanks to him holding a copy of it in his hands, when all of a sudden, halting all thought inside her mind, she announced:

"Stephen, my heart bears emotions that cannot be described."

He raised an eyebrow as his jaw dropped to the ground. "What are these emotions you speak of, Madam Proust?"

"Let us not be so distant from each other," she said with a heavy sigh. "The truth may be lamentable, but it cannot be denied. Three decades have passed since my first love, which I foolishly and arrogantly believed was going to be my last. However, when I am around you, I am overwhelmed with passion, for you are much less artificial than me and the world I reside in. You make me bloom, make me rejoice at life, make me value you more than riches and fairness and seduction, which, from my experience, is the greatest achievement of your life, and I hope to reward you for it despite all the difficulties if you so desire. I will dedicate myself to you as thoroughly as I am capable of, but I understand if you are of the opinion that a relationship with me would be too much of a burden or if you simply have no interest in me as anything beyond a friend. When you regain your breath, would you be able to answer me what your feelings are?"

"My feelings are the same," he responded after several moments of silence. "With that truth acknowledged, how shall we proceed? How can we celebrate our love if we are destined to be doomed by society?"

She laughed merrily. "I stopped bothering myself with that years ago. When most of your town is against you, what can you do other than ignore them? In a way, I am glad to witness the envy of those who can do nothing more than imagine having all that I have. It is for the best to commence a relationship with each other and keep it clandestine in the beginning, but when it is revealed, I will be ready to protect the two of us for you. It is nothing new to me. Soon enough, I will have something planned for the future, and rest assured that we will be happy then."

"Can it truly be done?" he asked gravely.

She smiled brightly. "I am someone who would do anything with you, my beloved, and if you grit your teeth and learn to embrace your hidden yearnings, you will possess the ability to do the same. Tomorrow while your wife is stuck deep in her dreams, I hope to engulf you with my love before the rise of dawn and introduce you to everything your life has been lacking - the permission to indulge in your most intense fantasies. It will fill you with satisfaction and not deprive you of your money because, no matter what they say, you will not lose it if you are careful enough, which I shall prove to you. Are you willing to bring our mutual wish to fruition?"

"Of course I am," he muttered with a forced smile, but she knew that, in the depths of his soul, he was ecstatic to bow to the covetings that ruled over him without limit, which, naturally, he would not want to admit, just like any other person new to those sensations, and it made her eyes gleam.

"Dinner!" Mildred called from inside the house in a shrill voice, and it prompted Caroline to run away without a bit of hesitation.

Stephen could not help but groan for a second. From the displeasing tone of her voice, he concluded that the dinner must have gotten cold since he had forgotten about the time, and she did not think to remind him, assuming that he would have remembered it for himself. His tardiness might have also affected the moods of the children, although he did not hear a sound from them. However, he had no clue as to why there was such wrath in the way she said that word.