Hurt

BLOOMING

George found himself once again standing on the platform, waiting for the train to take him back to his solitary sanctuary in Bidston Hill. However this time the feeling was  different. Usually he would came back home with a joy and an esiness in his heart but now it felt heavy and somehow he was reluctant to go back. There was one person that stayed in his mind, that made him feel all of this new sensation. He couldn't help but feeling that for the first time in his life he had left somebody behind; somebody that meant something to him; somebody that called, Bette.

All the way back he couldn't shake Bette out of his mind, he even dreamt about her somewhere around Peterborough and by the time the train arrived at his destination he had this crazy urge to go back and sees Bette once more.

He shook it off and eventually made it back to his beautiful house by the beach. It was a medium size house with big veranda on the front and flowers and plants surrounded it. In the back of the house lay miles of crops; potato, cabbage, carrots, beet, sweet potato, spinach, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, and all kinds of crops he felt like planting.

On the side of his house he had planted lots of fruit trees; apple trees, cherry trees, lemon trees, orange trees and rows of juiciest grapes. He never realized how big the land he inherited from John. On the other side quite far from the house were the stalls where he kept his horses, cattles, sheeps, chickens and pigs.

It was a true life on a farm that he had always wanted when he was a little boy.

George opened the front door. View months a go there would be a loud bark to greeted him. It was his loyal companion, a black and white border collie named Captain Irving. He never went anywhere without his beloved dog. They always walk together side by side. However, view months ago Captain Irving passed away due to an old age; he was an old man after all and it was just his time.

Either because of the death of the dog or the death of Ben or even the fact that he had left a wonderful woman back in Ipswich, George suddenly felt a gust of loneliness piercing his heart. He finally realized how lonely it was to live in the lighthouse all by himself, and he longed for someone.

Someone like Bette.

George tried to work like he used to; in the morning he would collected crops and brought it to the farmers market to be sold. Afterwards, he would have lunch in Eddy's little pub -- his favorite place for lunch -- and then going home to care for the animals.

In the afternoon when it was almost sunset he would climbed to the lighthouse to clean the old lamp. No one ever used the old lighthouse anymore but he cleaned the lamp anyway, who knows one of these days it would be needed.

After cleaning, when the sky turned to purple hues, he would sit in his favorite place on the railing in the top of the tower, watching the sun slowly disappearing as if it was drowning in the ocean. He would have a cup of coffee with him as his company to enjoy the scenery.

But this afternoon it all seemed different, he felt terribly lonely and longed to talk to Bette once more; he could call her but he then will longed to see her face and to touched her hands. No, he just had to see Bette.

Once again George found himself standing by the platform, waiting for the midnight train to take him back to one place that once, long time ago felt like a strange land despite the fact that he was born and rise there.

He again realized how much his feeling had changed when the train moved closer to  Ipswich. He used to despised coming back to this place that he forever will always be referring to as his birth place. He loathed the society, the hippocrisy of the people, the arrogance of his own sister and their ways of life that were altogether too uptight for him. In this morning light, fresh off the train, he could feel his heart was pounding so loud, excited and impatient to see one person only, Bette.

It was 7 o'clock in the morning when the doorbell in Sunny Side rang, awfully early for a social visitation. Bette heard the doorbell as she was in the middle of instructing Mrs. Wright -- the cook -- about today's menu. Her mind was wondering who could've possibly ring the doorbell so early? It must be a very important visit to come so early in the morning, even the housemaids haven't finished cleaning the house and the cook haven't even started cooking breakfast. The doorbell stopped and she knew that Wilbur, the old butler had opened the door.

"Mr. Covington is here to see you, Ma'am." Said the old Butler to Bette.

"George?"

"Yes, Ma'am. He is waiting in the living room."

"Thank you, Wilbur." The old butler left followed by Bette.

It was a pleasant surprise for Bette to find George Covington, sat in the living room, waiting for her. Bette stood in the doorway looking at this tall and well-built man. His skin is tanned – not on purpose of course, clearly he spent too much of his time under the sun – his hair were brown with a hint of whites. He was 50 years old but he looked very young; he was a handsome man.

"George?" Bette walked slowly towards him, still couldn't believe the man is here, sitting, waiting for her.

"Bette!" He practically ran towards Bette and embraced her. "Can you believe that for the first time in my entire adult life I've ever miss someone?"

"Who?"

"You, silly!" George held her by the hands, "Let's go, we're going to get breakfast."

"Where?"

"It's a surprise!" George led Bette outside and helped her to his car then left.

For the first time in Bette's life she ever done something out of the ordinary, out of the usual schedule.

Usually at this time she would talked to Mrs. Wright about meal menus for today and then gave instruction to an army of housemaids to clean the entire house, and then she would go to the chauffeurs and instructs them to check on the cars and get them ready to be used at anytime of the day.

After that she usually took breakfast to Elda's room and stayed with her, chatted until the old lady finished. She then would let the nurse in to give her aunt a bath while she went to the breakfast patio and eat her breakfast with Carrie and Emilia. After breakfast she usually retired to her study and finished all the bills and wrote letters. By the time she finished it would be almost lunch time.

Bette spent her time caring for Elda and the big mansion, making sure everybody is happy and the house is taking care of.

But today was quite different and unexpected. Started with an unexpected door bell and now she left all of her usual activities and found herself in a convertible, heading towards a surprise breakfast with a wonderful man. It felt like a dream come true.

They rode for about 10 minutes, they were now in the sea shore area filled with little cafes, restaurants and pubs as well as small booths selling fresh sea produce; crabs, mussels, clams, prawn, fishes and all kinds of other things that Bette couldn't even identify. It was merry and crowded there.

George led her to a pier, a long boardwalk view miles in the offing. They walked together, holding hands, enjoying the fresh sea breeze. For a second Bette felt like she was home in her childhood house with her mother; it smelled like old times.

They stopped at a little cafe in the end of the pier, it called The Sea Gift. It was a beautiful little cafe, not too posh, nothing grand, it was modest but the view is unbelievably amazing. From where the two lovers sat they could see the high sea, the waves and the bright blue sky, it felt like they were gazing at a piece of heaven on earth.

"Are you happy, Bette?" asked George.

"More than I have ever felt, George," Bette smiled.

George looked at the smiling face of Bette and an instant joy rushing through his heart, this was where he belonged all along; in love with a wonderful woman.

"Now, Bette, you owed me a long story about you."

Bette sipped her coffee and then gazed to the sea, her memory went back to her childhood home in Beer, Devon - A fisherman village - very secluded, very quiet and very beautiful although it was a small house, not grand or luxurious but it was still the most beautiful house for her.