Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 35: The Weak

"Each of these mothers promised themselves that they would not end up like their own mothers, but eventually, all of them succumbed. They turned from good to evil..." Pollyanna's mother whispered. "They knew not where this evilness came from. The only thing they knew was that it was something they couldn't escape. There was one mother who knew she would succeed, however; one who loved her daughter more than life itself, and somehow, she overcame that unspeakable evil passed on from her mother, and she and her daughter lived happily ever after."

Pollyanna breathed heavily—her heart beating out of control.

She now understood who the story was about.

I can't have a child. I can't have a child... She thought to herself determinedly.

__

"You won't steal my gold again, will you?" Kline demanded in the morning as the two had breakfast together.

Pollyanna's mother had been kind enough not to tell Kline that she let her daughter sleep indoors; Pollyanna went back outside just after Kline woke up, and when he let her in, he was none-the-wiser that she had slept indoors.

Pollyanna took a sip of her orange juice and shook her head silently.

"Good. I shall have to be more precise about the amount I give you from now on, little thief." Kline said as he ate a piece of bacon off his fork.

After he left for work, Pollyanna told the servants that Kline gave her an errand to run in town.

It was a lie.

She was going to find Rory in actuality.

She headed into town and stood in the middle of a crowd for a moment. She delighted in the noisy comfort of knowing that there were people around who could help her if need be.

It was delightful after living in silence and isolation at the edge of town with a man who beat her and a mother who was indifferent to her suffering.

She strolled past the smithy which was belching smoke and the bakery with the delightful smell of freshly baked bread filling her nostrils.

She saw Rory's family shop in the distance—a shop which made cutlery, furniture, and other practical items—and quickened her pace.

Her heart was in her ears the closer she got.

Her eyes were so focused on the building that she bumped into someone.

She apologized profusely until she realized it was Rory she had bumped into.

It was all she could do to resist throwing her arms around him.

"Rory, I want to talk to you." Pollyanna said frantically.

Rory was wearing an apron and carrying a heavy box. He looked at her sourly as thunder rang in the distance.

Eventually, he nodded slowly. "Let me deliver this box, and then I'll meet you near the riverbank."

Pollyanna nodded.

She watched him disappear in the crowd and sniffled. I blew it. He probably doesn't want me at all anymore.

Pollyanna waited for Rory at the riverbank and wondered whether he would show up. She had left him suddenly and cruelly, after all, when they had met up a week ago, and she still felt incredibly guilty about it.

She listened to the stormy sky and looked at her distorted reflection in the water.

It looked about as good as she felt.