Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 36: Numb

Pollyanna shielded herself against the chilly, winter wind by throwing her hood up as she entered the little town. She waved to some friends she knew from various social events as she passed through the wavering, orange-red light which was fast turning into blue nightshade.

She kept her eyes glued to her feet, as nervous girls like herself tended to do. All noise died out around her but for the shrieking wind as she left the bustling town and came to the manor sitting at the edge of it.

Pollyanna knocked on the door and the servants let her in.

She made sure the manor was spotless and dinner was ready for Kline when he would arrive. After that, she reclined on her bed and continued reading a new book Kline had given her.

She sighed.

Kline had been coming home later and later; she wondered what was keeping him.

She had to admit that it could get very lonely without him.

He came home an hour late. She was furious at him.

Because he had been kind to her lately, she felt that she could ask him, "where have you been?"

Kline bristled.

Pollyanna instinctively turned her cheek.

His shoulders, which had gone rigid, relaxed at her automatic reaction. He murmured, "it is not your place to worry, little bird."

Pollyanna lowered her eyes.

She said something very unlike her. "I just miss you when you're late..."

"Do you?" Kline said with a playful smirk.

Pollyanna blushed and gingerly looked to the side.

She let him do as he wished and stared up at the ceiling wordlessly and sleeplessly afterwards.

She felt unimaginably filthy.

She shouldn't enjoy any part of being married to a man who had snatched away an innocence she could never regain.

The scars and memories from that night plagued every romantic interaction she had had ever since.

Even that perfect kiss she shared with Rory.

She tried to reason with herself that it was justified for her to have some amount of good will toward someone who she had lived with for so long and who she had shared intimate moments with.

She tried to reason that, if it weren't for this man, however vile he may be, that she would still be living in poverty. She would still be going to bed on an empty stomach while her mother would have had to work a job—something incredibly shameful for a woman to have to do—and would have to toil day-after-day until she died just like Pollyanna's father had—if someone would even be willing to hire a woman at all, which was very unlikely.

But no matter how hard she tried to excuse the small feelings she had for Kline, she always came to the conclusion that she was a streetwalker; someone who prized gold and trinkets above their own bodies.

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Pollyanna noticed that Kline was acting very oddly over the next week. Normally, he would have two personalities; cruel and kind.

Lately, however, he had only been kind. She wondered if it had to do with him being gone later than usual.

She asked the servants, "do any of you have any idea why my husband is being kept late?"

"I'm not sure, Miss Pollyanna. He has far to travel, and his job is very demanding." One of the servants told her.

Pollyanna had found out since they had been married that Kline was a stone mason who worked in a nearby city that was about an hour away on horseback. He would often complain about the job to her, and she would listen quietly and without comments as he liked her to.