till' we meet again, william schofield

twelve

twelve

1920
three years later

TWO WEEKS BEFORE DEPARTURE.

The hotel Edison St. Martin, more commonly known as Blake, chose to stay in wasn't what he expected. It looked grand and promising from the outside, but he was severely let down upon entering his room with his wife, Lara. The walls were a dull, leafy green with yellow and beige accents throughout the room. There was two separate rooms, one being a bathroom and the other being a bedroom. In the living-room, there was only a single couch, a coffee table, and a chair.

"I think you got ripped off, my dear," Lara whispered with a slight giggle in the language they shared. Since they both hailed from French households, they usually spoke the language. He turned to look at his wife, a cheeky smile spreading across his face.

"It's only for two weeks. I'm sure you can survive, my princess." After placing all the luggage at the door, the two adults sat on the couch and held one another. They both sat there, enjoying each other's company and embrace.

"When do you need to start working? I'd like to do some sight seeing before we go back to Canada," Lara asked, tracing the stitching on his overcoat with her finger.

"All the sights you'll ever want to see has been in front of you. It's me. I'm sights," Blake teased. Lara gave him a side eye, which made him erupt with laughter. "Fine. Fine. I'm starting tomorrow. I need to conduct a few interviews and do some digging before I write my article."

Lara stood up and walked towards the tiny bathroom. Lara was a beautiful woman with dark chocolate hair and dark, sweet, and luminous eyes. She had a strong jaw and full lips. She was an average height and thin. Overall, Lara was a very attractive woman. Blake couldn't be more grateful to have such a woman in his life.

Lara and Blake met after the majority of his family fell ill but before the war. It was only Rosine and himself remaining, yet he packed his bags for a woman he met at a fountain one rainy evening, and left Ecoust. Part of himself will always feel bad about leaving his baby sister to fend for herself, but the other part of him realized that if he didn't leave, then he wouldn't be blessed with the family he has.

Blake placed his feet on the only coffee table and stretched, feeling himself grow tired as he waited for his wife to return. He closed his eyes. Sometimes he wondered what would've happened if he never met Lara, and instead stayed in Ecoust and went to war.

Blake heard a faucet turn on, followed by harmonious humming coming from the woman he adored. She was perfect in his eyes, and not only that, but he viewed her as an equal. His partner. He sighed, realizing she wasn't coming out of the bathroom for a while. He glanced at the clock. Supper should be here by now, he thought to himself.

He shrugged his shoulders and grabbed a novel he was reading on the way to England. He flipped to his last page and began to read. He was so drawn to his book that he didn't notice the door open, followed by tiny steps from a tiny human.

"I brought home supper!"

A young boy walked in, his hair fiery red and eyes icy blue. His cubby cheeks were red from the chilly evening air. He waddled to Blake and climbed up on his lap. Blake patted his hair as the child let out an exhausted huff, slumping into Blake's embrace.

"I see you're overexerting my three year old once again, Rosine." Blake tsked, rolling his eyes in the process. Rosine stumbled inside, her wild red hair messed up from the wind. Her arms were full of bread, cheese, mayo, and meat.

She grinned at her brother, showing off all her teeth. "Timothée wanted sandwiches for supper, and being the loving and supporting aunt I am— I delivered."

"Timothee doesn't speak. How did he tell you he wanted sandwiches? Oh? That's right. He didn't," her brother retorted. Rosine shrugged and placed all the grocery bags on the counter.

"You don't think it's weird he doesn't speak?" Rosine thought aloud, changing the topic. Blake covered his child's ears while looking at his sister incredulously.

"Don't hurt his feelings! He understands!"

"Hey! I never said he can't understand! I'm just observing! My Timmy is a smart, wonderful, handsome boy! I just.. noticed the other kids his age can say something."

The door to the bathroom sung open with mighty force. The enraged face of Lara, with a towel covering her wet hair, was the only thing visible through all the steam. "Stop this conversation. We're seeing about a speech therapist when we get back. Rosine— make the damn sandwiches! Blake— get my son ready for bed!"

The two siblings shared a frightened look. Then, they got to business immediately. Blake took Timothée into the single bedroom and changed him there, while Rosine made four sandwiches at once.

As she made them, she allowed herself to think. Her thoughts were a dangerous place that only ended up with her feelings hurt in the end. She shook her head and pushed away everything she worked hard to forget. She decided to not let herself think.

She slapped the last sandwich together as Lara, Blake, and Timothée emerged from wherever they were. Timothée was dressed in matching green pyjamas that complimented his hair colour. They all grabbed a sandwich and dug in, their mouths watering for something to eat. Timothée tried to eat the sandwich whole, but in the end Lara needed to help him by cutting his sandwich into triangles.

"I volunteered at a military aquatics therapy clinic for the two weeks that we're here. It's every Monday, Wednesday and Friday," Rosine said quietly as she munched on her food. Back in Canada, she was a registered nurse and worked at a clinic.

Lara and Blake nodded. "Will you still take Timothée to the park on the days Lara and I go sight seeing?"

Rosine smiled, "I'd do anything for you guys. Anything for Timmy."

All four of them sat there, eating in silence. Rosine couldn't help but to feel sorrowful. Being in England meant something to her because someone who meant a lot to her lived in England.

Someone she would never see again.

*enjoy:) Rosine isn't dead. more on that to come. :) not edited.