"What!?" Henry's blood ran cold through his veins while Callum gulped nervously as he watched his raven haired cousin turn around to glare at him, pure, unadulterated shock washing over his Sapphire blue eyes. "Are you mad!? How could you do such a thing?!"
"Oh come now, Harry, don't let's make a thing of it. I didn't expect you of all people to go ballistic on me; you've always been a rebel." Callum rolled his eyes at him, though Henry wasn't taking it so casually; Callum was ever the pragmatist, and knowing how aristocratic families like his worked, he knew there was likely a very valid reason that Callum would've tried to elope.
"Don't be daft, I'm not going ballistic, I'm just trying to understand..." Huffed Henry tensely; knowing this was just the beginning of the story. As he glanced up towards his cousin, he saw a deep melancholy in his green eyes; clearly with a weight upon "Who is she?" Henry took a softer tone, knowing in that moment his cousin needed a calm support system.
"Her name is Niamh." The corners of Callum's lips perked upward into a smile as he thought about his beloved. "Niamh O'Connor. She's Mr O'Connor's daughter."
"The tenant farmer, Mr O'Connor...?" Henry's gazed disappointedly towards his cousin, who simply nodded at him; though he wasn't disappointed by his cousin's love, more so the situation as a while. The O'Connor's were a traditional and warm-hearted Irish Catholic family had been tenant farmer's on the Anglo-Irish Duke of Ulster's country estate, Dunmurry Castle just outside Derry. Though Henry didn't know the O'Connor's personally, he knew one thing for absolutely certain; the socioeconomic class difference between Callum and Niamh would make things difficult for both of them, but mostly for Niamh. He knew how harsh the aristocracy could be, how cold, how unfeeling, how cruel; he knew that the'd never accept them, and if anything he felt it terribly unfair to her.
"I was helping Papa with the running of the estate, and I happened past the O'Connor farm just to discuss some things concerning the growing season with Mr O'Connor. That's when I saw her, the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen; she had ivory white skin, red tresses cascading down to her slender waist, eyes green like an Irish shamrock..." Callum's voice sounded almost numb, his eyes lovelorn with a tinge of pain as Henry felt his heart shatter into a million peaces; he could tell Callum loved Niamh, but he also knew the path before them would be filled with so much difficulty. They'd face bigotry, hatred, scorn, disapproval at so many stages that it made Henry's heart ache for them. "I would make excuses to go round and see her, I was addicted to the way she'd blush whenever I was around... We began courting secretly, until we decided he wanted to spend the rest of our lives together..."
"I went to Papa to ask his permission to marry Niamh, and he rejected it outright. He told me that Niamh was the daughter of a tenant farmer and could hardly be a suitable choice to be the next Duchess of Ulster." Muttered Callum through gritted teeth. "I was fuming, I hated him, I hated that he was standing in the way of my love, my happiness. So I planned the whole thing, we were going to meet by nightfall and drive away together to Dublin where we'd take the next boat to Liverpool and get married. But Papa caught us just as we were about to leave... God, Henry I can still see his face, the disappointment, the disdain, the disapproval; it's etched in my mind. He told me to leave. He said he didn't want to see my face ever again. He said that no son of his would go behind his back and purposely disobey his wishes...." Callum's voice cracked heart-wrenchingly as Henry felt his lip quiver ever so slightly. "So I left... I didn't know where to go, or what to do, but then I remembered you; you've always been on my side, Harry, always fighting in my corner no matter what."
"There are far worse crimes than love, Cal." Sighed Henry as a smile began to creep over his lightly parted lips. "You're welcome here for as long as you need, you're family after all." He pulled his cousin into his arms as both men hugged as old friends do when separated for prolonged periods. Though Henry was weary of Callum's involvement with the Irish rebels fighting to end British rule, he knew for version that Callum wasn't the first nor only Anglo-Irish nobleman to be involved in the cause; he just rather hoped nobody in his family would go that route.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." A smooth voice beckoned from behind the two embracing men, prompting them to break out of their chaste fraternal hug; turning towards the doorway to see a handsome blond officer in his scarlet uniform standing with his arms crossed over his chest; his eyes calm yet narrowed slightly at the embracing men before him with a tinge of confusion in his expression.
"Thomas!" Henry blushed, a smile blossoming across red lips that resembled petals or an English rose.
"I came to look for you, I was under the impression we were meeting around noon, remember?" Thomas jaw tensed slightly; his voice cordial yet slightly colder than usual. His eyes looked a bit confused but there was a haunting tinge of pain that Henry didn't understand. "Mary said you were with a strange man."
"Strange!?" Callum's face contorted in offence. "Surely not!"
"Ah yes, nearly forgot!" Henry realised he needed to introduce the two men. "Thomas, this is my cousin. The Honourable Lord Callum Dunmurry, Viscount Donegal. And Cal, this is my Thomas." Callum cocked a brow at that noting the giddy shift in Henry's demeanour, blushing at the man who looked ever so subtly cross to have caught them embracing; and for the ever observant Callum naturally none of this went unnoticed. "I mean erm... Constable Thomas Wilson of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police."
"Cousin? Oh..." Thomas' previously glare thawed, his tensed jaw relaxing visibly. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He smiled politely, stepping forward to shake hands with the green eyed haired young man as though only seconds ago he wasn't internally spiralling at the thought someone from Henry's intimate past might've potentially resurfaced in his life.
"How d'you do." Callum nodded politely as he resisted the urge to chuckle knowing full well where Thomas' mind had been, solely through his shift in demeanour. "Any friend of Harry; a is a friend of mine. "
"Harry?" Thomas whispered under his breath; his eyes briefly flashing with confusion.
"Callum will be staying with us for a while if that's alright?" Henry explained, watching a Thomas' gaze shifted towards him with a look of weariness in those warm brown eyes; he knew exactly what the handsome blond was thinking. "We were very close growing up; I tell him everything. He's like an older brother to me. I trust him with all my secrets."
"Oh!" Thomas' amber eyes washed over with relief, clearly understanding Henry's rather thinly veiled message. "Oh! Well you're more than welcome here for as long as you needs, Your Lordship."
"Thank you, Constable. And please, call me Lord Callum. There's no need for formality, here; A friend of our Harry's is a friend of mine." Callum gave him yet another polite yet characteristically cold nod of the head to hide how thoroughly confused he was by literally everything going on; why did Henry make it sound as if they lived together. In the few letters Henry had got round to sending his cousin, there was little to no detail about anything barring work and the weather and small town living.
"Brilliant!" Henry forced an awkward chuckle as he. "Right well, now that that's all sorted, I really ought to show you your room. I trust you're absolutely knackered from your journey."
"No, I'm quite alright real-" Callum furrowed his brows at Henry, only to see his little cousin glaring at him with his striking blue eyes. "Ah! Yes! Quite right, I'm absolutely exhausted! Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Constable." He flashed a soft, muted smile towards the handsome young Constable before turning back to give Henry a slight questioning glare.
"Same to you Your Lord Callum." Nodded Thomas with a glint of confusion and amusement in his eyes as he watched Henry hastily whisk his cousin away.
Henry helped Callum with his bags, trudging up the stairway and towards one of the empty bedrooms on his side of the corridor all the while Callum could hardly control the smirk plastered across his face; he knew Henry's secret and if he believed that Callum was going to let him live it down Henry had another thing coming.
"Alright. Explain, everything." Callum hastily shut the guest bedroom as both lads set down Callum's heavy suitcases onto the creaky wood floor.
"Explain what?" Henry's Adam's apple bobbed in his slender neck as he cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"Oh spare me, Harry." Scoffed Callum in jest as he made his way towards the raven haired lad and ruffled his hair playfully; just as he had done since they were mere children in the nursery. "How long have you been involved with the Constable?"
"I haven't a clue what you're on about." Henry responded without missing a beat; Callum knew his secret and that was fine, but in a time when being a man who was attracted to men was a secret best kept under wraps, he didn't feel at all comfortable letting Thomas' secret out of the bag. Rightfully so, he figured it wasn't his place.
"Don't bother denying, it, Harry!" Callum threw his hands up in disbelief. "You blushed when he walked into the room because I literally just watched you transform into a blushing lovelorn schoolboy when he entered the room."
"Once again, I haven't a clue what you're on about." Henry shot Callum a knowing glare. "And on that note, I shall leave you to get settled in. I have to make an in person house call right now, so I'll be out of the surgery till bout one. Mary will be up to look after the children, so she'll be more than obliged to help. I'll leave you to it." And with that Henry turned around to take his leave.
"Harry." Callum called our softly, prompting Henry to turn around to look at him . "Thank you. For everything."
"You needn't thank me, Cal." Henry said with a warm smile. "We're family after all. What are family for?"
Henry took his leave and descended down the staircase towards the kitchen to meet with Thomas; all the while he felt this numbness in his extremities as he mulled over everything that was happening. He felt for Callum; the heartbreak from having to leave his home, his love, his happiness. But at the same time, having grown up in an influential well-born family, he knew what was at stake. Lord Callum Dunmurry was the sole heir to the Duke of Ulster's coronet; the same title that Henry and Callum's late grandfather carried. He wanted Callum to be Duke one day, but at the same time he wanted him to be happy.
Thomas took Henry to the stables where the left for their 'housecall'; it often felt odd to have to hide their relationship so much with deceit, but they knew they had no other real option. They lived in an era where they weren't allowed to be honest nor open; it felt wrong to have to lie about something as innocent as a ride into the forest spending time with one another, but their options were rather limited.
"You... Haven't asked where I'm taking you this time round." Thomas couldn't help but smile as he and Henry trotted along on horseback through the snow; it'd snowed heavily a few days prior and now that the winter sun was shining and thawed the prairies ever so slightly, Thomas wanted to show Henry one of his absolutely favourite phenomena. Growing up he'd often seek refuge in the forests, admiring the beauty in every season.
"I suppose I've come to trust you." Henry shot Thomas a knowing look before glancing back out at the white blanketed planes and the lightly worn-away snow on the path. There was something almost magical about the way the sun seemed to make the snow sparkle; as though the ground were sprinkled with diamond dust.
"I love it when the sun shines after it snows." Thomas cleared is throat, glancing over to see Henry staring off into the distance with a very preoccupied look omnipresent in those deep blue eyes. "I love the way the light catches the snow and the icicles on the trees. I used to always come down here to the woods outside Fir Creek on days like this; sunny after we've had snow. There's nothing more peaceful to just lose oneself in nature..."
"It's beautiful." Responded Henry, though it was clear half his mind was elsewhere.
"Is everything alright?" Asked Thomas, knowing full well something was bothering Henry; in the past few weeks Henry had been growing more and more comfortable telling Thomas when things bothered him. Though Thomas never dared push him, it made him happy to see Henry slowly open up and talk about his feelings and such.
"I just... feel a bit conflicted, is all." Admitted Henry with a weighted sigh as Thomas veered them off the road and into the forest where they were slowly engulfed on all sides by trees; conifers with their green needles on their boughs juxtaposed by the pure white snow, as well as naked branches of trees that'd lost their leaves for the autumn, with their . "I'm happy that Cal is here, really, but..."
"I thought you and your cousin were close?" Thomas asked curiously.
"We are, rather. But it's not that..." Henry sighed, contemplating whether or not to continue. "Can you keep a secret?" He asked, glancing over towards Thomas who had but a slight knowing smile that gave Henry the answer he needed; for men like Thomas and Henry in the era they did, their entire lives was them keeping one large secret and all those that came with it.
"I think we both know that I can." Thomas teased with a chuckle.
"Oh yes, right. How silly of me... Callum isn't just here for a holiday." Henry huffed, wondering if it was a good idea to tell Thomas, a literal law enforcement officer, that his cousin might've been involved in something treasonous. "He was cast out by my Uncle William, Duke of Ulster, because he tried to elope with the daughter of one of our tenant farmers."
"Oh. Is that all?" Asked Thomas, his eyes almost oddly calm concerning the matter.
"All?! I should think that quite enough." Sighed Henry, his demeanour dripping with a disappointment. "I want to be supportive of him, I really do, but I know the road ahead of them will be anything but easy."
"How do you mean?" Probed Thomas further, feeling a pang in his chest as he feared he'd learn the worst of Henry; that perhaps Henry had the same mentality as those who'd cast his father so many years prior.
"People won't accept them, not easily at least. Callum will be the Duke of Ulster one day, he'll be fine. But that poor girl, my heart aches for her most; I know how cruel our lot can be, how inhospitable to anyone we deep beneath us, regardless of the fact that inside our bodies we're all the same. They'll" Henry huffed as his mind raced; imagining just how difficult it would be for a young farmer's daughter to marry into one of the most influential Anglo-Irish noble families. "There will be jeering and taunting about her birth and her stature. I know that Callum loves her, I can see it in his eyes, but is it fair for her to have to be subjected to a life of stuffy, prejudiced aristocrats constantly looking down their noses at her."
"Funny." Thomas stated blankly with a humourless chuckle, his otherwise warm brown eyes carrying an inexplicable look of pain passed from one generation to the next. "Your father said the exact same thing to my father. before he eloped with my mother."
"Oh my God, Thomas, I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking. I'm so, so s-" Henry's bright blue eyes flashed with pure horror as he realised what he'd inadvertently done; all this time he'd been going on and on about something that he hadn't even realised could've been a sore spot for Thomas, whose own father was in a similar situation to Callum.
"You're right." Thomas said matter-of-factly, earning him a very dumbfounded stare from Henry. "In a way you're right. You know, the funny thing is that I always felt your father was like my Grandfather, another villain in my parents' love story. But in a way, he was just trying to help. In a way he knew that my parents wouldn't've been accepted and he only wanted to stop them from facing ridicule and discrimination..."
"Crikey, I never thought about it like that..." Henry frowned in contemplation; Thomas did have a point, after all.
They rode along the unbeaten path for a bit longer whilst Henry's eyes darted about, his mind drawing out of thought for the first time since they'd set out, allowing for him to truly enjoy how beautiful everything looked. The crystal-like ice sheathing over the things and branches, icicles hanging from limbs that seemed to gleam like diamonds in the sun, the gentle smell of pine in the fresh winter air.
It wasn't long before they got to their destination; a clearing in the forest surrounded by all sides with gorgeously snow-dusted and icicle ladened trees; a rushing, partially frozen brook running through the middle with snow along its banks. Thomas was the first to dismount, followed by Henry who followed his lead as the handsome young officer in his blue uniform pea-coat unhooked his satchel off off the side of his horse, Trooper, and carried it to a convenient log by the banks of the brook.
"What is this place?" Henry asked breathily, his eyes taking in the idyllic views around him, the likes of which he'd only seen in a Christmas card.
"This... is Fir Creek. " Gestured Thomas towards the trickling creek before turning around to lay out a blanket form his satchel over the log. "Come, sit down." Smile Thomas, playfully slapping the blanket covered log for Henry to rest on.
As both men settled onto the log, sitting next to each other as they simply took a minute to breathe in the air around them, enjoy being together and most importantly, enjoy being away from the world. Henry found the trickle of the creek almost mesmerising and calming in a way; the frozen bits of ice carried through the steady flowing streamlet of glass clear, ice cold water.
Thomas, however, wasn't nearly as taken by the views around him as the raven haired young man; for he'd been coming here since he was a mere child to escape from the world. For the young Constable's warm amber eyes were far too transfixed on the dark haired boy beside him to be bothered by any of the nature.
"You hungry? I packed us a quick lunch." Thomas cleared his throat to draw Henry out of deep thought as he fished something out of his satchel. Henry leant forward to see what he was doing, watching the handsome blond pull out a steel flasks and what looked like two sandwiches wrapped in aluminium foil. "Bon Appetit." Sang Thomas with a playful nudge to Henry's shoulder as he handed him one of the neatly wrapped sandwiches. "It's not much, but I figured it'd tide us over."
"It's perfect just the way it is..." Henry turned to lock eyes with the dashing young officer in crimson red, his voice soft, barely over a whisper, as though weary not to disturb the tranquility of the forest around him. "It truly is beautiful here..."
"It's been my personal secret since I was a kid, I've never known anyone else to be aware of it." Thomas chuckled as he up-wrapped the foil around his ham and cheese sandwich. "I used to escape here whenever I wanted a moment to myself to just think or just take in nature."
"I can certainly imagine why..." Henry trailed off, his voice breaking ever so slightly as Thomas glanced up to look at him; his eyes were still preoccupied, heavy with an inexplicable look of anxiety as he gazed out towards the other bank of the creek.
"You care about your cousin deeply, don't you?" Asked Thomas, has Henry craned his neck to look the handsome blond in the eyes.
"I do." Replied Henry honestly; a part of him feeling guilty for even being realistic in that moment, for even playing into the staunch and oppressive societal norms of the aristocracy that he'd loathed for all his childhood. "We grew up together, we've always been the very best of friends."
"And he knows about you? And your attraction to other men?" Thomas probed deeper into the matter.
"Yes." Henry furrowed his brows, wondering where this was going.
"And he accepts you regardless of whom you're attracted to?" Thomas inquired, by which time Henry knew exactly where this was going. "Stand by him, Henry, be on his side. Our relationship isn't too unlike his; both unconventional, both ostracised by the world and society. If our feelings for one another are valid, so are his; if we can go against the odds to have a relationship that the world would condemn, then we ought to support him and his love as well..."
Henry simply nodded at Thomas' words as he felt his mind and heart relax for the first time; a stark contrast to the way his they'd been racing before. He rested his head on Thomas' strong shoulder as he let the man's words put him at ease; taking in the snow blanketed landscape around them as let his mind unwind. But this brief moment of piece was fated to be short-lived, cut off abruptly as he heard voices in the distance. Both Henry and Thomas turned to each other as they both heard , and then it came again. The voices in the distance; human by the sounds of them and though they couldn't make heard nor tail of what they being said. "Do you hear that...?" He lowered his voice to a whisper as they both leapt up to standing.