"Do you terribly mind remaining here for so long?" Allie asked curiously, posing the question to her sister and brother-in-law, both of whom were seated with her in the parlour. Juliette and Henry were chasing one another or, rather, little Henry was toddling about and unsuccessfully attempting to catch his elder and much faster sister.
"Whatever gave you that idea?" Cassie asked, seeming bewildered. Allie had wondered, after Richard's casual mention, and she was glad she asked Cassandra, so that she might know what her family thought before she made any further decisions. "We certainly do not mind. It has been a nice reprieve from London and all its noise."
"Really?" Alexandra asked doubtfully, lifting Henry and placing him in her lap as he rushed past her. "We've been here ages and I am sure the both of you have much better things to do in town."
"I certainly don't." Kit shrugged, continuing, "Everything has settled at the estate and my manager is more than capable of looking after things for a few months. Family is far more important than anything else, Allie." There was a far-off look in his eyes, and Alexandra remembered that his childhood had been less than ideal too.
"I agree." Cassandra added smilingly, "You are happy here, Allie. Happy with Richard. You are more alive than you have been in a long while, and seeing you this way is truly wonderful. So, why would we ever wish to pull you from this happiness?"
Alexandra grinned widely at her sister. Although Nate had always been the loving older brother, Cassandra had been more of a parental figure, for she had been both strict and kind and knew exactly when to put a stop to anything Allie was doing. She appreciated Cassie more than she knew, and she wished that there was a way to make her feelings on the matter more blatant to her sister.
"That settles it then, doesn't it?" She asked brightly, pressing a kiss to the top of her squirming nephew's head before letting him off her lap. He went straight to his Mama, which caused his sister to follow and they both clambered on to the sofa, settling on either side of Cassie. Allie's heart squeezed with joy at the sight and she wished that her future would hold something like the scene before her, but she could only imagine such a thing with Richard and, as far as she knew, it wasn't a possibility.
"On that note, I have some correspondence to answer, so I must retire for a while." Kit informed them abruptly, before standing up to leave, with a short goodbye that they responded to in like.
"Allie," Cassandra said suddenly, a few minutes after her husband had left, and Alexandra looked up to meet her gaze. "You love him, don't you?"
"I think I do." She confessed, instantly looking away, embarrassed. Lying to her sister wasn't a thought that hadn't even crossed her mind, but the answer she'd given caused a blush to rise to her cheeks for it felt silly and childish and humiliating to admit something of the sort. "I am not entirely sure, but I have a strong belief that I do love him. I do not think he loves me, though." The last of her words was a whispered admission, one that brought a sudden heaviness to her heart.
"I think you do, too." Cassandra agreed, "Of course, I could not claim to know you better than you know yourself, but you very much appear to me a girl in love. I was exactly the same with Kit. I still am. As for his feelings, I have no doubt in my mind that he feels for you exactly the way that you feel for him."
"Do you really think so?" Allie asked doubtfully, for such a thought hadn't ever crossed her mind. She'd never allowed herself to raise her hopes so high.
"I do." Cassie confirmed, "I don't think either of you truly loved one another when you were first affianced, but from the time we have arrived here, I have seen you fall in love with Richard. The same has happened to him as well and, I assure you, I have no cause to believe otherwise."
Allie's head began swimming with thoughts, mostly of Richard. She was overcome by the odd urge to seek him out and speak to him, although she knew she was not likely to have the courage to mention to him what Cassie said. Judging by the knowing look in her sister's eyes, Cassie knew exactly what Allie was thinking of.
"Go." She urged, laughing shortly, "Speak to him. It is rather obvious that you wish to." Cassandra teased and, not for the first time, Alexandra wished her sister didn't know her as well as she did.
After quickly kissing the children, Allie hunted about the house for Richard who, she was surprised to find, had taken refuge in the library, a large, rather uninteresting looking tome open on the table in front of him, open only on the first page. He clearly found it as boring as it appeared.
"What exactly are you reading?" Alexandra asked, amused. She knew him not to be one for long, detailed treatises on dry subjects, and that was exactly what the book appeared to be.
He jumped at the sound of her voice, for she had crept quietly into the room, hardly loud enough for him to have heard even if he had not been lost in thought. With a short smile that was soon followed by a grimace as her question registered, he shut the book so that she might see the name on the heavy leather cover.
"Brandon's Essays on Morality and A Principled Living?" She demanded disbelievingly as she read the title out loud. "Why would you read such a thing?" She said in distaste, for the book was at least a thousand pages long and the writing was so awfully small and the subject so awfully boring that she could not imagine anyone, let alone Richard, willingly putting themselves through the ordeal of reading it.
"My father enjoyed it, for some reason." Richard explained, thoughtfully running a finger along the gold, indented letters of the title, carefully tracing each one as he spoke. "He marked some of the essays that he enjoyed and he wanted me to read them, but I never actually did for the sight of the jacket was enough to put me off. I thought that I might get some satisfaction if I finally did as he asked."
"That does make sense." Allie agreed, but found that she still could not align herself with the idea of reading a volume of considerable size that, presumably, preached about good conduct. "But, since you evidently are not able to read it at the moment, how about we read something much lighter?"
"Like what?" Richard scoffed, but he set aside Brandon's book immediately, making her smile. "Shakespeare?" His tone was derogatory, but she was suddenly inspired.
"And why not?" She challenged, hands on her hips. "What's wrong with Shakespeare? I happen to enjoy his work."
"Of course you'd enjoy reading about star-crossed lovers. Shakespeare is far too sentimental for me." Richard teased, and she made a face at him before informing him that she would now endeavour to find something by the Bard that might change his opinion.
It took her a few minutes, but she was eventually able to locate a copy of Shakespeare's sonnets, and the book immediately brought a smile to her face, for it was exactly like the copy she had at home. She adored Shakespeare's poetry, and she even knew her favourites by heart. If she hadn't know that he'd tease her to no end, she might even have recited them to Richard.
"Are you seriously going to read poetry to me?" He questioned when she returned and took a seat across from him, and she could tell he was highly entertained at the prospect. However, all she had to do was give him a dirty look for him to stop talking.
She cleared her throat, and opened the book to a familiar page, the poem bringing a smile to her face as she read the title in her mind before beginning.
"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."
"What did you think of that?" She asked, a little proudly for she was sure she had changed his mind.
To her astonishment, however, he only shook his head, unconvinced, as he spoke, "Sentimental drivel. That's what I think it is. Is there really nothing else?"
"Well," Alexandra said reluctantly, as she turned the page to her favourite sonnet, unsure if she wished to share something so personal with him. But she did love him, and the poem was not just one of love but one of hope, too, and she wanted to share that with him. "This one is my favourite, so you are not allowed to laugh at it."
"When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur’d like him, like him with friends possess’d,
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remember’d such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings."
She read it not as she had read the previous poem. With that one, she had emphasised where she was supposed to emphasise, had enunciated, and had forced passion into her tone, just as she had been taught. With this one, however, she read it how she felt, and subtle emotion entered her voice, adding a heaviness to the moment that she had not expected. She sighed softly when she was finished, and closed the book without even realising.
When she looked up, Richard was gazing at her intensely, with something in his eyes that she could not identify. Whatever it was, she knew her own gaze held it too. She looked into his eyes for a long moment, shivering as he reached his hand out across the table and placed it over hers.
"You just might have changed my opinion." He murmured softly, and his words fell upon her ears like a caress.
"Did I really?" She asked, not even aware of the words leaving her lips because all she was focused on was him. His eyes, his gaze, his lips. The rest of the world did not exist, and all that was there was the two of them.
"Alexandra," he began, lost in the moment exactly as she was, "Can I kiss you?"
"Yes." She breathed out, before her mind had even had time to register the question. Her heart had answered for her.
And, before she knew it, he was leaning across the table and she was doing the same, both of them clutching at each other's arms for support as their lips met. For a moment, she was not sure what she was supposed to do, but then she was kissing him back just as fiercely as he was kissing her, lips insistent and almost hungry.
It certainly wasn't perfect. The table between them dug into her ribs painfully and she could barely keep herself upright without his support and the kiss itself, lovely as it was, was still a little awkward. But it was theirs, and she loved it as much as she loved him. And, when he pulled away, she found herself leaning forward and kissing him again.
Suddenly, the library door banged open, and they separated, a flush rising to Allie's cheeks as she realised what she was doing. A blushing and stammering maid was standing in the doorway, an apology on her lips at having intruded.
Allie, however, caught herself before she embarrassed herself any further and quickly rose to her feet, hurrying from the room, her mind racing and lips tingling, leaving Richard to handle the situation.
All she knew was that she wanted to do it again.