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She had completely forgotten! And she promised she would uphold that one, simple rule he asked of her.
She quickly got dressed and wrapped her hair in a quick bun. A few loose strands fell out rebelliously, framing her face, and Amelia simply pushed them behind her ear. She gave herself one quick glance in the mirror, and once satisfied with the five-minute change, she headed towards where she remembered the dining room to be.
She wondered if she ought to apologize again. Probably so. Although, he told her it was fine. In that case, she should simply forget all about it and just act normally. Only, what was normal in these circumstances?
She passed through the door and entered the dining room. Arthur was already seated, but immediately upon seeing her, he jumped up. Then, he proceeded to walk over to her and lead her to her place which was right by his side. As soon as they both sat down, the first course arrived.
“We are having a choice of entrees to start with and roast joints,” he explained as Amelia watched the food be placed in the middle of the table, still at an arm’s reach. “This will be followed by a pheasant roast along with blancmange. For dessert, we have fruit, cheese, and, of course, creamed ices.”
Amelia almost gasped at the sight of all that food then looked at Arthur. “You can’t possibly expect the two of us to eat all this.”
“I told Mrs. Collins to prepare something special,” Arthur explained. “I assure you that this will be the finest pheasant roast you’ve ever had.”
When he said that, he threw a casual glance in the direction of Mrs. Collins, who was standing in the corner of the room, overseeing that everything was set up properly and according to custom. She acknowledged his gaze with a smile, and Amelia could immediately tell that Mrs. Collins had probably been employed here for many years just like the butler. That in itself was enough to make her feel like there was more homeyness in this house than she initially thought. There were people inside who did consider this their home, no matter what the exterior looked like.
“Everything looks really delicious,” Amelia smiled at the housekeeper as well. “Thank you for arranging all this.”
“It was my pleasure,” Mrs. Collins bowed before both of them then instantly, she and the servants left them alone.
“Are we to eat alone in the room, just the two of us?” Amelia wondered. In her household, and actually everywhere else, the servants would stay vigilant, anticipating what they might need and then fetching it, readying the next course at the same time.
“Yes,” he nodded. “That was how I envisioned it.”
“And the next course?” she asked.
He lifted his finger and pointed at a little rope that hung just behind him. It was invisible to the naked eye, perfectly blending into the surroundings at the same time being there if one knew where to look.
“I usually call them with this,” he explained. “I like my mealtimes to be solitary moments of introspection.”
“Oh,” she looked down at the food, mostly to obtain some time to come up with an answer to that. “We could still do that. We could eat in silence.”
“We shall see,” he shrugged, taking his fork and reaching for the nearest bowl. “Mrs. Collins told me you wish to do some remodeling of the house.”
Amelia tried to pinpoint the undertone of his statement, but there was nothing to identify. She should have known that Mrs. Collins would mention it to him. Why wouldn’t she? Amelia just didn’t think it would be so quickly.
“Yes,” Amelia nodded, still watching the food. “I hope I did not cross any lines with that.”
She had to admit that the food looked absolutely appetizing. However, she did not feel hungry at all. Still, she placed a little bit of food into her plate and decided to eat it, mostly so as not to insult Mrs. Collins, who had obviously worked hard in arranging this special dinner which Amelia had almost already ruined by her forgetfulness.
“Why would you cross lines with that?” he wondered, putting a small bit of the roast in his mouth then proceeding to chew softly, all the while not taking his eyes off of her. She felt as if he was expecting her to slip up, to say something wrong. Why else would he be looking at her so intently?
“I thought because it is your house and –”
“It isyourhouse as well,” he interrupted her once he had stopped chewing. “I understand that it may not feel that way, yet, so your idea of redecorating some parts of it to make it more… I don’t know. More pretty? More modern? I can’t say I know what you have in mind. But I welcome it.”
“You do?” She couldn’t believe that he said that. He agreed with her suggestion so easily, almost to easily.
“Of course,” he nodded. “You will see that Mrs. Collins has quite a keen eye for detail. You can ask her about anything regarding the house.”
“Do you wish us to keep you involved?” Amelia asked. She wanted to say again that it was his home where he grew up, where he had all his memories, but she thought he might just correct her again, so she said nothing.
“I’m not really interested in the way the house looks,” he shrugged.
She almost frowned but managed to prevent herself from doing so. It was his fault that the house had arrived in such a state of dilapidation. He did not take any measures to prevent it from happening. She could also see upon her arrival here that some parts had not been repaired since the fire that happened such a long time ago. Amelia could not understand why he would just leave the house in such a horrid state of disarray.
Then again, this was a man she could not decipher. Sometimes, she could almost see underneath the cold persona that he was presenting to everyone, certain that there was more to see. At other times, she could almost agree with whatthe tonbelieved him to be. Somewhere in between all that was a single truth that she could not deny, and that was the fact that she found him more and more handsome every time they met. There was something about his sleek hair that was never out of place. There was something about the way he was looking at her as if he also expected to see something just underneath the surface of who she was.
She could not explain it herself, this strange amalgamation of feelings that was bubbling inside of her like a witches’ cauldron. She tried attributing it to the fact that she had just gotten married to a man she would never have chosen for herself. She was forced to marry him because the fate of her family depended on it. Hence this strange concoction of emotions regarding this man, this place, and the fact that she was now a married woman.
