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After a few minutes, Matilda could hear the pattering of horse hooves against the ground. The slight squeak of wheels also filled the moist, chilly air.
Then she saw Aaron pulling the phaeton up. It was then that she realized that her memory did not betray her. He was more attractive than she had remembered. The way his face rested, the way he rode, he was so sure of himself, so convicted in his ways. Just looking at him, Matilda got a sense that he knew where he was going, and whether or not he was right, he would make it work anyway.
“The carriage is here,” Ann said, and Matilda remembered that she was there. As much as she liked Ann, she wished beyond belief that she did not need to be there with them. A moment like the night prior where it was just the two of them would be perfect. Unrealistic, but perfect.
The ride began with little speaking. Matilda and Aaron locked eyes for a long moment but did not make a fuss of it with words given Ann’s presence. Knowing that they could almost communicate in secret like that made having Ann there a little less problematic.
A bit into the ride, Matilda took out a book of poems and Ann was startled by that for whatever reason.
Matilda then decided to break from the silence and continue their discussion from the night before about literature.
“Do you see my book of poems? This is one of my favourites.” Matilda said to Aaron.
Aaron did not turn around. He barely moved. “Yes, I see it.”
His cold response made Matilda lift an eyebrow in confusion. His tone had changed completely from the night before. There was no give to it. It was much like a wall, whereas when they last spoke, he had been vulnerable.
“You like poems, do you not?” Matilda said, somewhat afraid that his response would be even colder than the last.”
“Yes, I enjoy poetry.”
Matilda sat back in her seat, sullen. Cold and aloof Aaron was not pleasant. It made her wonder just what she did wrong. Unless he was just playing it up to Ann and did not want to come off as too forward. But what could be forward about speaking on poetry?
“I actually have that book back home,” Aaron said. This time it was still filled with a reserved tone, but it was also wrapped in a clear desire not to push her away entirely. Matilda appreciated the effort.
The remainder of the ride was as dreary as the sky above. Ann did not speak. Aaron did not speak either. It came to the point where the book that Matilda brought just to show Aaron wound up being opened and read. For the first time ever, Matilda did not enjoy reading. She simply wanted to share a conversation with the man driving the carriage.
She watched his back as he kept the horses in control. Aaron was very tense. He was not the same man that initially rode up to the front. Discomfort was clearly something that he did not do well with. Matilda could imagine that if he had it his way, he would have jumped out of the carriage and fled the town. But maybe because he cared about her, he toughed it out. There would only be one way to find out, and that was by speaking to him. She would need to get Ann away first.
The carriage arrives close to the Hardon House, and Matilda gains an idea. “Aaron, you can just pull the carriage into the stables, and Ann and I will walk back. Judging by the passing clouds, I think we may have missed the rain.”
“No, I clearly think that the rain—”
“Ann, when was the last time you took a walk with me?”
“Just the other day when you ran away.”
Matilda pursed her lips. It seemed that Ann had a response ready for everything. “I am walking Ann. I don’t want to be cooped up inside so soon. If it rains, we shall run. That is if you still have that ability in you.”
“I’ll have you knowI ran just the other day. How do you think I caught up with you so quickly?”
When they all get out of the carriage, Matilda and Aaron share another look. Matilda sends her attention to Ann, fully intending to sendher ahead so she could have a moment alone with Aaron.
“Ann, you may get a head start. I’ll meet you.”
Ann gives Aaron a long-measured look and then gives the same one to Matilda. It was then that she knew Ann was wise to everything going on. “I do not think so. We shall walk back together just as you said in the carriage before.”
“I don’t see the issue in just getting a head start.”
“I don’t see how it makes sense to send me first and then catch up when we can both head back right now together. You are acting rather suspicious.”
Matilda let out a reserved sigh and then looked at Aaron. She tried to convey that she was sorry, but he did nothing but look away. Their little secret language appeared to be no more, or he had just been refusing to use it.
Ann and Matilda had begun to walk back. It pained Matilda to just leave Aaron back there without saying a word or a goodbye.
“You are acting a fool, Matilda,” Ann said in the bluntest of ways. “That man is not Charles.”
“I do not want Charles. But no one seems to care about that.” She could not believe that she finally said it allowed. It frightened her somewhat, not knowing how Ann would react to it.
