Chapter 4 Falling For Her

CHAPTER 4

Falling For Her

Jackson's POV

"Jackson would just be fine. What are you doing at the moment?" I stared at the apron over her dress, it was like a colour wheel of paint.

"Working on something. What do you need?"

"Every week I go out for a stroll, a long one, so I go with my carriage. I would like you to come with me. It would be intriguing, you can finally get to see the rest of the town."

"I cannot leave the house, what do I tell Aunt Elizabeth when she returns?"

"You can say, you went on a trip with the Lord." She chuckled.

We walked to the carriage. Joy thrived in me that amongst all things she had chosen to take this special outing with me. I looked at her, to find her staring back but she did not look away like the other ladies who would have looked down, shying away when I stared or looking over their hand fan.

"You do look like a curious one. You can ask whatever is bothering you."

"I am not quite bothered. However..."

"Oh, there is the 'however', I was waiting for that. Go on."

"How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Being the Duke, you look quite young for that. Perhaps I am missing something."

"Well, my father always says, a man is what he wants to be. I became the Duke at ten and nine years old. Father was gravely ill back then and so he needed a successor to keep the lands and the estate. The King granted his request when he asked for it."

"Oh I see, quite an interesting story. So where is he now, I mean your father?"

"He passed away a few years ago, God rest his soul."

"Oh, I am sorry for your loss." She beamed at me looking away from the carriage to the roads.

"So what about you? What about your family? "

"My mother and father are very much alive. I have three sisters, two are already married off to rich sailors and merchants and the other one is about to be married in a few days."

"Oh, wow that should be good. So that means you would be going back in a few days' time."

"No, I would not be attending."

"Why?"

"I cannot go back because the one getting married in a few days' time is the youngest of us. Mother said it is shameful, people will talk. But I do not want to end up like just any bride. I do not want a suitor, I want a husband that would look me in the eyes and tell me that he loves me amongst all odds. They said I do things I should not be doing, that I must come here and become a seamstress if I must leave. And so I did."

I watched her speak, her lips stuttering and her eyes flickered as she used certain words. I wished I could pull her out of her misery and give her the life that she wanted. But how could I tell her that we share a similar burden? How could I help her when I do not have the courage to help myself? I was to be married to a lady I do not know, just so I would be recognized in the King's court and do what my father could not do. But when I stared at her smiling at the dry sand and as the carriage trotted on, I saw an undefined hope, something so pure that I could not explain in a thousand years. She had left her home to be in a strange land, such bravery I did not know if I possessed.

"What do you fancy?"

"I have never been asked that question before."

She beamed, the ray from the carriage window rested on her eyes, her hazel eyes were as still as the sea, peaceful and delicate. She had asked a question, something I did not think I would be asked even on the day I was to be married.

"I want to be a writer, write some of the famous books and poems as well. Do you write?"

"No, I do not but I read sometimes, when I get to be in fathers study room. It is a great experience, learning new words and knowing about the past as well."

"Henry, can you stop the carriage please?" The carriage came to a complete halt.

"Why are we stopping?"

"We walk from here, come let me show you something." I took her hands in mine as we walked along leaving the carriage and Henry behind.

"So, where are we going?"

"I would want it to be a surprise. It is just a little bit further."

We walked on the soil, trampling on the fallen leaves as they rustled. Her hair bounced as she walked it was like ripples from water.

"I forgot my hat in the carriage, I should go get it."

"Here, you can have mine." I took the hat off my head, handing it over to her, "Thank you, but should I be wearing the Lord's hat?"

"With you I am just Jackson. No Lord, no title. It is just me and you here."

She chuckled and her chin rose, giving her an even glowing look.

"How often do you do this? Come out here in the open, to gasp in the air."

"More often than you think. My stroll is a very important time for me to be away from my family."

"And your bride to be?"

"I see you have met Agnes already."

"Yes, I have."

"But I do not want to marry her."

"You sound like you have no choice."

"They make it seem so. We are here." I stared at the well made of bricks, with glowing pink petal flowers surrounding it.

"A well is your favourite place in the whole of England?"

"Not just a well, I call it my thinking well."

Juliet's POV

I opened my eyelids to the crack of dawn, rising like the bloom of the primrose in a garden, with the touch of the cool breath of the morning dew on me. The balmy air like that of the early days of every month brushed against my skin raising my hairs. The howl of the wind graced my ears. I strolled to the window with the dew still all over, its dimness robbed me of the newly birthed view. I sat on the rocking chair still watching the day, the yellow sun peeking from the white clouds, it bore a resemblance of the Gainsborough landscape portrait. Such magnificence and resplendence. I took up the needle and the fabric, just like Aunt Elizabeth had taught me, to make embroidery, then soft tap came from the door.