"The Great Depression rages on, but it has done nothing to affect our lives. How can that be classed as fair? How can I sit here and learn to play an instrument which, may I add, I have no interest in, whilst there are families struggling to put food on their tables?"
A small smile pulled at his lips as the girl next to him complained. She moved to stand from the long bench at the piano and wander around the grand dining hall. Her hand trailed over the mahogany table as she wandered down the length of it. Large window panes trailed down one of the four walls, allowing the sunlight to stream through.
"The Great Depression is possibly affecting you too," he reminded her.
She turned to look at him a hand on the table and other on her hip as she shook her head slowly. It took her a few moments to turn and look outside of the window, a great forest rolling into the distance beyond the vast green lawn.
"I hardly see how," she responded, sinking down to sit in the end seat at the dining table. "Father comes home every night after scarcely doing anything during the day. Hundreds of companies have suffered, but father seems to keep afloat."
He stood up and placed his hands behind his back, one foot slowly moving in front of the other as he also moved down the twenty five seat table. He kept his eyes set on her before looking to the
"We both know that your father has family money he kept safe," he replied and settled down in the seat next to hers. He watched her push a hand through her blonde curls, her green eyes finding his sparkling orbs. "You do not need to worry, Evelyn."
"But I do worry," she complained. "I know that people are suffering everywhere, not just Wahpeton, but I also know that there are more states than North Dakota. I would love to visit them one day."
He took a moment to watch Evelyn as she dropped her elbows to the table and cupped her chin in her hands. Her eyes remained set on his, and she wondered if he knew of the gossip which circulated the town. She suspected he would have an idea. He seemed to know everything she thought.
"Evelyn!"
The girl sighed loudly and grumbled under her breath, her head hitting the table for a moment as she heard his familiar voice. She picked her head up after a moment or two, the sight of her father entering the dining hall enough to make her consider standing and leaving.
"Father," she responded. "Edward and I were just finishing my piano lesson."
"Is that why you are sat at the dining table?" he asked back from her and she nonchalantly shrugged at his word, choosing to keep her lips set in a straight line. "And you do not lounge at the table in such a fashion, Evelyn. You are hardly acting like a proper lady, are you?"
She sat up straight and dropped her hands into her lap. Edward kept still, his fingers pushing through his neatly coifed hear before he pulled at his suit jacket and cravat. His other hand ran down his cheek before he looked to Mr Martins, the tall balding man glancing at Edward in an apologetic manner. Jack Martins was of slim build with an oval face, his green narrowed eyes were constantly set on his daughter, and his lips were usually pursed. He was pale and a moustache hovered just above his top lip.
"I am sorry for my daughter's rude manner, Edward," he spoke.
"I have grown used to it by now," Edward replied and he stood up, once again clasping his hands behind his back.
He kept his gaze lowered, but fully on Evelyn. She was a charming girl, he supposed. She was always fretting about their being more to life outside of the Martins estate. She spent her piano lessons with Edward talking instead of letting her fingers press against the keys. It always tended to be Edward who conducted the music as she spoke, her elbows on the edge of the instrument near the keys as she spoke. He would listen and smile softly at her words.
"Has she often caused you trouble?" Jack wondered and Evelyn stood up, pushing her hair behind her ears.
"I do not cause trouble," she denied. "Besides, why must I learn to play the piano? You already intend to marry me off soon."
Jack almost stumbled then as his daughter folded her arms over her stomach. The blue dress she wore tumbled down to her feet. The material was plain, only buttons decorated the back where it came together. The sleeves were three quarter in length, but she did not wear gloves on her fingers. Evelyn never wore gloves, nor did she comply with the women's fashion of the times. There was something about fashion which bored her more than most.
"Robert Jacques is a wealthy businessman, Evelyn. He will take good care of you. The arrangement is scarcely completed."
It was then when Edward sensed the shift in the atmosphere. Evelyn's glower increased towards her father and she began to move from the room, almost tripping over her long skirt as she went.
"I am truly glad to know that I am nothing more than a transaction in your life."
"Evelyn-"
"Do not bother," Evelyn interrupted, emphasising each word.
Edward stood then and watched Evelyn storm from the dining hall and down the main corridor, her feet hitting the tiled floor with haste as she went.
"I do apologise, Edward," Jack said again and Edward shook his head.
"Do you wish for me to speak with her?" Edward dared to ask and Jack shrugged his shoulders.
"See if she listens to you..." Jack trailed off and Edward left that as an open invitation to follow Evelyn out from the hall.
He managed to catch up with her quickly, seeing that she was sat on the swing by the side of the house. The weather was overcast and the grass was long after a week of constant rain. Her hands curled around the rope which hung from a tree's branch, her gaze downcast and Edward could already sense that the tears had begun to stream from her cheeks.
"Evelyn," he whispered her name.
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand before awkwardly tugging at the three quarter length sleeve on her gown. Her blonde curls were askew on the top of her head with thanks to the wind.
"I am sorry," she suddenly spoke. "You should not have had to be privy to that...my father...he angers me more than I care to admit..."
"You are all he has left," Edward spoke to her, standing before the swing she sat on. "I am sure he cares for you very much."
"Then why does he wish to send me to a man I scarcely know or even love?" she dared to ask him. "I have danced with Robert Jacques at one ball and have taken one stroll with him through the park. How can he know that he wants to marry me from that?"
Shrugging, Edward perched on the tree stump near the swing as Evelyn pushed herself with her feet, scuffing the shoes she wore, but failing to care.
"He is a wealthy man. The Jacques and the Martins family are prestigiously known."
"For their inherited wealth," Evelyn scoffed. "Ever since mother died he has been distant. He scarcely spends time with me, but when he does it is to discuss how much of a failure I am to him. I have half a mind to leave here and do something worthwhile with my time."
"And who would I tutor then?" he wondered back and she let out a small life as Edward clasped his hands together in front of himself and in between his legs.
"You scarcely tutor me. You play the piano whilst I sit and moan to you," Evelyn replied. "Will that stop when I marry?"
Edward shifted uncomfortably on the stump as she stopped swinging on the seat and waited for his response. He finally moved to look at her, standing tall and moving to the back of the swing. She felt his hands pull at the ropes, hauling her into the air before he let her go.
"I believe that would depend on your husband," Edward replied. "I will continue to tutor you if that is what you wish."
His palms made contact with her back to push her forwards again and she turned her head over her shoulder to look back at him.
"I wish for you to continue being my friend," she whispered and Edward gave her a stiff smile.
"And I wish to continue as your friend," he assured her. "Perhaps it would be for the best if you spoke to your father?"
"He will not listen to me," Isabelle looked in front again. "He has no time for me, nor does he care for my opinion. What more can I do to convince him to give me more time? Why should he be the one to pick who I marry, anyway? He cannot decide who I love."
It was the one time when Edward wanted to agree with her fully. He did not understand why she should be forced into a marriage with a man she had met less than a handful of times. He could see that Evelyn was not the type of person to settle down with a man she had not met. She was not a girl who sat on the porch and swooned over the handsomeness of men who went passing.
"Only you know who you love," Edward whispered and he took a moment to help the swing stop moving before he walked to face her again, inclining his head and offering out his arm to her. "We can take a walk, if you wish? I am sure your father will not begrudge you a walk through the forest."
"Are you certain?" she jested with him. "He already has his doubts about you, Mr Cullen."
"Does he truly?" Edward asked back in an amused voice.
She laced her arm into his before walking by his side, something about his arm in hers causing her pulse to race.
"I think he believes that your family wishes for a higher status by befriending me," Evelyn said truthfully. "I do not know why. Your father is a doctor. He is well respected...much more so than my father...I hear the way people speak of him."
"You should not listen to gossip," Edward replied, wandering with her through the trees, stepping over a stump first before making sure she did not trip over it. "Gossip often brings people nothing but misery."
"Often," Evelyn echoed back to him, looking to the tall trees above her. "And what about you?"
"What about me?" Edward wondered back.
She playfully nudged his stomach, a bold move no other woman would dream of doing. "Has no woman come along and brought more than a crooked smile to your face?"
Said smile appeared as soon as she had spoken and a deep chuckle left him.
"No woman has come along," he responded, almost noting her trip over her own two feet as her eyes remained more focused on the clouded sky above her.
Edward quickly caught her waist, his other hand moving to her bare wrist, his cold fingers covering her skin. She winced at the feeling and Edward's hand before he moved it up her arm and to the end of her gown where his coldness could not affect her.
"You are freezing," Evelyn whispered. "Is it truly that cold? Are you coming down with something?"
"No," Edward whispered as he dared to keep his arm around her waist, the material of her skirts bunching in his fingers. "I have always been cold...try not to worry about it."
"Uncommonly cold," she muttered, her hand moving to his shoulder to assure him she was fine to stand on her own accord.
He watched as she turned on her heel and began to move forwards, thinking of what could have happened. He knew that he had to be careful, but the feeling of her warm skin on his cold skin was enough to bring out some form of feeling inside of him. It was something he kept hidden due to fear.
"Are you coming, Edward?" she called after him and he looked to her as she tossed her head over her shoulder to stare at him.
"Of course," he whispered back and followed her once again.
...
A/N: So I decided to make a story where Edward has just come out of his rebellious phase. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and will let me know what you think! Thanks!