He fell heavily on the bed next to her, exhaling deeply. She watched his chest rise and fall peacefully, not as rapidly as usual. He had set a slower pace tonight, unlike all the previous nights… He was usually in a hurry to finish with her and then kick her out. But not tonight.
She came closer and lay her head on his chest. Despite his slight discomfort, he passively allowed her to stay there. His pitch-black eyes were staring into the void, barely acknowledging her presence. But he hadn't told her to go away.
The moon was looking down on them through the window, shedding light upon their naked bodies. She studied his silhouette with a smile. He was beautiful.
And she? Was she beautiful?
She had heard him just a few hours earlier. His conversation with Judge Turpin, as he was preparing to give him the closest shave he would ever have. They had been discussing women. Pretty women.
She recalled every word. She stroked his hair gently as she remembered his voice echoing in that same room.
Pretty women
Fascinating...
Sipping coffee,
Dancing...
He had danced with her in the bakery that day. He had held her in his strong arms and he had spinned her around, a big grin on his face as he marveled at her charming idea.
… Pretty women
Are a wonder...
A bloody wonder he had called her. And he had wondered how he'd lived without her all those years. But he never asked how she had lived without him; how she had suffered watching him with his Lucy, and how she had tolerated her own husband, and how she had cried when he had got transported.
… Sitting in the window…
That very day, they had sat in the window together, picking out their supplies - their victims.
Pretty women
Silhouetted…
She subconsciously ran her hands down her waist. Free of her corset, her milky white flesh was now exposed on the bed next to him, eerily lit by the moonlight. Silhouetted, was she? She knew her corset did what a corset was supposed to do - it accentuated her hips beautifully and gave her an impressive bust. But then she remembered Lucy, who never needed a corset to make her figure look attractive. Oh well… She didn't have much use for that figure now anyway.
… Stay forever
Breathing lightly...
Lightly she breathed all those nights next to him, after he'd finished with her, right before he got up hastily and ordered her to leave him. And lightly she was breathing now, next to him once more, but now he wanted her there, he had let her stay...
… Pretty women
At their mirrors…
What was the last time she'd looked at herself in the mirror? She could only recall her distorted reflection, side by side with his, in that old shattered mirror he kept in his barber shop.
… Flower-picking…
She had wanted to pick him some flowers for his gloomy room, to brighten it up. Some daisies, or maybe gillyflowers. He didn't object to the idea. Maybe one of these days she'd get him a nice bouquet. Normally, it was the other way round, she thought. Women didn't bring men flowers. But nothing about him was normal after all.
… Proof of heaven
As you're living
Pretty women!
She would become a pretty woman too. Maybe now, with her idea, her wonderful bright idea, she would gather enough money to buy a new dress or two. And then she would take care of her hair more, and perhaps she would also buy some jewellery… Mrs Lovett smiled at the thought of becoming one of them, one of his pretty women.
He suddenly awoke from his lethargy.
"What are you doing?" he muttered.
"Mr. T… I just…"
"You've had it. Now get out."
"But…" her voice cracked.
"Leave me."
She bit her lip, trying to stop the tears from emerging. But she didn't succeed, for a tiny diamond left her eye and quickly made its way down the curve of her nose. She grabbed her dress and her undergarments from the floor, clumsily wrapped them around herself, slipped in her shoes and opened the door. She glanced at him before she exited. He was facing the window.
She ran down the stairs and went to her bedroom. She threw the clothes on the floor and put on her nightgown. The tears were now streaming down her cheeks as she was trying to smother her sobs. She let herself fall on the bed and hid her face in her hands.