A Fool's Errand
Part 2
By: Piperholmes
A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews and comments! You people are marvelous for encouraging me! I'm sorry this is a super short chapter but this scene needed to happen and it could go into the next chapter but I wanted it to be a moment unto itself. I plan to post a longer chapter tomorrow or the next day that will pick up immediately after this one. Unbeta'd.
To say the wedding had been small is an insult to the minuet descriptor. The two had snuck off one afternoon to the registrar and in less than 10 minutes, with two government works as witnesses, they'd become husband and wife.
Tom had worn his uniform, while Sybil had pulled out a rather fancy looking dinner dress. At his wide eyed expression, she had given him a shy smile, grateful Mary had insisted she bring at least one with her. She supposed she felt a little bereft at the lack of a wedding party. She wasn't one to expect lavish outpourings, but if she were honest, she doubted her dream wedding had included the balding gentleman who wed them, and the nameless, faceless witnesses. But war had changed the country, changed her, and while it was odd to have spent her childhood imagining all the faces of her family at her wedding, while the groom had always remained a blur, and to find herself now, surrounded by people she would never remember, yet staring at the defined features of her husband-to-be, she felt a strange calm, and all those imagings fell away. All expectations paled as he turned and saw her, his expression of awe more memorable than the grandest of nuptials.
They had both been so nervous, Sybil having been sick twice that morning, and once more one their way to the registrar's office. She'd flushed, mumbled something about the baby, and they both ignored the way they awkwardly stood apart. He'd been so subdued; Sybil feared he was regretting his choice.
But she'd been too afraid to ask, too afraid to examine if she'd feel relieved or bereft at the idea that he might call it off.
He didn't. In fact, he said very little—quite unlike himself—until just before the ceremony began.
"This isn't right," he said suddenly as they waited in the hall, causing Sybil's stomach to knot and twist in a way that had nothing to do with the baby.
He turned to her, making eye contact with her for the first time since meeting her in the back alleyway at the hospital.
Sybil forced her face to remain impassive, unwilling to give herself away.
"You look so beautiful Sybil…" he paused, seeming to search for the words, words she expected to politely and kindly inform her he couldn't follow through on this harebrained scheme, couldn't tie himself to her, a relative stranger, and another man's baby.
"Seeing you dressed so fancy, looking so elegant, I…you deserve so much more than to sneak off like a thief in the night. Are you certain you don't mind burning your bridges?"
His comment had been so unexpected it had taken her a moment to realize what he meant.
With a gentle smile she stepped close to him, breathing in the scent of his pomade, and carefully leaned against him, her hand on his arm as she balanced forward on her toes to place a kiss against his cheek.
She began to move away before thinking better of it, enjoying the feeling of his warmth against her, and staying pressed against him she cast him a teasing glance.
"You think me so posh as to give up my promise in five minutes flat?"
He blushed.
Her smile grew.
"I was no more allowed to choose the life I had been born into then you were Tom, and while circumstances may appear as if I have no choice now, that's not true. I took control over the direction of my life when I became a nurse, and I won't relinquish that, not to you, not to my family, not to society's expectations, not even to this baby. I am here, with you, because I chose to be."
She noted the way his shoulders lowered, his face relaxing.
Her face grew solemn, knowing she would have to ask the question she feared.
She wasn't a coward.
"Tom," she began slowly, her tone catching his attention, bringing his eyes back to her. "Are you sure? This has all happened so quickly, and standing here, knowing our lives are about to change forever, it feels so daunting, so tragically big all of a sudden...and, well, I just want to say that if this isn't what you want, if you've changed your mind I understand."
He stood silent for a moment, or a year, Sybil couldn't tell.
"I've not," he answered finally. "Changed my mind that is. I asked and I don't regret it. When I woke up in hospital after the accident I felt angry and alone, but now, waking up there each day is a gift because it means I get to see you. There aren't many as free as you Sybil, so open, so passionate, so full of life. Hearing you speak of going home, thinking of you being caged, ridiculed, scolded, it's not something I can just ignore. I know...I know you don't love me, and to be honest I'm not sure if what I feel for you is love or not, but I do hope that if we give it an honest go that love can grow between us. I have to trust that you feel something for me; if you didn't care you would have told me no straight away. Only I fear one day you may regret your choice."
"I've decided to marry you," she answered firmly. "And nothing anyone says or does is going to change that. You say that I'm a free spirit, and I hope that I am, so I hope you grow to trust my decisions. If I wanted a grand wedding I would have forced the baby's father, but what I realized the day you found me in the hospital was that the wedding is inconsequential; it's the man who makes all the difference. And you, Tom Branson, are a good man."
She'd embarrassed him, could tell by the way his ears pinked and his eyes dropped from hers, and with a cheeky grin she again leaned forward, whispering in his ear, "And you look quite handsome in your uniform."
He'd not been allowed to respond, the pair turning suddenly when they heard their names called, but it was decidedly less shaky hands that clasped together as they walked towards their future.
to be continued
Thank so much for reading!