Chapter Three
A/N: Thank you to all of my reviewers. I'm truly flattered and appreciative of your kind words. Truly, I blush everytime I read them. I only hope I can keep writing a story you like! Enjoy! I swear it will be finished!
The wedding seemed to drag on forever. Silas looked at the gold pendulum clock sitting on Father Aringarosa's desk, finding that the hour he hoped had passed was really only five minutes. This just annoyed him. The feeling he was having scared him, at first, he had never felt like this. The prospect of seeing Amelia again had sent a jolt of adrenaline through him. He wanted to see her; he wanted her to sketch him again, to finish her work. Silas had never wanted such a thing. Silas was so deep in thought he didn't notice Father Aringarosa had entered the office, the priest quick to shed the elaborate robes of celebration.
"Well Silas, another marriage is started smoothly." Silas nodded, his head bowed in his usual respectful way.
"Of course Father." Aringarosa hung the robes on a hanger.
"We shall have to send these to the cleaners at some point." Silas nodded again,
"Yes Father." Aringarosa peered at the clock that Silas had been staring, unblinking at for the last two hours.
"Don't you have someone waiting for you Silas?" Silas looked at Aringarosa, attempting to hold his excitement back.
"But, Father, I must sweep and remove the decorations from the wedding ceremony." Aringarosa smiled and reached across the table to pat Silas gently on the shoulder.
"For once my son, I can forgive you leaving your duties. Go." Silas shook his head.
"No Father, I cannot just leave my work unfinished." Aringarosa lifted Silas' still down turned face so their eyes met.
"Yes, you can, go and meet your new friend." Silas stood and gave his trusted guardian one of his rare smiles and left the room in such a hurry Aringarosa thought the papers on his desk would be knocked to the floor. He smiled at Silas' retreating back.
That woman must truly have snared this angel.
Silas pushed the door to the garden open and let his gaze rake over the landscape. There she was, sitting under the tree, her materials with her. His heart beat faster. He stepped out into the sun, blinking fast as his eyes grew accustomed to the light. He shut the door quietly and walked towards Amelia. She saw him coming and waved. Silas waved tentatively back and continued his short journey to her. Amelia stood and gave Silas a hug; he stiffened at the sudden contact. Amelia didn't seem to notice as she let him go and grabbed her infamous sketchbook.
"I was starting to think you weren't coming." Silas looked to her,
"Why wouldn't I?" Amelia smiled as she sharpened her charcoal pencil.
"Sometimes I come off a little strong, I was afraid I had scared you away." Silas sat in his original spot, pulling his legs up against his chest, this time not out of nervousness. Amelia settled herself in as she had before and began to sketch. The silence wasn't unbearable but Silas had a question.
"Why did you want to sketch me?" Amelia's eyebrows drew together as she continued her sketching. After a moment she stopped and looked at Silas, giving him a look of complete bewilderment.
"Why would I not want to sketch you?" Silas was thoroughly confused.
"I-I'm an Albino—I'm not normal." Amelia's eyebrows nearly disappeared into her hairline.
"Define normal for me." Silas was silenced. She was arguing that he was fine the way he was.
"But, my skin, my eyes—" Amelia shook her head.
"All of these things are beautiful to an artist. Your skin is like marble, sculpted as any artist would. Your eyes," she let out a breath, "your eyes are a color I've never seen. You are the epitome of what artists spend their whole lives looking for." Silas' blood pumped through his veins at dangerous speeds. His heart beating faster, his breath quickening. She was telling him he was beautiful. How was this possible? How could she find him pleasing when the rest of the world found him grotesque?
As Silas' thoughts consumed him Amelia finished her sketching. His charcoal likeness was done.
"Would you like to see it?" Silas nodded and leaned from his spot to see her work. He couldn't believe his eyes. It was as if she had taken a photograph of him, capturing every detail. Down to the scar under his eye, and the cracked button on his shirt. He looked at her in wonderment.
"God has given you a great gift. To see details others cannot and capture them. You are blessed." Amelia smiled, her freckled features coloring. For a moment he was jealous of her, to have such color, upon her person. Something he would never have. He couldn't stay that way for long, seeing her smile, made him feel light. It was something he cherished.
"I am blessed. And, I was even more blessed to have met you, to find such a creature to draw. No artist is that lucky." Silas shook his head and looked from her work to her.
"Your feelings are misplaced." Amelia shook her head in disagreement.
"I don't think so." Silas looked back to her sketch, back to the portrait of himself, a mirror that had never reflected so clearly. Although she had captured his sorrow perfectly, she had also caught the laughter and newest lines of mirth on his face. What a combination it was. Amelia stood as Silas stared; she broke his concentration by holding out her hand. He looked up, the sun catching his blue eyes making them even more transparent.
"Show me the grounds?" Silas didn't move for a moment, it wasn't that he didn't want to go, but he was afraid that aside from being a model he would prove to be less than she expected. He took her hand and stood, at first he went to let go but found that her grasp hadn't loosened. So he hesitantly left their hands joined.
They walked that way, throughout the grounds, talking and discovering more and more about one another. Silas shared his past, including that terrible night, when his father has attacked his mother, leaving him no choice but to defend her.
The night he had truly become a ghost.
Amelia listened intently, never once showing him the pity he so hated. Silas had never wanted that from anyone, he simply wanted to be seen, to be more than a phantom in the eyes of others. His Albinism had caused enough pain, the fact his own father hadn't seen him took what little of his soul he had left. Amelia felt terrible that Silas had been forced to do what he had to do, but she didn't pity him. Something told her that would insult him.
As for Amelia, her father had died when she was six years old from a heart attack. At the time her family had gone to church every Sunday and had been faithful followers of God.
"When my father died, my mother stopped taking my brother and I to church. She blamed God I suppose, for taking him away from us. So much so that her faith died when he did. My brother stopped caring all together and moved on as though we had never gone in the first place, but I… I prayed, I continued to believe in God and faith. I comforted myself by thinking God needed my father in Heaven more than we needed him on Earth." Silas saw her eyes go distant. She shook her head as though to clear it and continued.
"It was difficult. My father and I were very close. I loved him so much, that when he died I thought I would die too." Silas looked to her again,
"He is with God now." Amelia smiled sadly.
"I hope so." Silas tightened his grip on her hand; he didn't know what had caused him to become so brave.
"Do you attend church now?" Amelia was quiet, she answered just as quietly.
" I don't believe it's a matter of denominations or churches. I believe it's a matter of faith, that I can pray just as well and just as faithfully from my room, I don't need to go to a building to prove my belief in God." At this Silas wasn't sure, he agreed, but his good Catholic teaching told him otherwise. He didn't know what to make of this woman. She smiled once more and then made note that the sun had begun to set.
"Oh, Silas, I'm sorry, I've kept you out all day. I hope I haven't gotten you in trouble." Silas looked at the glowing orb, settling behind the horizon. He didn't feel as though he had wasted a day. In fact he felt like he had fulfilled more in this one afternoon, than he had in the years of his life. How incredible.
"No, no do not worry Amelia, Father Aringarosa knew I would be gone today." Silas gave Amelia a shy smile,
"Would you like to return tomorrow?" he asked softly. His fear of her saying no had curled up in his belly like a snake waiting to strike his hope with its venom. Amelia met his gaze, pleased that he didn't look away as he had so many times before.
"I would love to." The viper of fear died. Silas grinned widely this time.
"When you come tomorrow, I will show you the whole church, whatever you wish." His excitement was quite contagious and Amelia felt her own heart beat faster as she contemplated their visit tomorrow.
Neither one of them realized, that this visit would lead to many more and that it would change them forever.
