Illusions That Confine Us

Chapter Fourteen

It was dawn, and it had been minutes since Mrs. Lovett awoke with a start. She was just pulling away from kissing her husbands bristly cheek, when she gazed once again at his sleeping form.

She absentmindedly stroked his mess of dark hair as she recalled the time that he let her cuddle up to him after she- well- stabbed him. What he had done for her then and last evening may have been out of pity, but at least she knew that he cared.

Weeks ago, when he let her snuggle up beside him, he tried his best not to touch her. But last night, he stroked her back, let his fingers fall into her hair as he held her close…

Even just thinking about it sent her swooning and forgetting the promise that she had made him just hours before, although she wanted to lie back in bed with him.

About five minutes later, Mrs. Lovett found it best to leave, so she headed quietly down the hall and into the washroom.

"Bloody doors." Mrs. Lovett mumbled to herself as she shut it the best she could, not noticing when Alfred came in, following behind her; causing the door to open ajar.

Ever since the two had moved in, the cottage doors would never shut properly unless they were locked. And, sadly, the washroom and the door to the backroom didn't lock (mostly to Mr. Todd's displeasure).

She immediately began to heat up some water for her bath, sighing sadly when she saw one of Sweeney's shirts folded neatly on top of her basket of clean linens in the corner of the washroom. Soon she would be all alone again. Sure she had Alfred, but it wasn't the same.

Meanwhile, Mr. Todd was just getting out of bed like he would any other morning, when he paused. Something was different. It never really occurred to him how much his current wife had seemed to grow on him until now, though he hated to admit it. Wait- He couldn't be thinking these things, after all, he had packing to do.

Walking down the hall, in search of Mrs. Lovett to ask about his shirts, Mr. Todd paused when he caught a glimpse of her undressing in the washroom. He paused, looking into the slightly open doorway-

Mrs. Lovett suddenly looked up, forcing Mr. Todd to catch Mrs. Lovett's startled gaze.

His mouth opened as if he were about to say something until Mrs. Lovett unfroze herself and continued on with undressing.

He watched as she knowingly stripped herself bare in front of her staring husband.

Her body. It was- well- perfect. Her shape was like an hour-glass. Her skin was creamy and pale. It had been so long since he had been near the presence of a naked woman. The thought almost excited him, and at the same time it had actually frightened him. Frightened him to the point where, as she stood across the room from him naked, that he faltered and looked at the ground.

And with one last, curious glance, he continued his way down the hall. Embarrassed, naturally.

Mrs. Lovett did nothing, hurt once again, before walking over and slamming the door shut, scolding herself for being so foolish.

Later on, in the early afternoon, Mr. Todd bumped into her again.

He was coming into the parlor when he saw her sitting on the settee. Her right leg crossed over her left thigh, sipping her tea silently, and flipping to the next page of the book she was reading.

"Looking for something dear?" She suddenly said, not even bothering to look up at him.

"Uh…" He cleared his throat, "Yes, actually I was looking for my-"

"Your shirt is over there, clean and mended." Mrs. Lovett then pointed to the basket that she had brought from the washroom after her bath, behind the settee.

"Oh… Thank you." Not even daring to forget to thank her, especially being that her temper hadn't been the best lately.

But just as he was heading over to get it, Mrs. Lovett started up again.

"Am I really all that terrible?"

"What?" He stopped, standing and eyeing her questionably.

"I don't want to argue with you anymore, Mista T." She said with a slight sense emotional exhaustion in her voice, "I just want to know- Is it me?"

He sighed, he knew what she was talking about. "You know very well that it's not you."

"Than what is it?!" She snapped, "I am pretty sure that it can't be her, correct me if I-"

He stood silent.

She knew it. "It's her isn't it?"

More silence.

"Well," She began, setting her teacup back onto its saucer, "We're out of bread, among other things, and unless you want to starve the next few days or however long you decide to stay, then I have to go to the market." She said matter-of-factly.

Mrs. Lovett then sat up, walked straight passed him, and grabbed some things out of the kitchen before she reached the door. "And if you at least try and fix these good-for-nothing doors while I'm gone, that would be smashing."

He still stood where she left him, wincing slightly when he heard the door slam behind her.

As soon as she made her way across the lawn, she couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't hold it in- So she crouched down onto the ground as a few violent sobs overcame her.

Moments later, she heard Mr. Todd's voice behind her on the porch, "Everything alright-?"

"I'm fine." Mrs. Lovett said, covering up her face with her hands as she wiped away her tears, and straightening herself up before putting her shawl over her head and continuing her way to the market.

"Bleedin' 'ell!" Mrs. Lovett exclaimed as she rushed to the front door a few hours later, her groceries in hand.

It was literally pouring outside by the time she had gotten home and to make matters worse, the door was locked. Immediately, Mrs. Lovett began to knock at the door, and when she received no reply, she began pounding on it.

"MR. TODD!" She shouted, pounding onto the door and peering inside.

She sighed in frustration when she saw that he was no where in her view, so Mrs. Lovett made her way to the back door, where she proceeded to knock again when she found that it, too, was locked.

When all this was going on, Mr. Todd was just going to answer the front door when he saw that no one was there, so he headed to the back door.

Mrs. Lovett grumbled annoyingly, she then remembered that she had left her window open. So she walked quickly to her window and placed her groceries as gently as she could onto her floor, not even bothering to try and call out for Mr. Todd for some help. She then crawled through her window and stepped onto the chair that sat conveniently in front of her window in her bedroom.

When she had finally made her way inside, Mrs. Lovett was just turning from shutting her window when she caught the sight of Mr. Todd making his way down the hall.

"There ya are!" Mrs. Lovett exclaimed loudly, causing him to turn suddenly into her room, "It's rainin' cats and dogs outside!"

Mr. Todd said nothing, figuring that she must have gone to the back door by the time he had reached the front when he went to answer the door and proceeded on helping her down of the chair.

"Well come 'ere and 'elp me, love." She said, gesturing for him to come and help her with the groceries, which he mistook for helping her down off the chair.

Mr. Todd obliged and made his way over to her, placing his hands on her waist and letting his eyes trailing down her drenched self, remembering what was concealed beneath the many layers of her dress.

She said nothing, just by looking into his eyes, her frustration seemed to have suddenly washed over her.

Mr. Todd's hand left her waist and wandered slowly down her thigh and soon found itself under her dress.

Mrs. Lovett shivered, and suppressed a gasp that was about to escape from her mouth.

Mr. Todd then lent up to her, and whispered very sensually into her ear, "You're wet, my dear."

Her lips parted, she could feel his hot breath on her neck, she then brought her arms up and wrapped them loosely around his neck.

Sweeney moved to look into her eyes, their lips were so close to touching, her nose rubbing gently against his own-

But before anything could happen, fear bubbled up inside Mrs. Lovett again- She couldn't be rejected again, she couldn't bear it.

So before she could even think about what was going to happen next, Mrs. Lovett pulled herself away from him abruptly, taking her arms off from around his neck and pushing his hand out of her skirts.

Mrs. Lovett cleared her throat, "Well," She said, "I suppose that I should start gettin' ya packed, now shouldn't I?"

Mrs. Lovett then got down from the chair and picked up the groceries, not even daring to meet his extremely bewildered gaze as she walked out of the room and into the kitchen.

Holy awkward…

So… Uhh… Yeah… Where do I begin?

First of all, this story is nearing its end. I am not sure when but probably the next chapter or so…

Plus I must apologize for my absence, as I have been kinda… sidetracked.

My great great aunt Phyllis died last Thursday… so I would like to dedicate this chapter to her.

I love you aunt Philly(:

I got braces on Monday morning… They are pink and burgundy! What fun! *sarcasm*

I swear it took me an hour to eat my McDonalds breakfast!

Oohhh.... You should look up the lyrics for "Just Keep Breathing" By Automatic Loveletter because it fits perfectly for this story...

I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Bye now xD