The month that Jasper was back was like a dream. Since banishing Mrs Cove to the other side of the building that I was in at any one time, getting out onto the grounds was particularly easy. She had already named me redundant apart from pleasuring my future husband with my virtue…but, if that were the case, what use would he have for my heart? It had never been used for anything other than family, and friends, why not gamble it for the sake of experimentation?
Instead of Edward, Jasper would take me out to see Abaccus on a weekly basis, but I would see him far more often than that. He would wheel me around the grounds at tremendous speeds and we would laugh, sing, and enjoy our short time together. I almost felt like a child again when I was with him, and it filled me with a new fire to live my life. I felt my love for this man swell and grow in my chest, not like a tumour, but like my heart needed to grow to fit all of it in. Jasper was my sunshine in the darkness. He had pulled me from the darkness that had threatened to swallow me whole. I still didn't understand my feelings, it was burning slowly, yet at times I would be dizzy and I worried about what would happen when he had to go back to the War.
"Will you write to me this time?" I asked Jasper, tilting my head to look at him.
We were lay on the grass of Abaccus's pen, enjoying the sun and picking out the shapes in the clouds. Yes, it was a childlike activity, but we didn't see the sense in coming down to reality when our little bubble was all we had ever wanted. It was as though he never left…but the thought of him leaving was never far from my mind.
He turned to face me himself, resituating his shoulders as he studied my face for my emotions.
"I can try." He said. I couldn't help but grin and he smiled back. His face always lit up when he smiled…but I imagined he didn't smile much in his profession, he had to be fierce and reliable – a leader to scared men away from their families.
"I mean it." I said, hitting his shoulder. He feigned pain and I rolled my eyes. "I don't want it to be another seven years before we see each other again." I sighed, looking down at my nails.
Jasper sat up, leaning on his elbow, and looked down at me. I looked from my nails to his face, he was looking at me rather intently and I felt a serious moment fall across us completely unannounced, yet not unwelcome.
"A day is nearly too long now, darlin'. I don't have another seven years in me." He said, his eyes soft but his words hard and forceful. I studied his face for a moment.
Jasper had changed since he was a boy. Yes, he still rarely complimented me, but it was more than it had been…and they were far more intense compliments that would make me blush yet burn with confidence shortly after. Each day I watched him look at me, and I never saw the look that Mrs Cove had accused him of…but I did see a hunger in his eyes that I couldn't place.
"Then don't leave." I said.
He sighed and sat up. I propped myself up on my arms as best I could and watched him for a moment. He seemed to be weighing something up in his mind. Was he really considering staying for me? My heart fluttered at the thought of it. Jasper had never said anything about the way he felt for me, but it seemed to go unspoken…I didn't want to push for declarations when our friendship was already so fleeting and fresh. I didn't even understand my feelings for him, and I had made a solid decision about my reputation for him – darn it all to heck.
"A world where a man don't have to work." He said, shaking his head as he laughed slightly, leaning back to lie on his elbows and look across the field. "What world do you live in, Miss Swan?"
I chuckled as I repositioned myself on the hill we were on, so that I was beginning to roll. Too quickly for Jasper to catch me, I descended down the slope, the world spinning around me. A blur of colours swirled around me and I laughed at the wonder and magic of it all – seeing the same world from a new perspective could change the way you thought about life.
"A dream world, Major Whitlock! You should join me, sometime!" I called out to him.
As I reached the bottom of the hill, and the end of my journey, I noticed that my hair had been messed up and was falling out of its bun, but I paid no mind to it. Jasper was rolling towards me and showed no signs of stopping. He barrelled into me, grabbing me as he went.
I let out a squeal and a laugh as we rolled over one another. He made sure to keep his weight off me whilst he flew over me. We eventually came to a stop, our rolls slowing until he was above me once more, his hand around my waist and his face inches from mine.
"What a fine world you live in, Miss Swan." He said, his breathing heavy and a wide smile on his face.
I flushed at our close proximity, but it didn't seem to phase Jasper as he looked at my face; the hand that was underneath my head reached around to remove a curl from out of my face. I watched his movements carefully, my cheeks flushed and my heart pounding. I had been close to Jasper before, hugged him even, as children, but this was different…this was a different embrace and I couldn't bring myself to break the magic he had created.
Aww, fluff! I absolutely love the line "what a fine world you live in, Miss Swan"! Let me know what you think!