Chapter 3

Part 14

It hadn't taken long to gather her meagre possessions and leave with Garrick by her side, Demelza was also sure Jud or Prudie had not seen her. She visited Nampara Cove first with her brother's breeks on under her skirt. The sand felt like gold slipping through her toes, the water like silver encasing them in its icy cold and she stood there so long her toes became buried in the sand and she could not feel them anymore. She stood and pondered on her life so far. She had it better than most, perhaps now was a time of new beginnings. She cast a look backwards even though all she could see were the looming cliffs. But oh how was her heart to leave Mr Ross? How would she ever get over it? The pain was deeper than a dagger and speared her soul, she had thought she felt despair last night in the parlour and while she had cried then sheds of tears; today there were no tears left. She had to do the right thing, and no matter how unbelievingly hard that was, the right thing was to go.

Demelza spent longer at the beach then she intended, the sun was surely beginning to set by the time she reached the cliff top and before she realised none other than Ross Poldark's voice came from behind startling her somewhat.

"I engaged you for two years. What do you mean by running away?" His voice was harsh she thought and she wondered why he had bothered to find her.

"Sur I.." Demelza paused, this was not what she had planned, and why was he here? She thought he wanted her gone, his actions had said that much in the parlour at Nampara, that awful awkward moment with his old love Elizabeth Poldark present to witness what passed between them.

"Haven't you been well treated? Aren't you grown used to the house? Your tasks….and my moods?"

"Yes sur…"

Ross was not holding back she decided, at times he was often taciturn but now, not so, without giving her an opportunity to offer any sort of explanation he ploughed on. "Do you not give me what I want before I ask?"

"Yes sur…but I thought….after what happened…." Demelza spoke in a rush eager to tell him, but it seemed he was now in the habit of finishing her sentences.

"You could no longer be my servant." He finished.

She sighed before her reply. "Not from choice sur." She looked directly at him, and her heart missed a beat when he locked his eyes with hers. Oh how can I go? It protested. But she could see no other solution.

"You're right. You can no longer be my servant. You must become my wife."

She leant her head to the side and shook it slightly as if she had water lodged in her ear and didn't hear what he had said. "No sur…" Her voice caught on an unsteady laugh and she turned away. He was surely out of his mind, how could a miner's daughter be a gentleman's wife? She could feel his eyes boring into her back and she knew without a doubt he steadfastly meant every word he said. That was one of the things she loved about him. She would trust him with her life and knew that he would hold it in his hands.

Ross jumped down from the horse and kept a loose hold of the reins, at the same time catching Demelza by the arm and making her face him. It took a moment or two for her eyes to meet his, there seemed she surmised an unsaid understanding between them. But still, marriage?

"I may not have worded that to the best of my ability. I am not one for fancy words, nor declarations of love. But we suit do we not Demelza?" He ran a finger down the side of her face and her breath caught in her throat. She so longed for him to kiss her senseless then a need for a spoken reply t'would not be necessary, however he did not.

Finally, she found the words and whispered. "Aye we do," she agreed.

"Well then. Demelza Carne will you do me the honour of becoming my wife, for we can not live as though yesterday did not exist and this is the way it must be."

"Yes….I see that…. Yes Captain Poldark I will marry you." Her voice shook a bit, she honestly didn't understand it one bit, but if he thought it was best….. and it would mean she could stay with him at Nampara….be with the man she loved, then she was not going to deny herself that.

"Ross. If we are to be married, you must call me Ross." He leant in then and kissed her, softly, gently at first but becoming deeper and more urgent as the flame between them leap higher and she wanted it to go on forever.

It wasn't just Demelza who pulled away breathless as the kiss ended when Darkie began to butt his head into the pair of lovers on the cliff top.

"I think," Ross inclined his head towards the horse. "It's time to go back to Nampara."

"Yes," she said on the breath of a whisper, suddenly unusually fatigued by the events of the past twenty-four house as he helped her up onto the horse before mounting behind her. "Home."