I've been going through a very hard time lately, I'm sorry I haven't updated forever, but I promise I'm going to start again
Roux paced agitatedly outside Café Gealach as he watched Peony cleaning the shiny counters as she had an animated conversation with her pretty Aingeal. 'Damn her' Roux thought angrily as he kicked at the sidewalk and didn't do anything but hurt his foot.
He was about to reach for the door when another had beaten him to it. It was free of the nicks and bruises that Roux's had had, but neater somehow: long almost elegant fingers and neatly cut fingernails. Roux looked from the hand to the arm to the shoulder and finally to the face.
Pere Henri was looking at him sheepishly and quickly let go of the door and almost began shaking under Roux's dark look. "Mademoiselle Ellis is expecting me" He said, his timid voice doing it's best to become stronger but not quiet making it. Roux was about to open his mouth but before he could the door opened and Peony stepped out into the dazzling morning sunlight.
Because Peony knew that it would irritate Roux more, Peony reached out and gripped Henri's hands in hers and pulled him into the café. "Dear Father, I was hoping you would come visit me this morning, it's been very lonely with only Aingeal for company. What can I get for you today Father?"
Henri looked nervously between Peony and Roux before focusing his bright blue eyes back onto Peony's pretty face. "A coffee please" He said and relaxed a little when Peony flashed him a stunning smile. "Getting adventurous are we? Well the two of you come in and I'll fix you something"
Roux followed Henri into the quaint café and pulled up a chair at the counter where Peony had arranged a variety of pretty stones. She selected three little elegant coffee cups from the shelves and filled them with steaming black coffee before adding the cubes of sugar and fresh milk.
"I hope you like it sweet Father" Peony said as she slide his teacup to him. He took a sip and sighed with satisfaction. "It's very good" He said with a earnest smile. Peony grinned back at him as she placed a tin of biscuits on the counter in between the two men.
Roux snatched a biscuit from the pretty tin and bit into it angrily, half listening to the music that was playing over the hidden speakers, there was no singing this time, just lively Celtic flutes and fiddles that was typical for Peony to play in the morning.
Peony filled her own teacup with a sort of dark honey tea and she laughed softly when she noticed both men looking at her. "It's green tea," She explained as she set the top back on to the kettle and took a sip of her own tea. "It's supposed to help people loss weight, boost metabolism". "That's good," Roux said darkly "you don't want anyone mistaking you for a whale"
"You're wrong Piped up Henri a little heatedly where he sat on the counter. Both Peony and Roux turned and looked at him like he had sprouted a second head. "I think you're beautiful" Roux's scowl deepened when Peony blushed sincerely. She reached out and touched her hand to the back of Henri's and smiled the most heartfelt smile he had ever seen from anyone before.
"You're a remarkable man Pere Henri" She said softly and then it was his turn to blush deeply. Roux muttered something bitterly in Gaelic as he slammed 2 francs onto the counter top and stormed out of the café. Peony gave Henri an apologetic look and followed Roux out into the street.
"How dare you!" Peony demanded angrily as she grabbed him by the collar of his old shirt and nearly pulled him down onto the wet pavement. "You are the most rude, selfish most childish man I have ever met in my life. Go gcreime cúnna ifrinn do cheann!" She spat out at him. Normally Roux might have found it funny to have Peony wish that the hounds of hell would gnaw on his head, but not today.
"Stop the Gaelic Peony, we're not in Ireland anymore! We're not in Kinvarra!" She looked at him coolly, untouched by his sudden and intense anger. "You stepped off the ship and you just assumed that the world was going to stop for you Peony, but here's something you might of noticed, it hasn't. Josephine might play into your little Irish girl act and the poor bumbling priest might be in love with you, but don't imagine because they go with your little game, that you're still not the poor girl from Kinvarra.
"We're Irish Ellis, and to them we're the enemy. You are not a dog or a cat or a canary, you cannot be something that they'll love. So I think that it would be best for you if you just back your little bags and take your little self back to Ireland"
When he was finished and looked into Peony's eyes, there wasn't anything there but dreary nothingness. There wasn't even a tiny little spark when she reared back and slapped him hard in the face. "Callahan," She said slowly as she watched him with her unfriendly eyes "If I wanted you're stupid opinion I would have asked you for it, now please be so kind as to get out of my way"
Roux knew that he had reached the most dangerous of points with Peony, he knew what dangerous waters he was treading in now, but he was too prideful to back off now. As Peony brushed past him back to the café, he grabbed her slim yet strong arms and pulled her to him in a livid kiss.
He might as well kissed a piece of wood for all the emotion it brought out of Peony as she pulled away from him after he was finished with the kiss. "There Roux, you've kissed me. Now you can let me go and I can go back to my job and you can go back to your pathetic existence."
He watched her walk away from him, her hips swinging slightly and watched her say something to Pere Henri that made the both of them smile. He knew that she was becoming so friendly with the young priest just to spite him, or at least he prayed to God she was.
Peony placed the palm of her hand against Henri's smooth cheek and kissed him lightly on the lips and the sight of it made his blood boil. For a minute he considered going back to Jemima and making wildly passionate love to her, but he figured that it wouldn't do to play with a young pretty girl's feelings just because his were hurt. He looked down the deserted street and feeling defeated, he walked away with his head down, counting the cobblestones in the pavement.