Sunday's Solomon Grandy

By Kaji no Tenshi

Chapter Two Tuesday

Certain sounds awoke her from her sleep. Hesitantly, she blinked open her eyes. At first, she wondered why she was sleeping in her parents' room, on a chair nonetheless. Then she sat up stiffly and turned her head towards the direction of the sounds that woke her. She cried out when she realized it was a man in the room who was making the racket. Covering her mouth with her hand, her mind then processed the information that seemed to be jumbled up in her mind. She remembered now. She had saved a rich man, if not a nobleman, after he had stumbled across her yard and took him in to nurse him.

The man had froze in his actions, watching the female slowly regain her composure and stopped crying out loud. He watched as she stood up from the chair, stretched slightly and straightened out her dress. Immediately, she rushed over and grabbed the cup away from him. "You must lie down and rest, sir. You cannot afford to be hurt again after yesterday. Please, I will get you a drink." She looked into the jug that was on the table and found it near empty. "I shall go out and get some more water, sir. Please wait." Hurriedly, she rushed out of the room with the jug and cup. She didn't notice the confused look the man gave her.

A few minutes later, she came back in with the jug filled water and a bowl of leftover broth. She poured water into the cup and handed it with care to the man who was sitting on the edge of the bed. "Here, sir. If you're hungry, I have some thin broth left from last night. I'm sorry I can't offer anymore. I do not have the money to offer you anything rich, but it should be okay as you are healing. Rich things won't be too good for you body." The man wordlessly took the cup from her hand began to sip. She looked away from him, sitting down on the forgotten chair, as she realized once again that he was topless.

"You took care of me?" She paused at the similar question. Didn't he ask her that just hours ago? She answered anyways. "Yes, sir. You have stumbled across my yard and I took you in as you were injured and unconscious." She took the empty cup away from the man and handed him the broth. He accepted. "You told me you were attacked by burglars, sir." She could feel her face getting red. The man's alluring eyes were burning on to her face and she still couldn't get over the fact that he was half-naked on her parents' bed. Feeling her breath getting heavier, she stood up without a word and quickly walked out of the room. She came back in with her bottle of medicine and immediately swallowed a pill from it.

"Are you sick?" asked the man.

She blushed from his attention. "Yes, sir. I have a weak heart since birth, sir, inherited from my mother." The room stayed silent for a few moments. "Are you done your broth, sir? Should I go get more for you, sir?"

The man shook his head. "I'm fine. May I know your name first? I need to know the name of the one who's taking care of me."

The exact same question as last night. She answered anyhow. Maybe that's how the rich acted, she being the lower class made no importance to them that she has already been forgotten. "My name is of no importance, sir."

"Just tell me." The man doesn't seem to be annoyed this time, nor was his tone ordering.

"It's Lucy, sir. My name is Lucy."

"Lucy…Lucy," The man repeated her name a few times, causing the young woman to blush more, hearing her own name rolling off hi tongue. "Lucy….do you know my name?"

Gasping in surprise, she could not believe in what she heard. "Sir, do you not remember anything?" The man shook his head. He opened his clenched fist which showed a blue sapphire ring. She reached out her hand as if to touch it, then immediately took her hand back in. "That ring represents you status, sir. You must be of an upper class, perhaps a noble. A baron? A count?" She paused. If this man was truly of noble birth, she should try to find out who he is and where he is from immediately, but for some reason, she didn't feel like it. "It must have been that gash on your head that caused your lost of memory. You are free to stay here until you are healed, sir. This is my parents' room. They passed away a few years ago, so do not worry about anything. I shall take care of you." She blushed after saying that. Then she realized she had just told the man that he had nothing to worry about because they will e alone together in one house. The man smiled anyhow, apparently not noticing what she had said. She calmed herself and decided to get out of the room. "Sir, get some rest now. I shall be either in my room or outside in the garden if you need me."

The man grabbed her arm as she stood up. Looking back, she gave him a questioning look. "Would you please give me a name?"

Her body shook a little at the request. "Should you not name yourself, sir? I have no place to give you a name."

"Of course you do. You are the one who saved me and you shall be the one who will baptize me with a new name. Please give me a new name, Miss Lucy."

She bit her lip. She was not use to someone calling her Miss with such respect. Taking the man's hand away from her arm, she replied, "You shall be reborn as Alistair then." Then boldly, she kissed the man on the forehead and immediately rushed out of the room.

"What are you doing?" Lucy looked up in shock and realized it was the man…no, Alistair who was staring interestedly at her handiwork. She bit her lip. "it's a doll, sir. I have no other skill but to make dolls, sir. That's how I make my living," she replied. "And from the generosity of the people in the village, sir." She added as an afterthought.

The man chuckled. She looked up in surprise. "Will you stop calling me sir? It's very tiring to hear you say that after every single sentence."

"But...sir…"

"I won't die from one person not calling sir." His words got cut off as he found a hand over his mouth a second later. "It's not good luck to say the word 'die' so easily, sir." Then she immediately let go, blushing. "I'm sorry sir. I should not have done that."

He smiled. "Very well, I'll forgive you if you stop calling me sir." He watched her bit her lip again. "I shall take that as a yes." He looked at the naked doll on the table. "May I watch you as you work?"

"It's very boring work, sir….I mean, um…Alistair. You would not want to watch me work." Ignoring her words, Alistair sat down at the edge of her bed and watched her at her work table. She blushed but decided to continue to work anyhow, as she would need to sell some dolls if she wanted to have money to buy some food later on. She tried to ignore the eyes of the man as she began to sew clothes from the scraps of fabrics on her table. The pieces have already been measured and cut so she began to sew the body of the dress then added on the sleeves. Lastly, she began to decorate the dress from the ribbons on the table.

"Why don't you decorate your dress with something more elaborate? Won't it make them easier to sell then?"

She smiled, looking at the man. "If I had the money, I would definitely make the dress more elaborate, but I don't have the money to spare, Alistair." The room became quiet again as she began to work again. Soon, she finished the dress. She then dressed the doll and began to work on the other parts of the doll. The doll got its shoes, glass beads as eyes and a delicate hand applied tiny touches of paint to the face, adding colour to the face. Lastly, a wig of hair is attached on to the head.

Alistair stood up from the bed and walked up closer to admire her doll. "You have very delicate hands, don't you, Lucy? If you had the money to buy better materials, I would think your dolls would definitely look one of the best dolls around." Lucy blushed and quickly grabbed her bottle of pills and swallowed another pill. He paused. "Do you always have to take the medicine? Sometimes, you seem perfectly fine to me, yet you have already eaten medicine twice since I have woken up."

"I…I have a weak heart, so I was told whenever I felt the need to eat a pill, especially when I trouble breathing, I am to take my medicine. Without it, I will not be able to survive." She stoke the hair of the doll. "I cannot do a lot of work at a time and I cannot stay in the sun for too long either. If I do not have my medicine, I will have an attack, therefore I have been told to be cautious all the time." Lucy sighed. Sometimes, she hated being sick, unable to do more things when it was needed.

"I'll help you then." Lucy looked up and stared at Alistair. "I'll help you with things that need to be done. I won't walk out of your house in case anyone thinks of you as dishonourable, but I'll help around and maybe work around the garden when no one would notice. I can help you while I'm here."

She smiled. "Yes, you can help, Alistair," she whispered.

Suddenly captivated by her smile, Alistair hesitantly bend down and placed a kiss on her curved lips.

E N D C H A P T E R T W O

Author's Note: I finally finished Chapter Two! It took me long enough, but I shall blame it on the endless amount of assignments I got from my teachers. It's hard being a high schooler! sobs I wonder when will I be able to finish this story? It's short….yet I have so little time to write. I also have other stories to worry about. sighs This is going to be hard…I hope I can get another chapter out by March Break…or maybe after I finish my exams and have a few days rest from school which is at the beginning of February…I'll see what I can do… Oh, thank you to those who reviewed! They're very encouraging! Now, I want more reviews! Press the little purple button at the left-hand bottom corner of the window!