Chapter Eight

Several days passed, and Mrs. Bolger began to notice a change in her daughter. She decided to confront her about it and knocked on the door of Estella's room.

"Who is it?" said Estella's voice.

"It's only your mother," said Mrs. Bolger. "May I come in?"

"Yes," said Estella. Mrs. Bolger opened up the door and stepped inside. Her daughter was sitting on her bed, looking out the window. Mrs. Bolger sat down on a stool. "Do you mind if we talk, Estella?"

Her daughter shook her head. "No. What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, I've noticed you've been acting a little different. You never leave the house anymore. I don't think you've set foot outside in days. And well, you've been quiet. It's very unlike you." She was used to Estella chatting all day long about various nonsense, and to see Estella silent was something that bothered her. "Is something the matter?"

"No," Estella said quickly. "Nothing at all. I just don't feel like leaving the house. It will be December soon enough and it's cold. And I... well, I just haven't had much to talk about. Now that Freddie is almost better, I haven't had much to do or say."

Her mother nodded, though she thought that Estella might not be telling her the whole truth. She knew her daughter well and knew Estella could possibly be making excuses. She didn't say anything though and stood up. "Well, if you say that everything is fine, then everything must be fine. I'll leave you now." And she was gone.

Estella was glad to see her mother go. She didn't know her behavior had been that obvious. Ever since her last encounter with Merry, things just weren't the same. She stayed shut up in the house all the time because she was afraid of meeting him. She didn't speak much because she was occupied with her confused thoughts.

Merry's behavior had been very odd. Did he really think she was pretty? If so, then why did he wait so long to tell her? It didn't make any sense. She kept thinking that it could all be part of a horrible prank that he and Pippin had devised, but she realized that it hadn't seemed like it. She had been so frightened of how she felt about it all that she just took off running. She was afraid to hear what Merry had to say.

He was her enemy. They had disliked each other for so long. It seemed impossible that things could ever change. But maybe they could...

She remembered how she had felt when she watched Merry in the Battle of Bywater. When she didn't know who he was. He had just been a stranger and she was in awe of him. Perhaps she had even loved him. It was a side of Merry that she had only seen a couple of times. There was actually a side of him that she loved. Were the other sides of him really so horrible? She wished she knew the answers to the hundreds of questions that she had, but she knew she could get no answers.

She spent the rest of the day in her room until it was time for supper. She sat at the table with her brother and parents and was glad that Freddie was able to sit at the dining room table with the rest of them. He was still terribly thin but he was slowly but steadily gaining more of an appetite.

"Estella, I'm going to do some shopping tomorrow," Mrs. Bolger said. "Do you want to come along?"

Estella knew her mother was trying to get her to leave the house. She hated doing what other people wished her to do. She played around with her fork. "I don't know."

"I'll let you buy something," her mother said. "Anything you want."

"Maybe," Estella said.

"You really should go, Estella," Mr. Bolger said. "You've been shut up in this place for days. Get some fresh air. Be social with people."

"We don't have to go shopping if you don't want to," Mrs. Bolger said. "Do you have any friends you wish to see? There's a lass about your age who has just moved with her parents into her aunt and uncle's home. I believe the girl's name is Azalea. Azalea Goold. Her family's home was destroyed by those horrible ruffians."

"I suppose I could meet her. Someday," Estella said, though the idea didn't seem overly appealing to her.

"Well whatever happened that Mr. Brandybuck?" Mrs. Bolger asked. She obviously wasn't going to give up. "What was his name? Merry? Have you seen him around lately?"

Freddie suddenly started to choke on the corn he was eating. He gulped down some water and Estella realized that he had choked because he was laughing.

"What is it, Freddie?" Mr. Bolger asked.

Freddie looked at his parents and looked about ready to start laughing again. "Don't you know about Merry and Estella?"

Mr. and Mrs. Bolger exchanged alarmed looks. Was there something going on between him and her daughter that they didn't know about?

"They completely hate each other!" Freddie said. "Estella would rather sleep outside in a snowstorm with no clothes on than spend time with Merry Brandybuck!"

Mr. and Mrs. Bolger exchanged looks again, though this time they looked highly surprised. When Merry was over at their home, there seemed to be no hatred between him and their daughter. What did Freddie mean?

Mr. Bolger's face went from surprise to amusement as he gave his wife a look that seemed to say, "And we thought that they might have been courting!"

Estella stared down at her plate. Did Freddie really have to open his mouth and say that? What did her parents think?

"So," said Freddie, "what do you mean when you say 'what happened to that Mr. Brandybuck'? When was he here?"

"On the day before you arrived with Mr. Took, he spent the night here," Mr. Bolger explained.

Freddie grinned at his sister. "Poor Estella!"

"He seemed really nice though," said Mrs. Bolger thoughtfully. "I don't understand what he could possibly have against Estella."

"Um... it's nothing," said Estella. "We've just, er, never gotten along. Please don't hold that against Merry. Just because he isn't very fond of me doesn't mean he's a bad person." She set her fork down a little more forcefully than was necessary. "May we please not discuss this any further?"

"Well, if the subject bothers you-" Mrs. Bolger began.

"It does not bother me!" Estella insisted. "I just don't feel like speaking about it anymore. May I please be excused?"

Estella was allowed to leave the table and she gratefully left the dining room as quickly as she could. She didn't want to talk about Merry. She didn't to hear other people talking about him either. If she ignored him and pretended he didn't exist, then maybe all her confused thoughts and feelings would go away.

She sat down on her stool and looked out the window. There wasn't much to see out there and so she lay down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Maybe I think you really do look nice. Because I think you do. You're beautiful.

Merry's words echoed in her head and she wished she could reach into her brain and pluck them out. As much as she tried not to think about him, it became more and more of an impossibility. What exactly had he meant by those words? Why did they affect her so much? It wasn't as if she had never heard anything like that before. Tons of lads had called her beautiful before. Some of them had made complete fools of themselves when ranting about her looks. Why should it be any different if Merry noticed her outward appearance?

She didn't like how she started to feel fluttery and trembly inside every time she thought of him. It frightened her. He was the enemy, and she couldn't forget that. She wouldn't forget that.