A/N: This is February 1852, after the 'foolish passion' speech and before the death of Mr. Hale. Threw in a Tolkien quote from LOTR: Return of the King. See if you can find it.

….oOo….

John Thornton stood in the midst of several Milton manufacturers at the edge of the churchyard. It was a cold Sunday in early February. The sky was clear thanks to the weekly reprieve from the belching factory smokestacks. However, as John looked around the circle of conversant men before him he thought the clouds of condensated breath emanating from the mouths of his fellow mill masters to be an even worse affliction.

He sighed, creating a cloud of his own, and turned his attention to the church door. There he saw what he waited each week to see. After church on Sunday was the only time he was guaranteed to catch a glimpse of her, exiting the church on her father's arm. Of course, he might spy her by chance on the streets of Milton or witness her presence by sound, sight, or smell (and oh, what a smell was hers!), at her father's house when he arrived for his lessons, but liturgy on Sunday was the only time he was certain to view the all-encompassing loveliness that was his Margaret.

Yes, he still thought of her as 'his Margaret' even though he knew it was never to be.

The fact that she and her father sat at the back of the church while his family pew was up front had the disjunctive quality of being both a curse and a blessing. A curse in that while he knew she was there he could not look upon her. A blessing because if he could see her, he would openly stare at her for the entire service with all of Milton to see the besotted fool that he was.

Mr. Hale caught Mr. Thornton's eye and the two men nodded to each other. The older gentleman then began to steer his daughter toward his pupil and John's spirits rose. He might actually get to speak to her! However, as soon as Margaret realized with whom her father intended to converse she whispered something in his ear and disengaged herself to walk off in another direction.

John's heart sank. She did not wish to speak to him. Of course, he could not blame her after their last exchange several weeks ago when he told her that he no longer cared for her and was moving on. Lies, it was all lies! He only said those things out of jealous anger after what he had witnessed at Outwood station.

As Mr. Hale approached, John stepped away from the circle of manufacturers to engage in a private conversation with his tutor. Mr. Hale was in fine spirits and seemed almost joyful, his usual pallor of grief lifted.

"John!" he exclaimed, "It is so good to see you."

"Mr. Hale!" returned John, "You are in fine spirits today. Is it the welcome sunshine on this brisk morning?"

"Oh," replied the former vicar, "Is it that noticeable? Well, uh," he stammered somewhat embarrassedly, "Margaret and I received some long awaited good news the other day." Then lowering his voice and leaning a little closer to John he said, "Frederick has arrived safely back in Spain. It was such a relief to finally get that news. We had been worried sick ever since he left us after Maria…" His voice then trailed off.

John was quite confused and also concerned. His friend's good mood seemed to be slipping away now at the recollection of his deceased wife. But he decided that alleviating his curiosity may also help distract his friend from his grief so he proceeded to ask, "Who is Frederick?"

"Oh," replied the widower, "I thought Bell would have told you. Frederick is my son."

"Your son!" replied John incredulously, "I never knew you had a son."

"Yes," replied Mr. Hale, "I thought for sure Bell would have told you the whole story." The elderly gentleman glanced around assessing their location and coming to the conclusion that this was probably not the best place for the telling of such a tale. "I will tell you all at our next lesson. Suffice it to say that he was here when Maria passed and is now safely back in his home and Margaret and I are quite relieved. I'm sure you know how treacherous overseas travel can be."

John was stunned. It was her brother! But why all the secrecy? Why the lies? Maybe he would understand after he heard this 'story' at his next lesson. John didn't know how long he could wait though. He had an idea.

"Yes, about my next lesson," John said to Mr. Hale. He saw the man's countenance fall, likely fearing that he was going to cancel yet again. However, John quickly set the older gentleman's mind at ease when he continued, "I was hoping to move it up to tomorrow instead of Tuesday if that would be acceptable?"

"Certainly, John," he replied, "by all means."

Just then John noticed Margaret out of the corner of his eye. She was signaling to her father that she was ready to go. Was she afraid even to approach him?

"Well, it looks like Margaret is waiting for me," Mr. Hale said apologetically, "Monday then." He tipped his hat and moved off toward Margaret.

As John watched him go he caught Margaret's eye. He smiled weakly and tipped his hat to her. She gave a little smile back and nodded in return. Closing his eyes to sear the memory of that vision into his mind, John walked off to find his mother and sister so that they could return home. He had a lot to contemplate.

….oOo….

Margaret walked out of the door of the church, holding onto her father's arm, into the brisk sunshiny day, having spent the entirety of the liturgy in prayerful thanksgiving for the safe deliverance of her brother to his adopted homeland of Spain. That closed the door on that dreadful chapter of her life. Well, maybe not quite…

As happy as she was to learn that Fred was now safe, she still lamented the lowly state of esteem in which a certain Milton manufacturer held her. If only she could tell him the truth! But it was too late for that now. He no longer cared for her. He had told her as much himself.

Upon feeling her father change the course of their steps she looked in that direction. Oh no. She couldn't face him right now. She turned her head and whispered to her father that she was going to seek out Mary Higgins and would join him shortly. Her father nodded and she moved off to find her friend.

After greeting the Higginses and the Boucher children Margaret headed for the churchyard gate hoping to catch her father's eye so that she would not have to suffer Mr. Thornton her presence. For once her father caught her subtle hint. He said his farewell to his pupil and walked toward her.

She couldn't help but look at Mr. Thornton. Her eyes, hungry for a glimpse of his fine figure and handsome visage, betrayed her resolve to avoid him. She was pleasantly surprised, however, to be the recipient of a small smile and a tip of his hat. Ah, now another precious moment she could cherish when once again alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her.

Margaret took her father's arm and they turned out of the churchyard to walk home.

….oOo….

All during Sunday luncheon, much to the dismay of John and his mother, Fanny rattled on and on about the impending arrival of St. Valentine's Day later that week. It seemed that she and her frivolous, gossipy friends were plotting how best to garner the attention and curry the favor of whichever beaux they were interested in that week. Presently, she was gushing about the beautiful new St. Valentine's Day papers that were currently on display in the window at the Stationer's shop.

She and Miss Latimer ('No! not Miss Latimer,' thought John) had plans to go and buy some on the morrow. They would then spend the afternoon tittering around the dinning room table writing love notes to various, likely uninterested and unattainable, gentlemen of their acquaintance. John could only hope that he would not be the recipient of some such note from Miss Latimer, or anyone else for that matter, except… No, that would never happen.

After luncheon, John excused himself to go to his study. He needed some time alone to contemplate Mr. Hale's revelation. He also wished to brush up on his Plato so as not to completely embarrass himself at his lesson with that gentleman tomorrow. He was quite anxious to hear all about Margaret's brother and was hoping that the information might help to clear up the misunderstanding between them. As he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes the vision of Margaret standing in the churchyard giving him a little smile and a nod came to his mind and he sighed.