Chapter 16
Dear Albert,
I wish I gave you some news sooner but as I told you in my telegram, a very accurate detail has changed the course of my journey but also that of my life. The result is that I could not find until now some time to write to you. I hope you'll get this letter before my comeback. I might have sent another telegram but this means of communication forces me to be short and you know how much I love to talk! I've so many things to tell you that a letter won't be enough but I will try to tell you as much as possible.
Since a few days, I've been living in London, in the country more precisely, some ten kilometres from the capital city, in the Grandchester's mansion, for the future celebration of my engagement with you-know-who. Against all odds, the Duke of Grandchester has been very welcoming to me and very enthusiastic about this wedding should to take place in America. This is the reason why we'll celebrate our engagement in England to have everybody satisfied. I haven't met yet the other members of the family, but Terry made me understand that they are bit special and not very friendly. Getting to know them does not make me feel very comfortable, but I know that Terry will be by my side and together, we can face anything without fear.
The Grandchester's castle is so big that you can get lost, and the park, huge, is a real wonder. Each time I walk there, I feel like I'm back to Lakewood, with its statues, its fountains, its immaculate green lawns and its thick and leafy hedges planted all around to protect the domain. The only thing missing is Anthony's white roses, so beautiful and fragrant, to make that place perfect. I'm so happy that everything looks to me unreal!
I wish you were here with me to share with you this happiness that has been living in me since my journey in Italy… What I feel is so strong that I'm unable to describe it with words. I've never been so happy and I would have never imagined being happy at that point one day. It's still hard for me to believe that I found Terry! That I found him and that he loves me! That he never forgot me, never stopped loving me during all this time, and though I'm writing it, it's still difficult for me to be certain that it is reality.
He loves me and he wants to marry me! Soon, my name will be Candice White Grandchester, and I might well repeat it aloud, I've still the feeling that it is about somebody else! Would you have thought that one day, what I had not even dared to hope would become reality? A little inner voice told me that you have something to do with that because, when thinking about my journey in New-York, I realize how this ride had been directed to Terry, right? Patty confessed this little conspiracy to ease our re-encounter. To be honest, this incursion in my private life troubled me at first, but I quickly realized my mistake. If you hadn't helped us to change the course of destiny, we would certainly remain those two idiots unable to come back to each other, so walled up we were into our certainties, blind and deaf to this opportunity that was offering to us. I'm thrilling of dread when figuring out the darkness into which we would have stayed plunged without your initiative… How can I ever thank you all?
You've always been there, my dear Albert, ready to help or to comfort me. You did so much to me. You, this beloved protector and benefactor, who worked in the shadows until you shows up to me, my mysterious Uncle William. How surprised and at the same time, how relieved I was that day! It could only be you anyway because nobody but you could know and understand me so well. I still wonder how I had been able to ignore it during all these years spent by your side. You've always known what was good for me, this is why you decided to send me to England after Anthony's death though I refused to go there. If you hadn't done it, I would have never met Terry, and perhaps, I would have never recovered from the incommensurable loss that had meant for me Anthony's death. I would have never understood that we can fall in love again, differently certainly, but as strong surely. You knew it, this is why you made me cross the ocean, so that distance and time heal my pain, and so that another person as wonderful as Anthony was, crosses my path. I owe you my present happiness, Albert, and I don't know how to cherish you beyond what a daughter can feel for her father. The force of this invisible bond that links us makes up that I already know, that whatever happens, we'll remain forever united and this fills me with joy. I need you too much in my life and I wish it for us the longest possible together. I hope to be able one day to give you back everything you gave me, but I know that one life won't be enough, so much you brought to me and fulfilled me. Thank you, Albert, thank you from the bottom of my heart…
I'm eager to go back to America to see you again, and I know that Terry is eager too. You mean so much to him and your opinion about our union means as much to him. I think that he'll really be in peace with himself at the only moment when you give him your consent. I feel him so fragile and so lost sometimes...
Very soon, you'll take me to him, along this alley that leads to the altar of Pony's home's chapel. I will squeeze your strong arm, my eyes troubled with the emotion overcoming me and I will look at you, who will be smiling at me with benevolence and all my fears will vanish, like they always do when you are with me. You've been of all my difficulties, and I want you now of all my joys. This is why I'm looking forward that day because I'll be able to fully share it with you…
Someone is knocking at my door. It must be Terry who's coming to look for me because we are this afternoon (you will find it odd, I'm sure) going back to Saint-Paul Academy. I think that it might remember us many memories…
I send you kisses, dear Albert, while waiting to be able to press you against my heart. Please tell to all my friends how much I miss them.
See you soon,
Lots of love,
Candy
As they were approaching Saint-Paul College, Candy was having many difficulties to recognize the place. It had been built everywhere! The surrounding countryside had been quite reduced under the effect of urbanization, and though the school was located on the outskirts of the town, it was now surrounded from all sides by little houses identical to one another. The road that used to lead to the college had been widened to allow a better traffic in both directions, the regular thud of which imposed itself in the background like a litany.
The young woman let out a sigh of relief when seeing in the distance the high gate of Saint-Paul, which had not changed, similar to her memories. Nevertheless the sunlight projecting on the bars was giving to it a more welcoming appearance despite its austere architecture. Terry pulled on the bell's chain fixed on the boundary wall, and Candy kept her breath, living again with violence her arrival at the college ten years before and the cold welcome she had received. He gave her a knowing gaze suffused with some worry, like if in his turn, he was seeing again with intensity the movie of this period of his life and which he had not kept very good memories, except those with Candy…
Shortly after, the rustle of steps on the gravel of the alley was heard. In reaction, Candy took Terry's hand to be reassured, fearing to see the sister's severe face of her memories. A young nun showed up then, with a warm smile that instantly made forget the lugubrious black of her cloth.
- Lord Grandchester and Miss Andrew, I presume? – She said as she moved apart the large panels of the gate. And as they were nodding, she added – Mother Superior is waiting for you. Please follow me…
The young couple crossed the gate and began to walk next to the sister who looked very happy to have some company. Most of the pupils were in summer camp in Scotland, leaving the college like gutted, and particularly quiet. Normally, murmurs, laughs and mocking chuckles would be heard, bouquets of black and white suits would be seen, scattered under the big arches of the inner court, under the nuns' watchful and suspicious eye, on the lookout for the least rapprochement between girls and boys. Fortunately, the park was big enough and allowed some breaches to the rules, but Candy knew from experience how risky it was to infringe the regulation in force. In the distance, she saw the barn in which she had been caught with Terry, and she quivered with dread to this painful memory.
They walked down the aisle shaded with centenarian plane trees while listening to Adelaide - it was her name – expounding the modifications that the college had known since their leaving : the refectory's renovation, the bedrooms' modernization that were all having power, the enlargement of the building's left wing to welcome more students, and even the settlement of a radio set in the common-room!
- I did not know that Mother Grey liked this kind of… entertainment… - said Candy who remembered the Mother Superior's rigidity. Say that some things have evolved since she retired – answered the nun with a little smile as she pushed the building's heavy door that creaked as it opened, letting the noise echoing on the walls of a long dark and empty hall with a black and white tiled floor.
- Mother Grey retired? – Candy and Terry both exclaimed. They had never imagined that she could stop some day…
- I thought this old top would have held her post like the pope, until her death!... – thought Terry frowning with disappointment, disappointed to have to renounce to the opportunity to make her upset as he used to…
- She retired almost four years ago – answered Adelaide as she was leading them towards the end of the hall – but she still lives in the college.
- Who took her post then? – Asked Candy, intrigued. Faces and names of the sisters who could claim for the replacement were passing in her mind without her being able to determine a specific choice. For her, they were each one as rigid and cold than the last!
- You'll know it very soon… - said the nun as she knocked on a door with an enigmatic smile. The thud of an armchair getting moving back came to them as she pushed the door, letting appear a room that the young couple had been used to visit more than usual… The figure standing behind the impressive desk looked up and Candy startled with surprise.
- Sister Margareth, you, here? – She cried out, forgetting any usual greetings.
An amused smile stretched on the nun's roundish cheeks.
- Indeed, Candy, it's me…
The young blonde was staying motionless on the doorstep, stupefied. Sister Margareth, Sister Margareth was the new Mother Superior!
- Well, Candy, I've known you much more talkative!... – said the nun as she moved forward. She saw Terry behind her, and a new smile, this time more eloquent, appeared on her face. When she had been informed of the visit of her two former students, she had not looked surprised, guessing what they had become for each other. She had quickly understood it at the time when observing them and had been touched by this love that was growing before her eyes. Two beautiful young adults were now standing in front of her, clearly very in love with each other but also very surprised to discover her here.
- Forgive me, Sissss… Sorry, Mother – mumbled Candy as she greeted her – It must be the emotion. I'm so pleased to see you again!
- I am pleased too, Candy… - said Mother Margareth as she took her hands – It really warms my heart to see the beautiful young woman you've become. We were terribly worried when you left suddenly the college! Fortunately, your uncle wrote us some time later to reassure us…
- I'm sorry for the concern I caused you, Mother. My leaving was indeed very hasty… - said Candy, embarrassed, looking from the corner of her eye at Terry, whose features had tensed when evoking this sad memory – I won't fail to thank my uncle for this kind thought when I see him…
The nun offered them to sit down on a brown velvet sofa, placed against the wall and facing the desk. The furniture had not changed but the room had been painted in white and the curtains had been changed. The daylight through the big windows was bringing an unsuspected comforting atmosphere that peculiarly contrasted with what they remembered. The park could be seen through the half-opened French windows from which was coming the singing of birds that were playing hide and seek in the trees foliage, under the shade of the summer burning sunrays.
- Time has stopped here… - thought Candy, melancholic, absorbed by the serene charm of the place. She did not regret her come back to saint Paul that she was discovering with new eyes, released from her former torments. The grey veil of her memories was little by little tearing and Terry's full of tenderness gaze directed to her achieved to consume it.
- How long are you going to stay in London? – Sister Margareth interrupted her in her thoughts while sitting down on the coach in her turn.
- Two weeks only – intervened Terry, having noticed his girlfriend's thoughtful look – Time for us to celebrate our engagement, then we'll return to Candy's family for our wedding… - he followed, sitting down deeper in the sofa's cushions. He had said that so naturally that he got surprised himself, him, so secretive before. But he was feeling so happy and proud to marry Candy that he could have shouted it to the whole world!
- What a wonderful news! – The Mother Superior exclaimed – I secretly hoped you told me this when coming here. I'm so pleased for you both!
She was looking at them, her eyes sparkling with joy, a big smile on her lips. Sister Adelaide came back then, pushing a trolley carrying a hot teapot, cups and little cookies. Candy looked with an avid eye at the pyramid of scones that was offering to her taste buds, making her drooling, but the oblique gaze that Terry gave her obliged her, grinning, to move back her tongue she was about to pass on her lips.
The service done, Sister Adelaide slipped out as she discreetly greeted them with her head.
- Well! - Said Sister Margareth, sighing with pleasure – As we are now alone, you can tell me what you both have become. I'd like also to have news from your friends. It will make me feel younger.
She had chuckled when saying that, her body shaken with laughers. Candy remembered the loving and understanding person she had been with her, and was discovering a person more relaxed, freed from the absolute authority of Mother Grey. She had not changed, except few wrinkles on the corner of her eyes that were giving her a wiser look despite the mischief that sparkled in it.
It was Candy who finally spoke, Terry simply nodding in agreement at times. It was not easy to summarize ten years of a life in few minutes, knowing that she had to conceal some painful aspects of it. Sister Margareth knew everything of the Terry's brilliant carrier but ignored that Candy had become a nurse, and she expressed great enthusiasm at this news. When she learnt Alistair's death at war, she could not hold her tears and had to blow her nose several times.
- My God, what a pity! – She sobbed – We've unfortunately lost many former students during this cursed war. To think that this poor Mister Cornwell is one of them!… He was so friendly and so endearing. Sister Grey will be very shocked when she knows it…
- How is she?
- Very well for someone of her age. You'll be able to meet her later if you like. For now, she's having some rest but she will wake up soon. Why don't you go and visit the place around in the meantime?
- I wouldn't say no! – Said Terry who had immediately stood up, avoiding meeting Candy's widened eyes, so eager he was to stretch his legs.
- All right! – Cried out Sister Margareth, as she stood up in her turn – Take your time. It's very good in the park today. I don't think you'll get lost. It has not changed very much since you left.
She went to the door to open it and interrupted herself in her impulse at the last moment, looking embarrassed. A nervous smile tensed her face as her cheeks became pink of a certain emotion.
- May I ask you a favour, Terrence, before you leave? – She finally said with an almost inaudible voice, looking down.
- Of course, Mother, what can I do for you? – He answered, frowning with curiosity before the sudden strange behaviour of the nun.
He saw her hesitating and becoming even redder, then she plunged her hand in the pocket of her cloth and took from it a picture of the young comedian that she handed to him, looking down.
- Would you mind to give me an autograph, Terrence?
Terry let out a hiccup of astonishment before the Mother Superior's unexpected request, then got a grip of himself, unwilling by no means to embarrass her. She was so red that she was irradiating the room!
He went to the desk and taking a fountain pen, he scribbled a word for her attention, then he gave the picture back to her that she seized in a hurry like if she was afraid he could take it back from her.
"To Mother Margareth, Yours affectionately, rebellious and devoted student, Terrence" – she read with a low voice, as if she was talking to herself. Then she looked up, both delighted and touched – Thank you, Thank you very much, Terrence…
Then, hiding again the picture in her pocket, she added with a wrongful little girl's pout:
- Above all, don't talk about it to Sister Grey, she would blame me for this…
- Don't worry, Mother, we'll keep it between us… - He answered her with a wink. Then he pivoted on his heels towards Candy who was waiting for him on the doorstep, with a touched smile.
He took her hand and carried her away in the hall that they crossed at a quick pace until the exit, laughing like teenagers. The park was stretching majestically before their eyes, similar to their memories and a strange feeling took possession of them, the nostalgia of a bygone time that was awakening a flood of feelings and emotions. They walked at first around the college, along the girls' dormitory, the boys' one, having trouble to determine which balcony corresponded to their bedroom. Time had done its work and erased this little detail of their former life, but it was Terry who was the first to be able to identify with certainty Candy's bedroom.
- Do you know that I used to watch you every night from my balcony? – He said, thoughtful – I used to follow your figure through the curtains, looking out for the moment when you would take your nightgown off…
- You were spying me? – She cried out, offended, her mouth wide opened of astonishment.
- I was, and I don't feel ashamed for this. There was no more beautiful sight before sleeping… - He answered, like a cat licking his lips.
- I can't believe what you're telling me! To think that I thought you were a gentleman!... – she said, crossing her arms, and frowning her nose up, faking being scandalized.
He turned to her, his fists against his hips, delighted to participate in the bad faith game into witch she was taking him.
- It's really funny of being blamed for this by someone who did no hesitate to change into a wearing-skirt monkey to go and visit some boys, at night moreover!
- My, My Goodness ! This is really dishonest! – She cried out, stunned by the treacherousness of his remark – You did not complain when one night, as you were completely drunk and wounded, that I jumped over the wall to go and seek something to treat you!
- Hey, calm down! There is no need to be a prickly pear for such a small thing, Freckles! – He replied, laughing as he pressed his index finger on her pretty nose scattered with freckles that angriness emphasized.
- Roooooooohhhhh! I forbid you from calling me that way! - She roared as he was running away, laughing – If I catch you, you'll be sorry!
Furious, she ran after him, with the will to hold him accountable. But her elegant shoes couldn't compete with his long male legs. She came close to falling several times and began to curse the exasperating being with unbearable mocking laughs he had just become again.
- Grrrr! How irritating he can be sometimes! – She thought as she took her shoes off that were making her suffer - He'll regret it!
Grumbling inside her, she realized that she had arrived at the foot of the new Pony's hill and she hurried up to reach the top. His back leaning against the old oak, a leg folded against the trunk, he was waiting for her, chewing up the stem of a clover with an ironic look.
- You took your time, Lady Freck…
- Enough! Shut up! – She said, breathless, as she leaned in her turn against the tree. She would have her revenge later, but for now, the only thing she wanted was to rest and recover her forces.
To tie you up like a piglet!
She was also dying of thirst and running with sweat! What possessed her to run after him? He would have been fooled if she had not followed him. Why did she have to react at each of his provocations? May be because their relationship worked that way, between arguments and reconciliations…
She turned to him. His mocking air had disappeared and his gaze was lost towards the skyline.
- What are you thinking about, Terry? – She asked.
- I was thinking… I was thinking that this hill is certainly the place where I felt the best when I was in college. No one would come and bother me here, except you who had appropriated the place and who used to show up on any occasion…
- It sounds like it did not please you… - she noted, a bit annoyed.
- Not at all, on the contrary! I enjoyed watching you arriving and I would laugh inside because you were often talking to yourself. In the beginning, I had even wondered if you had your entire mind…
- Did I succeed to convince you otherwise? – She said, offended, her eyes narrowing into two tiny slots on her pretty face.
- Ho, very quickly, darling! – He said as he took her hand to kiss the palm of it. She cheered up immediately, melting like snow in the rain, unable to resist to the warmth of his lips – I quickly understood that your monologues were directed to your horrible cousins who were making your life miserable, and that you were that way releasing all this angriness in you. You touched me because I was feeling the same angriness but I did not have any outlet like you had…
- You finally found theatre…
- Yes, and I wish you were here with me at that time…
- We can't go backward, Terry…
- No, you're right, but there is something that I can do now and that was impossible before…
- What?
- This…
Saying these words, he pressed her violently against the tree, took with his two hands her face and kissed her full on the mouth. Surprised, she wanted to push him away, but she renounced just as fast, unable to resist to the soft contact of his lips on hers, both tender and daring. When they moved away, she let out a moan of regret that made him smile of satisfaction.
- You are no slapping me this time? – He asked with a tone that let guess his pride to have passed the exercise. She was romantically looking at him, her lips reddened by the pressure of his kisses. On this hill, between his arms, she was feeling like being transported back in time, that time in which she was wearing a white suite and him a black one, in which their face had kept the roundness of childhood and in which their eyes were still shining with a certain naivety until everything brutally collapsed one night of September… Like in a flash, she remembered those wonderful moments they had passed together and all the times she had hoped he would dare to kiss her again. She wouldn't have been silly enough to slap him again… But she had not had the time to repeat the experiment…
She fluttered eyelashes, emerging from her torpor and looked around her. Nothing had changed. It was the same colors, the same smells, the same town of London that was spreading in the distance, with the only exception that the young man of yesteryear that was holding her in his arms was not afraid anymore to show his feelings for her and did not hesitate to prove it. She rolled her arms around his neck and drew him to her.
- No, I won't slap you… - she finally answered – As long… As long as you keep on kissing me…
He had a slight backward movement, like surprised of his request, then his face lighted up, and with a smile, he complied, with touches at first then with more ardour, his breath melting to hers that was coming out from her half opened mouth. Little by little, the flame of desire awakened in them, tensing their gestures, emphasizing their sighs, fastening their moves that were beginning more languorous. They were losing all control, unequivocally, carried by the sensuality of their impulses to which the saving ringing of the college's bell, striking the five hints that announced tea time, came to bring a close.
They moved away from each other, breathless, with the troubled eyes of those that fever takes. Recovering little by little their mind, they looked at each other, both embarrassed and knowing, aware of their mutual weakness. Terry finally shrugged with a sigh of resignation, and stretching to her his hand, he told her with a tender smile:
- Come, let's not keep Sister Grey waiting…
- I hope you'll be able to behave… - said Candy while rectifying Terry's tie knot – I know that you haven't kept a good memory of Sister Grey…
- That's putting it mildly! – He interrupted her, grinning, as he took off in his turn a twig from the young blonde's hair that she pretended to ignore.
- But… - She followed with a firmer tone, squeezing a little bit more this latter's collar – You are going to prove her that you've become a well educated young man, and that the thug that used to infuriate her does not exist anymore!
- All right, sir! – He said, sighing, as he pulled on his tie knot that was making him suffocate. Candy frowned with a look that wanted to be threatening, that only succeeded to make him laugh stupidly. She was about to give him a little hint in the ribs when the door opened abruptly before them, making them startle of surprise.
- Aaaaaaaah! I knew someone was talking behind the door! I've still an acute hearing, you know. Please, come in!
With her knobbly hand covered with prominent veins, Sister Grey invited them to follow her to the terrace of her modest but cosy apartment. Leaning on a stick, she slowly walked, back stooped, towards one of the wicker armchairs that were waiting around a table, under the protector shadow of a basswood. Candy hurried to settle at best the cushions in the old woman's back who sighed with delight as she sat down.
- I acknowledge in that your thoughtful nature, my child… - said the nun, patting affectionately her hand – You haven't changed, Candy. Still so caring. I'm very pleased to see you… Both…
She had insisted on this last word with a certain solemnity like to show them her sincerity. She was very happy to see them again, to know that they were safe and sound after this war that had caused so much pain, to notice that they had changed into young and beautiful adults with the deep desire to do something of their life. Mother Margareth had visited her few minutes before and therefore she had not been surprised by that news even if she would have preferred not to discover them in the stable… That is what she wanted to explain to them in order to break for good the ice that was forming between them despite the heat of this summer end of day. Sister Adelaide had come to serve tea, and as soon as she finished and left, she got started, without a certain anxiety.
- I wish I didn't have to do this… - she said, staring at the openwork metal round table around which they were settled – There was no way to avoid to expel you from school. I couldn't risk its reputation. I hope you understand…
The two simultaneously put their cup of tea down, and looked at each other, taken aback. They did not expect such introduction. They had thought that perhaps they would have evoked it during the conversation, but doing this that way, suddenly, was leaving them fairly disconcerted.
- I understand, Mother – finally said Candy, shyly. She did not want to blame this old woman who had frightened her so much but on who, time, like with anybody, had done its works: her formerly tanned carnation had faded, letting appear wrinkles that deepened her face tired by the weight of years. Shorts grey locks were getting out from her headdress that was falling on her stooped shoulders, lost under the grey cotton sheet that served as a tunic. The impressive mountain of rocks she had always represented to Candy's eyes had well and truly collapsed, letting appear under the ruins, a shrivelled up figure, tiny and frail, whose voice only, still firm and confident, recalled her authority of bygone days. No, what's the point of going down that road again…
Terry, visibly less impressed, was up for telling her his deepest thoughts and did not hesitate to prove it.
- You're forgetting, Mother, the special treatment which I was the subject of, while you were mercilessly sentencing Candy to expulsion! I was sent away to my bedroom while she was locked up in a cell!
The former headmaster sighed, shaking her head, and answered:
- I was holding your letters! I was furious to find out your behaviours that were not appropriate for people of your rank! Your father, the Duke, used to give us consistent contributions and as a result, I could not afford to lose this money that helped us considerably. I sacrificed Candy for you, Terence, because unfortunately, it was the best decision to take for the good of the College. I would have been blamed for having put to the same level a young American girl and the Duke of Grandchester's son. It would have been a great damage. I couldn't see any other solution at that time…
- I think you're forgetting that we had not written those letters, that it was a trap set by Eliza Leagan! You could have backed out – retorted Terry, controlling painfully his anger.
- I know, my child… - she sighed even more - But when the truth jumped out at me, you were both already gone… This little pest had cheated me and I never stopped blaming myself for having believed her lies instead of listening to the truth you were screaming to me. Believe me, I deeply regret my decision and the damage I caused to you. I tried to amend by trying to denounce this evil one's machinations, but her family had powerful connections in the Clergy, and the only thing I could do was to lock her in her room for two weeks… I learned the lesson well and I never allowed myself to be fooled again by this kind of "young miss"…
She had said this with a contemptuous tone that surprised them, so little used they were to have her letting see any feeling. Eliza's behaviour had obviously hurt her deeply and she looked consumed by guilt.
- Few months after you left, Candy – she followed with a softer voice – I received a letter from the ladies who had taken care of you before your adoption by the Andrew family. They wanted to thank me for the education we had given you in Saint Paul. They also told me about your childhood, your difficulties but mainly wanted to insist on your honesty and your good soul. I've never doubted about it, Candy, and I regret for not having been brave enough to take your defence you at that time. Unfortunately, the circumstances prevent me from doing it because you had both walked into the lion's den in front of many witnesses. My hands were tied!
Candy ignored that Sister Mary and Miss Pony had written to the Mother Superior and inwardly, she was glad of their unshakeable will to restore her reputation. She was even more touched that Mother Grey looked very moved while telling all of this. Before this obvious fragility, she went to join her, kneeled in front of her and took her hand.
- Don't worry, Mother, I don't blame you. I don't know how I would have reacted if I were you. I guess how difficult it must be to administrate a college like this. You know, even if it was a very terrible moment to live, I don't regret anything because if it had not happened, I wouldn't have found my way and Terry would not have become the talented actor his is now.
- From experience, I am satisfied that everything happens for a reason, that it was our fate to leave Saint Paul. I only regret to have disappointed you. We shouldn't have been in the stable that night. We knew that it was risky anyway. I'd like just you know that nothing happened there that we should be ashamed of…
For my part, I regret not having smashed Eliza's face before leaving… - spoke Terry as he looked at his fingers, making them moving before his beautiful face like if he wanted to check their agility. Before the two women's angry look, he added – Well, since we are talking about regrets, I've the right to express mine?!...
- I would not go so far as approve this, young man, but I dare say that we are numerous in this school to have hoped she gets struck by lighting... – Mother Grey surprisingly replied, chuckling of laughers – but the devil that lives in her must not lower ourselves to her vulgarity. She is a poor soul that deserves our pity…
- Or our contempt… - added Terry with a pout of disgust. The nun's beautiful words did not have any effect on him and he was even more eager to go back to America and take care of his future cousin…
- Would you like another cup of tea, Mother? – Asked then Candy to change the course of the conversation. It was incredible how power of discord Eliza could have, even if she were not there!
- Gladly, Candy.
The young woman lifted the teapot and filled the cups with the amber liquid with aromas of bergamot, then she went back to her seat next to Terry who was having difficulty to renounce to his scowl. She took his hand and his gaze softened as if by magic. This place was perhaps that which had got them separated but it was also in this place that he was with her now. They had loved each other in Saint Paul and were still loving each other returning there. It was the same place but everything was different because he was happy nowadays with her at his side who was holding tenderly his hand. The loop of their wanderings was closing with as last witness, Mother Grey's benevolent gaze on them.
Suddenly, Candy stood up, frowning with embarrassment.
- Excuse-me, Mother, could you tell me where the bathroom is, please?
All the tea she had drunk was having an effect. She had tried to think about something else, but the last cup of tea had proven fatal for her bladder that was about to burst. Following the instructions of her host, she crossed the living room, then followed a corridor that was leading to a bedroom and an adjacent bathroom. The bedroom's door was opened and the Mother Superior's bed could be seen in a corner with, hanging above on the wall, a wooden crucifix. Next to the bed was a night table of simple manufacture with a glass of water and a bible on its top: the ordinary bedroom of a nun, simple and monastic. Candy did not stay longer and turned the following door handle, rushing inside like if the devil was after her. Few minutes later, relieved and lightened of her painful trouble, she was back in the corridor and about to return to the terrace when, as she was going by the bedroom, her gaze stopped on the library that she had not noticed in the other way, on which were put some old pictures. Driven by curiosity, she became bolder and entered, pretending, to comfort herself, that there was nothing wrong with looking and she approached the furniture. The sepia-toned pictures studded with brown spots reminded of another time, that of Alice in wonderland, with these little girls wearing ringlets and puff dresses that let appear their round calves under white silk stockings. A portrait captured in particular her attention: that of two fair-haired little girls with similar face, so identical that it was difficult to distinguish one from the other. To the familiar gaze they were sharing, Candy understood that it was certainly Mother Grey as a child and her twin sister whose beauty mark on the chin allowed to differentiate her. They were two pretty little girls with roundish cheeks and a mischievous smile whose visible complicity reminded to Candy of that she had known with Annie. A nostalgic smile appeared on her lips and she followed her discovery, noticing another picture on which the two sisters, a little older, were posing next to each other with their young dog. The next picture represented Sister Grey, in her twenties, dressed with her religious habit, with around her what was supposed to be her family and her dog looking very old, but oddly, her sister was not there… Instinctively, Candy turned the picture with the two little girls and their dog, and noticed something handwritten : 1865, Elizabeth and our dear Audrey who passed away too soon…
Candy's heart immediately broke as she read those words and tears clouded her sight. So much sudden information was coming up again from those objects! So, Sister Grey had been a little girl named Elizabeth, before changing of name when entering a religious order… She had had a twin sister that she loved tenderly and who died when she was still a child… Was it this drama that had later influenced the course of her life and had oriented her towards this vocation? Was it this terrible wrench that had made her so tough? So many questions were knocking together in her mind as for only answer, numerous hypothesis that she could never check unless questioning directly Sister Grey, and dying of shame for her inconsequent indiscretion… But she was very late yet, and drying her tears, she went back to join her with the secret hope she had not too much noticed her absence.
Entering the living room, she was surprised to see them both, leaning over a table, browsing a book.
- Ah Candy! This is amazing! Guess what, Mother Grey owns one of the first editions of Romeo and Juliet! – Cried out Terry when seeing her. Come and see this little wonder!
Candy nodded and came closer. The young man' face expressed an indescribable joy, at the limit of fervour. Being able to touch this book that Shakespeare might have hold between his hands was making him exult. This edition of 1597 was in an unbelievable state, preserved safe in a cloth then in a box, behind the panes of former Mother Superior's library. He was contemplating the work with a moved gaze, regularly expressing loudly his amazement to the rhythm of the pages he turned. After a moment, Sister Grey closed the book and handed it to him.
- Take it, it's for you.
- Excuse me, Mother? – He eructed as if he had just received a violent hint in the stomach – You, You are giving it to me?
- Yes, I am. You'll make a better use of it than I will…
- But I can't accept! This book costs a fortune! Do you have any idea of what people would be ready to pay to get it?
- I took a vow of poverty when I entered in religion, my son. This pretext cannot then influence me…
- But… But… - he stuttered, searching for his words with agitation – You must care about it very much! Why would you get rid of it?
- Dear Terrence… This book has been in family for generations. This is my father who gave it to me the day I pronounced my vows. We were both two big fans of Shakespeare and I imagine that giving it to me symbolized the connection that united us in this new world in which I was entering and that was going to separate us. I've no child, no nephew or niece. I'd like that this book goes to someone who would cherish it as much as I would, and I've found that person. It's you, Terrence… I've never been able to see you on stage but I own something that can justify my choice.
Saying this, she walked to the library and took a thirty centimetres square-shaped paper bag of inside which was a phonograph record. It was a recording of the Romeo and Juliet play that Terry had played in Broadway in 1920!
- See! – She said, holding proudly the 78-rpm – Modern world has no secret for me! God, in his benevolence, has wanted that technical progress comes to me and that I discover by its means your talent! What a gift from Heaven you have, my son!
Caught by surprise, the young man stood before her like a statue, his mouth wide opened and his eyes as big as a saucer. It was really his watermarked figure that could be seen on the cover as well as his name printed on the side with that of the other main actors. He was aware of these recordings but he would have never imagined finding one in the library of the former Mother Superior of Saint Paul College in London!
- Would you make me a favour in return, Terrence? – She asked, bowing her head on the side to capture his attention that was focused on the record.
- Anything you want, Mother – he finally articulated, little by little coming back to reality.
- Would you sign it for me, please? – She did with a young lady's smile as his eyes were growing even more with astonishment. In the background, observing the scene, Candy began to chuckle inwardly, wondering if after all these emotions, they would come back one day to their normal size…
- You would be very kind – the old woman added with a low voice while handing him a fountain pen – not to talk about it to Mother Margareth. She would blame me…
Terry held his breath as he signed the record cover, while carefully avoiding telling her that few hours before that latter had made the same request…
- Here it is, Mother! – He said while giving the record back to her. She thanked him warmly and gratefully then, holding the record between her hands, she read, looking delighted, the affectionate message he had written and, blushing, she rushed to store it in her library. She carefully closed the glass door then joined the couple that was looking at her with amusement and curiosity.
- So, I'm giving it to your care… - she said, handing again to Terry the book he had put back on the table.
- This is too much honour, Mother… - he said, bowing politely.
- The honour is mine, Terrence! – She answered, having recovered her yesteryear steady and confident tone – You see, this school has seen passing numerous future ministers and businessmen. There is no glory to be what they are because they were prepared to this since their birth. But there is no greatest gratification for an administrator like me, than seeing some unpromising students as you were, to succeed in the way they chose. Living of his passion is a luxury that the great and the good cannot offer to themselves. You did this sacrifice, at the risk of losing everything. Through your work, your tenacity, your courage, you proved to us that it was possible. I'm committing the sin of pride by telling you this, but I won't lie either – That will save me from committing another sin – by confessing that I'm proud and honoured that Saint Paul had you among its student, Terrence Grandchester…
Emotion could be seen on the young man's pale face. Candy came approached him, and fearing he would faint, took his hand. It was not common to see the Mother Superior singing the praise of someone, and especially of a student like Terry, who had made her life miserable for years. The old woman's sincerity had cleaned his heart of the last resentments and blames that he had towards her. He was not this proud and vengeful teenager anymore but a young adult filled with a new feeling that surprised him: that of a deep respect for this old lady, who, hidden under her loose grey cloth, still on impressed him.
A strange atmosphere combined with peace and serenity had settled in the room, leaving all three silent and thoughtful. This is when the plump cherub, laying on the Louis XVI style clock that was on one of the library's shelves, began to spew the six strokes of six o'clock, breaking straight the paranormal phenomenon they were living.
- Good Lord! – The Mother Superior cried out, getting excited as if her bottom had just been bitten – I'm going to be late for vespers!
Turning her head in every direction, she seemed looking for something.
- Where have I put my missal? – She moaned while keeping on searching around with a desperate look.
- Is it what you're looking for? – Asked Candy as she saw the spine of a book under a cushion of the couch.
- Yessss, it is! Thank you my dear child! – Cried out the old woman as she buried the book in the pocket of her cloth – At my age, we tend to mislay many things…
She readjusted her crucifix that was hanging around her neck then turned to them, teary and with some disappointment in her voice, she said to them – I've to say goodbye to you now. It's time for me to join my fellow sisters at the chapel.
- We understand, Mother, and we won't make you late any longer… - said Candy as she affectionately took her hands.
- Thank you for visiting me, my children. You've made me feel younger of several years. You'll still give me news, won't you?
- Of course, we will, Mother. Don't worry.
The nun nodded quietly, chocking up, realizing that at her advanced age, it was perhaps the last time she would see them. She had always been unable to stand partings that used to leave her disarmed and weak, and that was really this weakness she had always struggled to dissimulate. They exchanged their last words of farewell then parted in front of the entrance doorstep before each one took an opposite direction.
- How strange it is… - said Terry as they were returning to their car – I would have never imagined being able to feel affection when thinking about Mother Grey, but, that is really what I feel presently…
- You needed to make peace with this place, Terry, and particularly with the Mother Superior… - said Candy while brushing his chin with a teasing gesture.
- You did not need it too? – He interpellated her, on the defensive.
- Not anymore for a long time… - she answered, taking his hand as she felt contrariety invading him – I was also mad at the Mother Superior, then I realized that it was there that I had met and loved you. I had arrived at Saint Paul, hurt and desperate, and I left it free with my heart full of hope to see you again. It's been longer than I thought but we succeeded. This place and these people that live here are the anchor point of what binds us together. I wanted you to see it with new eyes and not distorted by bitterness.
- You've succeeded… - he said, taking to his mouth the hand she was holding to kiss hers – You always get what you want, don't you?
- You're really getting to know me – she cooed.
- Better and better, that's right… - he whispered to her ear with an eloquent tone that did not let any equivoque. She blushed, groping for the door handle and take shelter in the car. He burst out laughing before her embarrassment as she rushed to sit down on the passenger side.
- Would you be afraid of me? – He asked, frowning ironically while sitting down on his turn.
- I'm not, I'm just afraid of what you are able to make me do…
He pretended being surprised by a brief backward movement, but could not keep from laughing before the sideways glance she gave him.
- I don't have so much power over you, come on…
She answered with a doubtful pout, remembering the passion that had embraced them on the new Pony's hill… A little more and… They could have…. She looked down, with blushing cheeks and running heart.
- Listen – he finally said as he lifted her chin up with a tender gesture - I don't want to return to the castle. What do you think of continuing our road towards Plymouth? I'd like to see Cookie again and be sure that he is fine…
- Plymouth? But it's very far from here!
- We'll find on the way a hotel to spend the night… - he said, arching his eyebrows repetitively. He would eat her alive… She painfully swallowed… She was at his mercy…
- But I don't have a change of clothes! – She squeaked as last attempt of bravery before the predatory smile he showed her. We won't show up rumpled before Cookie!
- We'll ask the maid service to have them cleaned… You won't need them by tomorrow anyway…
- Before such arguments – she sighed, beaten, hiding her trouble behind her blonde locks – I can only accept this honest proposal…
- Wise decision… - he said, enveloping her neck with his hand to approach her from him. His lips so close brushed hers. She thought he would kiss her. Her body was going numb. She closed her eyes…
- Later, beautiful impatient… - he murmured as he moved away from her, a mocking smile on the corner of his lips. She looked him up and down, arms crossed, her mouth round of stupefaction, as the cheeky one turned with an innocent look the key that activated the engine, which started normally, keen not to delay their trip…. Neither their embraces… the car moved into the road towards the coast, leaving behind it the high gate of Saint Paul College, that quickly became just a point in the horizon, to definitively disappear and go back to a past aimed at remaining that way….
Candy went out from the bathroom, wrapped in a bathrobe, then went to the French-window of their bedroom that opened on a little balcony with a sea view. When arriving the night before in Plymouth, they had chosen a more common hotel than usual but clean and cosy. That way, Terry did not risk that some of his family's acquaintances recognize him with a woman who he was not (yet) married with. It was not the micro-scandal it would have created that bothered him because he did not care about what people thought about him for long, but rather Candy's reputation which could have been concerned, which was what he wanted to avoid most of all. So, they had introduced themselves at the reception desk under the name of Mr and Mrs Darcy, the pleasant allusion of which had made smile Candy, big admirer of Jane Austen and her works. The receptionist had written their name on the register without frowning and had given them their bedroom's key, whishing them a good night in his establishment.
The night had been of the most pleasant one actually and once again too short for the young lovers passionate of each other they were. It's been days since she had not waken up with him next to her, and the pleasure to feel the warmth of his skin against her at waking up had troubled her so much that she had almost cried. Soon, she would be able to share freely the same bed, without fearing judgements, and this prospect was making her even more eager to see that blessed day coming. But before this, she would have to get through several steps that would still be spread out along several weeks; an eternity for her, but an eternity with Terry was far from meaning a torment…
Her head bowing on the side, she was ending drying her wet hair with a towel, glancing thoughtful to the horizon. A sky without cloud reflected on the calm water in a bright clear blue, that only few laughing seagulls disturbed with their skirting flight above the waves. She heard him sighing deeply and she turned around. Shaken by the emotion before the unreal sight that was offered to her, she leaned against the window panel and let herself at contemplating him. No, really, she would never get used to it…
He was standing there, in front of her, lying on his belly, in this bed wrapped with the morning sun. Even asleep, he would always give her the disturbing feeling of being a poor mortal in presence of a Greek god, a god of light certainly, so much perfection irradiated from his person. With his arms, thin and muscled, buried under the pillow, he was sleeping peacefully, his breath slow and regular, his features relaxed without any quivering of anxiety. His rebellious lock partly covered his eyes fringed with dark lashes that delicately dissimulated his green pupils the hypnotic power of which knew to erase any resistance from her. His nose right and fine, his high cheekbones, his long mouth folding up to the corners in a subtitle and never-ending smile, his jaw both refined and manly, matched in an perfect aesthetic ensemble that sent her back, without any restraint, the indecency of his beauty that she never stopped admiring. Her amazed glance moved to his naked torso, revealing a muscled belly with prominent abdominals, round shoulders, the line of which continued in a soft curve towards the small of his back covered by a rumpled cloth, whose fold, slightly turned up on the side, revealed the nascent shadow of his intimacy. Her ears became pink when thinking about what this troubling organ was able to provoke in her, the memory of their nocturne jousts reviving in her a violent trouble that took possession of her with dazzling speed. A confusion of moans, sighs, muffled shouts that echoed in her mind as each parcel of her skin, quivering, lived again with intensity those moments of fusion in which their members knotted and unknotted at the pace of their caresses, the rocking of their bodies that grew in intensity until rage, pleasure controlling their flesh and their soul that abandoned themselves to spinning, until the ultimate rupture of climax.
Panting, she, without realizing, let escape the towel she was holding that fell on the ground with a muffled rustling. She looked up and crossed his gaze that seemed to watch her for a while. Blushing, her mouth half opened, she stared at him, her eyes wide opened with surprise, easily guessing, to the mocking smile that was growing on his lips, that he had understood the unspeakable thoughts that had crossed her mind. He tilted on the side, stretching, his head leaning on his folded arm, exhibiting his divinely muscled chest, real temptation for her fingers willing to touch it. Intimidated, she did not dare to move, fearing that a clumsy gesture from her comes to break the charm. He held his hand to her.
- Come closer… - he said with a soft and comforting voice.
She went to him, hesitating, and put a knee on the bed. Her head was spinning of the trouble he was creating in her. But before she had the time to recover her breath, he drew her to him, his arms enclosing her like a vise, the captive of which she wanted to remain most of all. He tilted above her and plunged his sharp gaze in hers filled with curiosity and eagerness.
- Tsssss, tssss! You should not have looked at me that way, miss Andrew… - he said, narrowing his eyes, like a feline teasing his pray. He was holding her wrists firmly above her head, preventing her from moving. He was so close, his wet lips brushing hers, slipping from her at every arching of her. It was a real torture!
- But… But you were sleeping… - she mumbled with a little plaintive voice while her whole being wanted to release itself to embrace him on its turn. He smiled, delighted, then moved his hand from her wrist to tenderly cover her cheek until the back of her neck, his thumb lovely caressing the top of her cheekbone. His features suddenly tensed under the effect of a great emotion. She read then the fever of passion and felt her body quivering of vertigo.
- Not anymore… - she heard him saying with a hoarse voice as he buried his head in the hollow of her neck. She closed her eyes, welcoming this body that was weighing heavily on hers and looking for a path between her thighs, then, with a languorous sigh, she let herself being carried to this world of eternal discoveries the guide of which he was, so ably, his mouth wide opened sealing in a muffled moan to hers, like a door opener to voluptuousness…
End of chapter 16