Maria was in Silverydew, with all of Mrs Digweed and Loveday's plans for once coming in useful and providing her with the means of staying away from Robin, who she was still furious at.
Well, perhaps she wasn't furious anymore, but she was certainly annoyed. Robin had the keenest senses of anyone Maria had ever known; he could detect the slightest movement of an animal, spot the tiniest evidence left behind by his quarry. And the way he had every inch of the forest mapped out in his mind, knew every bit of flora and fauna of every corner… It never failed to astound her.
But when it came to people, Robin De Noir had to be the most clueless person she had ever met.
Maria couldn't deny of course that his father's ultimatum had made her uneasy. She and Robin were good friends, spent too significant an amount of time together for her not to be unsettled by the news, because Robin getting married would completely put an end to that. But even if that had been the reason for suggesting she marry him, even then, you didn't marry someone just to prevent your friendship with them coming to an end! While friendship probably was a good start for marriage, it in no way would sustain it, for marriage far surpassed the limits of friendship.
And friendship hadn't been the reason Robin had proposed anyway. It had been convenience, and it was only this which had led him to apparently noticing that she was, in fact, a woman, of marriageable age. And more importantly it seemed, an easy solution to his problem. Oh, just what on earth could have possessed him to propose to her like he had? Well, propose was too generous word, but it amounted to the same thing. How could he have even thought for one moment that it had been a good idea, that she would have agreed?
Well, Maria wouldn't. All other arguments aside, her parents had married for love. Her uncle and Loveday had married for love. Even Miss Heliotrope and Digweed had married for love, albeit a less obvious, slightly odder sort of love. Perhaps for De Noirs, arranged marriages of convenience were how they did things, but it was not how Merryweathers did things. No, Merryweathers married for nothing less than the deepest love and attraction and Maria refused to marry for anything less.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing of it all was that almost everyone Maria knew thought that Robin did love her. How could they not? Such a close friendship between them was bound to cause some speculation, and she spent a good portion of her time trying to explain that despite Robin's tendency of behaving romantically, it was in no way intentional. She'd never really been successful in this though, because actions spoke louder than words, and even though it never seemed to occur to Robin, taking someone to see sunrises, sunsets, shooting stars and showing them the beautiful and secret spots you'd discovered in the forest, was romantic.
When Maria was younger, this assumption on the part of other people had never really bothered her, since that was the sort of thing nosey old matrons liked to tease young girls about without it necessarily needing to be true, just so long as it caused them blush. And she'd taken no notice because she enjoyed the time she spent with Robin too much. She still did, but now she was older, the problem was everyone genuinely did believe it, since their friendship hadn't faded away with their very obvious differences in background and lifestyles dividing them as they'd grown older, as everyone had expected. And the only explanation for that was apparently that she and Robin were genuinely meant to be. Written in the stars. Soul mates.
As time had gone on, the topic had thus ceased to be interesting, because it just something that was. They were Maria-and-Robin, not Maria and Robin. Her peers in Silverydew would simply grow impatient with her if she expressed any of the shared concerns a young, unmarried woman might have about their future; she had already been lucky enough to have these worries and concerns removed from a young age, to have made a good, if unconventional, match, and to have someone entirely devoted to her. And this had all become more and more frustrating to Maria in recent months, unbearable even, because it was so far from the truth of it all. It so wasn't how things were between herself and Robin. Even now, when he was proposing, love and desire hadn't had any bearing on the situation, not for him. Robin was totally oblivious to it all, to her as anything other than a friend who might be able to help him out of a sticky situation…
No, the truth of it was Maria had never been so certain of someone being less romantically interested in her. In all the time they'd spent exploring the forest together, all the excuses Robin had had, never once had he held onto her a second longer than it took to assist her over a rough patch of ground or lift her down from log or rock. He had never so much as kissed her, or ever shown the slightest inclination or intention to.
You're a girl. For Heaven's sake, what had he thought she was up until then? Just a cleaner, politer version of Richard, David and Henry, without the leather and appalling manners? Moon above, if Robin hadn't even noticed she was female, he certainly must have never thought she was attractive.
Which was fine. Because they were just friends, and she was happy with that. Happy and contented.
"Maria?" Louisa asked, next to her on the picnic blanket she and her two friends from Silverydew were sitting on, "What is it? You looked like you've swallowed a wasp!"
"Nothing," Maria replied, hastily trying to rearrange her expression from one of bitterness and resentment (she was neither of these things) to something more serene and unconcerned.
"Well I know something that will cheer her up," Ada smirked, nudging Louisa and nodding to something behind Maria "Or rather, who…"
Following her gaze, Maria turned her head, although she had a good idea of who she was about to see. Damn him. Couldn't he take a hint?
"Doesn't he ever take those feathers off?" Louisa asked, "I always thought they must be rather tickly…"
"Well maybe that's why he wears them," Ada answered, shooting a sly glance at Maria, "And why not ask Maria?"
Both girls erupted into giggles, just in time for Robin to reach them. Fortunately for him, Maria's irritation at their hints and amusement in that moment marginally outweighed her resolve of not speaking to him.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, her scowl nonetheless back in place.
"I've come to escort you back," Robin replied, arching his eyebrows in response to Ada and Louisa's tittering, "Loveday needs you home,"
"Why would she need me home?" Maria said with a confused and suspicious frown, "She's supposed to be coming here herself soon…"
"Well that's why she sent me," Robin answered with poorly veiled impatience, "She's been delayed,"
Maria didn't trust this for a second. Letting her roam the forests with Robin was one thing, but sending him to collect her from the heart of Silverydew, where gossip moved faster than Marmaduke, to walk her home, unchaperoned, was entirely another.
"Don't worry Maria," Louisa spoke up, seeming to pick up on this very thought and smiling conspiratorially at her, "We're not stuffy old matrons so we won't tell,"
"See, they won't tell," Robin repeated, sending a wink at Louisa and Ada which threw them into more fits of giggling and made Maria want to grind her teeth together. But, with no choice but to accept the hand he'd offered her, Maria let him pull her to her feet.
"That was utterly unnecessary," She hissed as soon as they were out of earshot.
"Well you hardly left me any choice given the way you've been avoiding me," He replied with a shrug, casting her an it's-your-own-fault sort of expression.
"I'm glad you noticed that much, even if you seem to have missed the material point of it," Maria retorted, "Which is I don't want to see you!"
"Yes you do," He contradicted, which only infuriated her all the more because it was true; however angry she was with him, she had still missed him.
"I don't," She repeated emphatically, as much to herself as to him, "Unless, that its, you're going to apologise to me and promise not to bring up that ridiculous topic again,"
"I've got nothing to apologise for and that's exactly what I'm going to do," Robin declared. Maria made an angry noise and doubled her pace, which, of course, didn't work. Robin simply jogged the few paces she'd made away from him and effortlessly lengthened his stride to match hers. "Where are you going?"
"Home," Maria responded flatly, "Loveday needs me back,"
"No she doesn't,"
"But you said-" Maria faltered in her stride. Of course it didn't take long for the truth to dawn on her, her eyes darkening with anger. "Oh, I knew you were lying!" She seethed, resuming her stormy pace.
"No I wasn't," Robin denied with a grin and overtaking her, "Loveday did send me. Maybe not to take you home, but she did send me," In front of her now, he turned so he was walking backwards facing her, "And according to her, you don't think I love you,"
This brought Maria to a very sharp halt, her shock at such an abrupt and direct question momentarily stunning her. For heaven's sake, he really did have no subtly did he? No one else she knew would have so bluntly brought such a subject up. In fact, they wouldn't have brought it up at all, because it was completely inappropriate and impolite to do so.
But this was Robin, she reminded herself, and expecting such gentlemanly sensibilities from him was like expecting the tides of the sea to stop.
"Because you don't, Robin," She told him wearily, her indignation fading away and leaving only exasperation behind.
"What makes you think that?" He demanded, looking irritated, perhaps as much by her tone as her statement.
"Robin, we've spent the best part of six years together," Maria reminded him with all the patience she could summon, "I think I would have noticed it by now if you did,"
"No you wouldn't have," He disagreed with a frown, "Not when I've never even thought about it…"
Maria gave an anguished sort of cry at this, resisting the overwhelming urge to throw her arms despairingly into the air.
"Well perhaps one day you'll meet someone who does make you think about it!" She exclaimed, stepping around him instead to resume her progress home, "And I'd rather not be in the way when you do,"
"For god's sake Maria, that's not what I meant!" Catching up with her, Robin stopped in front of her to bring her to halt once more, "Look, I'm not a romantic sort of person, you know that-"
Here Maria couldn't at all repress her rather unladylike snort because this had to be the biggest understatement she'd ever heard-
"-And no, you won't get a romantic proposal from me, but that doesn't make it any less sincere." Robin continued, shaking his head and looking earnestly at her, "I spend most of my free time with you and I'd hardly be able to do that if I was married to someone else would I? And I don't want to spend my time with anyone else!"
"That doesn't mean you love me," Maria insisted, remaining thoroughly unpersuaded and stepping around him again, "You've just gotten used to things as they are and you don't want them to change, which is hardly grounds for getting married,"
Robin made a noise of frustration from behind. "Well do you love me?" He demanded, catching up again but keeping pace rather than stopping her this time.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I said-"
"I know what you said!" Maria exclaimed, "It's the fact that you actually asked that I don't believe!"
"Well usually I find the best way to find out an answer is by asking, regardless of it being impolite," Robin retorted, rolling his eyes.
"Well I'm not answering that," Maria told him, "And it's irrelevant anyway-"
"Of course it isn't!" Robin interrupted.
"Yes it is," Maria insisted, "Because even if I did, it wouldn't make any difference to the situation-"
"-Wouldn't make any difference?" Robin echoed, disbelief etched across his face.
"No, it wouldn't," Maria repeated emphatically. "You're still asking me for the wrong reasons, among various other things-"
"What other things?"
"My own reasons, which are completely valid-"
"Then explain them to me," Robin flatly cut in.
"No, because you'll only try and persuade me that they're not!" Maria insisted stubbornly.
"…Oh and you couldn't possibly be wrong," Robin scoffed.
"No, not in this case," Maria declared, "Because unlike you Robin, I know my mind on the matter since it's not something I've only just been forced to think about by my father!"
With a pause, Robin raised an eyebrow. "Marriage in general or marrying me?"
Maria exhaled, her patience beginning to wear extremely thin. "Just drop it, Robin,"
"No," Robin retorted stubbornly, "Not when you're really going to risk everything on the basis of something you won't even explain!"
"I'm not risking anything, you are," Maria corrected, "And I'm not your only option, so I suggest you go and refocus your efforts on someone else,"
"Maria, listen to me," Robin planted himself in front of her once again, his tone and expression, emphatic, "I. Don't. Want. Anyone. Else,"
They stood for a moment, stubbornly facing one another, until Maria folded her arms. "Well I don't believe you." She said, simply.
Robin let out a noise of frustration, looking as if he was repressing the urge to sink his hand into his hair and yank it out, at his wits end. "Why not?"
"Perhaps because this ridiculous proposal of yours, if you can call it that, just happens to coincide with the ultimatum you father gave you!" Maria cried, before shaking her head, "Look Robin, you've asked me, and I've said no, which I'm entitled to do. Now it's time to move on,"
"Well I won't," Robin vowed, eyes flashing with the promise.
"Well then it looks like you'll be losing more than just your inheritance, doesn't it?" Maria snapped, her tolerance on the topic now completely run its course, "And if you can't respect my decision, or me, then maybe our friendship isn't such a loss after all!"
With one last angry glare, she strode around him and away up the drive to Moonacre Manor, both angry and relieved that he had the sense not to follow her this time.
I hope you have enjoyed this chapter... The inevitable confrontation between Maria and Robin of sorts since she couldn't avoid him forever, in which Robin kind of continues digging himself into his hole and Maria continues being stubborn . It kind of continues over-establishing the premise rather than adding much progression story wise (which I think is ultimately my problem with this story), but hopefully adds some more depth to it. The whole chapter-in reserve approach has kind of also fallen apart, since the next chapter is not finished, but I have finally made a lot more progress on it and can actually see it being finished! So the chaper in reserve aim was almost fulfilled. The problem being I know have one and a half chapter to write... But I've also decided to try and just focus on one chapter at a time and not put to much pressure on myself to write with the limited windows I get now, rather than being in perpetual crisis mode thinking about how I'm going to fill in the middle and ever get to the ending I planned. So hopefully we'll get there eventually :D I build things up over time, so I just need to accept that rather than wishing otherwise!Thank you so much for reading this and continuing to support this story! It is truly this support that keeps me writing and I am so grateful for it :) Happy New Year and I hope 2023 is a fantastic year for you all!!