For VHunter07 whose review of the previous chapter inspired this one. I hope you enjoy : )
Maybe he did…
As I sat looking at her I simply could not believe my luck, she was the most perfect woman I had ever seen and I have had my fair share of experience with women. There was something about her eyes however that made me cautious. They were never quite sad but they were never altogether happy either. She thinks I do not know but I have seen the way she looks at Holmes – and indeed the way he looks at her. I have no fear on Holmes' account; on the contrary I am grateful that he admires my wife. Mary however, is a different thing, I love her. I am so completely in love with her that I do not how to tell her. Perhaps she knows. Still there has always been that nagging doubt in my mind that perhaps she only married me because Holmes holds such an irresistible fascination for her.
I would like to think it was not so.
She smiles as she catches my eye, then she returns to her work. Her nimble fingers moving delicately over the embroidery. It is soothing to me to watch her work, I can forget these doubts and simply reflect on how lucky I am. Here, in my own home, with her, I can forget what she may be feeling and I can hold on to her, here she is mine; here she is away from Holmes…