2.
~ ''Tell me why Ariadne refused to enlighten us that my only child was alive and back home from the front." Juniper demanded.
Eames rolled his eyes and looked at the ugly portrait of Aunt Percy. He winced as he sat on the sofa. His wounded leg still hurting him. Especially after the work out he gave it last night.
"Because I told her not to, Mother." he said.
"So, I don't deserve to know my child is still alive? You think I don't need to know my son isn't dead? You have to tell that woman?" she said scathingly.
"Mother." Eames said. "I've told you before not to talk to her like that. Are you more angry that I didn't tell you I was home, or that I was in bed with the woman I love?"
"The woman you love." Juniper said mockingly. "How many times have I heard your proclamations of love. So many times, they are meaningless. All those girls in school and beyond. Charlotte? Now, you just jumped on a soon-to-be widow just because she's convenient and you had the need."
"Ariadne is not convenient." Eames seethed.
His teeth clenching and he gave his mother a dangerous look.
"And I won't have you calling her a whore ever again. As soon as Fredrick is gone, I will marry her and we will be leaving this wretched house. The world is changing, mother. I intend to be apart of that change." he said.
"What if she's with child now? I doubt you even thought about that. A married woman with another man's baby. The servants all know about it, which means the village will soon enough, then the world. Think of the family reputation if you won't think of your own. Think about what you've done to this poor girl. I've introduced her to a nice society and she married a good man. With one fail swoop, you've destroyed her reputation as well. And for what? Because you love her? Because you love her, you've made her the target of gossip and whispering. People are cruel to fallen women, Charles." Juniper hissed.
Eames sat back in his seat. His mother's words stinging him like a slap to the face.
"She has children to care for Charles. How will you be as a father? God forbid she's with child now. How will you provide the example of an adult for thos children? Hmm? You stay in a conservatory all day and write." Juniper said bitterly. "You're nothing but a child yourself and she will have just another spoiled little boy to care for. That is till you find a new toy to play with and leave her!"
Eames stood up, still leaning on his cane.
"I'm glad you're so pleased I'm home safely from the war, Mother." he said and hobbeled out of the room.
~ Eames was amazed at how big Olivia had gotten. How she walked everywhere with ease and had her own personality.
She would be three in the spring and it was shocking how much she looked like Ariadne, but acted like Arthur.
"So, darling, are you two going on fifty?" he asked as the little girl played with her blocks. Harold wanting to be close to her, but Olivia not needing her step brother.
"No!" Olivia shouted to him when he tried to build his own tower.
"Olivia, play nice with your brother." Eames scolded gently.
How could his mother say he would make a poor father? He had been there for Olivia since she was born. It was true he had to go away to war, but he was back soon and he intended to be the father Fredrick refused to be. He would be a wonderful father, he knew it. He loved Ariadne, and by default, Olivia. Truth be told, he like Harold as well. He was a quite thing who seemed at the mercy of his little sister.
"I wish Olivia was a little nicer to Harold." Ariadne said as she came into the nursery.
Eames looked up and felt his heart skip a beat as the love of his life sat down on the carpet next to him.
"She'll grow out of it. Besides, pretty girls know they can do what they want." he said as he tried to take her hand.
"Eames, what happened last night, can never happen again." she whispered as Harold and Olivia went to play with their other toys.
"There might not be a baby, Ariadne. I didn't..." he tried to explain the logistics of of it, but felt a hot blush creep over his face.
"It's not that." Ariadne whispered. "I'm a married woman. It was wrong, and you're not exactly the right man for me."
Eames didn't look at her.
"I love you." he whispered. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life as I am of that fact."
"I know, and I care very much about you. But it could never work, you're just-"
"Are you angry because the servants know?" he asked. "We could always leave."
"Eames, I'm never going to marry you. I'm never going to be with you again. As soon as Fredrick dies, I'm taking the children back to America. We need to start over and Mr. Cobb has been wanting me to leave this place since Arthur died." she told him.
"You're going to take the children and leave me?" he whispered. "Rather than let me love you, you're going to leave me?"
"Eames."
"I survived the war in penance for how I've wronged you. I thought you and I..." he swallowed hard. "Now, you'll forget me?"
She blinked back tears.
"As soon as Fredrick is gone, I'm leaving Blue Rivers. I'm leaving you." she said.
~ Ariadne had stayed in her rooms most of the day. She dreaded the thought of the servants gossiping below stairs. She knew what they were all saying. Knew that she was the subject of very vivid talk just now. The chamber maid who came to light the fires saw her in bed with Eames. They were no doubt lewdly uncovered. She had taken fright at the sight of him back home unannounced from the war and went to tell Juniper.
Now, she had no choice but to go to America and try to start over. Cobb wanted her there. Just last month, he asked if she could come for the holidays.
He and Mal were already expecting and he wanted her to stay with them.
She was about to fall asleep when she heard a knock on her door.
"Come in, Maura." she called out. Thinking, as always, it was her maid.
She shouldn't have been so surprised it was Eames.
"May I come in?" he asked as he slipped inside and locked the door.
"Little too late for locking the door isn't it?" she laughed. "If we're worried the maids will catch us."
"Perhaps." he agreed. That little smile she liked so much was back as he came to her bed.
"I think I should like to live in a house where there is only one housekeeper who doesn't live with us. A lady who cooks and cleans only in the day time and is gone at night. I've always have to worry about servants seeing me in this house." she said as he crawled into bed with her.
"In New York, I'm sure you can find a small house and keep a part time staff." he said. "I've heard people mind there own affairs in America."
He folded the covers over their bodies and she cuddled into him.
She felt his full lips kissing her forehead.
"I don't want you to leave me." he whispered.
"I think I need to. I think it would be better if I did."
"I think I might die if you left me." he whispered.
"Eames, stop being so dramatic." she hissed and tried to laugh off the statement.
"I've gotten so much better since I've been around you. Haven't you noticed?" he asked. "I'm not hurting anymore and my color is back."
"Because you're home and you're eating better."
"Because I'm with you." he said.
"So, you're trying to make me feel guilty for leaving you?" she asked as she pressed her nose into his chest.
"I want to convince you to stay here. We could have a life together." he said.
She let out a sigh.
"We could go to London and write. We could take the children and leave. You'll be a free woman as soon as Fredrick is gone. We could get a little house in the country even. We could live there with the little ones. I could work on my novel, you could write your short stories. You could bake little cakes and I would teach the children about social change. We could be free." he told her.
She had to smile at the picture Eames painted for her.
A lovely cottage by the sea. Olivia and Harold running wild and her and Eames living in a world they created.
"Perhaps there could even be a bassinet in the corner." he added.
Her body tensed. Eames wasn't like Arthur. He was a great friend, a wonderful lover. But he wasn't steady like Arthur was.
Arthur was made of stone. No matter what life threw at him, he wouldn't break. Eames had left her time and time again when life got too hard. When he was threatened or didn't get his way.
She would fight with Arthur, and he would still be there. Mad at her, but never abandoning her. Eames was infamous for his desertion.
What would happen if there was no money? Or if he couldn't get published? Or if the children became sick? What if life happened? Eames could never deal with the messy parts of life with the fortitude Arthur had.
"Then what?" she asked.
"What do you mean? We'll be together. We'll have a home of our own and lives of our own."
"Until you get bored with the whole domestic life." Ariadne snapped. "Or it get's too hard."
He pulled away from her slightly.
"I see Aunt Percy and Mother have been talking to you again." he said.
"They're right. We both know it." she whispered.
"Ariadne, what do I need to do?" he whispered. "Tell me, and I'll do it. I don't want to be without you again. I was lucky to come home alive. I think it's our destiny to be together."
"It isn't." she said. But her leg ran over his and her hand wandered over his waist.
"Do you want me to go?" he asked as her hands touched bare skin.
"No." she whispered.
"If you want me, you'll have to take all of me." he warned.
"I've just been lonely, Eames." she whispered as all she could think about was her blood rushing hot with want and her body craving his.
It had never been like this with Arthur. She never felt the heedless, reckless rush of desire, not even with Jeffery. That starving need she had with Eames was making her weak. Why not give into him? What was the worst that could happen?
"I don't care how lonely you think you've been." he growled as her hands touched his bare chest as she started to kiss him. "You can't have me for enjoyment at night then reject me in the cold light of day."
"You're the one who keeps crawling into bed with me, Mr. Eames." she whispered.
"Then I should leave. Until you come to you senses." he whispered. Threateningly moving away from her.
She arrested his escape by straddling her legs over his lap. She could fell his reaction start to grow.
"Ariadne?" Eames said with a little smile. "What's gotten into you?" he asked.
Her only answer was removing her sheer night dress and tossing it to the floor.
"You locked the door, right?" she whispered as Eames' lips attacked her breasts like he was starving.
"Yes." he growled. "And I won't be so polite tonight."
"Polite?" she repeated as he rolled her on her back and his large hands were stripping her of her panties as he effortlessly removed his own clothing.
"You're mine." he told her. "You're mine and I'll prove it."