Page 106 of Unforeseen Affairs
Colin raised a hand to his head and gently prodded at his temple, worrying about what sensation he might uncover there. His head had felt woozy at moments throughout the day, but he prayed it would not be too much of a bother.Steady on, he assured himself, watching as the two girls began loudly debating who got to use the large shovel, the one whose handle was nearly equal to them in height.
Soon they’d be his cousins, he realized with a smile.
Suddenly a high-pitchedyipcut across the landscape from behind him.
The two mud-spattered Hartley boys began yelling at the top of their lungs. The third boy, Lucius, set aside his trowel and climbed out of his ditch. The girls, Thalia and Georgiana, halted their bickering and spun about, then charged in Colin’s direction with alarming speed, squealing all the while.
Colin turned around to see what the children were running toward, and a profound happiness spread throughout him at the sight.
Charlotte was walking across the lawn, with a small, scraggly dog laboriously leading the way in front of her. She looked as remote and otherworldly as she had the first time he’d ever set eyes on her, standing at the threshold of the library in his family’s London house. Her iridescent gown recalled the early morning sky, when the first hint of sun began to temper the black of night.
Even with her broken wrist dressed and held in front of her in a sling, she somehow appeared wiser than a mere human, with a prescience he still didn’t quite understand.
What he did understand, though, with unquestioned clarity, was that he loved her. And that he could not live without her. Colin had been led away from what he had once thought his life was meant to be, and he did not regret it one bit.
The children reached Charlotte and swarmed about her, shouting out the items they had dug up so far (a rusty button, an old jar, a strangely shaped rock) as well as the ancient treasure they still hoped to uncover (gold coins, swords, more gold coins). The dog, furious at being ignored, leaped repeatedly among them, alternately barking and snapping until Georgiana finally bent down to pick the beast up with an imperiousshush.
Charlotte kept her expression neutral while listening intently to the overstimulated children. Her calm demeanor, though, didnot transfer to the pack of Sedley offspring, and instead roused them to shout louder and more insistently. Finally Charlotte nodded and replied simply, “Well done.”
At that, the children dispersed and returned to their work, chattering excitedly about what other treasures they might find for Cousin Charlotte.
His heart full, Colin waited and watched as she continued her approach toward him.
“Those two are my brother and sister,” she said by way of greeting, nodding first toward the five-ish looking fellow called Lucius, then to the sharp, meticulous girl with familiar eyes, Thalia.
“I see,” Colin answered, wondering how he might maneuver her behind a tree, or somewhere else out of view, and steal a kiss…
“And there will soon be a third,” Charlotte mused, watching the children scramble about as they dodged clods of mud thrown by the two younger boys. “So it goes.”
“So it does,” Colin agreed.
“The dog is Walter. He ought to have died by now. Quite some time ago, I’d say.”
Colin almost laughed, but something in her voice gave him pause. He turned to look at her.
She wasn’t just watching the children, he realized, but also something far in the distance, upon the horizon.
He followed her eyes, but found nothing aside from the warm, inviting Lancashire fells.
“The two younger ones, they’re my cousin Marcus’s. Edmund and Lewis.” She didn’t move to look at the mud-spattered pair, but their babyish laughter trilled pleasantly nearby. “They’re named after their forebears.”
She fell silent, and Colin let it stretch out. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves overhead. Walter barked as the girls giggled and picked up a nursery tune.
Colin reached for Charlotte’s hand. She allowed him to take it, and he laced his fingers through hers. They stood like that for a while, watching the sky, not speaking.
“It feels strange sometimes, doesn’t it?” she finally said in a low voice.
“What does, darling?”
“Just being alive.”
He instantly knew what she meant, of whom she spoke.
“Any one of us could be gone in the next breath.” She shut her eyes. A tear ran down her cheek.
“That’s true,” Colin replied, tightening his grip on her hand.
She squeezed his in return.
