When the Hydrangea Flowers Bloom

Chapter Thirteen: The Lovers

I watched Eugene and Flora closely over the next few days and saw nothing out of the ordinary. They rarely interacted with each other, and when they did, it was casual and apathetic. If anything, they acted annoyed with one another. Was it possible I had gotten it wrong? It really was Gertie and Martin?

I was walking around the garden with Winnifred when I saw Martin walk up to a small picnic blanket where Gertie sat. I told Winnie to go ahead without me and walked up to the couple.

"Good afternoon!" I greeted them.

"Oh, Hydrangea!" Gertie looked surprised. "How are you?"

"Can't complain," I said with a smile. "I just wanted to spend a little time with you guys."

"Er, but we never spend a little time together," Martin said.

"I know!" I sat in the grass. "How's the relationship?"

"Wonderful." Gertie took Martin's hand and looked lovingly into his eyes. Something about the amount of passion and love in that small look just melted my heart.

"Have you guys ever had any moonlight serenades by the pond recently?" I questioned, not so slyly.

"No, why? Have you seen anybody?" Martin leaned in.

I laughed nervously. "Of course not! Just curious." I stood up. "Bye."

I turned around, embarrassed. As it turns out, I am not the best liar. I caught up with Winnifred, wishing I could tell her about what I had seen but knew I shouldn't be sharing secrets that weren't mine.

I couldn't talk to Winnifred or anyone else at the manor, and even though Richard wasn't here, I still thought that he might be too close to the others for me to share with him. As Winnifred and I walked to the gazebo, I figured out who I could talk to.

I left as soon as I could, running to my room. I sat at my desk, pulled some paper out, and began to write:

Abigail,

I haven't written to you in a while, how are you doing? I'm well. In fact (to Mother and Everly's surprise) I have procured myself a boyfriend! His name is Richard Fawcett, the son of the professor who is conducting the experiment. He's smart and kind, not to mention gorgeous! But I'll talk more about him later.

I need to share some gossip with you. I don't want to share with anyone here and possibly hurt someone's feelings. Here it goes: I was feeling quite restless the other night and decided to drink a nice mug of warm milk on the roof (a special spot that Richard showed me). Just before I was going back inside, I saw two figures embracing by the nearby pond. As there aren't many people here, it could only be a certain number of people.

As I was making my way back to my bedroom, I saw two other people's doors cracked open. Could this be a coincidence or could they be the young lovers I saw? We do have a couple amongst ourselves, but I talked to both of them they aren't it. It could possibly be two servants sneaking around at night, but the clothes they were wearing seemed too fancy to be servants.

I want to talk to the two people I suspect, but they are both quite private, and I don't want to overstep. I feel so much better after writing this! It feels good to share.

More soon,

Hortense Langdon

I mailed the letter and excitedly walked into the dining hall for lunch. As I walked in, I noticed one other person at the table. Eugene. He was reading a book as he ate, but I thought he might want to talk as we hadn't talked in a while. Thinking I might be unable to act natural around him, I quickly turned around, but not quickly enough.

"Hortense!" he called, waving me over.

"Oh!" I turned around. "Eugene! How are you?"

"Lovely," I sat down across from him. "How's Pietro?"

"I- what?"

"Pietro. I know he was close with Richard."

"Oh, yes. He's doing alright. Thanks for asking." I was caught off guard by the question. Eugene had never shown interest in my cat before.

I got my food and we ate in silence for as long as I could. "So, Eugene, what's going on with you? Love-life-wise."

"Er, nothing. And it's not like we have many options here." He said, looking at his plate.

"Okay." I tried to hold myself back, but I couldn't do it. "You know, I've got a funny story."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. The other night, I couldn't go to sleep, so I got some warm milk and went to the roof to drink it."

"The roof? How do you get there?"

"Not important right now. Anyways, just before I was about to go in, I saw two people by the pond."

Eugene choked on his mashed potatoes. "Inter- cough- esting."

"It was. They seemed quite close... kissing..." I leaned in. "Any idea who they could have been?"

"I don't know. Maybe some servants?"

"Could be. But you know what's even more interesting? Two doors in our corridor were slightly ajar. Your's and Flora's."

"Well, sometimes I like to sleep with the door cracked open. Better ventilation."

"Sure..." I shrugged slyly and went back to eating.

After attempting to return to normalcy, Eugene leaned in, whispering. "Okay fine, that was us, but you can't tell anyone. We're taking it slow."

"It didn't look that way..." I giggled.

"Hortense, promise me you won't tell anyone."

"I promise." I waited until after he leaned back to ask, "So... how's it going?"

He rolled his eyes before letting a small smile come across his face. "Really good actually. I mean, there's just something between the two of us that feels like, I don't know, magic. That's probably what you and Richard have."

"Oh, er, yeah. Something like that..."

I thought about that for a long time. Magic. I really liked Richard, but I didn't feel like there was any magic between us. What if the connection was just physical? But what about that first night that we had together? That felt like magic. Or did I just trick myself into the idea of feeling that magic because I liked the idea of showing off a smart and handsome boy to my mother and sister?

I pushed these doubts out of my head, knowing that Richard and I had the legs to go the distance. It was magic that night and all of the other moments after it. Both he and I could feel it. But no matter how hard you push those thoughts out, once you think them, they're always in the back of your mind.