Belle Morte Bites (Belle Morte 4.3)

Aileana: Part Three

All Isabeau could do was stare at Aileana.

Had she misheard that?

She must have done.

"What?" she said at last.

Aileana crouched and picked up the plaid that Isabeau had laid down for them, same as she had been doing since they'd met a year ago. She wrapped it around her shoulders, arranging it to hide her nakedness, and that more than anything else was a sign that something was very wrong. Aileana was never self-conscious, and she never felt that she had to cover up in front of Isabeau.

"I didn't want to tell you like this," Aileana said, half-turning from Isabeau so she could look out over the lake. "Do you remember me tellin' you about the Duggans havin' family to stay over Christmas?"

"Yes."

"One of their distant cousins, Brodie, took somethin' of a shine to me."

"You didn't tell me that," Isabeau said.

Aileana shrugged. "Didn't seem important at the time. He's not the first lad to take a shine, and he won't be the last. But he came for another visit a few days ago."

"And?" Isabeau said. She knew where this was going and she didn't want to hear it, but she had to.

Aileana turned to look at her fully. "And yesterday he asked me to marry him."

"You said yes," Isabeau realised.

"I did."

"Why?"

The world felt like it was sliding out from beneath Isabeau's feet. While she'd known that Aileana might not be ready for their relationship to progress, she had never dreamed that it would be because of something like this.

"Because he's a good match. He'll treat me well, and while he's not as rich as the rest of the Duggans, he will able to provide for me and my family," Aileana said.

"But you don't love him."

A long pause.

"No, I don't," Aileana admitted. "But I have to think about what's best for my future, and that's Brodie."

"What about us?" Isabeau said.

Her chest was starting to hurt.

Aileana smiled sadly and shook her head again. "What were you expectin'? You had to know this wouldn't last forever."

"I didn't know that." Isabeau clutched her skirt to give herself something to hold onto. "Aileana, I love you. I'm in love with you."

She'd been waiting for the right time to say it, and this wasn't what she'd had in mind, but she had to make Aileana understand how she felt. Surely that would change Aileana's mind.

But Aileana physically recoiled. "What are you talkin' about?"

Isabeau's heart felt like it was climbing into her throat; she had to swallow it back down. "I love you," she said again.

"Don't say that."

"But it's true. Look at me and tell me you don't feel the same way."

Aileana looked at her, her face remote. "I don't. I'm sorry, Isabeau, but I don't love you."

The bottom fell out of the world. Isabeau pressed her lips tightly together, holding back a soft cry of pain and disbelief.

"I do care about you, and I've really enjoyed the time we've had, but it was never goin' to last. You had to know that," Aileana said.