The next morning we sat at breakfast, it was a quiet affair, I had finished mine and was helping Eve with hers. that was till Ross spoke up.
"I presume you'll be joining me at the mine, today." Ross voiced and I looked up from Eve.
"Why do you make such a presumption?" I wonder.
"It seems to me that nothing will be agreed upon without your approval. You've made yourself invaluable these past several months. And they value your opinion." he countered finishing up.
"If you're sure." he nodded "I will go and change then." I did just that and we headed to Grace together. Sam, Paul and Zacky were waiting.
"So, my reasoning is this: Wheal Maiden was never fully worked out. The old miners still talk of lodes left untouched since my fathers day." Ross began
"It's true enough." Zack confirmed as he stood behind me.
"These past six months, you've been timbering and cross cutting?" he asked Sam
"'Tis so." Sam confirmed
"So I propose to put a team to shaft sinking and another to drive through, to link up to the old Wheal Maiden workings." Ross gestured on the map. Zack stepped forward looking over my shoulder
"An' who will lead the excavations?" he wondered
"I will." Ross stated. All three miners liked at one another then their eyes landed on me
"What about London?" I inquired
"Well, summer recess is about to begin. I could give the mine at least three months before I return. By that time we'll know whether it's a good plan or a fools errand. Are we agreed?" he answered and I look to them, all four of us having a silent conversation with each other. I nodded to them
"I suggest we get started now." The four of them went down into the mine, while i returned home.
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"It's refreshing how we're the only ones without a party to go too." I breath
"Dwight and Caroline are at Trenwith?" Ross wondered I nodded
"Demelza, Sam and Drake are at the beach. It's only line fishing. Everyone goes. No one waits to be invited. You never did." the children ran head of us to go feed the animals. Ross looked off into the distance with a sober expression. "It's your beach Ross, for the sake of both our sanities, go already."
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It was late when Ross stumbled through the door as I was folding up the laundry. I held back a smile of amusement.
"Did you catch anything?" I inquired
"A death of cold. And more rough and tumble than I bargained for..." He looked to see how much air was left. "But, yes. It was as I hoped."
"Good maybe now that you've gone to the kindly and had a drink with them you can stop moping."
"I was not moping." he countered
"You were moping because you expected for things to fall apart and they didn't. You also got a bee in your bonnet because mine folk can be a bit fickle and you didn't think you deserved it. As usual you underestimate your absence." I rebuff folding some trousers. He face knew I was right. "Then you came home, so all is good."
"Then I came home...by way of Trenwith." My shoulders sagged
"Ross Poldark you wouldn't dare." I exclaim
"I didn't even go in." he defended
"But to even go near, you are notorious for upsetting the balance. Not once since has George bothered me." I scowl.
"It was and Impulse, to see the place again."
"And Elizabeth." I raised an eyebrow
"I found her walking in the garden. And we spoke a little. She was not unwelcoming." I didn't say anything "You don't suspect an attachment there still?" he wonders
"There will always be an attachment, it's the secrets about something happening between the two of you I can't abide. I think you know well by now that if I found out you'd strayed you know i would murder you." he chuckled but I didn't laugh.
"You're joking, right?"
"All I'm saying is that we have pigs and a very wide ocean." I counter "I suspect you no more than you suspect my attachment to Hugh. Except you do still suspect."
"I cannot compete with a ghost"
"Not more than I dare to compete with an ideal."
"Is that what happened to Hugh. To teach me a lesson." he asked and I sighed sitting down
"Look at me." I tell him and I do.
"Hugh and Elizabeth, they're the same to us. We love each other, we chose each other. To chase these shadows more than we need to, it will drive us further apart than we already are. If I wanted to get back at you, I would have done it a lot sooner and a lot meaner. It would have meant nothing other than to hurt you. What happened between Hugh and I was not for that reason." I explain
"Then what reason?" I stared at him and shook my head
"The only person I have ever loved was you. It has always been you and sometimes that drives me insane because sometimes you see right through me. Hugh didn't, he gave me no history or complications or drama. For a moment that all I wanted, all I needed was to be seen as me. Not as the sister but as me." he rested his hand against my cheek.
"I see you Abigail. I do, you are all I see." he wiped away a stray tear. "I got something for you." he got up and dug through his bag. I stood up curiously and he came over opening the box it was a ring a diamond circlet
"All these months you've had nothing from me except doubts and mistrust. I thought you deserved better. It's called an eternity ring" he took it out of the box and slipped it on my ring finger so it sat proudly with my wedding ring. It was beautiful.
"Are we strangers still?" i asked
"Yes. But strangers who know every inch of each other's skin. So perhaps we should begin again from there." his sweet lips kissed mine
you can guess the rest.
YOU ARE READING
Love Thy Self
Hayran KurguI was the bastard child, lady, barmaid, kitchen maid, lover, wife, mother, lady of cornwall. Now i am a matriarch who fights for my family even when the current is against me. I thought things would get any more complicated but how wrong was I.
