𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗘 | 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐰 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝

𝟕: 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄

"𝑰𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒇 𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆. 𝑪𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰'𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆."

♛

Later that night, as Dahlia sat by the fireplace in her and Matthew's house on Curzon Street, she thought of all the events that had taken place. It was about one thirty in the morning when she started to drift off.

Then the door flew open greeting in a chilly wind and a flurry of snow along with a very pink Matthew Fairchild.

He closed the door behind him and sighed deeply. "Dahlia," he said. "I am so sorry for my tardiness. Have you been waiting long?" he asked, hanging his coat and taking off his gloves.

"No, Math. Do not worry, I have only been here all of thirty minutes."

Matthew nodded, "Good, good."

He sat down on the seat facing her. "How shall we start?"

"Well, for starters. Why did you go to Paris with Cordelia after asking me the exact same thing?"

Matthew looked as though he'd been asked to swallow a rather nasty sauce. "She was sad. To be fair, I was, well, infatuated with her for a few months after her arrival. She came to our doorstep, a mess and confused, and in that moment I did not consider much as I should have. I went with her to offer her something, some kind of solace."

"But you told her you loved her-"

"I did not love her the way I thought I did. I realized that too late," he said, looking at anywhere but Dahlia.

"Which is?"

"Like I would give my soul for her. As if when I look at her I want to spend the rest of my existence with her. That is something I realized I had only felt with you."

Dahlia looked at the fireplace. She did not want him to see her tears. "Do you mean that Matthew? Are you not saying sweet nothings just because your romantic adventure with Cordelia did not work?"

"I truly mean that Dahlia," his voice shook. "I mean it with all my being."

He came to sit on his knees in front of her. He took her hands in his, forcing her to look at him. "I love you Dahlia, in a way I have never loved anyone else. I would follow you until there is no tomorrow. To wake up next to you forever would be fulfilling my greatest desire, to be a father to our child would be my greatest blessing. I swear to the Angel Dahlia, you could have walked into that Academy with four eyes and a tentacle for a head and I probably would have fallen in love with you. I know everything about you, even the parts you think make you awful and I do not want to live without you."

Dahlia was sobbing now. He leaned over and wiped her tears off the best he could. "Please don't cry."

Dahlia caressed his cheek, too hollow, she thought. "I better not regret this, Fairchild." she whispered.

The smile that lit up his face made Dahlia realize exactly why she had fallen in love with Matthew Fairchild.

"Does this mean you forgive me?" He asked, almost like he was too scared to ask. Dahlia nodded, "Yes, yes it does."

Then he kissed her and Dahlia had finally come back home.

♛

Later, they lay in bed till the sun started pouring through the windows. Matthew drew lazy circles over her stomach.