A Blue Mountain Memory

XLI

Cora sat in the drawing room alone with a fresh cup of tea in her hand and her chair turned to face the window.

When Edith was away, Cora preferred spending her time watching the outside world. She observed the faces passing along the street, reveled in the various greetings of unfamiliar languages, and felt excited witnessing moments of love, tension, and laughter– all outside her own window.

Cora acknowledged her unproductivity, but she could hardly bring herself to do much these days. She found her body endlessly tired. Perhaps it was from her constant worrying– or more likely, her lack of sleep.

Suddenly a knock fell upon the front door.

Cora sat for a moment, waiting to hear Wills' footsteps hastening towards the door.

When she heard nothing, she rose.

She opened the door to see a tall man standing before her. She immediately recognized his clothes as he faced the street, showing only his back. If it had not been the clothes that gave him away, then surely it would have been his sandy blonde hair.

Elwood turned around to face her. He flashed a smile, revealing the crooked tooth that Cora had adored years ago– and truthfully, still did.

"Hello," he said, nodding his head.

"Hello, Elwood. Would you like to come in?"

He nodded once more and stepped in past Cora. As he passed, his warm scent filled her nose, sending chills down her spine.

She began leading him upstairs to the second floor. She could not understand why she was doing this, but she allowed her body to continue carrying her towards her bedroom. Cora glanced around the hallway, making sure none of the servants could see them. She swung the door open and pulled Elwood in by his sleeve.

"Why are you here? I might get in trouble!" Cora said anxiously, suddenly recognizing the impropriety of the situation.

"I had to talk to you."

"About what?"

Instead of speaking, Elwood stepped closer to Cora. He snaked his arms around her waist, pulling her up into his body. He leaned down to kiss her. His lips were just as soft as she had remembered. With complete loss of control, Cora flung her arms over his shoulders and gave in to the pleasure. He led them to the bed where he hovered over her.

Cora's body felt weightless, held up by Elwood's strong arm. Her mouth tingled with the taste of his and her gut yearned for more.

But suddenly he stopped. He pulled his face away, still hovering over her.

"You can't marry him," he whispered with a cold look in his eye.

"Elwood, I've told you that I must."

"But I wanted to be your husband, Cora."

Cora shook her head in response: "You could have been. But you left me, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember."

Suddenly, an angry darkness fell over his face and his brow furrowed. Cora had only seen him mad once or twice, but this was different. This was rage. This was murderous.

He removed his arm from the small of Cora's back and flung his hand to her throat.

"I told you not to marry him!" He bellowed.

He no longer looked like Elwood. His face now contorted, slowly turning a sickly pale color. His eyes bulged, the alluring gray souring into a rotten black. His crooked tooth yellowed, and the others cracked.