Snow and the Wishing Well (Fallen Tales series)

Chapter 54

Chapter 54
Sarah
Everything ached. When I lifted my head to look at my surroundings, all my neck muscles ached. My shoulders and my chest. I must have hit that log harder than I thought. The sudden stop, had knocked my whole body out.
I dropped my head down, already exhausted from the small effort, and felt the soft impact of skin. Justin's skin. I smiled, snuggling him. Nothing could compare to the feel of his skin against mine. He groaned in his sleep, shifting his hands to my tailbone. Hot coals still burned in the fire, warming my shoulder closest to it.
It was weird to wake before him. I had always been able to sleep in the morning knowing that he was watching me. And now I watched him. I watch him as he slept, so peacefully. I flicked a piece of hair that had fallen into his eyes back and smiled when I could see his face again. His beautiful peaceful face. I wished I could sleep like that.  Like someone had poisoned him or something. But the rise of his chest under mine was like a lullaby. I felt something come to life inside of me. When I lifted my head, one more time, I realized why. I was finally happy.
"What time is it?" Justin groaned not opening his eyes.
I giggled, shaking my head, "I don't know."
He groaned again, shaking his head, but slowly he opened to show his beautiful eyes. His fingers circled my ear, looking into my eyes for something like they always did. But there was something in his eyes now, that wasn't there before. Fear? Dread?
He went to say something when a voice came from outside.
"Justin! Sarah!"
It was Aaron.
With the energy that I didn't know I had, I jumped off him and stumbled for my clothes.
"Justin, Sarah!" he yelled again.
Though it was just his voice, there had to be more people out there. Once we had all our clothes back on, Justin, staggered to the door.
"Yeah, Pa!" he called, "We're here!"
I came to the door beside him. I was right. He must have had half the staff looking out for us.
"Oh thank God," he said, running over to us, "Are you two okay?"
Justin took my hand and led me out of the cottage. As Justin told Aaron what had happened, I felt something in my chest that I hadn't before. Aaron cared about me. I hadn't had a family in two years. Do I have a family now?

Justin
I sat outside my room, with my feet laid out across the floor. I looked out through the wooden posts of the railing to the view of the void, and out of the windows that looked out to the estate. Every so often, a couple of maids would walk past me, avoiding my legs, giggling as they did. I didn't blame them. It was a joke. The heir of the estate, waiting outside his own room, waiting for his princess to wake. It was actually Sarah that kicked me out. She had told me that she was too sore to do anything else and that I had to go study. She said study but I knew she meant, talk to my parents. But I couldn't tear myself away from the room.
It had only hit me this morning, what had happened. The memory of her falling down into the gully had fully taken its toll on my mind. I had been too focus on getting down there and getting us to shelter before the rain that the thought hadn't sunk in.
What if the fall had killed her? It wouldn't be her step-mother that took her away from me but just unsettled piece of land? I should have known that the ground would break.
"Justin?"
I froze at the sound of my mother's voice.
"What are you doing?" She asked coming closer to me.
I shrugged feeling like a fool.
"She told me to go study, but..." I couldn't finish the sentence.
"But you couldn't leave her," Ma finished sitting down next to me.
I nodded feeling even more stupid.
"I didn't even think of it. What if she had died?" I blurted out, "just like that, my whole world would have been thrown away."
I lifted my hands just to watch them fall and feel the impact when it hit my thigh.
"Justin, those feelings are all a part of it," she told me, "yes the fear is horrible, but you really don't have a relationship without it."
When I didn't say anything, she continued, "I mean, take me. When I heard about the snow storm in London, I was a mess," she paused, thinking, "It felt horrible when I couldn't call you."
I bit my lip, knowing what I had to say but couldn't get it out. What was I supposed to say?
"Ma," I started, "I met her."
She nodded biting her own lips, not looking at me. I knew what she thought. She thought that I would see Abbigail as my real mother. But Abbigail wasn't there for me when I needed her.
"She's not my Ma," I told her. Her eyes lit up when they looked into mine to see if I was lying.
"She gave birth to me, but she's just the person that left me in the Servant's Hall."
A smile appeared on her face as she looked upon me in pride. I had always hoped to see that look on her face. I had seen it before but I had never truly recognised it till now.
"I still remember that day like it was yesterday," She told me. I realized then that I hadn't actually been told the whole story of that day, "I had found a note on my dresser, around lunch time, I hadn't seen Abbigail since that morning when she came to wake me up. When I read the words, I couldn't even believe it. Before I knew it, I was running down the stairs of the Servant's Hall, just screaming your name."
I dropped my head back remembering that moment. I had always thought the screams were Abbigail's but I had mixed up the mothers. The memory suddenly all made sense.
I remember being in the Servant's Hall, hearing screams from Ma. She had been puffed by the time she got to me. I couldn't work out why she was so out of breath, and why there was such a panic in her voice. She threw her arms around me and in an airy voice, repeated over and over, "I'm here, now. I'm never going to leave you."
I turned to the woman beside me. The person that had never left me.
"From that first day, you saw me as your son, didn't you?" I asked her.
She looked shocked by the answer, "Of course I did. You were my son since I saw you alone in the Servant's Hall."
"And you don' regret it. Even when I was just a pain in the –,"
"Of course not," she butted in before I could finish, "you were a lost teenager. You scared the hell out of me, but I never regretted it."
I nodded accepting her answer.
"I mean, look at you now. You're a strong handsome man, that has a lovely girl which I can't wait to call daughter-in-law," I chuckled embarrassed, "Sarah-Snow really is a great girl."
I frowned, unsure that I had heard her right.
"Ma, did you just call Sarah, Sarah-Snow?" I asked, my eyes wide with shock. I had tried so hard not to call her Snow by accident, how could she have known.
"Oh," Ma said stunned, "Well, she just reminds me of someone I use to know."
"Who?"
"W-well, really a daughter of a friend."
My mind started to cloud of endless possibilities, but I couldn't be sure.
"What friend?" I asked, trying to hide the panic in my voice.
"Just an old friend, she died sixteen years ago. You wouldn't remembered her."
I frowned trying to think. I knew this person? But again, my mind was going over load trying to work out why sixteen years was so important.
"Did this friend own an estate?"
It was the first question that came to my mind.
Ma nodded, "Yes, Willow Tree Abby, near Seven Hills."
My heart was pumping, my mind exploding. I had already met Sarah. I had already seen Willow Tree Abby. And Sarah's name was Sarah-Snow. Did she know about this? How could she not? Maybe there were more holes in her history than she even realised.