The Way of Peace

Chapter 6

"Roy!" Yelling through the house really wasn't necessary. "William!" Pause. "Carl!" But there was nothing to be done. Eliza would yell no matter if William liked it or not. "Melanie darling." Oh how nice. Melanie gets special treatment a warm welcoming voice while the men got treated like normal. Hogs. "Breakfast." He got to the kitchen and Josh was there waiting for him at the breakfast table along with Roy and Carl. How did they get here faster than he did? Roy was in his room changing just moments ago and Carl. Well, he didn't ever know where Carl was. But here they were waiting on him. Again. His men would be hungry soon so he would take it along and eat with his men.

"Where's Melanie?" Eliza asked? William searched the room. So they weren't waiting for him. A nice change. In any case, if she didn't come on time then too bad. She had embarrassed him to the core. He didn't like it when he got caught talking to his animals. Yeah well, so what? He enjoyed it. It didn't mean someone should laugh at him.

"She's humming in the garden." Josh said. Melanie humming? Honestly, it was very surprising to even hear a laugh out of the woman this morning. She was all collected and serious whenever she was around people. Which was a poor mask to what she really felt and he knew it. Anyone could see that. "So beautiful all in the dirt like that and humming a pretty song. I think she is weeding the garden? Well, I opened the gate and shut it walked to the kitchen door and she didn't so much as notice I was there. She's really having a time out there." Even though William did not like the idea of him having a wife. The moment Josh started talking about her as if she was still single unnerved him. The fact still remained she was his woman if he wanted her or not. So no one else could lay claim or even talk about her like that.

"Watch it, Josh." William grounded out. Eliza went to the door. "Wait!" She stopped surprised at his burst. "I'll go." And get her back from earlier. See how she likes it.

He snuck out the door and shut it so that there wasn't even a click. He drank in the smell of lavender and the morning sun and scanned the garden. He heard her song she hummed. A very pretty song it was too. He turned and she had made progress in her process of weeding and turning the soil. She had almost half of the left section done already and it was a big section. She didn't even notice him. Well her backside was facing him so that could be why. She just hummed her little song. He stood there trying to see this woman as a prostitute. A fallen woman. Ruined. But he could not. Even knowing the truth it was difficult to see her as a soiled dove. She looked so pure and her voice rang out so pure. Her dark hair was pulled around her shoulder out of sight. Which made him long to see it and touch it at least. It was very tempting. Her little song went on unaware of the guest that lingered behind it.
He knew it was a hymnal but he did not know it. It was so relaxing to hear a hymnal. He hadn't been to church in a long time and didn't realize how much he missed the singing and praise to God. A sniff and a pause for her arm to sweep across her face stopped his thoughts in their tracks. Was she crying? Did she always cry? He did not know what to do with a crying woman. They were all so fragile and tedious it was hard to discern what to do. He didn't know what to do this morning either when he heard soft muffled sobs coming from her room. His heart hurt for her. Because her cries were so desperate. Almost like a plea to be released from prison or the darkest of dungeons. It was a cry for help. A lonely gut-wrenching cry. He almost barged in but the cries had died off a little until he knocked then they stopped altogether. Then she talked as if she hadn't cried at all. He wanted to go in and see what had made her cry but the door was locked. He didn't know why it mattered. But that mattered a great deal to him. That meant she was afraid and he didn't wish fear on anyone. So he would make sure she felt safe. But in the meantime, he didn't want her locking the doors. What if there a was a fire or something? Women!. Then when she did open the door it was only to grab what he had in his hands and shut the door not revealing her tear stained face. Which he knew was there.