The Sky Never Ends

Calm Before the Storm

Selah begrudgingly cleaned up Noah's mess to the best of her abilities. Only the bookshelf was left laying on the floor. It was too heavy for Selah to lift alone.

She stayed up through the night waiting to see if Noah would return to face her. 

She'd calmed down in the hours since he left, now feeling quite sympathetic for him. He must have loved his wife a great deal for his sorrow of losing her to affect him this way for so long. 

Nothing like many couples in high society who had arranged marriages and carried out affairs in secret.

Selah had never been in love, and she had never lost anyone important to her to death. So she couldn't quite relate to the torment he was going through, but she definitely missed her family, and she was an empathetic person. Seeing Noah so lost and so broken had her feeling sorry for him.

She was still utterly confused as to what Noah's behavior towards her meant.

 If he still felt strongly for his wife, why was he kissing her? She wanted answers, but was unsure if it was her place to ask him. Although he kissed her, he was still who she 'belonged' to and her superior. Which meant he could still punish her for stepping out of line. 

It was was frustrating to her. Would she ever know why? Or would Noah vanish again, for even longer this time. 

Selah sat at the dining room table with her face in her hands, exhausted. The sun still hadn't come up and she wasn't quite ready to give up on waiting for Noah. She hoped he was okay and wasn't beating himself up too much. 

Her lips still felt warm and tingled from his kiss, and her body was full of unfamiliar emotions. She pushed those feelings to the back of her mind and tried to focus on what she would do next.

Time was running out for her, and growing stronger feelings for Noah was not apart of her plan. She couldn't allow herself to muss up an opportunity of escape to try and figure out how she felt about a man in love with his dead wife. It just wasn't logical, nor was is realistic. A wealthy white man with a distinguished family, interested in a lowly black servant? It was insane even thinking about it. What on earth was Noah thinking? She was positive his family would strongly disapprove. It was inappropriate and races and classes don't mix. 

The rush of thoughts were passing through her mind a mile a minute. The sun had risen and she hadn't realized until she lifted her head as Sam walked through the front door, an expression of bewilderment on his face looking at the toppled bookcase.

"What happened here Selah? Where's Noah?" 

"I don't know what happened Sam... I came inside last night after hanging some clothes on the line to see chaos all over the floor and Noah in a frenzy. I'm certain it has something to do with his wife, bu-"

Sam cut her off. "You know about his wife?"

"Not really, and not from him. I saw a picture and read the article about her passing. I-- I wasn't intending to snoop, I was just so confused. Nothing was making any sense, he was fine, then he was mad, then he was kissing me, then the next he was barreling out the door! I've been up all night waiting for him, but he hasn't returned." Selah rambled out. 

"Wait did you say Noah kissed you?" 

"I did." she said quietly, looking down at her hands.

"Did you want him to?" he queried his brows furrowed.

"Well he didn't explicitly ask. Everything happened so fast. He was on one side of the room, then the next second he was in front of me, asking me questions I didn't have the answer to, and then he was kissing me... and then he stopped kissing me and got away from me as quick as possible. I've just been sitting here perplexed about what exactly I should do." she finished, happy to get it off her chest.