Choking On Sapphires

8 l'amour et la violence

You sleep through the day and find yourself pulled rather quickly from it as a crack of lightning and the rumble of thunder hit your ears.

You emerge from your canopy bed, walking to the window, pulling back the curtain to place your hand on the glass, feeling the vibrations from the storm that had rolled in. You recall it being clear when you went to bed, you bit your lip hoping this wasn't a bad omen.

You see a car coming up the drive, your narrow your brow at it, tilting your head. Your eyes move to squint at the clock by your bed. It was in the middle of the night, why was your car being driven, there wasn't anything to be tested or fixed on it that you were aware of. And why do it in the middle of a storm? You stretch, your face staying inquisitive as you take off your robe and run your fingers over the soft fabrics of your nightgowns, picking one and sliding it over your otherwise naked body.

"Your man has returned to you from the war, Miss." she announces as she peaks into your dark bedroom.

"What?" you croak, sleep still in your voice.

"Mr. Solomons, dear," she says as if that should be obvious. "He's at the front gate, I sent a car out to get him, his broke down on the way here to you." she says, handing you a hairbrush off your vanity. "Clean up now, let me fetch you a robe. At least you've put some clothes on." she grumbles, shifting around your room. You brush your hair, looking at yourself.

"I dreamed he was in the ocean." you muse, standing in front of the large gilded mirror.

"Yeah? I figured with as much as you seem to be connected to this one, you could feel him so close." she says almost under her breath while her head is in an armoire.

"You're acting like my Ida and her tales of soul mates." you sigh with a roll of your eyes, setting down the brush. "Has my mother also been sending you those heavy-handed letters about trying to marry me off again?" you're awake now, speaking more articulately.

"You found him when you weren't looking for anyone, dear." she says like she knows something you don't. She's sounding like a stereotypical grandmother with her ominous statements.

"A man is the last thing I need, Aggie." you say with a certainty that makes Agatha sad. "You sound like a book of fairy tales." you dismiss her words with a flick of your wrist.

"Maybe so but I know no one more whimsical than you." she reminds you. "I'm looking forward to meeting this Mr. Solomons. See who has managed to take up favor in your dreams." she says teasing in her voice, she throws you a long robe and you pull it over you, slipping your slippers on, glancing out at the blurred lights of the scurrying cars down the long drive to the main house through the heavy rain pouring down the panes.

"It does not favor when I have them because of his destructive decisions," you say, running your fingers through your hair, fluffing it and throwing it over one shoulder. "Neither is it favor when they steal my sleep from me and I have never met a man worth losing sleep over."

"And yet you've gone days without this week, haven't you?" she says, herding you out of the room and down the hall. You groan in response and shake your head, these old women and their insistence on men, it was something you'd heard from them as far back as you could remember and their insistence only grew louder the older you became.

You're pulled out of your grumpy thoughts and back to the news you'd received. Alfie was not only alive, he was here and you felt at ease for the first time in the long week past as you see your large front door come into view as you round the corner. You see the car pulling up the long drive, the sound of the rain against the glass drowning out the engine for the most part. A crack of thunder and lightning hit as the car pulls up to the entryway. You frown once again, hoping this wasn't a bad sign. When you make out the shape of his hat through the fogged glass you let out a breath you didn't know you'd been holding.