Once Before

6 - Beautiful Daydreams

Having spent days in the safety of the Myerscough Estate, with the warmth of company from Arthur himself, the grand building - with its portland stone façade and symmetrical french windows, manicured lawns and ancient trees - have become more than just a shelter, it's become sort of a home.

 I didn't know how or when it had even started, but the feeling grew slowly as I settled myself here, and the next thing I know, I felt like I belonged.

All the logic left in me seemed to have escaped that afternoon when I had agreed to stay with Arthur, leaving me to justify that what I was receiving - all the caring and the comfort which now enveloped me - was normal. 

Arthur seemed to pay no mind to the fact that he was also doing something irrational by timeless standards; he was letting a strange girl with no prospect nor, as it appears, any memory of how she got here, to stay in his house. 

But he didn't only let me into his home, he indulged me with the finest foods I've ever tasted - though nearly all of them were foreign to my ears and tongue - and the best dresses a woman could ask for, nearly all of them made from silk and satin. I had once asked him where he had retrieved such fine dresses, to which he merely told me that it belonged to his sister-in-law, but I saw one of his staff carrying a box of newly purchased dresses and I knew that what he told me wasn't the truth. 

It was odd because Arthur barely knew me, save for my name and how I got here. And yet he treated me as if we were old friends. Though from what I gathered as much, Arthur had always been known for his kind ways. 

Having learned of his background story from one of the staff that woke me up, helped me put on my dress, made my hair, and brought me tea - all of which were new to me, having never been served in a way that made me feel as if I weren't to ever lift a finger any more - I silently credited his character to what he had been through, and also his rooted character. 

Daisy - the name of the young lady who tend to me every morning - had explained that when Arthur came to his Earldom, he was just barely out of university. He had intended to travel abroad, before finally settling down and learning the trades of which his father had done out of the responsibility of his title and to those who lived on his land.

But alas, fate had a plan of its own, for just a few days before he was set to depart, his father had died - forcing him to take over the title which would be his for the remainder of his days. Fortunately, he was always surrounded by a loving family. His mother, younger brother, and sister-in-law had been there for him during the first few years of his Earldom.

Difficult as it might've been for Arthur, with the loss of a father and the gain of a tremendous responsibility, it was tough for his family just as well - for as soon as Arthur was on his own two feet, they took off to settle down in London - his mother, deciding that the Myerscough Estate held too many memories of which were always accompanied by the presence of the former earl, and his brother, who was pursuing a career in the medical field. 

That awful memory might have - could have - turned any man into a person of grieve and bitterness, but when I looked at Arthur every time we were perched in the garden or his library with a romance novel in my hand and a philosophy book in his, or taking a stroll by the coastline with a chaperone, upon his insistence, all I see was a man whom I was growing to care for simply because of who he was. 

Had I, in the process of figuring out why Arthur was treating me with such affection, developed a particular affection for Arthur as well?

It seemed foolish, but then again, why wouldn't I have fallen for a man who seemed to hold me in the highest regard, gently taking care of me while at the same time respecting my need for privacy whenever he sensed that I might need it?