Bring Me Home

Chapter Ten: Will You Still Love Me?

London, England.     August 22, 1888
The church bells had rang loudly that morning, signaling the beginning of Aunt Ann’s service. I watched from the front pew, Elizabeth at my side, my brother no where to be found, as the preacher read from the scripture. Aunt Ann was dressed in a white gown as was the normal for a noble woman ready to be put to rest, though she looked so unlike her in white.
I heard the doors of the church burst open and heard the heels of shoes before seeing my brother Ciel walk towards the front of the church, a red dress in his hands. He settled himself next to Aunt Ann’s casket and laid the red dress to her body. This was what she would have wanted. This was her normal.
I heard the bickering of the others as he put the red dress to her body, yet I disagreed the whole way. Then I noticed the red pestles flow in from the doors of the church. I turned around to see Sebastian and Undertaker on each side of a carriage filled with red rose pestles. I knew this was my brother’s doing and I smiled. It was the most beautiful jester of a final good bye to our beloved Aunt Ann.
“Are you alright, darling?” Adrian asked as we walked side by side together in the graveyard, Aunt Ann laid to rest.
“I am alright. A lot has happened these past few days. I learned about things I did not know existed. I learned that my aunt was in the middle of a crime spree with one and my brother that guards the Queen’s underworld with another. To top it off, I am..” I stopped, wondering how to finish the last part. That was, until Adrian finished for me.
“You are betrothed to another.” I nodded, looking to the ground.
“How will this work?” I question, beginning to walk again.
“How will what work, love?”
“How will you and I work?” I turned my head to look at him, his bangs still covering his face and his top hat on top his head as we are still in public. Adrian stopped abruptly and stared at me in disbelief, most likely wondering in that moment how I could think such a thing. “How will you never tire of me? I will grow old and die. Will you not stay the same?” I put my head down, not wanting to look him in the eyes in the moment. I felt him walk up to me, his index finger trailed up my neck to lift my chin to look him at him anyway.
“That is a discussion you and I will be having at a later date. Though trust me love, I will never tire of you. I will be by your side through thick and thin. Through troubles and through the best of times darling. I am yours, from now until the end of time.” At that moment, no one in the world mattered, but the two of us. The wind picked up in the moment, blowing our hair along the current it flowed. As the wind blew our hair through the early afternoon air, I could tell by the look in my betrothed’s eyes, what he said was true to the fullest. Not only was he mine until the end of time but..
“I am yours.” I finished my thought aloud. “Until the end of time.”