The Flowers Within Our Reach ~ A Thomesa AU Story

| Chapter Ten

"Teresa adverts her eyes from the insignificant spot on her bedroom wall she's been focusing on for the past half an hour as the memory of that night plays inside her head as if it had been yesterday."
________

22 years ago

She heard a soft knock on her small house's front door, yet louder than the pouring rain falling outside. Her feet started moving on their own accord to attend it, without thinking about the consequences of her actions.

Opening the door with a quick swing, her heart skips several beats upon seeing the tall man in front of her.

He smiled softly when his eyes laid on hers, his hair dripping wet and sticking to his forehead as his coat got completely soaked with the rain. "Hello Catherine."

She stared at him in awe, unable to form words for a few moments.

"What are you doing here? You know you're not supposed to be here." She whispered, somehow indignant, but she stepped aside anyway to let him in. He discarded of his jacket, placing it on a chair close to the fireplace so that it could dry slightly before he goes away.

"I missed you." And if his voice hadn't been so true, so gentle, Catherine wouldn't have given up on her rational side so quickly. It's the middle of the night, it's pouring rain outside, and she just let him in.

"I missed you, too. A lot. But... you know we can't keep doing this, Stuart. You have your family, and I have mine. My kids are sleeping upstairs, and you have your own son-"

She was quickly silenced with lips touching hers, and they were soft and caring as Catherine completely melted against his arms, giving in to the adoration he sported towards her.

"I have all that but all I need is you." He whispered against her lips, and any thought about how wrong this was being vanished from her mind as her arms came up to encircle his neck and push him closer to her.

Soon after, they were heading up the worn out stairs, eyes glazed with lust and love and they were simply so happy when they were together that all their problems completely stayed outside the door. Because everything feels so right when their worlds collide, that the two were sure not even a catastrophe could tear them apart.

They had been doing that for a long while, and they were perfectly aware that Stuart had a wife, and a five year old son, a life of luxury and fame, whereas Catherine raised an eight year old son and a six year old daughter with too little, all alone - her husband had left when Teresa turned one -, but they just couldn't stay away from each other because the love they felt towards the other was too unbearable to keep locked inside.

Stuart visited every once in a while, and the pure love on his eyes whenever he laid eyes on Catherine showed without doubt how much love he felt towards her. He was a goner when it came to loving her, and he knew he would stay like that for the rest of his life.

17 years ago

Catherine was weak, but somehow she still found strength to speak to her eleven year old daughter.

"Teresa?" She called weakly, and Teresa came running downstairs, her hair up in a messy ponytail and her eyes holding the light they always seem to hold.

"Yes, Mom?"

Catherine patted the space next to her on the worn out couch, smiling softly when the little girl sat next to her.

"I need to ask you something, and I want you to promise me that you'll do your best to do what I'm going to ask you to do."

Teresa nodded affirmatively, her eyes twinkling over the fact that her mother was going to confide something to her.

"It's a secret, okay? It stays between us and us only."

Nodding once again, Teresa listened intently as her mother spoke.

"Do you remember Mr. Twombly? That famous, rich man we saw on Tv the other day?"

"Yeah."

"I want you to promise me you're going to take care of him, the moment you have the opportunity to." Catherine said, her voice begging, her eyes glistening slightly.

Teresa doesn't hide her confusion. "Why?"

Catherine smiles a truthful one, holding her daughter's hands on hers. "Because he's an important person to me."

"You've met him?" Teresa's eyes opened wide.

"He helped me in many ways when I didn't want to be helped, and for that I'm forever grateful for." She smiles sadly. "I'm going to owe him that for the rest of my life. He has a son about your age, and when the time comes, I want you to promise me that you'll look after him as well."

Teresa nodded her head, yet a small tingle of doubt crossed her eyes before opening her mouth.

"I promise." She finally said, confidently, before a question popped up in her mind. "But how will I take care of them if they're rich and we're not?"

Catherine drew out a sigh she didn't know she was holding before her face turned serious.

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"Then believe me when I say you'll know when the time comes."

The conversation ends, and Catherine extends her arms in her daughters direction, pulling her closer to her body, taking her into a comforting embrace only a mother could give.

"I love you, baby girl."

"I love you too, mom."

Present time

Teresa adverts her eyes from the insignificant spot on her bedroom wall she's been focusing on for the past half an hour as the memory of that night plays inside her head as if it had been yesterday.

She remembers how her mother died a few days later due to a chronic disease, and how she uttered those same words for the last time to her, accompanied by a smile that held unspoken sentences that Teresa knew by heart.

She would keep her promise, for sure, because if Mr. Twombly had been referring to her mother right before he left, Teresa can't help but think how much the two loved each other.

Because she knew.

She knew that sometimes he would go to their house when they were all supposed to be sleeping. She knew how joyful her mother would be the days that followed, and how she progressively became less happy when he didn't visit for extended periods of time.

There are things she figured out and kept to herself to solely spare her mother from embarrassment, because having encounters with a powerful man who had already a family would completely blow out the media and consequently his reputation. Especially when he was having an affair with a poor woman from the poorest area of the neighborhood.

Teresa can't help but think, as she lays back on her pillows and closes her eyes, that their love story could have ended much better if things had been slightly different. Because there is no doubt that the two had had a connection like no other.

A/N

Hello everyone, I hope you're doing fine and you're staying safe 😊
This was a very fun chapter to write, and it's one of my favorites for sure.
Thank you so much for all your support and I love youuu❤️