Gears and Steam

The End

Jules

"I'm sorry," Edmund cried, hugging himself. "I'm so sorry!"

I dropped to my knees on the forest floor, carefully placing my arms around the trembling boy. "It's not your fault," I assured, affectionately kissing his forehead. "It's Phoebe's."

"I s-still shouldn't have kissed her!" Edmund sobbed.

"She was overwhelming you. It's fine. I assure you, it's fine." I stroked his back, trying to calm him down. It really was okay. I understood. Plus, after everything I'd done, I had no right to be mad. It also wasn't like he wanted to kiss Phoebe.

It took awhile for Edmund to calm down. When he finally did, he looked up at me with a watery smile. "You know, you're the better kisser."

I let out a weak laugh. "Why thank you. I'll do a better job of keeping Phoebe away from you from now on, I promise."

"I just don't want to kiss her again. I never want to kiss anyone that's not you ever again," he sighed. "Too bad it's not socially acceptable."

I nodded. "To be honest, I'm fine with hiding in the shadows. I mean, it sucks, sure, but it's the only way we can be together."

"Maybe we can run away and live on our own in the mountains," Edmund joked.

I didn't respond to that. I simply hugged him closer and ran a hand through his hair. I knew we couldn't escape the rest of the world, but it was fun to think about. It was fun to imagine a world where we could walk around in public holding hands. A world where we could get married someday, or be anything close to a family. But we couldn't be together here, not like that. We could only be together in an odd little way, hidden from everyone else.

It took me too long to realize I was feeling actual love. I had never fallen in love with anyone except for Edmund. For a while, I thought it would actually be impossible for me to find true love. I thought my mother would try to marry me off to a rich family. Which was still probably going to happen, I just had extra reason to avoid it now.

"Do you want to go back to the house?" I whispered, not wanting to disturb the peaceful atmosphere.

"Is Phoebe at the house?"

"Probably."

"Then no."

"Okay, we'll figure out something. You wanna meet my horse?"

"Horses scare me."

"She's nice," I promised, standing up with Edmund still in my arms. "To the stables!"

...

I loved my horse. Snowbell was a well groomed horse with pure white fur. Phoebe had always liked Snowbell better than her horse, Hercules, but I was older so I got first choice. Hercules was slightly smaller than Snowbell, with brown fur instead of white. I hadn't seen the horses in nearly a year. I was excited.

"See, Edmund, she's nice!" I exclaimed, petting Snowbell's snout.

Edmund was pressed against the wall of the stables, as far away from poor Snowbell and Hercules as possible. "They're big."

"Come on, she's a sweet as can be! For christ's sake, her name's Snowbell!"

"You named your horse Snowbell?"

"I was seven, okay? Come here." I beckoned him over to me.

Edmund still seemed unsure, but slowly approached the horse. I grabbed his hand and slowly brought it to Snowbell's muzzle. Snowbell snorted, making Edmund jump away, then giggle.