𝐎𝐇 𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐀 ; lord tewkesbury

IV.

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I was laying down outside near the meadow, the sun just beginning to rise, leaving my face to feel warm.

There was no better comfort than to be outside with nature.

I closed my eyes and smiled. The one thing that was for certain that I yearned for comfort of some sort, any sort.

Perhaps nature was the closest I'd ever come to a true mother, always there during my time of need, unlike my aunt or anyone else.

"Ophelia, what in god's name are you doing?" I heard Caterina call out from behind me. She ran down from the house, still in her white nightgown.

I pushed myself off the ground. My hands sticky from the grass.

"Oh, I was just admiring the sun rise," I turned back to look at the swirls of red, yellow, and pink that canvased the sky. "Is it not mighty beautiful?"

She paused.

"Why don't you come back inside there's no need for-"

"No sit down with me, please."

Caterina was the only person in the family that currently didn't entirely ignore my presence, and the only one that wasn't foolish enough to surround herself with thoughts of marriage.

I needed someone like Caterina right now.

A cloud of awkwardness hovered between the two of us for a second. Eventually, as all clouds do, it dispersed.

She stumbled closer to me, as I noticed she was wearing fur boots. Her hair was already in two neat braids, accompanied by lose curls in front of her eyes.

She looked a lot like her mother today.

Caterina sat down heavily, her lips formed a frown. Her eyes were dull though, almost more grey than green. She was suffering inside, I could tell. And instead of getting consoled she was only invisible.

I think she needed me as much as I needed her.

I admired our scenery, wondering if she thought it was beautiful as well.

How couldn't she?

We were blessed to live near a field of beautiful wildflowers that had just started their bloom. Nothing but a field of purple and yellow, it felt magical.

"You know, mother and father are quite mad at you." She said, her gaze never leaving the sky.

"As is everyone," I paused, looking into her eyes. "Are you?"

She shook her head. "There's no real reason to be. If he enjoys you, that is his choice. It may not be the most favorable among most but," she faintly smiled at me. "you must have made a great impression."

I smiled.

I wish I knew what she really wanted. If she was like me, or like Lilia, or none of the above. Ever since I've met her, she always had dreams of being a famous pianist. Traveling across the sea to America, becoming a household name. Caterina Brookings. But she stopped talking about it as soon as she was kept home from school.