Joined: May 2007 Gender: Female Posts: 1,570 Karma: 0
Drudging up the Past (Antonia) « Thread Started on Jun 27, 2008, 8:03pm »
William had picked her up in his carriage from the Abbey and headed to Westgate Street. In her hands was the fabric he had chosen because it resembled her eyes. And now Liam would be fitted for a waistcoat that would forever remind him of her. It was a sort of twisted self-torture, but he couldn't stop it. He helped her from the carriage and into Brummel's Boutique. He had asked for a private fitting and the proprietor had obliged him by closing the shop in the late afternoon. After all, the Barlows were some of his best customers.
Joined: May 2007 Gender: Female Posts: 2,025 Karma: 0
Re: Drudging up the Past (Antonia) « Reply #1 on Jun 27, 2008, 8:09pm »
Feeling as if she were carrying a millstone around her neck ever since she, like Pandora, had let curiousity get the better of her and unleash a world of turmoil, Antonia had decided that she had to tell William today. So why oh why did she find herself in a boutique of all places- not a great place for a confession, she thought. She had worn her prettiest dress today, cream muslin embroidered with lace and bright, feminine flowers, her hair up in the latest style of ringlets. She was relieved for the privacy but sat in a corner and let the tailor do his job as guilt ravished her guts.
Joined: May 2007 Gender: Female Posts: 1,570 Karma: 0
Re: Drudging up the Past (Antonia) « Reply #2 on Jun 27, 2008, 8:14pm »
Dressed only in his shirt, breeches, stockings and shoes, William was being measured for the waistcoat she had helped him chose. He watched her in the mirror, wondering what she was thinking. He had never seen her more radiant - except that wretched day. And now he was sneaking out with her, meeting her however he could devise... a fly in her web. But his heart had begun to beat again with her around, the gashes in it treated with her smile and the blood from it drying with her company. He felt better than he had in two years - but he had no idea how hard he was about to fall...
"What do you think, cousin? Should I have a diamond or gold pin for my cravat? I can never decide. This color is so right - it seems a shame not to place a sparkle into the eyes... silk. Silk." he bit his tongue at that...
Joined: May 2007 Gender: Female Posts: 2,025 Karma: 0
Re: Drudging up the Past (Antonia) « Reply #3 on Jun 27, 2008, 8:20pm »
Antonia started at his words. She was beginning to panic, how on earth was she meant to tell him with that wretched tailor there? What if she never got another opportunity? She blinked stupidly at the question and said, "Does it really matter which one you have? Either will ruin that waistcoat and you know how I-" Suddenly her voice caught and she bit back a sob, looking down at her hands, which were trembling and moist in her lap.
Joined: May 2007 Gender: Female Posts: 1,570 Karma: 0
Re: Drudging up the Past (Antonia) « Reply #4 on Jun 27, 2008, 8:25pm »
Liam panicked as he looked up at her comment interrupted, instantly knowing from her body posture that she was holding back tears. It ripped at him like her smile ripped at him - all of the familiar expressions that made him want to trust her again with his heart. William asked the tailor for a quarter hour of privacy, and waited for him to leave. Then he made his way over to her, kneeling in front of her and taking her moist hands in his own. She was trembling and pale... Had she understood and began to grasp that his heart was not lost to her? With a tremulous voice he asked, "What is it, Antonia?"
Joined: May 2007 Gender: Female Posts: 2,025 Karma: 0
Re: Drudging up the Past (Antonia) « Reply #5 on Jun 27, 2008, 8:30pm »
The moment he knelt before her, the tailor dismissed, it brought back memories of his proposal when they were both eighteen and Antonia could not stop herself from crying any longer, big fat tears rolled down her cheeks and she gave herself heartily over to the emotion for several moments, holding his hands in hers to give herself strength for what she had to do next. "It...wasn't...your fault!" she said between gulps of air when she finally found her voice, "It...had...nothing to do with whether or not you sent me gifts as to why I ran away...it wasn't...your fault!"
Joined: May 2007 Gender: Female Posts: 1,570 Karma: 0
Re: Drudging up the Past (Antonia) « Reply #6 on Jun 27, 2008, 8:41pm »
He was about to beg her not to cry, to tell her that it hurt him too deeply to watch her tears roll down her lovely cheeks... until she burst out with that. His hands stilled the rubbing of hers that he had been doing and he visibly paled - then flushed. "How did you - when I fell asleep - you read... how much of it? Why would you..." He stood up and began to pace, his fist pressed to his mouth agitatedly. When he could no longer contain the thoughts, he took a deep breath and centered his stance toward her, as if bracing for an attack of some sort. "Then why?"
Joined: May 2007 Gender: Female Posts: 2,025 Karma: 0
Re: Drudging up the Past (Antonia) « Reply #7 on Jun 27, 2008, 8:47pm »
She flinched at his reaction, expecting him to be angry, but instead he was confused and hurt. She took several deep breaths to gain control of herself once more and said as clearly as she could, wiping the tears away from her eyes, "Because I was frightened..." She swallowed and met his gaze, standing up she said, "I was terrified that I wasn't the one of you that we'd rushed into things too soon, too young. With all the pressure from your family and mine, I couldn't bear it any longer- so I ran. There is not a day, no an hour, no a minute- no! A second that doesn't go by when I don't wish that I had married you, William. I realised I loved you for you and not because our families wanted us to love each other. But it was too late. You see? You are not to blame." She stood up and came over to him, touching his cheek gently with a shaking hand as she confessed, "That is why I have remained single these past two years, given up reading love poetry and not been to London; I was waiting for your return, to tell you that I will and always will love you, William, with all my heart."
Joined: May 2007 Gender: Female Posts: 1,570 Karma: 0
Re: Drudging up the Past (Antonia) « Reply #8 on Jun 27, 2008, 8:55pm »
He was stunned. William Barlow stood as still as a statue, not even breath moving his chest. Only his eyes were alive. And they were widening with each confession she made. At her touch, he came alive again, if just for a second. He seemed to lean into her trembling fingers before a coldness spread through his whole body. He was hers again - her puppet. He was acting as she wished, letting her pull the strings with her confessions and declarations. He was playing the fool expertly well - rather surprised that Covent Garden hadn't called yet. Stumbling back, he held his cheek as if she had slapped him and in his eyes dawned the one thing she probably never expected. Panic. Liam turned on his heel and ran from the shop, leaving everything behind him with his long strides. He ignored the carriage, not even considering that it was kind of him to leave it for her, but he was in no mood to wait for the footmen. William ran, as fast as he could, to the post and paid for express out into the country. Not a trace of him left behind...
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