Isabelle
Isabelle walked out to have her lunch in the garden when she got an unexpected surprise.
“Dare not cast your eyes upon me, but feast instead on the splendors of spring.” Thomas looked out at the brightly colored garden.
She sat across from him at the breakfast table in the gazebo.
“Your mother and father died in a fire when you were five. Your uncle, though loving and caring enough to take you in, is distant. You wouldn’t even know his face if you passed it in a hallway here. Though he’s never here, is he?” Thomas studied Isabelle’s lonely expression. “You never met him. He resides in India. He regards you as a simple girl, unlikely to ever marry.”
Isabelle felt the sting of the words and her eyes began to mist.
“Should you like to marry, Isabelle?” he inquired.
Thomas was what he was, a thief. He was after one thing, and it was not her heart. He could live in this place, and take whatever inheritance was coming to them. Isabelle was a plain girl. Plain girls had advantages, they were steady. Rare was a surprise or thought out of line with a plain girl. Every day is the same with them. He could settle down and become a creature of habit, for leisure’s sake.
Isabelle turned and their eyes locked.
Thomas could feel a sea inside him, all land and creatures passed away. He floated alone on a ship, the waves tossed it back and forth. The only thought in his mind was Isabelle. He would be a prisoner if he stayed here. Why did he even entertain such foolish thoughts? It was for this feeling. The feeling of standing in the boat, his knees unsure of their balance. His feet unaware if they were on ground or floating. She was the light of his world, the only good he’d ever witnessed. More precious than Gold or Silver in any amount.
Isabelle noticed a light scar on his left cheek. A grim reminder of who and what he really was. She quickly turned back to the flora. Her appetite vanished as thoughts began to race in her mind. Thoughts of becoming an old maid, or having an opportunist husband. For which was worse? To die alone or unloved?