ivy

Chapter 7

I smile as he holds me tight with his freezing hands and kisses me but I can't help but wonder, maybe he's right. Maybe (just maybe) I could find myself a fairytale ending. It was unlikely but possible. He puts his hands on my face and moves them until they are on my ponytail. He stops kissing me.

"Why do you always have your hair in a ponytail?" He asks.

"John told me it looks better..." I say.

"Really? Well do you like it better in a ponytail?"

"Not really.."

In half a second, he pulls the hair tie out of my hair and runs his hands through my hair. I smile at him. He leans in and kisses me again.

After a few minutes I pull away.

"What's wrong?" He asks me.

I bite my lip.

"I haven't seen your poem yet..." I comment.

Stephen chuckles.

"That was the deal..." I say.

"Okay...fine." He says. He grabs his notebook out of his pocket and passes it to me.

"Only one." He says.

"Okay, I'll read your most recent one." I say.

"No! Any poem but that one!" He says worriedly.

"A deals a deal. I can read whichever one I want." I giggle.

"Please don't..." he says.

I laugh as I open the poem up. He buries his head in a pillow.

I read the poem out loud.

"Hey Dorothea
Do you ever stop and think about me?
When first met
Down in the garden
Honey, making a lark of the misery

You got shiny clothes from town
A tiny windows the only place I see you now
And I got nothing but well wishes for ya
This place is the same as it ever was
But you don't like it that way

It's never too late
To come back to my side
The stars in your eyes
Shined brighter in here
And if you're ever tired of being known
For who you know
You know, you'll always know me"

I blush.

"Sorry. It was a poem from when we first met and I realized you had a husband..." he says, his head still in the pillow.

I laughed. I leaned on the couch he was sitting in and grabbed the pillow out of his face then I leaned in and lightly kissed him.

He chuckled as he got up. I put my hands near his face and touched his hair.

"I love all of your curls..." I whispered. I leaned my head on his shoulder and I fell asleep. I woke up about 30 minutes later and he was still there. He had his head on top of my head and I could hear him lightly snoring. I kissed him on the shoulder and he slowly woke up. I looked up at him and he kissed the top of my head. I smiled at him and he got up.

"I've got to go check on the horses, Dorothea. I'll be back soon." He yawned.

"I'll come with you." I replied as I got up with him.

Right before we got to the trapdoor, Stephen kissed me. He opened the door and climbed out. He grabbed my hand and I went out too.

We both walked to the stables together. He leaned on the stables and we saw the horses. He grabbed a carrot and fed it to one.

"I've never really like MET the horses y'know? Like I have only seen them.."

"Wait..so you don't ride them?"

"Nope. And neither does John."

"So why do you have them?"

"Because John wants us to 'look rich'"

"What?"

"Yeah.."

"Okay, well, this is Meredith, the brown one is Olivia, the black one is Benjamin and the baby one is Taylor."

"Aww...they are all soo sweet!" I said.

"Maybe instead of going for a walk today, you can ride them.."

"I don't really know how to ride horses..."

"You don't? Well, I can teach you!"

"Really? You would do that for me?" I asked.

"Of course!"

"I've always wanted to learn.."

"Well, now you can!"

He twirled me to the back of the stables before kissing me. I smiled as twirled his hair around with my finger.

"Thank you.." I whisper.

"For what?" Stephen asks.

"For everything. You saved me."

He doesn't say anything. He just leans in and kisses me. I smile as I walk backwards until I'm sitting on the bench. He sits down too and we kiss for a while. The butterflies flutter in my stomach again.