The Beauty of Coincidence | manxman | (Historical Fiction)

XXXVII - The Gray Skies of Banemount

13 August 1820

I have come by a great fortune to have been born in this time. Once I felt the world so dark, so cruel, and yet I find myself awakened each day that arrives by the tranquil push of fate. The world was ugly. I felt there was nothing else true but what I had experienced, and yet I have seen so much more these last months than I ever had before. How I once thought I knew the trueness of love; I could not have been so utterly wrong. Such a thing never existed within me until now, and I see that so brutally clearly as these days continue to reach me. How could you, I would love to ask myself once lost, once screwed, once far too blind to see how false love used to be. I felt I could not have been so wrong back then, though it has come to my fullest attention that love had only graced me with its authenticity just recently. I have found it in its most honest and clear state, and I could view it as nothing else, nothing else but this wonderful most charming godsend of a being who sleeps beside me, whose voice I listen to as if each of his words were a graceful touch of a bow to a professionally tuned violin.

Someday I wish to hold a ceremony of sorts for my love, for my happiness with Victor, so we may celebrate together what the gift of life in this gray world has given. You are mine, Victor Ramsey, and I, Reynold Deighton, am yours and yours alone until I am at my weakest and can no longer stand, no longer speak, until I am called to the plain where all lovers must meet again. But you could hear me still, would you not, my love. For even in the throes of death I would call to you as a reminder of what will never fade from my being. I would hope you could hear me, and would listen as closely as you do now. Perhaps one day you will read these trivial and centered thoughts when I am away, merely have my back turned, or of course when I am long gone. If ever you do, Victor, if you someday read these words—

Know this now.

Know this forever..

— you are my love.

✦      ✦      ✦

Reynold closed his journal and set it on the windowsill. It was quite early in the morning, darkness showed itself outside the second story window, and when he moved the drapes just faintly with a hand, he looked upon the street below on this quaint cloudy Sunday. He could see the ports were without their shipments, the bridge was lowered to access the otherside, and there was even a small boat carrying a fisherman who was likely glad the ships were gone, as they always were on these restful days. With the deliveries made all throughout the week, bits of food were often tossed overboard, which attracted hungry fish, so Reynold was sure the man had already reeled in a good couple of trout that populated the waters. Would it rain today? It was a nice day for rain, a nice day to stay in and appreciate the comfort of his bed. Then again, with a goal still in the forefront of his mind, a day of rest and relaxation was not to be given to him.

It was his own fault.

Shutting the drapes of the window once more, Reynold looked off to his left and smiled. His bed here at the living quarters of the shop was small, hadn't been made to cater to two people, but that hadn't stopped him and Victor from finding what comfort they could together. While he was free from true duties to Deighton Craftsmen since Norman's involvement, there was still a task that required his attention he couldn't see himself turning his back on. Besides, he was eager for the day he finished the surprise he planned to bestow to Victor either on his birthday or perhaps the day before. The basement was still a work in the making, and while he'd made exceptional progress over the several weeks he'd catered to it, he had to keep up with his promises to it if he wished to be done with it in time. He would be devastated if he couldn't at least give Victor this surprise by then. September 30th, the nobleman's birthday was the goal, the day after was the absolute latest Reynold wanted to be finished by. I hope you will love it, my lord, he thought to himself, touching just light enough to where he wouldn't disturb the man beside him.