The Beauty of Coincidence | manxman | (Historical Fiction)

XLI - The Pleasures of Winterbourne; Revisited

The manner in which Victor seemed to radiate with every bit of joy in the world was a pleasant sight for Reynold. It would be true to say he was rather acquainted with the ability to bring laughter and great solace to his lover, and yet he hadn't quite bore witness to this type of good nature that seemed to elevate from the young lord's very being. Their laughs together were quite true, the smiles they shared on a daily basis were memorable indeed, but somehow this branch of cheer that was expressed from Victor today was far different. And such a show of his happiness, Reynold was sure, was brought on by the mere presence of Leon Ramsey.

All seated in what was known to be a gallery, save for the absence of many pieces of art upon the walls, Victor was positioned on a low sofa just beside Reynold, tucked against the warmth of his lover without the care of his younger brother looking on. The craftsman had an arm draped just over Victor's shoulder, his fingers occupied by Victor's mindless caress of them. As for Leon, he had risen from his comfortable armchair across the way, and was apparently demonstrating how he'd lost a fight with his footing and went tumbling down a short flight of stairs over at the university. He'd been in the midst of a tour of the entire campus when a young maiden waltzed by with her father, and given how distractingly attractive she'd been — in Leon's words — he'd nearly greeted the devil himself at the bottom of the steps with how harsh the tumble had been.

"I swear it," Leon continued, "If I had not called out to God on my way down, I'm sure I would have been swept into the fiery pits."

Victor could hardly hold down the volume of his laughter and he shook his head. With Reynold's fingers still occupied in his grasp, he looked toward his lover with a chuckle and a scrunch of his nose. "So dramatic, is he not?" Victor mocked, and he eyed his brother with a leer. "Perhaps if you kept your eyes forward instead of below the collar bone of every woman you see, you wouldn't have such run-ins with the devil. I hear God takes pleasure in punishing the overtly lustful."

Leon scoffed and folded his arms over his rather broad chest, falling back into the cushion of the armchair once again. "I've survived this long, haven't I?"

"And see how you do not deny the lustful accusation?"

"Why would I deny such?" Leon licked across the front of his teeth, the smirk upon his face plastered as if he were reminiscing on wonderful past times. "I have been careful enough as it is. Trust me, if I had a little stray Ramsey runnin' about, either myself or father would be the first to know such a thing." He shuttered then, "Could you imagine? Me, a father?"

Victor chuckled as his brother silently seemed to panic at the mere thought of accidently fathering a child with a young woman who'd once been invited to his bed, and if there was one thing Victor could assume correctly, it was that Norman would most certainly not be pleased with the idea of Leon slipping up and leaving a trace of himself where his young son had not intended to. Not that Norman would damn the idea of it, but Victor knew it would likely cause his father more of a headache than other things already were for him. Even with that; however, Victor shrugged his slight shoulders and allowed himself to lean lazily against the comfort of his lover beside him. "The perks of being a man such as myself," he said, a seductive light in his gaze when his head lay in Reynold's lap. He reached up and touched a fairness to Reynold's cheek, the light brush of the other man's scruff scratching against his palm. "No matter how many times we are one, not a single mistake could possibly be made."

At the mere sound of Victor's words, Reynold felt a hotness enter his face. He was almost tempted to lean down and meet the young lord's welcoming lips, but held himself off with Leon's attendance so near.

"Surely you would someday wish for more," Leon stated, eyeing the true and unadulterated mutual gaze that passed between the two men before him. "While I could not imagine the two of you being able to wed so openly and, of course, produce a child together, there is bound to come a day where your legacies come into question. You could not wish for your name to fade so easily in time. Perhaps, Victor, you are safe from that, given my future sons will carry father's name, and yet, Mr. Deighton... what of you?"