Summer of Like // Farleigh Start x OC

33: I Can Breathe Again

The gates are open for us when we arrive, and the white gravel our wheels kick up bounces off the metal bars. I've barely stopped the car before the great doors are swinging open and a woman comes rushing down the steps. It takes me a moment to recognize Elspeth. In my memory, she's Hecuba - the proud queen of Saltburn, long blonde hair blowing in the breeze as she lounges by the pond in her Saint Laurent sunglasses. The woman before me is different, there's a weariness to her that wasn't there before.

Farleigh jumps out of the car first, a wide smile on his face as he rounds the hood, arms outstretched. "Aunt Elspeth."

"Oh, Farleigh." She crushes him into a hug. "I've missed you so, darling."

I turn the key in the ignition, and the engine rumbles to a stop. I get out of the car just as Elspeth draws back from Farleigh, and turns to me, a smile on her face. "Evie, darling, you look wonderful."

She crushes me into a hug as well, frail arms holding me to her chest. I can feel her shaky breath as she holds me, and a wave of sympathy washes over me. How lonely it must be, all alone in this big house? The way that she hugs me screams of longing. I hug her back as tight as I can.

When she pulls back her face shines, some of her youth peeking back through. "I was so excited when you said you'd come." She says, turning to Farleigh as well. "And the wedding announcement - god, I was overjoyed. I'm so terribly sorry I couldn't make the wedding - James was on his last legs then, and it just wasn't-"

"Oh no, no worries at all." Farleigh buts in. "We were so sorry to hear about James passing."

Her face shifts, some of the excitement dropping out of her eyes. "Yes... we were all waiting, I think, at that point." She says. "It was a horrible few days, really. But don't let me put a damper on your honeymoon - you must tell me about the wedding once you've settled in."

"Of course." I say. "I brought plenty of pictures."

She smiles again, and some of the life comes back to her face. "Oh, how wonderful." She takes me by the arm, and we start towards the steps into the house, Farleigh following close behind us. "I've had one of the master bedrooms made up into a honeymoon suite - I do hope it suits." She pats my arm. "I am so terribly excited to have you both home again."

I glance back at Farleigh, and he smiles that knowing smile. It's clear she's excited - it's dripping out of her pores. But I'm happy she's happy. I can only imagine how depressing these past years have been, with Felix and Venetia's ghosts wandering around the halls and James slowly withering away.

"Thank you again for inviting us." I say.

"Oh, of course, darling." She says. "When the idea came to me I simply had to offer - it's perfect really, honeymooning in the place that you first met. I mean, the romance of it, truly, I just had to offer."

We walk through the great doors of the house, and it takes a second for my eyes to adjust. The grand foyer is exactly the same as it was eleven years ago. There is something cyclical in being here. I can still remember when Farleigh and I first met, in this very room, not far from where we are standing now.

Still arm in arm with Elspeth, we walk all the way to the library - still more of a living room than a library. It's different than it was - the couches have been replaced, and the rugs are different. The television is on, but the room is still too quiet for my liking. Elspeth lets go of my arm to sit down, and I follow suit. Farleigh slides into place beside me, sighing as he relaxes.

He tips his head back against the cushions. "God I hate jet lag."

Elspeth stretches an arm across the back of the couch. "You must tell me how you've been faring in America. I worry, you know - it's terribly violent over there, especially in the cities."

Farleigh tips his head back against the cushions. "We've been doing fine. Great really."

Elspeth scoffs. "More than that, darling, details."

"We're still in Brooklyn." I say. "My parents retired and moved upstate to the Catskills, so we're living in the family brownstone with my brother Carlo."

"With your brother?" Elspeth asks.

I nod. "Younger - he just graduated college and needed a place to stay while he looks for jobs and a place and all that."

"How kind of you." She smiles.

"It's his house too - I mean, as much as it's any of me and my brothers." I say.

"How many brothers do you have?" Elspeth asks.

Farleigh answers for me. "Three - two older, Junior, who's real name I can never remember because everyone calls him Junior, and Frankie. And then Carlo, who's the youngest."

"Sal." I say.

Farleigh nods. "Right, Sal."

"But yeah, we're still in Brooklyn when we're home." I continue on. "We've been traveling a lot these past couples years for my journalism, so we're only actually home half the time."

Elspeth's eyebrows raise. "Traveling where?"

"Just before the wedding we were in Paris, for fashion week." I say. "Farleigh's menswear spring-summer collection debut."

Elspeth grins wide. "Oh yes, yes. I am ever so proud of you, darling. I saw your collection from last season - two seasons ago? - in Vogue. I kept the magazine - it should be around, somewhere."

Farleigh grins. "Thank you, thank you."

I turn to smile at my husband. "He actually designed my wedding dress."

"Oh, I must see pictures." Elspeth says. "I must. I can only imagine how splendid you must have looked, Evie. At dinner- oh!" A figure in the doorway draws Elspeth's attention away. "Oliver, come join us."

I turn to look at the doorway. Lingering there is someone that I never thought I would see again. Oliver Quick. He looks different, but also exactly the same - the same blue eyes, the same unsettling demeanor. He's more mature now - but I suppose Farleigh and I are too.

Elspeth smiles, and makes room for Oliver on the sofa. "Oliver has been staying with me for a few weeks now."

"That's great." Farleigh's voice sounds pinched - drawn tight. I wasn't expecting Oliver Quick to be present on our honeymoon, and it's clear that Farleigh didn't either. "It's great that you're not just by yourself in this big old house."

"Oh, exactly." Elspeth says. "He's been such a dear, staying with me and keeping me company."

From Elspeth's other side, Oliver smiles thinly.