Crimson peak re-telling (Reader x Tomas Sharpe)

ℭℌą℘ţℯr IX

The arrival

You bought a simple white dress for the ceremony at the town hall. It did not take much convincing for Thomas to agree to an intimate ceremony. This allowed you to  wed quickly, save money, and avoid the embarrassment of realizing you really had no one besides your father and Margaret to invite anyway.

The day of the wedding, the ring on your finger felt heavier than usual. Since the engagement, you'd been in a state of bliss. You romanticized your new life with Thomas in his sprawling mansion in the English countryside; you imagined your first night together as husband and wife and all the pleasures that would surely bring; and most of all, you were happy to have found someone to share your life with.

Now that the day had come, the realization of what was happening was so sudden. If you had told your past self that you would be getting married, you surely would have slapped your future self. The idea of belonging to another person, legally and emotionally had been worse than death. Yet, here you were, realizing that you were not binding yourself to Thomas as his property - you did not belong to him, rather you belonged with him, as his equal.

As promised, and just as icing on the cake, your father had spoken and most likely paid a small sum of money to the local publisher who now seemed more inclined to take your work more seriously and promised to publish it within the month. Noting your impending move to England, he promised to keep in touch if sales of this story were noteworthy.

You packed up your belongings that mostly consisted of clothes. Thomas had warned you of the cold of the countryside and how the mansion could be a bit drafty, so you had made sure to pack all of your winter coats and garments. The few mementos you did pack were mostly of your mother. You packed a necklace that had belonged to her, and several photos. You thought about the brief encounters you had had with your mother's ghost and shivered. Had you not been so confident in yourself, you would have thought them dreams. However, her warning of Crimson Peak was still very much at the forefront of your mind, although you still had yet to understand her warning. It would be difficult to say goodbye to your father, but in truth, he was barely around as it was and you felt you had already passed the feeling of abandonment.

Margaret was more difficult to say goodbye to, but you knew it would not be the last time you saw her. Surely you would come home at some point to visit all of them again after you got settled.

Thomas had booked passage for you and Lucille as well as himself on a passenger ship that left the night of your wedding. The voyage would take a few days. You had never been on a boat before so this was an exciting, yet slightly terrifying new adventure - just as the rest of your life would be. You didn't spend too much time worrying about the details of your arrival - all the things that would be different, how you might make friends and all that. What was important was being with Thomas. It almost scared you that the thought of having children didn't scare you anymore.

You held on to Thomas' arm as you boarded the ship, Lucille trailing closely behind you. You didn't think many couples spent their wedding night aboard a ship and wondered if the usual activities ought to be put off for want of more privacy. Thomas had booked a separate room for Edith, and so you were hopeful for the evening, and yet when the night arrived, Thomas kissed you gently before getting into bed, turning out the light, and going right to sleep. That was fine, you told yourself, surely once you got to the mansion, you would consummate the marriage.

The days passed without much event. Your stomach grew accustomed to the lilting decks, the weather was calm enough for safe passage, and you spent a lot of time with Thomas. It seemed that every time you were alone in your room during the day, however, Lucille would appear and discourage any sort of ideas you had had about getting things started with Thomas. At night he would simply kiss you goodnight, discouraging any sort of sexual inclinations you might have had. You brushed it off as both nerves for the both of you, as well as the stress of travel.

You were relieved when the sea journey ended and you arrived at the port in England.

The crew helped you load your bags into a waiting carriage. You noted Thomas' possessive hold around your waist as the crewmen winked at you. Not that you wouldn't have been able to handle yourself with these men, but it did feel nice to have someone protecting you, not wanting to share you.

The carriage ride was exhausting and long. You spent most of it with your head on Thomas' shoulder, trying to ignore the icy stare that Lucille had decided to inflict with full force. Resigned to never understand her volatile feelings towards you, you attempted to sleep and were occasionally mildly successful. You were in one of these light slumbering states when Thomas gently shook you awake. You glanced up at him with heavy lids and saw him smiling down at you. Lucille was staring out the window now, and you followed her gaze. The carriage was arriving at the Sharpe estate.

"This is it, my love," Thomas said softly, pulling you closely to him. "This is Crimson Peak."