Sunset At Sarsen Stones (What Dreams Are Made Of)

Chapter 43 - The Encounter

Though Chrissy was affected by the sudden news of Nikloi's marriage and had a troubled night, the next morning was uneventful. If Mrs Smith noticed her daughter to be restless and disturbed, she didn't ask her any question. She was an understanding soul and didn't want to cause stress by asking questions Chrissy obviously didn't want to answer. So, she decided it was better to give her daughter the time she needed. When it was right, she would herself share.

Being her mother, she already knew that her daughter's troubles involved a man and it wasn't difficult to guess who the man in question was. In all these years, there was only one man who had come to their place. And after meeting Nikloi, she was actually quite satisfied. Her daughter had been busy with responsibilities since a very young age and hence she was preoccupied most of the times to recognize her own emotions but mother's instinct was never wrong. So she had known and stayed silent for her daughter to experience it without any influence from her.

But when everything had fallen and her daughter had been heartbroken, it had taken everything Mrs Smith got to reach out and pull her frail daughter in her arms. Like everything else, her daughter had experienced and learnt the dark side of the emotion called love very quickly. And like always she had kept it all inside, never letting her mother know any of her pains.

But Mrs Smith knew Chrissy was capable of taking her decisions. She had been practically taking decision for the entire family since she was eighteen. So while it was painful, deep down Mrs Smith had been proud of her daughter and the way she acted in face of the heartache. And she accepted all her decisions. Her decision to move away from London, to start life all over again, and even her way of dealing with the pain on her own, Mrs Smith had accepted it all. That was the least she thought she could do to support her daughter.

Mrs Smith had really liked Nikloi Swaroski but when Chrissy decided to move on, Mrs Smith had stood right behind her, supporting her judgement completely. She would have been happy if things would have worked out between the two of them, but she knew Chrissy would never take a decision in a hurry. If they weren't together, then maybe that's how it was meant to be.

It had taken some time to get used to their new life but both mother and daughter had persevered silently. With Chrissy getting a decent job at the publication house, things had started to look up again. Chrissy had started enjoying her work. Alice would catch up with them once every month. And even though their hands were a little tied as compared to the time she was working at Swaroski hotels, they were doing fine as a family.

So seeing Chrissy edgy that morning was a bit of concern for Mrs Smith and she hoped that everything would be back to normal in her elder daughter's life soon.

Not being aware of her mother's knowledge, Chrissy had continued to manage her pain all by herself but the news of Nikloi and Susan's marriage had been quite disturbing. She wanted to ignore it, forget everything about them but the images of two of them laughing, dancing, travelling and kissing together were always on her mind.

In the end, she had decided to step out and go to the garden to ease her pain. May be fresh air would help her think differently. She chose to go to Delapre Abbey, which was at some distance from her place but it was a place known to be not too crowded. She needed the peace and solitude. Plus she had all the time in her hands.

She walked along the silent path in the Delapre Abbey leading upto the neo-classical mansion. She liked the stillness of the place. It was known to be not heavily visited by many people because there were some stories about the place being spooky but Chrissy didn't believe in it. She knew there were enough scoundrels on the earth itself instead of being in afterlife, etc.

She went across the main building, crossed the ornamental rock and water gardens, finally reaching the beautiful lake. Settling on the ground, she watched the clean blue water and wondered if her life would ever be as calm and serene.