Love & Misunderstanding

Chapter Nineteen - Helene's POV

Since arriving in London two weeks ago, my life had been filled with nothing but happiness. It felt like I was in paradise. I did not have to worry about avoiding Matthew, or running after Louise. I had not felt such happiness in a long time. My days were filled with music and reading, and I could actually spend more than ten minutes with Jonathan every day. To me, that seemed like the ideal way to spend a day.

It was so bizarre to think that I had once disliked the man. I used to loathe every minute spent anywhere near him, and now I could not wait to spend more time with him. It did not exactly make sense to me, but I did not see anything wrong with that, so I just continued on, enjoying life in London as much as I possibly could.

At the moment, I was focused on writing a letter to my family back in Portsmouth. That had been one of father's conditions behind allowing me to go. I had to write to them to assure them that I was alive and well. Apparently they feared that I too would die on them. Anyway, I told them about how kind and considerate the Edwards were, and how they were hosting a masquerade ball a few days before our departure from London. As I thought about that, I realized that I sincerely missed my family. In particular, I missed my dear old father. Believe it or not, I actually missed hearing his endless complaints about life. I also missed the constant chaos that my adorable niece and nephew provided. I could not wait to see them all again.

Just then, Hannah entered the room. "Miss Gilmore has time for tea now," she stated.

Hearing that, I set my quill down, folded up my letter and stashed it into one of the desk drawers before rising from my seat and making my way out of the room. "Thank you, Hannah," I called back to her.

Much to my surprise, when I stepped outside, I nearly ran into Mr. Brown. Fortunately for me, he reached out to steady me before I could fall over. I silently chastised myself. Why was I being so clumsy all of a sudden? First it was the incident with Vincent at Church, then a few days ago I had nearly tripped and fell on the stairs, and now this! I had never been particularly clumsy before, so why was I now? Although, as I thought about it, it crossed my mind that it may be because I seem to be getting lost in different thoughts.

"Is there anywhere that I may escort you, Miss?" he asked, releasing me from his grip once he was certain that I was stable.

"I suppose it would not hurt to have you escort me to the music room. I would not want to get lost." It also would not hurt to have someone around in case I collided into anything or anyone else.

He nodded and began to escort me down the corridor. I had become quite fond of Mr. Brown in the last two weeks. At first he had appeared somewhat grouchy and mean, much like how my father often appeared. However, with a bit of time, I realized that he was actually a very polite and considerate man, also quite like my father.

"Have we managed to bore you yet?" he asked.

"Oh, not at all," I assured him. "I am quite enjoying my time here."

"That is good to hear," he said. "How have you adjusted to having Hannah and Edith around?"

"Well, it is nice not having to clean up after myself all the time, even though I do find it annoying at times."

He chuckled ever so slightly, "Well, here you are. If you need anything, I will be next door ensuring that our newest maid has not completely destroyed Mrs. Edwards private drawing room."

With that, he continued on to the next door and disappeared, leaving my standing in front of the door to the music room. Gently knocking on the door, I waited for someone to call me in before entering. When I did, I had to take a moment to appreciate how beautiful the music room was. Jonathan had been correct when he said it was large, for it was larger than any other music room that I had ever seen. It had almost every instrument in existence. The most beautiful part of the room though, was a grand, hand-painted piano that looked like it belonged in Buckingham Palace.