Love & Misunderstanding

Chapter Twenty Four - Jonathan's POV

The sun beat down on my face as I rode through the forest like never before. Tybalt was one of the fastest horses my family had ever seen, which was rare considering he had not been specifically trained in racing. His name suited his personality almost perfectly, for he could be quite aggressive, but at the same time he was also very loyal. At times, I considered him to be my best friend. I could tell him anything without fear that he would lose his temper, unlike someone else that I knew.

You may think that it sounds silly to talk to a horse, but I found that it helped me calm down after an encounter with my mother or Matthew. I had told him about what had happened in London and how I had kissed Miss Hoffman. I vented to him about my worries concerning Matthew and how he would react if he ever found out. Unfortunately, as you can imagine, horses are terrible at giving advice.

"There you are!" a voice said all of a sudden, startling me out of my train of thoughts.

I brought Tybalt to an abrupt halt when I saw someone just ahead of me. At first I did not recognize who it was, but then I caught a glimpse of his face and knew immediately. "Matthew?" I asked. "What on earth are you doing out here?"

He seemed to take offence to this. "Excuse me for wanting to visit my friend, whom I have not seen in a month," he defended.

"Sorry," I apologized.

I rode up beside him, and slowly brought Tybalt to a walk so that Matthew could keep up with me while we caught up with one another. He asked me at least a dozen questions concerning my trip, such as whether it had been any fun, and what my cousins had been like. I answered his question best as I could. Spending a month with my relatives had not been as bad as I had expected. Sure, Thomas was a bit strange, but he was tolerable, and I had absolutely no quarrels with Anne.

"What was Miss Hoffman like?" he asked nervously.

I had been expecting him to ask that. Fortunately, I already knew exactly what to tell him. "I did not really pay that much attention to her," I lied.

He rolled his eyes. "I should have known that. You could not care less about her."

I had to suppress the urge to laugh in his face. He did not know just how wrong he was. I had come to care about her a lot over the past couple of months. Sadly, I knew that I could not tell him for fear of his temper. "She seemed to be enjoying herself," I informed him. "She got along quite well with my cousin, Anne."

"I cannot believe that I was so obsessed with her not too long ago," he complained. "I wish that you had stopped me from proposing to her that day."

Initially I had felt the same way. However, if I had stopped him, I would not have confronted her, and in the end, would not have gotten the chance to know who she truly was. If it had not been for that catastrophic proposal, my life would have been much darker. She had brought a light into my dark life, and that was something I would never regret, no matter how furious it would make both Matthew and my mother.

"If I had done that, you would have just gotten angry at me."

"You are probably right," he agreed, dropping the subject at long last.

He then asked about Vincent and how his arm was recovering. He had recovered quite a bit now, and was actually able to use it without too much pain. However, the whole ordeal was still more annoying than ever. Shockingly enough, Mother had taken to doting upon him, treating him as if he was incapable of doing anything for himself. I was pleased to see that she did care about someone other than herself, but it was getting ridiculous. I honestly would not have been surprised if she had started spoon feeding him.