New Love Springs

Chapter 7 : The Question

‘Antony, what are you doing here?’

It had been a number of weeks since Sweeney had seen Antony, and he wasn’t sure whether he still held the offer of letting him and Joanna stay in their house. He felt it would be very awkward  and hard to treat her as if he had no idea who she was. So, he resolved not to mention the offer until Antony did.

‘Joanna and I have been staying in a hostel very near here, as we felt it would be selfish to impinge on you and Mrs Lovett'  He gave an awkward cough.

‘Yes carry on, boy’ Sweeney said as he sat down on his bed and looked at Anthony, gesturing for him to carry on speaking.  ‘Sit down, you must be exhausted’

‘Thank you sir..ah, where was I?’

‘The hostel’, Sweeney motioned with his hand once more  to prompt Antony into continuing. 

‘Yes, but we can no longer afford to pay for our room and food so we desperately need somewhere to stay and um, Mr Todd? I was wondering if you know anyone, anyone at all that may be related to Joanna? As I would like to ask for her hand in marriage’

As Anthony said this his face grew soft with obvious affection, and it was clear how much he loved Sweeney’s daughter. Now, Sweeney couldn’t help feeling slightly jealous of this. Not the romance aspect, he had Nellie, but the fact Antony knew Joanna and he would probably never know her, let alone be a father to her… Unless…

Anthony needed a relation, Sweeny could tell him ! A father would be the best to ask for a hand in marriage, and Sweeney obviously wanted his daughter to be as happy as possible to make up for her dreadful childhood. Maybe there could be a joint wedding…by the sea…as Sweeney began to visualise the future, his own thoughts interrupted him; he would have to tell Anthony his story first, and hope against hope he would believe it.It would have to be thoroughly edited down though, which meant no killing references at all.But could he completeley trust Anthony?

After he had finished his cut down story, Sweeney sighed and looked at Antony, who was staring at him open-mouthed with a look of utter disbelief written across his face. Sweeney had known he wouldn’t believe him. After all, he really didn’t come across as the conventional family man.

After a pause, Antony nodded his head gravely. ‘As a friend, Mr Todd, I will believe what you are saying and stress that you seek adivce for any issues and difficulties you may have’ So, with nothing more, not even a ‘I’m sorry about your ordeal’, he asked  permission for Joanna’s hand in marriage. The answer from a slightly bewildered Sweeney was of course yes, he could, and yes, you can move in tomorrow where we can find you future lodgings. Yes, see you tomorrow at one with your bags. The conversation was conluded with a hasty goodbye as Antony rushed off to be reunited with Joanna after a terrible 20 minutes apart.

‘Ah young love’, Sweeney muttered to himself as he crawled underneath the bed covers once again.

The next week, Sweeney and Nellie were lying in bed (they now shared Nellie's wonderfuly made bed), exhausted after the recent events that had taken place. Nellie was still bruised, and Sweeney still slightly lightheaded and bewildered about things that had taken place, but they still had the light of passion within them that hadn’t, and hopefully wouldn’t, die.

‘Sweeney…’ Nellie whispered, ‘what was it you were gonna ask me yesterday?’

She hoped beyond hope that what she had guessed the subject to be was correct.

‘Oh love; I’m sleepy can it wait until later?’

‘Okay, I love you’ Nellie smiled to herself and fell asleep.

When she woke up again at midday the next day, Sweeney was still there.She had a pounding headache and was still trying to make sense of the world around her.She suddenly started to panic as to why he wasn’t working in the barber’s shop;he would be there sorting things out as early as 6 in the morning most days.

But then, she blissfully realised it was Sunday, so they were free to do what they pleased with no interruption. She laid back and turned to look at the back of Sweeney’s head. She felt that everything about him was absolutely beautiful.To her he was a perfect person; every single hair on the back of his head, every little feature, his perfectly shaped body. She loved every aspect of him from the bottom of her heart. Love often makes you feel this way, she thought to herself, and actually, she didn’t really mind it.

Even though Sweeney had treated her so badly in the past, she had forgiven him and was still madly in love with him because unlike most people he had actually changed his ways and they were finally in a relationship. After having mused on this for around half an hour, Nellie finally came to the conclusion that love, especially the love her and Sweeney shared was worth waiting for.

Interrupting her thoughts, Sweeney swiftly turned over and draped his arm across Nellie who nestled into him. After a while of just lying there and relaxing (Toby was at a friend’s house so they had a license to) Sweeney sat up.

‘Nellie. I understand it has been a busy week and I haven’t been able to say what I want to say yet. But I now feelit is the right time. If you don’t want to go ahead with what I’m suggesting then feel free, and I hope you deciding against it won’t change anything between us. So what I am saying is I have a deep love for you and I would like to show it’

At this point Nellie was still lying down, but a million thoughts were racing around at lightning speed in her head. They’d  come this far, so nothing he could do or say now would make her fall out of love with him. He was looking at her with a real passion and light in his eyes she had never seen in him before. This told her that the love was true and they really were meant for each other, now time had sorted itself out.

He had never told her he loved her, not until now. 

Interrupting her thoughts, Sweeney continued. ‘You have become the light in my life, Nellie and now I understand you are the one for me. You did not judge my despicable antics harshly, nor did you act harshly in the time it took for me to get over my late wife (Sweeney felt as though Lucy was dead, because the Lucy he knew certainly was) despite how terribly I treated you, and I hope that you can forgive me for that. I know you lied to me about Lucy ,Nellie, but it surprisingly did not make me angry. That is a thing of the past, and I instead can understand why you did it, and meeting Lucy how she is now has made things a lot better’ He said this calmly and truthfully, glad he was getting his relatively new feelings of fulfilment out in the open.

‘Anyway, Nellie, I digress, for what I want to say is how happy you have made me, you could say my life is complete now. I have never felt so at ease or passionate for anyone else at all. So, to cut things short, what I’m asking is, Eleanor Lovett, will you marry me?’

He had got off the bed and knelt on the floor beside her, a beautiful ring encased in his pale hands. 

But was this the right thing to do?