The Periods of Being

Chapter IXXX

Chapter IXXX

    Her thoughts keep aiming toward Neil as the day ventured. She couldn't stop thinking about him watching them from afar. She keeps wondering what he was doing. Was he simply going to visit Mark and then saw that they were there? It's a possible answer, but the way he was standing there so casually makes her wonder if there was something more about it.

    She shakes away all the rambling questions as she drifts around the flower garden in the back of Garthen manor. The flowers are in full bloom, sending pollen in the air and happiness in the cheeks of the beholder by their beauty. After staying at the cemetery with Julie, her cheeks still hurt from the smile that stretched across her cheeks then. She touches the bulbs of her cheeks time after time as she walks around, sniffing the flowers, to make sure that wrinkles haven't popped through after her first smile in years. Her cheeks bounce with each touch and she can't help but smile, even alone. She tests her smiles on the flowers and they smile back with approval. She holds her smile on her face as she goes to bush to bush.

    A gardener waters the flowers and tends to them a few feet away. He tries to keep his eyes on his work, but she feels his eyes on her in between trimming the buds that are either dead or dying. She wonders what he thinks about while he tends to the flowers. Is his mind blank while he does so or is he thinking about his day and his family that he is possibly sending most of his paycheck to?

     She lets her smile disappear as she passes him to the other side of the garden to observe the other flowers. She touches the petals with soft fingertips. The bright colors clash with her black gloves. She sighs at the sight of her black fingers. She could take them off for now if she wishes, but she can't. Her hands are still scarred and the reminder of the scars will damage her mood further like the thoughts of Neil.

     She brushes the thought away and walks further into the garden when she hears footsteps come closer to where she stands. She expects the gardener to be the one coming closer to her, probably to tell her to not touch the flowers in fear that she'll break the petals off of them, but she is wrong.

    Mr. Sadder steps to the side of her. He shifts so his body is completely facing hers. She glances over to him with curious eyes.

     "Lady Olive," he greets.

    "Mr. Sadder," she greets back. "Is there something wrong?"

     His hands are hidden behind his back, meaning that this isn't a mail call nor Julie trying to feed her. Her heartbeat picks up and she drops her hands to her sides, knowing the worst has happened— or is happening right now.

    "Mr. Andrew Blythestone is on the telephone asking for you. Will you take it or should I leave a message for him?"

    He is on the telephone. Her heart skips a beat and then skips another, threatening a heart attack. It would be better than standing here. She bites her bottom lip to make it seem like she is thinking over her response, but she really isn't. She knows what her answer is.

    "Can you tell him I will call him later?" She asks him. Mr. Sadder nods at her response.

     "Should I tell him when?"

     She grinds her teeth together at the question. Doesn't Mr. Sadder understand that I don't plan on calling him any time soon? Her vocal cords tempt to let out a scream at the fruition.

     "Can you tell him later?"

     "Just later, m'lady?" He asks to make sure he is hearing her right. She nods.

    "Yes."

     He bobs his head up and down in an attempt to show her he understands her request when in reality, he doesn't know what he is going to say to Andrew. She can tell all this by the crinkled lines between his eyebrows.