The Death of a Bachelor

Chapter Thirteen

Her stomach felt queasy. Not in a way that she wanted to vomit, but in an unsettling, yet pleasant way that she'd failed to understand.

For goodness sake, it was only The General.

They had walked together before, chatted for even longer periods of time, and they had even run like crazy together. Yet her stomach decided to feel this way now, and her train of thought seemed to disappear now. In fact, she had been so out of it ever since that day he'd decided to so publicly embrace her.

It was his fault.

They walked on, and she looked up at him as he walked beside her, his eyes focused on what was up ahead. Why was he so calm? She wondered.
The moment he turned his head to look at her, she swiftly diverted her attention back infront of her, and her eyes searched the ground.

Say something, Kieran. Anything, he told himself.

He had walked to Elena on pure impulse, thanks to his desire to be close to her. But now he found he didn't have anything to say to her. He remembered how startled she'd been when he suddenly embraced her, and wondered if he should bring up the topic and give a clear explanation as to why he had done that.

Had she taken it in good faith? He wondered. She didn't consider theirs a love relation, so maybe she thought he'd crossed his boundaries. Should he apologise for it?
So many thoughts were running through his mind, he didn't realise they'd reached the manor house and were already at the entrance.

They strolled in and found the hall already prepared with long dinner tables, and of course the dais, where the bride and groom sat facing the guests.
A smartly dressed elderly man with a grey moustache met them.

"General Kieran? Your table is this way."

Kieran nodded and made to follow the man, with Elena on his arm, but he stooped them.

"Pardon me," the man said apologetically, "but Lady Elena has got a different table."

Kieran and Elena looked at each other.

"Oh," both said simultaneously, and Elena separated her hand from his arm. She glanced to her right and easily spotted a beaming Mara, who was waving at her, her arm stretched to such an extent that the ball and socket joint of her shoulder would pop at any time. She was at the table where the Riveras sat with the Javanmoore family.

"I see them," she said to the usher, and made a mental note to scold Mara for her unladylike fashion in public. She spun around, her back facing Kieran. He also spun around, and both started to walk to their respective tables.

As she walked forth, she looked back at the exact time Kieran looked back, and they shared one last gaze before moving onwards.

They hadn't even talked yet.

*****      *****      *****      *****

Elena sat in between her cousins Alistair and Caroline, with her other cousins Seth and Leticia directly opposite her. No sooner had she sat down than her eyes, as though they had their own mind, looked out for the General's position. He was sitting one table away, and she had a good view of him if she looked between Seth and Leticia. She smiled at this.

"Hey cousin," Alistair said to Elena, "you can always drop your pork onto my plate at any time, you know."

"I will give you the pork if you give me your gingerbread." she replied smartly.

"Argh. You and your pastries," Alistair groaned. "Why not just trade your main course for my dessert?" He flashed her a toothy grin.

She pretended to think about it.