A moment later, he could see that she was holding the same looking note in her hand.
“Let me guess,” he pointed at her note. “Cecilia brought you that note and said it was from me?”
“Yes,” she nodded, a little surprised, still not realizing that they had both been tricked by the girls.
“This one is from Madeline.” He showed her his note. “It says you need to talk to me about something.”
“That’s exactly what mine says!” she giggled, pressing her hand over her lips, finally realizing the game. “Why on Earth would they do this?”
“I think I know,” Edmund nodded, putting the note in his pocket.
“I’m really sorry that they interrupted you,” Rosalie said apologetically. “I shall make them copy Shakespeare for punishment,” she chuckled. “Up until now, we have only been copying Milton.”
“Perhaps, the punishment would be the other way around,” he laughed. Then, suddenly added. “But don’t.”
“Don’t?” she repeated.
“Don’t punish them.”
She seemed a little confused with his reaction. In all honesty so was he. Something urged him not to return to his study, but to stay here a little while longer. Silently, he thanked the girls for their mischievousness this time.
“Seeing that they went through all this trouble to get us together, perhaps we could sit on that bench for half an hour or so,” he suggested. He quickly added. “Unless you need to go back to your governess duties, that is.”
“I’ve given the girls enough work for at least an hour,” she explained. “If they do as they were told, there should be no trouble.”
“They rarely do as they are told,” he reminded her. “But, with you, orders actually reach them. They listen.”
Rosalie shook her head. “That’s because I give them no orders,” she explained. “I treat them like little adults. That is what they are, after all. Especially girls who had gone through hardships such as they have.”
“Little adults,” he repeated, pondering the idea. “I’ve never thought of it that way. It actually makes a lot of sense.”
“Thank you,” she smiled. “It is crucial for them to know they are safe here. They are loved. They need to be instructed in what to do and explained why that is so.”
“I always believed that children needed a firm hand and a stern voice,” he admitted.
“Children are delicate, tender souls. We were all such as children. Then, we grew up,” she sounded a little saddened by this truth. “I was much happier as a child, but unfortunately my childhood did not last long. I was taken away from the only place I knew some kind of comfort and safety, and I was shown a world I wish upon no one.”
She started talking, then gazed up at him, with such pain on her lovely face that he wanted to shower her cheeks and forehead with kisses, that would make all that pain go away. But he refrained from doing so.
Instead, her heart burned with the pain that she had to go through as a child, as an adult. He wanted to know all about it, so he would know how to alleviate it. But she stopped talking. She had closed up again.
“What world do you mean?” he asked, even though he knew she would not reply.
Her lips trembled. Her pale face had taken on a watery hue, blue and purple, her veins flowing just underneath the surface of her skin. She looked as though she would fall unconscious if she continued talking about her painful past.
“You are fortunate to live in a world where people laugh with you,” she told him mysteriously. “Laughter isn’t always a good thing.”
“Rosalie…” he started softly. “All I wish is for you to feel safe here. To feel protected, and…” He wanted to say loved. He yearned to say it. But the words wouldn’t come out.
She gazed at him, in anticipation. But he remained silent. She looked down. He couldn’t tell if she was disappointed or relieved. He could see she was anxious. She was afraid. There was still something about her, a deep, dark secret which was bearing heavily upon her soul. She was carrying it like a heavy burden, and by keeping silent about it, he was sure that she believed she was keeping everyone safe from that burden.
He wanted to share that burden with her. But he had no idea how to tell her this.
“I seem to have upset you,” he apologized. “It was not my intention.”
She lifted her face to meet his. There was a single tear in the corner of her beautiful, blue eye. She quickly wiped it with the sleeve of her dress. This motion made him smile. He loved that she had those moments of so-called impropriety. No lady would ever be seen wiping her face with her sleeve. But Rosalie had no such concerns. That tear was the center of her world in that very moment, and everything else was second to that.
This was how he felt every time he was in her vicinity. Everything else would fade. It would lose vibrancy of color. Everything else would dissipate, like sand oozing from an open palm. Her smile was what he would focus on. Her translucent skin was all he could see and wished to touch. He wanted to hold her hand and keep whispering in her ear that everything would be all right, until she actually believed it to be true.
