“Yes.”
“It does look like her.”
“Oh my,” Rosalina turned towards Ophelia, “she is an excellent acquaintance of mine since we spent the entire last Season together before she got married after finding a match. I will quickly greet her. Will that be alright?”
“Of course,” Ophelia nodded, wondering why Rosalina would even ask.
Rosalina stood up and left, leaving Ophelia alone with Edward, and Ophelia immediately understood the reason she had asked. Rosalina must have realized that leaving Ophelia alone with Edward might make things awkward between them, even though they had been alone countless times before. Despite that, it had never been done this publicly, and that too outside the house.
Ophelia continued to stroke Amy who had already fallen asleep, clearly tired from the picnic and the constant stream of activity she had been engaged in since this morning. She felt acutely aware of Edward’s gaze, which too was trained on Amy, the softness in his eyes betraying his emotions. Ophelia could sense a shift in his attitude as he spent more time with Amy, and nothing made her happier.
The pair stayed quiet as Edward sighed deeply, looking away from Amy and instead staring at the sky. His mere proximity was enough to make Ophelia slightly more aware of herself, unsure of how to take on this silence. The longer they sat together without saying anything, the longer it continued tomake her feel awkward. It was as if they had so much to say to one another yet silence was all they could muster.
Should I say something?
“My sister, Margaret, and I would often find shapes in clouds.”
Ophelia whipped her head to look at him, unsure that it was he who had spoken. Although he still continued to stare at the sky, his hand slightly raised to point towards it as he talked. It was indeed he who had spoken, and that too to talk about his sister with Ophelia. She couldn’t wrap her head around it.
“Making shapes in the clouds is an excellent past time, I believe.” She smiled at him, trying to force away her shock and appear natural in the conversation.
“Have you ever done it?”
“Yes.” Ophelia laughed. “I have two younger sisters and one younger brother. Andrew is still very young, but my sisters and I are closer in age, and when we were all just children, we would lay out in the garden on a good day and do this.”
“Margaret and I did exactly this, too. She would always find the most practical shapes, such as a tree or a house, and to tease her, I would always pretend I was unable to see what shewas trying to show. She got extremely mad at me after that and usually left and I had to run after her to appease her.”
The softness in Edward’s voice as he talked about Margaret was not lost on Ophelia. His love for her was perfectly visible, and Ophelia was glad to see that he was making no attempts to hide it.
“Was she easily appeased?” Ophelia asked softly.
She wanted to get closer to him and hold his face in her hands as he talked to her, the emotion on his face making him even more attractive than he already was. She could see the pain he felt about his sister’s death, and she wanted to do nothing more than comfort him. She wanted to hold his hand and make sure that he knew she was there for him through the pain. But she was in no position to do any such thing.
“Margaret loved me too much to ever be angry at me for long.” Edward laughed, a genuine wave of tenderness gracing his beautiful eyes.
“Sisters do love their brothers the most,” she said with a smile.
“Do you love your brother just as much?”
“More than I can ever explain through words,” Ophelia replied honestly.
Edward nodded as the clouds shifted, revealing the sun once again. A ray of sunlight began to fall on Edward directly, and he moved away from it, coming to sit beside Ophelia under the tree. Just as he was settling, his hand brushed against Ophelia’s, resting on the blanket, and they turned to stare at one another, unsure of what had happened.
A similar spark of electricity coursed through them, and Ophelia felt as if she had forgotten how to breathe.
What is it that he does to me?
She could feel nothing but immense tenderness for Edward, remembering the little boy who would play games with his sister and try to tease her. He was friendly and loving and certainly knew how to enjoy himself around others. Ophelia had seen that side of him at the dinner yesterday, and now she had seen this heartwarming, tender side of him, which loved his little sister very much.
He opened his mouth to say something, but just then, the leaves around them crunched, and they looked up to see Rosalina approaching.
“Are the two of you ready to leave? Should we head back?” she asked, completely oblivious to the moment they had just had.
The moment that was now broken.
“We should,” Edward nodded, standing up.
It really was time to head back and forget all about what could have happened. Ophelia had no time to dwell on it.
