Beth Byers [Byers - Deathly Ever After

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I have missed the dogs, Georgette told Charles, laying her head on his arm while he drove the auto. It was loaded with their baggage from the honeymoon and the things shed bought while overseas. Tea. An excess of tea. Funny little fruit-flavored wines and cordials. An excess of chocolate along with an excess of tulip bulbs. It had been utterly delightful.

It wasnt the shopping, wandering in fields of flowers, or long mornings curled together in bed that had been so delightful. It was belonging to someone and having someone belong to her. If there was one thing that Georgette had learned to do all too well, it had been to be alone. Once shed gotten past being with someone excessively, feeling smothered, and needing to press a kiss on his cheek and run from their hotel room alone, shed gotten quite used to it. Having Charles was rather like having an attentive, comfortable coat.

She grinned at the idea and squeezed his fingers where they were tangled with hers. She had little doubt that shed been as suffocating to him at times. In fact, when shed reached her limit, shed just said, Charles, darling, I love you. But you must get away from me and let me write for an afternoon.

Hed stared at in her in shock, jaw dropped open, and then kissed her soundly on the mouth. Oh thank heavens. The sound of your breathing is driving me mad.

Georgette did not take that personally. After all, if he tapped his finger one more time against the back of his book, she was going to pull it from his hands and beat him about the head with it.

I do love you, she told him seriously. Her gaze moved over his face, hoping she hadnt offended him. His eyes were crinkled with humor and his smile was quirked to the side as though he were both relieved and just a little snubbed. She took in his dark hair, the grey at his temples, the strong set of his shoulders, and she smiled tenderly. She did love him. She was just sick of him.

I love you too. His head cocked at her and he grinned fiercely. I dont want to see you for at least four hours.

Perfect, she told him. Im going to write, have a tea all by myself, and read a French novel or something.

He laughed, kissed her again, and said, Ill be at the pub smoking and having a pint.

Georgette didnt even look up when he left. She was too happy to sit down to her typewriter and get the story that had been itching at the back of her head started. Really, she thought, it should start with tulips.

Before, however, it started with tulipsshe rang down to the front desk, ordered an excessive tea tray, opened the window to hear the sound of the passersby on the quaint Amsterdam road, and then took in a long, deep breath. Listen to that, she had thought with love, no tapping. No breathing. No shifting things about. No half-bored ideas of what they could do next. Georgette slowly let her breath out, sighed in joy, and then took her seat. She was gone to the world before the knock on the door with her tea and she stayed gone long past when Charles returned.

She didnt notice him, but he told her later he took note of her flying fingers and the publisher in him came out. He wrote her a note and disappeared until the husband in him returned, and then he pulled her from the typewriter and down to the restaurant. It was then they decided to head home.

Certainly, their house wasnt fully ready. Theyd be living in a construction zone, but Georgette wanted nothing more than to feel at home again. After feeling outside of her skin in her cottage in Bard's Crook, then traveling to Bath where shed been suffocated with too many Parkers, and then being on her honeymoonGeorgette desperately needed nothing more than her own space.

Darling Georgie, Charles asked as he turned the auto onto the road that led into Harpers Hollow, what are you dreaming of?

An office, she admitted. A space that will be mine for writing. Maybe puttering in the garden. The dogs. She smiled when he lifted her hand to kiss it. What are you dreaming of?

Im rather more eager than Id thought to return to work. Im not sure I know how to not work most of the time. Will you be terribly upset if I half-neglect you?

Georgettes lips spread into a slow smile and she told him seriously, There is no one I want to be around more than you, but I think I might be a solitary creature by nature. If you need to work, as long as you promise to love me still, I will entertain myself and love you still.

I promise to love you, darling. I suspect before long well rather be together than separate.

Its just

Yes

They laughed and then snuggled down for the drive. They had only Eunice to help them, Georgette thought, and the house was much larger than Georgettes little cottage and there was Charles too. Marian, Georgette suspected, would appear rather sooner than later.

Their house looked better when they arrived. A gothic masterpiece in its heyday, the house was four stories of dark grey stone. It had monstrous oak trees that were interspersed with stretches of grass and an occasional weeping willow.