AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 9
“Driver…take me home instead,” Harper said.
“As you wish.”
The wheels of the carriage had a creak to them, and they were only outmatched by the steady sounds of horse’s hooves pounding against the dirt. Harper found the rhythm calming. She needed that after her experience with Brian.
She was supposed to go to Leah’s home, but even with that, she would not be able to keep her attention in one place. Her mind would not allow her to stop thinking about Brian’s kiss. The warmth of his lips, the rugged stubble against her fingertips, his earthy scent, it all made her distracted from what she wanted to focus on, and that was his fear of commitment.
That’s what it had to be in her mind because what man with a sound mind would turn down a life of romance. Sure, he and Harper had had their differences throughout their lifetime. But the kiss had to mean something. It did for her, so how could it not for him? Did he kiss women like that all the time and she was not special? No. That couldn’t be it.
Which only left the prospect of fear. Or maybe a grudge. Maybe he had a specific reason for running from commitment. But even so, how could he hold up that grudge when there was such a potential future before him. It didn’t make sense. But when did Brian ever make sense?
Harper had wished that as her carriage travelled across town, that Brian was not the occupier of her thoughts. It wasn’t a problem that she wanted. Before her birthday ball, Brian was barely in her life, and since then, it had felt like he was slowly becoming her life, leaving her no control in the matter.
She was not used to having intimate feelings. It was not like her to have strong romantic desires. No man had ever given her those sentiments. And then, all of a sudden, she had been plagued with them. In her repertoire, Harper lacked the means to deal with it all. Perhaps if she had planned it, she would have been better prepared. But Brian had become an unpredictable whirlwind in her life.
But even with all that sudden change, she realised that it might not have been all that sudden. Just because they had grown apart in their adult years, there had always been a foundation between them that was unlike anything that the other friends had. It was undeniable when she looked back at her life.
There were obvious times where she had gotten under his skin, where she had genuinely bothered him. But Brian had always endured. He had always put up with her at a level which she could not understand, until that day.
The kiss was real. The kiss had meaning. She knew it at that moment. They had a history together and that kiss had built up over a lifetime. If it was meaningless, then why had he not kissed Marianne? She could understand why he had not kissed Leah. She was Connor’s sister. That would have been strange. But Marianne, she had even shown him affection from time to time. Unless, of course, he had kissed her already. Harper doubted it but given that she wanted their kiss to be special, she did have her worries.
There was still a fair amount of time left to her carriage ride and Harper’s mind drifted to the time that they were younger. Usually, she would think about all the times that she had annoyed Brian. Because those times were fun. Those times were challenging. But while in the carriage, she wanted to find any examples that would make their kiss all the more valid.
It was a sunny day. Harper was around the age of eight and Brian the age of ten. She gave chase in the courtyard. As the seconds passed and the wind breezed through her hair, she watched his long legs gain speed. There was no keeping up with him. He always had a drive and energy that was unmatched. But it was always fun to try and beat it. Harper never tired of it.
It was one of those brief times where Brian looked behind him to see if she was keeping up. When he noticed that she wasn’t. He ran back.
“I don’t need you to go easy on me,” Harper said. “I was just about to catch up.”
“And I was just about to turn into a dragon. There is no fun in me winning all the time. It is more fun when we run together.”
The memory had been buried away for whatever reason. Harper was confused as to why she didn’t think about that more. Maybe it was because she had never wanted to get her hopes up regarding Brian. The more she thought about the tense times between them, the easier it would be to not imagine them together one day.
But the moment that she gave in to those memories, they seemed to just keep coming.
“Remember when you chased Connor up the tree that one time?” Harper asked Brian as they sat on the grass. She looked at a nearby tree while asking it.
“Yes of course. Everyone makes me out to be a monster for that. If he had not cried, no one would have cared.”
“Maybe so. It was still mean. But that is not why I asked. I wanted to know just how you climbed that tree in the first place.”
Brian’s eyes lit up at that moment and he then brought her to the very tree that she had looked at while asking. They climbed it together. Brian helped her with every step.
The memory brought tears to Harper’s eyes. Brian had a way of making people feel important in his own way. Even at such a young age. He was great. And his giant heart was apparent.
The ride ended with Harper wondering just what made Brian so against marriage and commitment. Along with that came the wonder of whether or not she could help him to break that vow he made to himself. If she felt so strongly about the memories, then surely, he would too. He just needed to remember them. Or he at least needed to remember who he once was. He was not born a man that resented marriage or love. That had been something he learned. And maybe, Harper could make him unlearn that. Part of her wanted to believe that as a possible outcome, but it didn’t seem likely.
She left her carriage and stretched. If she could have touched the sky in her stretch, she would have. Before entering her home, she gave a few seconds thought as to what she wanted to do to occupy not only her time but her thoughts.
She needed something to distract her from Brian. He needed to be out of her thoughts as there would be nothing to change about the situation at the moment. When she spotted the blossoming flowers off in the garden, she settled on doing some gardening to pass the day. She would just need to change her clothes.
Once inside, she passed a few servants. One of them had asked where she had travelled to. She didn’t feel like getting into the situation about Brian, so she lied and said that she had gone to the market. It just kept things simpler that way.
When she got to her room, she was surprised to see Leah inside. She was holding a few of her gowns. The red in her face appeared instantly, almost as fast as the confusion with Harper. “What…” Harper couldn’t even finish her sentence.
“I know what this looks like.” Leah’s voice was on the verge of trembling. She had always been so bad at hiding things. Leah had always been the straight arrow, so whatever she was doing in the room with Harper’s dresses, despite how wrong it was, she must have had pure intent. Or at least, that’s how Harper wanted to see it.
