“Whatever the winner wants. You still owe me a favor from our last race, remember?” she reminded him.
“I didn’t forget, but you do not need to call on a favor if you need something from me. I’m always happy to do whatever you want.”
His words sounded earnest and easy, and it made her breath hitch.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she muttered, shyly looking away from him. “We can decide on the reward after the race.”
“Sounds fine to me. Are you ready?”
She nodded, tightening her grip on the reigns.
“Go!” she snapped, and they took off.
With every step she took, she could feel her worries and nervousness melt away. The air was quite lovely to feel against her skin, soothing her as her heart thundered louder and louder within her. The further they got from the mansion, the lighter she felt. It was so freeing to just ride and not think for a bit.
To imagine that her days with Silas would be like this soon filled her with so much contentment. In the end, Silas won the race, running past the oak tree they were supposed to stop at while she slowed Scar down to a trot before they arrived at it. While she was dismounting, Silas returned to the tree with his horse, smiling smugly.
“I won.”
“I saw. Congratulations, Your Grace.”
He snickered and dismounted from Outlaw, reaching forward for Scar’s reins, taking both horses to a tree close to theirs and tying their reins securely around a low branch. When he returned, she was seated on the blanket, with her hands atop the picnic basket he asked to be prepared and delivered before they arrived there.
He gently pulled it from her towards himself, opening it to retrieve a small bouquet of flowers he had picked himself from the rooftop garden – just a handful of daisies, lilacs and lilies, with a singular pink rose in the midst of the others. He held it out to her, suddenly feeling nervous.
“I picked some flowers for you. I wasn’t sure which you liked, so I picked a few I remembered my mom liking.”
She collected the bouquet, lightly running her fingers over the soft petals as she spoke to him softly.
“It seems your mother and I have a few things in common. These are a few of my favorites, as well. This is beautiful, Silas. Thank you.”
He sighed in relief, feeling pleased that his gesture made her happy.
“You’re welcome, sweetheart,” he said, taking out the other contents of the basket and setting them down on the blanket.
The cook had been more than happy to whip up a few sandwiches and offered up some cookies and muffins from a freshly made batch. There was also a bottle of wine from the cellar that Silas had included himself, and Agnes seemed particularly interested in that item.
“Is there a special occasion I failed to remember?” her face paled. “Is it your birthday today?”
Silas chuckled and shook his head as he assured her that, “No, my birthday isn’t for another few months. Don’t worry.”
When she sighed in relief, he handed her a glass of wine he had poured and continued,
“I merely wanted to spend some time with you. I realized that it wasn’t the best to be getting married without spending time with you properly. I know it’s late, but I wanted to at least try. I’m not expecting anything other than a nice conversation with my future wife.”
“That’s… really thoughtful, Silas,” Agnes said softly.
“Really?” he questioned in surprise.
She nodded. “I… at one point, I felt saddened that I did not know you that well. I even expressed my concerns to your grandmother. At the time, it was because I had felt myself slowly growing to care for you, and I knew it would be hard to properly take care of you if I didn’t know what you needed. And I wouldn’tknow what you needed if I didn’t know you. She assured me that we had all the time in the world to learn about each other once we were married, but still… I wanted to speak with you. To hear your thoughts on different topics, to learn about your likes and dislikes before we were wed, so everything that would come after wouldn’t feel like an afterthought.”
“I felt the same way. I agree with my grandmother that we still have time to achieve all that, but there’s nothing wrong with getting a head start, right?” He held out his glass of wine to her.
She gently clinked hers against his in agreement.
“I never thought I’d be able to love someone like this,” he confessed after a sip. “After my grandfather’s death… I never wanted to get close to a single person again. Losing my parents had been a difficult experience of its own, as many would expect, but I think I was able to deal with it better because I was young. And I had my grandfather. He had understood me better than anyone else and had known just what to say to get me to breathe through my grief. With him, things… made sense.
“And after we lost him, I lost myself. His death haunted me because I watched him suffer until he took his last breath; I couldn’t help him. Sometimes, I have nightmares about that day. And it terrified me to think of losing another person after that, so I felt it would be easier if I just closed off my heart. I’m glad that you somehow broke through my walls – like the force of nature that you are.”