Calling Day: Stop #2: Lydia Ellis ~finishing from main interaction~
A mini recap for my own sake:
Corin found himself unable to divert his gaze from the lady across from him. Her lips seemed fuller than he recalled, her hair darker and richer in hue, and the childish pink of her cheeks now adorned with the softer blush of maturity. He savored every aspect of her form, desperately recommitting it to memory. The echo of the girl she once was, uncertain, overshadowed, yet fiery at heart, slowly faded into the woman before him. It struck him how time had transformed them both, yet she retained the same wit and intellect. Her beauty mirrored the purity of her heart, inside matching outside. She remained true to herself, unlike him.
Despite the yearning for recognition that Corin could not shake, he understood her ignorance. He was hardly the boy she knew. Time and pain had morphed him into someone nearly unrecognizable even as he stared at his own reflection, occasionally unsure of who glanced back at him.
However, it was rare he met a woman among the ton who would not recognize his accomplishments and dark silhouette. Often ladies approached him knowing more of his life and travels than he, himself, could recall.
Yet, here sat a girl, one who had known him so deeply, who could not recognize the boy nor the man.
It made her all the more intriguing.
There was a lack of expectation. An absence of weight that he so often held on his shoulders during formal interactions. Sitting across from her now, unknown, unseen, was as freeing as breathing in the fresh sea air Corin so missed.
Suddenly, her voice broke his wandering gaze and reminiscent thought.
“I’m sure you could make this mystery woman very happy.” She spoke gently, a slight hesitation and caution in her voice. Corin smirked at her reservations, clearly more amused by her lack of understanding than offended.
[color= #0E6251] “At the very least, I hope the lady will permit me to try,” [/color] he replied, suppressing a giddy warmth within his chest.
He hadn’t engaged with a lady in such a manner since Arista’s passing. Yet, there was a comfort to Lydia that he had not felt in years, a security, a familiarity. A feeling he had nearly forgotten. A feeling he had hoped to forget, one he did not deserve to feel ever again.
“Perhaps… reminding her of the time you were not strangers.” Lydia continued as the carriage pulled to a stop.
As the carriage doors swung open, Corin caught sight of their destination and bit his tongue to prevent the eruption of laughter that threatened to escape him. His eyes nearly welled with tears, his hand swinging up to cover his mouth to hold the laughter back. How beautifully ironic…
The Thames.
Not just anywhere along the Thames, but a very particular beachside from many years ago.
Corin stepped out first, composing himself as he extended his hand to Lydia to assist her out of the carriage.
[color= #0E6251] “A beach?” [/color] Corin asked, glancing around, taking in the familiar smell of the cool riverside air. [color= #0E6251] “Why a beach?” [/color] He inquired, glancing back at Lydia. [color= #0E6251] “This one seems particularly…plain.” [/color] Corin attempted to hide the nostalgic tug in his chest.
The beach of the Thames had been the singular place in all of England he had fond memories of. It had been the sole location that drove his extended stay in London.
And Lydia Ellis had been the one person he had ever taken here. The only person who had ever been invited into his world, not as it was, but as he made it…for her.
@novella - Lyd