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The Morning After (Elena x Henry) |
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Henry’s chest rose and fell with his soft, even breathing. His face, pale in the moonlight, seemed so peaceful and happy, as if there were no worries on his shoulders and he was a young child again, innocent of all crime. His blonde hair hung loosely around his head, and his arms lay loosely around Elena, who’s dark eyes starred into the night, sleep unwelcome.
What they had done was horrid, and it haunted her even as the silence of night fell upon them. They were both married; Henry had a daughter back home with Elizabeth. She had a husband who was understanding and didn’t care that she hadn’t been able to give him a child yet. They had good people who loved them and cared for them…
So why had they done it?
She pulled from his arms as best as she could until she was finally free, her feet landing on the cool floor as she stood from the bed. Her fingers twisted her hair into a quick braid, and then she turned to leave the room, unable to lay there anymore when she heard his voice. “Where are you going, my love?” Henry asked, now propped up on his elbow as he watched her turn to face him.
Elena bit her lip gingerly and then shook her head, fighting the urge to cover her face. “Please don’t call me that, Henry.” Tears welled up into her eyes and she fought against sobs as she heard him sigh. Obviously, this was nothing to him. All he cared about was the fact that he finally had gotten what he wanted, and Elena—foolishly—had fallen for it. All because of her love for him.
“I used to be able to call you that without you shedding a tear, Elena. What is so different now?”
“What’s so different?” she said, staring at him in disbelief, “What so different, Henry? We are married adults, and not to each other! You have a wife, and a daughter…Katherine!”
“A wife who no longer makes me happy, Elena. Perhaps never as happy as I was when I was with you,” he said, cutting off her rant as he pushed himself up into a sitting position on the bed. “Elena, I love you. There was never a time that I stopped. I thought I had assured you of that…”
Elena stared at him silently, her messed up braid hanging over her shoulder. She did remember their conversation earlier that evening. How he had whispered that he loved her, and how he had missed her. How badly he wanted her and no other. The words swirled around her head and made her dizzy; she sat on the bed to keep herself from falling down. A hand fell on her shoulder, and a gentle kiss was placed upon her temple. “You know I love you, Elena.”
“You never came back for me. You never answered my letters…Henry, you completely forgot about me.” Her words held the hurt that she had felt for all those years. From the moment he had shouted at her to leave, to the moment she stepped into the carriage that took her home. From the moment she signed her name at the bottom of every letter she had sent him in a desperation to let him know that she was sorry. From the moment that she had found out that he had married Elizabeth and was taking care of Katherine, who was supposed to be her goddaughter. “You don’t love me. Maybe you never have.”
“But I do, Elena! The day you left, I fell into such a depression that I didn’t leave my bed for weeks! I didn’t write because every letter of every word on that paper made my heart ache. I missed you so much that I fell for Elizabeth who was standing there beside me. But I swear on my very soul, Elena that I have always loved you. Even when I was denying it to myself.” He moved to sit beside her on the bed, taking her chin in his hand and forcing her to look at him. His green eyes were shining with emotion, and pleading silently to her to believe him. Just this once. But that was the thing…she had believed him. She had trusted in him, and loved him with her very being. And when she ran, knowing she would never fit into his world of fancy things and masks of smiles, he never came for her. He hadn’t done anything. And yet…his answers made sense. Had he been hurt so badly that he couldn’t bring himself to do anything about it? Perhaps he thought it was what she wanted…His lips fell onto hers in a gentle kiss, and he pulled her close again, making her whimper a little with desire and want. They sat there for the longest time with their lips locked, both afraid to break it for their own reasons. But when they did, Elena gave a small gasp as she drew in a deep breath.
His next words brought such shock to her, freezing her in place. “Come back with me,” he whispered, kissing her neck gently. His fingers shifted her braid off of her neck as he gently kissed it again. “Just imagine, Elena. You, Katherine, and I…We could be a family. We could live the happily ever after that you always wanted. We could live that dream you told me about by the river when we first met.”
“Henry, you’re talking nonsense,” she laughed bitterly, moving to push herself from the bed. Henry caught her wrist in a light grip, though, keeping her there beside him.
“I’m being serious,” he pouted, looking up at her with sad eyes. “Come back with me.”
“And what am I supposed to do, Henry? Leave my sister? My nieces and nephews? My husband? I have nothing back in Ireland. Only horrible and painful memories of the cruel person I once was, and the person that you make me.”
“What’s that supposed to--?”
“It means exactly what you think it means, Henry! It means that I’m not…I can’t be myself when I’m in your environment. I can’t be sweet and innocent because they do nothing but tear me down. I have to be a b***h just to have enough respect that people don’t laugh in my face every time I open my mouth. We already tried this once, and I was made a fool of.”
Henry stared at her for a long time, his eyes never leaving hers. It were as if he were studying her, watching her and waiting for some sort of apology or a smile to let him know that she wasn’t being serious. But she was, and that was going to make this mission even harder. Silently, he brought her wrist up to his lips, kissing the tender skin before kissing up her arm, then her neck, then her full, beautiful and exotic lips. They were soft and plump, just as he remembered. To be kissing them again felt like heaven, and it reminded him exactly why he wanted her to come back with him. When she gave in, just slightly, he pushed her back down onto the pillows that were strewn around them. He kept his weight on his elbows and stared down at her with his emerald eyes, keeping his voice low as he spoke. “Things are different now, Elena. If only you would open your eyes and see! I don’t care about reputation. I just want happiness. You can give me that.”
“I can’t,” she said, her eyes sad. She had once believed with every fiber of her being that she loved Henry Toole. That perhaps he would be the only man she would ever love and care for, but things were different now. For the first time in a long time, she was happy. She had a family again. Her sister and Chaske, with their children that just seemed to shine with energy and life. She had Rafael, mayor of the town and her husband. The only man who made her happy and understand that she had come to him with a broken heart. He was understanding and patient about her being unable to give him children thus far. Everything he’d been to her was nothing but kind and thoughtful of every situation and problem that they went through.
She pushed against him, trying to get him away. His green eyes and warm smile made it hard for her to think. If it was one thing Henry had, it was charm. “I can’t,” she said again, pushing his chest again. “I can’t go with you, Henry. I used to want the fairytale ending, with a prince and a happily ever after. But I’ve grown up since then, and it’s just not what I want anymore…It’s not what I need. I need to stay here, with the family I’ve got, and make the most out of every day.”
His fingers were tangled in her hair as he stared down at her, silently laying there, unmoving. It was all too clear that the Elena he remembered was gone; the Elena he knew would have given in by now, too blinded by a kind word and a promise to think with her head rather than her heart. He could see how his actions had hurt her, but she still couldn’t comprehend how much she had hurt him. That she had left him hurting deep down almost as badly as she was feeling. She had chosen to leave…And he would bring her back. Another moment of silence passed before he leaned down and kissed her lips again. He didn’t let her push him away. He waited until she gave in again, and then kissed her passionately, their lips dancing together in familiarity. When he pulled away, he left his lips close enough to barely graze hers as he spoke. “Elena…just imagine what I could give you. A large house, and fancy things. You’ll have Katherine again, and me. And there are others there that care about you, Elena. Other people who love you and would be happy if you came back to Ireland with me.” He didn’t dare tell her that whom he spoke of was James, the other man who seemed to have broken her heart more times than any of them could count. But it was true. There were people who would smile knowing that Elena was back…and especially with little Katherine there, he couldn’t imagine how she could say no.
“Just imagine…Trust me, Elena. Put your heart in my hands and I swear to you that you’ll never feel another ounce of pain. You’ll never shed another tear, or grieve any amount of sorrow and loss. You’ll live your happily ever after, and we’ll grow old together. Just the way things were meant to be.”
Elena watched him, and felt as his cool fingers ran down her neck, over her curves until finally resting once more in her hair. His touch was so familiar, and yet so foreign…They both had changed, and in their own ways had moved on, even if they didn’t realize it. “I-I’m sorry, Henry. This has all been a mistake. A huge mistake. I can’t go back with you…and nothing you can say will change my mind.”
Once more she pushed up at him, signaling for him to move. He did, rolling over dejectedly as she pushed herself from the bed and went to grab her discarded clothes from the night before. “You should leave…Now. And please Henry, for both of our sakes…Don’t come back.”
 Awesomely Awkward Allie · Sat Aug 20, 2011 @ 08:06pm · 0 Comments |
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