Page 8 of A Lady's Beloved Novelist
“As I said, it is really nothing you have done,” Andrea continued.“It really is not. I am just hesitant to marry.”
“With all due respect, Andrea, that much was obvious.”
“Do you think me so wrong for wanting something out of my life that is not marriage?” she asked quickly.“Because I aspire to something more than just my sex and station, people think of me as strange.”
“I thought women had it rather easy with that being their main worry in life.” James shrugged.
“You thought wrong. It is just boring. It’s not easy, and it certainly is not going to be the highlight of my life.”
“Not even for the right person?”
She caught his eye at his words. For a moment, Andrea felt lost in his inquisitive gaze. She felt almost intoxicated by the stare of his blue eyes, as though she could not look away from two deep ponds.
“They would have to be the completely right person,” she answered finally, managing to tear her eyes away from him.
“Interesting,” he murmured as though she were something he was studying and had made an observation. Andrea did not like the way that he was looking at her anymore, and so she walked slightly ahead of him.“You must forgive my confusion, I have just never met a woman with such ambition before.”
“It is not ambition.” Andrea shook her head.“I just want something more than what is expected of me.”
*
James was still trying to get over his conversation with Andrea long after he left the two ladies to continue with their walk on their own. He could not believe she had been so honest and open with what she wanted.
He was impressed with the goals she had for herself, but he could not help thinking it reminded him of someone. As the author of a successful adventure series, he was no stranger to receiving letters from fans of the books and frequently received requests to write more novels.
However, there was always someone who wrote to him that stuck out. He was not sure who she was, only that she was a woman and that she was clearly very inspired by the main character, Francis Griffith.
She would talk about her longings to go on her own adventures, and how she would instead have to settle for the pages of his books because of her place in society. It thrilled him to think that there were people out there from high-up positions that were reading his books.
James also found it rather inspiring that people out there were relying on his words to create an escape for themselves. Though he had to admit it also felt like a lot of pressure on him to deliver something that his readers would like.
He had thought all women were content with motherhood and the prospect of a good marriage, never before had he met someone like Andrea who clearly thought differently. Yet she sounded so close to the woman who wrote to him anonymously, too. He could not help but wonder…
A few days passed before a new letter arrived at his door, one where he did not recognize the handwriting upon first looking at it. James turned the letter over and over as he thought about who else knew of his address at the estate. He had a special address that his fan mail was sent to, but that was a postbox in one of the nearby towns and he would go to collect it once a week. This was his personal address, one that he tended not to give out too often.
If there was an urgent query, the right person would contact his mother or father, who would then pass the message onto him in due course.
Curiosity got the better of him as he tore open the letter, not even sure of whom the wax seal on the back belonged to either. He let his eyes fall instantly to the scribbled words written in a hand that was still foreign to him. James found himself jumping to the end of the letter just to see who it was that was writing to him. Lady Lily Carton.
Andrea’s cousin, the woman who had helped him set up the walk with Andrea herself. He had never got the chance to properly thank her for her efforts, but it had appeared as though she was just as keen on making a match happen for her cousin. James got the impression that the two of them were very good friends, and it was nice to see that her cousin wanted Andrea to have the happiness that James felt he could give her.
Returning to the letter, James read quickly, his eyes making sure to take in each word as it came. Lily was speaking of her cousin, admitting things James was sure Andrea would never say out loud to anyone she did not trust. He realised the risk her cousin was overlooking at telling him such a thing.
But there was more to this than first met the eye. More than even her cousin would have understood when writing to him. James realised that his two worlds were colliding in a way that he could have never seen coming.
If what her cousin was saying was true, Andrea idolized Francis Griffith, a man birthed from James’ imagination. She was turning down men because nobody could be quite as perfect as the man in the stories. But that was because he was not real. Sure, he was based on things James had experienced first-hand, but even James would never be able to attain the level of perfection that was Francis Griffith.
He placed the apologetic letter down before shaking his head. James could not stop the laughter that left his lips as he thought about what that meant for him. The one man standing in his way of getting closer to Andrea was not a man at all, only someone he had made up.
For a time, he was speechless; the irony of it had him combing through his past to find some bad action that this could be penance for. But James could not think of anything he had ever done that was bad enough to warrant such a fate.
He was not as good as the version of himself that he had written about, and for some reason, he was now paying the price for that.
“I will be damned,” he muttered to himself in disbelief whilst shaking his head once more.
James felt unsure of what to do or how to react to such news. He was going to have to see Andrea at some point and he was not sure how he was going to act around her now that he knew her secret. Was he supposed to tell her?
No, he thought quickly. He could not just come clean about the fact that he was the author, but he could begin to speak more about his days of adventure. It was clear what she was interested in and he was sure it would pique her intrigue in him. A plan finally started to form in his mind and James felt some hope for the situation for the first time in a very long time.
