Page 14 of Willows and Waterlilies

“Ellie, I really don’t think we need to worry about you pulling out the knives and guns on our little excursion,” he says as he pats the side of his nose with his forefinger. “I have excellent instincts, you know.”

“Jesus!” Elijah mutters under his breath.

“I really don’t want to impose, and you’re with your family, and…” I begin to fluster over Elijah’s obvious desire to be rid of me. “Honestly, it was lovely meeting you, Joseph, but…”

“Elijah, convince the poor girl will you?” Joseph says over the top of my head as he begins marching toward the car with a smile still plastered on his face. “Ellie, see you in the car!”

Once he’s far enough away, Elijah and I turn to face one another for the most awkward moment in history. We smile tightly at one another before I look away, readying myself to be rude and leave.

“Please, thank your stepfather for me, but…”

“Wait,” he says, stepping in my direction, “come with us.”

“Are you serious?” I gasp, now feeling annoyed and remembering how he had made me feel not too long ago.

“Actually, yes,” he says with that debonair tone of voice of his. “I cannot tell you how many times I have thought of what I did to you and how much I have wanted to apologize for my seriously misjudged actions that night. This won’t make up for it, but at least it is something. After all, Monet’s Garden is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places you can visit.”

“I don’t doubt that at all, Elijah,” I tell him as I cross my arms, “but what you did to me was extremely ugly. I’m not sure there’s enough beauty anywhere to make up for what you did.”

“I know,” he says, daring to take another step closer to me.

“Do your parents know about that night?” I ask quietly. “Do they think I’m a homewrecker too?”

“My mother knows what I did,” he murmurs, looking embarrassed of the fact, “she felt awful too. Joseph remains oblivious. As for my sister, she is still with Jonathan.”

“Oh,” I reply, for nothing else springs to mind. “And what about your sister and you? She seemed pretty angry with you that night.”

“And rightly so, even if my intentions were to help her see the truth,” he mutters uncomfortably. “I went about it in completely the wrong way.”

“Elijah, Ellie, are you both coming?” Joseph calls over to us from the car, still wearing his Panama hat and warm smile. “Time’s marching on you know.”

“Please, Ellie, come with us. If only for my stepfather’s sake,” Elijah pleads with me, looking sincere and deeply sorry for what he did.

“That’s cheating, you know,” I reply with a small curl of my lips, “using that kindly old man to bend me to your will.”

He steps forward with a mischievous smile and offers his arm for me to take hold of. I eye it for a moment or two, considering my options and whether I can forgive and forget. With a long sigh, I eventually thread my arm through his and give him a tut of recognition. He breaks into a breathtaking smile and begins to lead us over to the car.

“If it allows me to make things up to you, I’ll take it,” he says as he helps me into the back seat, “and if it makes you smile like that, all the better.”

Elijah

My stepfather might be a little eccentric, but I have to hand it to him, he did well today. All I had to do was mention the involvement of a beautiful woman who might have wanted to break me from my long abstinence from relationships, and the old romantic was in. For Joseph Phelps has always been the romantic sort, and he certainly showed my mother that she was worth more than being cheated on. But let me back up a few months so I can give you the full picture.

The day after my deplorable behavior toward the young woman now sitting beside me, I was feeling the aftereffects of no sleep, two bottles of Malbec, and the sort of guilt that has you wanting to expel your soul from your body. Ever since the supposed love of my life had left me with nothing but a half-hearted apology for cheating on my answerphone, I decided that the Woods were cursed. Being brought up with Lenora Woods’ stern lessons on manners and gentleman etiquette meant I was destined to be a good guy, a gentle sort, and a complete target for those who mistook my chivalry for weakness. It made me apprehensive, standoffish, and reluctant to let anyone other than my mother get close to me.

That being said, if ever I see someone else being treated with less respect than they deserve, I will not hesitate to step in. So, you can imagine how utterly disappointed I felt with myself after I had done just that to Ellie Russo; a beautiful young woman who had done nothing wrong other than take a chance drink with me. Her engagement with a married man was not in any way intentional, she was just as cheated as my sister. To say it did not sit well with me is a massive understatement, so I took action. I am not a man to sit around trying to lay blame, instead, I find the problem and find ways to solve it. And to begin solving this problem, I headed straight over toMedina Technologiesto seek the help of someone who was more likely to hit me than offer me any kind of assistance – Cameron Carter.

I must admit, it wasn’t entirely my idea, for I had never met the man before that day. I knew of his good reputation, and his white knight persona, but that only meant he was less likely to help the villain of the story, aka, me. It was Lucius Hastings, head of our sister company, who suggested I go to him, muttering something along the lines of Cameron Carter being just as tragic as I was when it came to the opposite sex. His comment flew straight over my head, of course, for the man is contemptible. A genius of sorts, but completely lacking in any kind of morals. Rumor has it, his heart was broken beyond repair a long time ago, and with it, his conscience.

So, I went to Cameron, fully prepared to be thrown out in the most aggressive way possible, and explained what had happened between Ellie and me. He looked perplexed for a long while, rubbing his finger along his lips as he remained deep in thought over my admission, but when he finally spoke, he shocked me entirely.

“Do you like her?” he simply asked, but with a slight smirk on his face, no doubt caused by my uncomfortable shuffling about in my seat.

“Well, I only…that is to say…” I flustered awkwardly before he began to laugh, tipping his head back as he did so.

“I realize you only met her properly yesterday,” he commented, “but I did not ask if you were in love; I simply want to know if you like her.”

“From the few hours I was fortunate to spend with her, as well as our many meetings at the coffee shop, I would say yes, I like her,” I admitted, my shuffling finally ceasing.

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