It was shortly past 8 when Marcus woke up the next day. The sun was peeking through the curtains that he had been too lazy to close last night. He had tossed and turned for the past hour or so, trying to avoid the light that was streaming through the halfway closed curtains, but it had been useless. Finally accepting that his sleep for the night was done and over, and that there was no way to return to his sweet dreams he finally opened his eyes.
Talking about dreams. He hardly remembered what it had been about but one thing had stood out clear as day. And that had been Willow. If he remembered correctly they were riding through some fields together. Then they were in the woods at the lake and she just pushed him into the water. He caught onto her wrist though and pulled her in with him.
For a short moment the cool water had left them both speechless, but the next moment they both fell into a fit of laughter. They had splashed each other and Marcus felt like the soft sound of her giggling was still present in his ears, even though he was fully awake now and obviously she was nowhere near.
It hardly happened that Marcus was able to remember his dreams, but this one stuck for some reason. And he was glad that it did, as it left him with a soft smile on his lips all the while he was getting dressed. He threw a quick glance in the mirror but stopped when he saw his reflection. The smile still evident on his lips he wondered what Willow saw when she looked at him.
Did she notice the small scar on his chin? It had faded for the most part and you would have to look really closely to see it at all. Especially now that it was covered by a little stubble. It had probably been too dark for her to notice such small details, or had it?
Did she... find him attractive at all?
Ugh, this was nonsense! He had to get her out of his head. Not forever of course, but he couldn't be thinking about her constantly. People were starting to notice. You hardly even know her, Marcus had to remind himself, and there are more important things to think about than a girl you happened to run into.
For starters that would be breakfast. Marcus was starving. In a quick pace he made his way downstairs and found himself in the breakfast room not more than a few moments later. He knew he was late for breakfast, but at this point no one really cared all that much anymore. Ever since he had returned from his travels he might have been up early enough to enjoy breakfast with his family once.
His mother had tried to force him to get up earlier, but it had led nowhere and after 3 attempts she couldn't be bothered to stand at his door knocking for half an hour.
Marcus had barely sat down, when Edgar, their main butler waltzed into the room, a plate with breakfast in one hand and a few letters in the other.
"Good morning, your Grace!" Marcus was greeted as the plate was placed in front of him.
"G'morning, Edgar." he replied back, an amused smile at the butler's appearance. No one could enter a room with such swift movements as Edgar, it always seemed like he was floating, dancing almost.
"These two arrived yesterday, your Grace. And that one just this morning." Edgar explained while handing over the letters to his master. Marcus thanked him and off he was once again.
Dropping the letters on the table, Marcus decided that breakfast was more important right now than any letter possibly could be. And so he digged in, not caring about any manners or etiquette at that moment. No one was here to see him anyways so why bother. Also he was hungry. Really hungry. Being on horseback hunting all day yesterday had drained him quite a bit and he had pretty much fallen right into bed once he got home.
He was just stuffing the last bits of scrambled eggs into his mouth, as his mother entered the room.
"Marcus!" She exclaimed loudly, clearly not pleased with his way of eating whatsoever, as her son just sat there utterly stunned and more embarrassed by the second. Why did she have to walk in in the very worst moment possible?
After he had finally swallowed the food in his mouth, Marcus sheepishly greeted his mother with a "Good morning, mother."
"Wherever did you leave your manners?" She demanded to know, but answered the question herself before Marcus even had a chance to speak up. "Probably on board some of the ships you spent the past years on. But you are back in society now so I expect you to behave properly. You are an adult I shouldn't even need to tell you this!" She scolded her son.
"I'm sorry." Marcus replied meekly, knowing full well that even without company he should have at least some patience with eating and not stuff his face like that.
"Anyways." His mother sighed, obviously already giving up on making a proper gentleman of her son already. "Did you enjoy your hunting trip yesterday? You were gone for quite a while."
"Yes!" Marcus replied, a smile spreading on his lips again at the memory of the awesome day that he had had with his friends. "It was a lot of fun to spend time with them again. I didn't even notice how much I had missed that when I was gone."
"I'm glad to hear that." his mother replied smiling, glad that her son had a good time. Especially since she knew that there were quite important decisions that he would have to make and that it was in no way easy for him. It was quite clear that the topic of the arranged marriage had been bothering ever since his father had mentioned it to him.
"Well I'm gonna get going now. You enjoy your day." Marcus' mother added, before leaving the breakfast room again.
Marcus wasn't too sure if he would enjoy his day, but he surely would enjoy his night as he had arranged to meet up with Willow again. Should he plan something for them to do? A picnic by the lake possibly? That would be quite romantic, wouldn't it?
But first he would have to look through those letters. Grabbing them from the table, Marcus made his way back up to his room. He preferred to read his letters by himself in privacy. His father seemed to have eyes all over and as Marcus was yet to find out who the letters were from, he would make sure that they would stay well out of his sight. He better kept his nose out of his son's business. The Grand Duke was way too involved in his life as it was.
It wasn't that Marcus didn't love his father. Of course he did. But he had always wanted to make decisions himself and his father had always wanted to make decisions for him. And other than that they disagreed one quite a few subjects, which was to be expected though as they came from different generations and things just changed over time.
With a sigh, Marcus dropped himself on the chair in front of his desk and the letters on top of the desk. They were all folded quite neatly and Marcus wondered which one he should open first. Using a counting rhyme that he knew by heart since his childhood, Marcus finally decided on the letter to his left.
Breaking the seal he folded the letter apart and to sight came a few words in his brother Richards handwriting.
Dear brother.... blah blah blah.... Come to know that you have returned from your travels safely.... blah blah... Hoping to see you again soon.... And so on and so forth. Nothing too important really.
Yes, Marcus was looking forward to seeing his brother again soon too. He really was. But if he were to be honest, there were people he was looking forward to seeing again even more. He was thinking about one person in particular. Willow.
But he would have to wait for the whole rest of the day which was approximately another 15 hours. Ugh why couldn't time pass at least a little faster? 15 hours seemed like forever to Marcus right now. If only he had been able to sleep longer, then his day would have started later and it would have been less time of waiting for night to come.
He couldn't help but wonder if Willow was just as impatient to meet him again too. How was she spending her day? Surely she had a whole list of chores that needed to be done, although he never got to ask what she was actually doing workwise on the Cornwall Estate. But if she was telling the truth about helping out in the stables every now and then, she may just be the girl for everything. Helping out in the kitchen and in the stables, cleaning and whatever else needed to be done.
Marcus wondered if she was waltzing around the house like Edgar was. But he felt like she wouldn't take the time for that in her daily routine. He felt like she would more likely be shooting through the hallways like an arrow. One second at the stables, the next in the study to clean up and then back downstairs in the kitchen to assist with cooking again.
A smile made its way up to his lips and he imagined her like that. Her hands busy with cleaning while her mind was busy dreaming of far off places. Yes, that seemed more like her.
Absentmindedly Marcus had grabbed the second letter and opened it. It was from Philip. And his words made Marcus come crashing down into reality again. Ugh, he didn't want to have to bother with this stupid arranged marriage. He didn't want to marry Antonia. Yes, he had been considering it and to some part it was still an option, but Marcus didn't feel like there was a single thing that Antonia could do or say that would make him prefer her over Willow's free spirit.
Antonia could be the most beautiful girl on the planet, but to Marcus Willow would still be more beautiful.
Antonia could be the perfect lady and gentle and kind and whatever else, but she would never be Willow. And that would always be her biggest flaw in Marcus' eyes.
Philip had suggested that a meeting between him and Antonia should be arranged. But at this point Marcus didn't even want to meet Antonia. If anything it would only make things harder, as he was sure that Antonia was at least a somewhat decent young lady. And once he got to know her it would only be harder to turn her and her brother down.
Marcus felt like his mind was already made up. He couldn't choose Antonia, not as long as there was a chance that there could be something between him and Willow.
And once again he couldn't help but wonder if she felt the same way. Sure she mentioned that she had enjoyed their meetings and she probably wouldn't have agreed to meet up with him again tonight if she didn't mean that, but in her mind, what was that between them. Merely a friendship or something more. Did she feel that spark too, or was it really just him?
Ugh all of this was highly frustrating to him. And once again he wished he didn't have to make that decision. He got along well with Philip and he didn't want to let him down, but if there was no other solution than accepting that arranged marriage Marcus would have to let him down.
He would have to talk to Willow about it. He would ask her about it tonight. He would be completely open to her. Tell her the whole story to that arranged marriage and hear what she had to say to it. But he would also make sure to watch her closely, because she might say something that she deep in her heart regretted.
Marcus felt like she would tell him to do what felt right for him and if that was marrying another girl she would probably encourage him to do it, even if it were to break her heart. He felt like she was that kind of person that would put others before herself when it came to important things.
He wondered what it would be like. To talk to her about something like that. To be so open about how he was feeling, when he wasn't all too sure what it really was that he was feeling. All he knew was that there was something there and that he liked her quite a bit.
He wondered if that would scare her away. It might make her feel like he was trying to tie her down and take that little freedom, that she had, away from her and he surely didn't want that. Quite the opposite was the case. He wanted to give her the freedom to go wherever she wanted whenever she wanted. If only she would promise to always return to him.
He wondered what she would have to say to all of this. If she would be able to talk about how she was feeling as well. And of course he was curious to find out what those feelings were exactly and hoped that they were at least in the slightest bit mirroring his own.
Marcus had gotten up from his desk and started wandering around. Was it still a good idea to prepare a picnic basket? Maybe that could lighten the mood a little. They could first enjoy the little picnic and then - after some time - he could carefully bring up the topic. Making sure to choose the right words so he won't send her running. He was well aware of the fact that it might be awkward and that it might change the atmosphere around them into an uncomfortable one. But he needed her opinion on those things and he had hope that she would understand as she always had understood him before.
Maybe he would take her hand, if she would allow it. It might give her a feeling of security and maybe she would be able to feel that he was being honest about his feelings towards her. But then again it might make her feel trapped. And he didn't want that.
Just the thought that she felt trapped or even imprisoned so much, that she would sneak off at night made him sad. Marcus couldn't understand why Philip would insist on his servants being at the Estate 24/7. It wouldn't hurt if she went into the city for a bit once she had finished her chores.
Philip could let her run errands for him. Go to the market to get groceries, deliver letters for him. Little things like that. But Marcus felt in that way Philip was a little like his father. He didn't entrust girls and women with as much as he would entrust boys and men with. Which to Marcus was not fair at all. He was sure that Willow was more than responsible and capable enough of doing those things, but not everyone in society was quite so convinced about that.
Talking about letters though. Marcus remembered that he had another letter to open himself. And as he sat down at his desk again he wondered if Willow could write. She articulated herself quite well, much better actually than he would have expected from a simple maid. But then again it was possible that she spent quite some time with Antonia and had soaked it all up there. Willow seemed like the kind of person that could do that. Hear something only once and never forget it ever again.
Marcus wondered what she remembered best about him. And what her favorite meeting, of the three that they had had so far, might have been. He for his part would definitely have to go with the last one. It had been an emotional rollercoaster, but when he saw her standing there at the clearing with her hair down in the moonlight and for the first time actually really looked at her. He had never seen anything more beautiful in his entire life.
Wasn't it crazy how you could travel the world, see all those different places. The beauty of nature in so many different ways. And once you return home you just stumble upon the most beautiful and breathtaking thing in the woods behind your hometown in the middle of the night?
Marcus wondered how long Willow had been going on those nightly trips. What if he hadn't left for his travels? What if he had met her before all this arranged marriage? What if he had asked her to marry him back then? And what if she would have said yes? They could be married for 3 years now, maybe even have a child on their way.
But here he was instead. Caught up in this mess. And no matter how he put it, one party would be the losing one in this matter. There was no right decision as it seemed like either way one future would be destroyed. All that was left for him to do was to decide which future that would be.
Maybe he could help Philip in another way. Maybe he could convince his father to let Philip pay him back piece by piece. Surely Philip would manage that right? Then he and his sister would be able to keep the Estate and Marcus and Willow could live happily ever after.
But what if his father declined? How could he justify the downfall of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall just so he could have the happy future that he wanted? This was by no means fair. One way or another, a decision would have to be made.
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