Seeing Gabrielle's red face after he caught her, Sir Thomas let go of her hand and said "Sorry. We don't have much time till the sunrise". "Of course. We better be on our way" Gabrielle said as she gained proper standing and tucked a few strands of her hair behind her ear. They both walked out of the market and Sir Thomas helped her get in his carriage. Sir Thomas wasn't very rich but he was well to do. He could afford anything he wanted. He had a good business and he was one of the eligible bachelors in the village. Six feet tall, clear skin, beautiful green eyes, jet black hair and a well sculpted body. He was pleasant to look at and most of the women in their village longed to be with him. But Gabrielle never allowed herself to fall so hard for him like most of the women in her village had. The man has been trying to win her heart for two months now but she found it hard to trust men because of the stories she had heard about men getting married to women and then cheating on them later on. She didn't want that for herself, she wanted to be careful before she leapt. Though, she did feel something for Sir Thomas. All she wanted was to keep her feelings under control till she was sure he was truly in love with her and won't up end cheating on her or end up treating her wrongly after they get married. This was something that scared Mirabelle also. But her Mirabelle's situation was worse because she was blind. Finding someone who was going to love her despite knowing she was blind was hard and might never happen.
After getting into the carriage, Sir Thomas sat opposite her. They both stayed quiet for a while before Sir Thomas asked "How's lady Mirabelle doing?". Gabrielle sighed and answered "My sister's doing well. She tries to do things herself these days. So it's a good thing". "I hope everything goes well for her" Sir Thomas said genuinely concerned. Gabrielle had told him once about her sister's sad situation and he felt so bad for Mirabelle and wished that she would get the happiness she deserves one day. Gabrielle was glad the man was concerned about Mirabelle, it won some points for him. "Thank you" Gabrielle said to him and he smiled in return and looked out the window of the carriage. The early morning breeze blew the strands of hair that rested on Sir Thomas' forehead and Gabrielle didn't miss the sight. She stared at every feature of his and her eyes fell on his lips. His pink not-so heart shaped lips and not-so thin lips. "Beautiful" she muttered and thankfully Sir Thomas didn't hear it.
She stared at him for a while and wondered what it would be like if her lips were on that beautiful mouth. But she quickly cautioned herself "Control yourself Gabby. You've been doing that for two months now." She said to herself as she looked outside the carriage too and that's when the thought crossed her mind "Maybe loving him might not be a bad idea after all".
The carriage finally stopped and the Coachman said "We're here sir". Sir Thomas heard the man and quickly came down from the carriage before lending a hand to Gabrielle. "Thank you Philip. We won't take long" Sir Thomas said to the Coachman. "Okay sir" the coachman named Philip answered.
Sir Thomas turned to Gabrielle and said "Shall we?" and Gabrielle answered by nodding her head and Sir Thomas held her hand as they walked away from the carriage and then to a narrow path.
"Is this safe? This place seems a little strange" Gabrielle said as she looked around. She had only seen one person walk past them since they arrived there and trees were all around them. The skies were still dark blue in color because the sun was yet to rise and the trees around them made the environment look darker than normal and this scared Gabrielle a bit.
"Don't worry. I've been here like a thousand times. We're safe" Sir Thomas assured her.
"Owuuu... With other girls?" Gabrielle curiously asked and Sir Thomas stopped walking. Gabrielle was about to ask why he stopped but he turned to her and said "No. You're the only one lady Gabrielle. The only one". Gabrielle looked into his green eyes and saw sincerity and it pulled the strings of her heart.
"Well, I'm lucky then" Gabrielle said smiling.
"No, you're mine" Sir Thomas said inwardly and only released a smile back to Gabrielle.