“Where is she?” Alexander demanded. He had no time for explanations. Those would be left for later. Right now, he had to see Phyllis. He had to make sure that she was all right.
“Follow me,” Joyce urged, gesturing at him to follow her. The butler stepped aside obediently, and Alexander rushed in.
He followed Joyce through the corridors, up the stairs and finally to Phyllis’ room. He barged in through the door, and the moment his eyes befell Phyllis lying in bed, he felt crushed. He still had no idea what happened, but seeing like this, something inside of him finally broke. The walls he had built around his heart started to crack and moments later, there was nothing left of them. He knew that he loved Phyllis more than life itself. He would do anything for her. He would give her anything she wanted from him, even if that was the annulment of their marriage. He loved her that much that he was willing to let her go and be happy somewhere else, with someone else.
He fell down to his knees by the bed and took her by the hand.
“Oh, Phyllis,” he spoke softly, caressing her cheek, and pushing a stray strand of hair to the side of her face. “My sweet wife… I am so sorry for everything that has happened.”
He continued to caress her face, feeling an onslaught of tenderness and deep devotion for this woman. Her eyes were closed. She seemed at peace, which made him even more sorrowful to think that he had been the cause of most of this suffering for her. He knew that from that moment on, he would make her life whatever she wanted it to be, even if that meant keeping himself away from her. All he wanted now was for her to be happy.
He could tell that she was unconscious and he knew that she probably couldn’t hear a single word he was telling her, but he kept talking to her, nonetheless. He wanted to tell her everything that had laid heavily upon his heart, all those words that he wanted to share with her, but pride had never allowed him to do that.
“My sweet Phyllis, my love…” he kept speaking to her in a hushed tone of voice, bringing her hand to his lips and kissing it reverently. “Please, wake up…”
“She isn’t unconscious,” Joyce spoke through the haze of all his emotions, but he could barely hear her. Even if he could, he was too focused on Phyllis to pay attention to anything else. “She is all right, she was merely exhausted from all the lack of sleep and refusal to eat. She should be fine.”
All these words never reached Alexander’s ears or his mind.
“Wake up, Phyllis…” he continued to speak to her softly and tenderly. “I will agree to anything you want, just wake up. I will arrange for that annulment if you want it, just…”
At that moment, he could see her stir. Her eyes fluttered upon the wordannulmentand she inhaled deeply, looking about. At first, he didn’t think that she recognized him, because she didn’t smile. Instead, she spoke immediately.
“Annulment?” she echoed. “It isyouwho wants the annulment, not me.” She frowned at him, but there was deep set sorrow behind that frown.
He was shocked to hear that. “How on earth did you reach that conclusion?”
She hesitated to explain, but eventually she did. “I’m not proud of this, but I… I eavesdropped on your conversation with your mother the other day. And I overheard you talking about the annulment of our marriage.”
“I will give you a moment of privacy,” Joyce interfered, sensing that this was a topic that the two of them should discuss on their own.
Both Alexander and Phyllis watched her leave and close the door behind her. Then, once alone again, they focused on each other.
“It is not me who wanted that annulment, but rather my mother,” he explained.
“Why?” Phyllis grimaced. “I have not done anything to earn her dislike.”
“I know,” he said, squeezing her hand gently. “You didn’t do anything. My mother just thinks that… I am not happy with you.”
He gazed deeply into her eyes, and he could see it. It was love. Nothing could have concealed it any longer. Her eyes flickered with the fire of a thousand suns, and he wanted to bask in its warm glory for the rest of his days. But first, he needed to tell her how he truly felt about her. It was high time she knew.
“Are you… not happy with me?” she asked, her voice trembling as much as her hands were.
“The days I have spent with you have been the happiest in my life, Phyllis,” he finally admitted everything. “Fear and pride have kept me from telling you how I truly felt about you, but I am no longer afraid and I am no longer prideful. I know what I feel and I want you to know that as well.” He paused for a moment, kissing her hand one more time. “I love you, Phyllis. I think I loved you from the moment I laid my eyes on you, but I was a fool to realize it, and as a result, I almost lost you because I chose to listen to others, and not my heart. That was what I should have done all along.”
“Oh, Alexander…” she gushed, a twinkle of tears appearing in her eyes. “You don’t know how long I have waited to hear you say those words… I, too, have struggled with my past, with the experiences of women in my life and I was also afraid, afraid that I would be hurt and heartbroken, that I would be hiding away somewhere in the middle of nowhere, being miserable and desperate. But that wasn’t true. Not at all…”
She propped herself up in the bed and he neared her. He yearned to kiss her, but he wanted to look at her some more, to drink in the sight of her. He could not get enough of that smile, of those beautiful eyes.
As the room was enveloped in the warmth of their shared confessions and the tender embrace of a newfound connection, Alexander and Phyllis exchanged declarations of love. Their lips met in a sweet, lingering kiss, sealing the sincerity of their emotions in that stolen moment.
However, the serenity was abruptly interrupted as the door creaked open, revealing Charlotte’s curious presence. Phyllis, with an affectionate smile, introduced Alexander to her elder sister. Charlotte’s eyes sparkled with a knowing gleam, as if she could discern the unspoken language between the two.
“It is very nice to meet you, You Grace,” Charlotte addressed her sister’s husband cordially.
He bowed before her respectfully. “The pleasure is all mine, I assure you.”
Charlotte smiled back at him, then neared her sister. “He seems like such a lovely man, Phyllis.” Her whispered words did not diminish in importance because they were hushed.
