Lechance

( Letter )

(Followed on from this thread, Tuesday Evening.)

James shivered nervously despite the fire to the side of him, and flicked a glance up to the mantel clock. Five minutes until Paul was due to finish. Please God, don't let him be delayed.

He'd banked up the fire well in the library as requested, and it was giving off enough heat to last for some time. Harry and Elspeth were long gone home, and James felt quite safe, despite his exposure, naked and kneeling in front of the fire. The rug was warm too, but he soon felt the weave starting to dig into his knees, the more time passed by. He'd got up and paced awhile, before he panicked slightly, and knelt back down again quickly.

Two minutes, and James heard Paul's footsteps coming down the hallway. He was here. He tried to steady his breathing, taking large deep breaths to calm himself, before he bowed his head, eyes closed. He held his hands behind him, one hand encircling his other wrist.

The warmer weather didn't seem to mean that the evenings didn't draw in any later. Effie was sitting in the parlour in the late afternoon, her lamp lit to cast light over her pillow and her feet securely on a footstool when she paused, looked up at the calendar on the wall, and frowned slightly. One hand strayed down to press her skirts to her stomach, then back to the buttons over the lacing of her corset, before returning to her pillow.

When Jonathan came home, she was still sitting there, her hands idle, the room dark except for the lacemaker's lamp on the desk next to her pillow, her eyes closed, head still upright as was her posture in the upright chair she used for work.