Good. That was good. But she had to be sure… The idea that he’d noticed, that he had some past vision of Araceli, one that he liked better than the present one… That was the thing Araceli had been so scared of. That was the reason she wasn’t able to trust him, or love him. That had to be taken care of.
“She isn’t coming back, you know. If you’re sitting around waiting for her to be the same person she was when you first met her, that’s not fair. It’s not fair on yourself, and it’s also not fair on her. Things change. People change. So, if you want her then you have to be working out how to be with who she is now, not how to turn her back into whoever you think she ought to be.”
Oh, so he was doing something wrong. “It’s not that.” Duncan replied. “It was that I thought she didn’t like me any more or that I’d screwed up. And now I’m worried about her and I want to like...I don’t know, protect her from whomever hurt her. I hate that someone did. She’s still wonderful, and I just want to make her feel better.”
Delphine relaxed, realising as she did so just how hard she’d been tensing up throughout their conversation.
“Good,” she replied, softly. “And… I’m sorry,” two little words that she had wanted to say to him for a very long time. “I didn’t mean to put you through the wringer,” she added, glad that there was something she could say that adequately covered it, without being at all obvious that she was referring to anything outside of the current situation. Perhaps that was silly. After all, he wasn’t going to think she was apologising for anything except this conversation. Did it count then, if only one side really knew what they were apologising for? It would have to. It was the closest to exoneration that she was going to get. “I just worry about her.”
At that moment the door opened, and Araceli returned carrying the tea tray, with such suspiciously perfect timing that Delphine was sure she must have overheard at least part of their conversation. Hopefully though, it would put her mind at ease. It had for Delphine.
“Enjoy your tea,” she smiled at Duncan, taking her seat on the chaise and opening her book.
(OOC - ij wouldn't let us post this as one comment, which is why there's a split in a weird place. Cowritten by Duncan and Delphine's authors)