"Yes his prejudice tainted him entirely. Though his parents are in full debt to aiding what might have been a minimally regular person, into him having this full blown center of the world behavior when nothing bends to his will." I said my piece.

"Parents are not to blame for what a child grows up to be. That would be saying the parents of a murderer might as well be hanged with him," Mr. Thornton debated me.

"Maybe not to blame. But of no help? Plenty have been. Neglecting a child's education is as bad as leaving them on the side of the road to fend for themselves. They will learn things whether we like it or not but deferring responsibility does not mean the responsibility never existed."

I counteracted and Mr. Thornton got up from the fireplace like I had said the most offensive things to him unlike Belmont who was appreciative of the debate happening making me question why hadn't the topic rattled him at all. He did have a child he left behind, my aunt had said that much, yet nothing in his demeanor changed.

"Lucy is very smart," Belmont filled in the silence as I turned from looking at Mr. Thornton abrupt sour mood.

"Yes she is," I smiled at Belmont, in favor of his disposition and Mr. Thornton spoke up again.

"Lucy knows that a man's worth is not in his name, his wealth, his societal standing nor his status but his wits. And she refuses to let go of reason though an advantageous marriage to someone she loves seems to have no other obstacle. Reason rules her not her heart." Mr. Thornton defended Lucy without any of us offending her character in the least. But it was my turn to tie up the editor's words for my benefit.

"Like I said, if reason rules her heart then we have her father to thank. It was from a man who also paved his way that she learned from, and it was so valuable that she refused another standard in her life." I closed my case referring personally to my dear Papa who saw Joshua and I as equals and Mr. Thornton looked back completely unsatisfied he'd proven my point.

Belmont smiled at me pretending to bend a hat to me. I hid a smile because unlike Mr. Thornton's dissatisfaction with my character, Belmont and I up to now had the ability to argue amiably. How could it be we had so much affinity from the start? I was sure after one talk about my ideas he'd have thrown me out. Was blood really this strong that it spoke across nature and different upbringings? 

"Tea?" He asked us and we agreed.

After I had bent Mr. Thornton, mostly Belmont spoke with some interference from me and the night closed in as I thought of how I'd explain my disappearance to my aunt.

"Do you think everything is all right?" I said anxious to get home.

"We won't know until tomorrow." Belmont said.

"I was afraid you'd say that."

"I thought you weren't afraid at all."

"That is foolish," Mr. Thornton said and we couldn't help but chuckle.

"I'm not afraid of the war simply of what my family will do once I get back."

"Ah well one of us will think of something, meanwhile I will go get blankets for when we're ready to sleep." Belmont said.

"Thank you."

Mr. Belmont left Mr. Thornton and I alone for a couple of minutes and I walked about the room.

"So you will spend the night, with two gentlemen far below your class, Miss Stanton? Will your mother and father approve?" He chose to poke my argument.

"Do you wanna ask them? I can tell you where to find their headstone." I poked him back and he stopped stoking the fire and put the metal down.

"Forgive me, I had no idea."

"I know. The chip on your shoulder is quite clear."

"You do not easily forgive do you?"

"Do you?" I asked him right back put off by his conversation.

"I understand you though."

"Do you? Pray tell?" I said ready to hear something explaining to me as to why I was somehow wrong in some manner and how he looked down on me.

"I also do not have living parents." He said and I looked back at him confused at why he'd share his story with me.

"I... am sorry for your loss Mr. Thornton."

"There are bound to be community buildings that closed down as well to prevent the safety of the people. They could be options to tell your guardian as to where you stayed the night." He introduced me with a solution moving away from his private matter.

"I thought you were against helping someone like me keep my useless societal standing."

"I am. But rumors to ruin a lady solely for sport is also something I am against."

"The bed or the sofa?" Belmont asked from the top of the stairs that had one door which could only be to his sleeping quarters.

"The sofa." Mr. Thornton and I chose the same place.

"The sofa." We said again together.

"I'll have to agree with Tommy on this one," Belmont said seeing as we would not come to the same answer.

"The sofa will be better I am not a heavy sleeper, I tend to get up a lot. Plus I thought I might read." I explained to them.

"But you will be by the door, that is unacceptable!" Mr. Thornton tried to ruin my plans and again by letting me know I was wrong.

"I will also be by the kitchen, and the water closet, and the fire, and the books. Please gentlemen." I asked politely.

"I have two small beds upstairs Tommy," Belmont said to convince Mr. Thornton to leave me there alone.

"Belmont are you out of your mind?" Mr. Thornton.

The dilemma kept on going but then I sat on the sofa, took off my shoes, and laid down while they argued.

"That's one way to end the argument," Belmont noticed.

"Ugh fine if you don't prize your life then do as you will," Mr. Thornton stormed off upstairs.

Mr. Belmont left me with a gun and a knife on the table for me to use in case it was needed. He showed me places to hide and I nodded though I did not expect I would have any need of it. Still I listened to him yet the way he explained how to defend myself was almost as if a father teaching his son. Did he not ever want one?

Since both men were upstairs and I had the downstairs to myself I began to search Belmont's place for some indication of familiarity. He had many pictures spread out. Small drawings. Photographs. A special one I made an instant connection with.

"Whitby!" I shouted under my breath.

The picture was of him in front of the church in Whitby posing in a serious manner. My mother's signature at the bottom of the picture.

My mother had drawn this picture of Belmont in Whitby.

How long did he pose like this for her to draw it out? Was this how their relationship began? And he still had it, right there where he could look at it everyday when he sat on his desk to type. What did it mean? What had she meant for him? Too many questions and with no way of asking them directly without arising suspicions that I was just another common person to him.

And to my mother who was Frances Belmont? A stranger she never wished to see again? A man who broke her heart? She was married when they met, happily married, for my father could not make anyone miserable even if he wished to.

"Why did you do it?" I asked the picture thinking how my mother could be unfaithful to my father even with such a man as Belmont. Then I put the picture down where it was.

Getting comfortable on the sofa I took off my shoes and undid my hair covering myself with the blanket, I might sleep after all tonight and then...

"Anastasia my love. I am coming back..."

It was Joshua letting me know in his uniform for me to hope and I smiled at him nodding and giggling like I was still but fifteen years old and giddy about my first love. Only to find I was drifting off and it was all but a dream where I awakened in a frenzy.

"Miss Stanton?"

Mr. Thornton asked holding a cup of water in front of me and I closed my eyes but tears rolled down. Joshua's voice and face was too fresh a sting of disappointment compared to reality.

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No part, character, names, plot, setting, conflict or resolution, point of view, theme or symbolism of this story may be replicated.

Copyright: All Rights Reserved to A. Sena Gomes.