Chapter Two - Beyond the Chains of Duty.

Posted on: 10/07/2024

I arrive a few minutes early, my heart pounding in sync with my hurried footsteps. The garden's calmness is a stark contrast to the turmoil within me. And there she is, a vision of grace and vulnerability, sitting at the table exactly as she had promised.
Seeing Victoria after all this time, my breath catches in my throat. Her eyes lock onto mine, and a mixture of apprehension and hope pass between us. I slowly approach and settle into the seat across from her, the table a barrier and yet, at this moment, to me, possibly a link-bridge.
"John. Thank you for coming," she says, her voice barely above a whisper yet filled with sincerity. "I know how much I've hurt you, and I owe you an explanation."
I nod, unable to find the words to express the whirlwind of emotions I am experiencing.
"I’ll be honest, Victoria, I didn’t think I would be meeting you again, so I have come here to listen," I finally manage to say, my voice thick with emotion.
Victoria takes a deep breath, her gaze unwavering.
"The choices I made; they were never meant to cause you pain. I was torn between my love for you and pressures I felt I had to succumb to. But I've realised that true love, our love, should be enough for me."
Her confession hangs in the air, and I feel the weight of her words lifting some of the burden I have carried over the last 5 months, as she continues.
"My mother had faced a similar crossroads in her own life, just before her marriage," Victoria explained, her voice tinged with both anger and understanding. "She had to choose between following her heart and fulfilling her duty to her family. Growing up, I often heard her speak of a man who she once knew, but little did I know that he, like you, had been forsaken for someone else. She knew then that her family expected her to marry someone who would strengthen their social position and secure their future."
Victoria's eyes shimmer with unshed tears as she recounts her mother's past. "In the generation past, my mother had to choose duty over love, and though she built a life with my father, who both she and I love dearly, I somehow sensed, on many occasion, that there was a part of her that remained unfulfilled. Twenty weeks ago, when she realised that I was facing a similar choice between my love for you and the expectations placed upon me, at first she persuaded me to follow her same path, however, as time cruised along, she saw the unhappiness that she had once endured, and in the last two weeks, she has urged me to follow my heart. Then, and even right up until yesterday, on what should have been my wedding day, I have been too afraid, and I felt that I was falling into the same pattern as she once did, giving in to the pressures around me rather than fighting for what I truly wanted - in a word... you."
Her words touch me deeply, and I begin to understand the depth of the inner turmoil Lady Margaret and now her had faced.
"So, what changed?" I ask softly, leaning forward.
"The letter I wrote to you – the one that ended things – I regretted it almost as soon as I sent it. But then, I was cajoled by everyone in my family, except my dear brother, that it was the 'right' thing to do. Over these past 20 weeks, I've poured my heart out to my mother, and to my surprise, she has bewailed her own regrets and realised I couldn’t do the same. She sees what it was doing to me, how it is breaking me.  So, on the evening before the wedding, she encouraged me to be honest with myself and you."
Victoria took my hands in hers, her touch warm and steady.
"My love for you rather than Giles may be unconventional. It may not fit the expectations of those around me, but, for me it is real, and it is strong. I’m choosing you John Harrison, but after all of what’s happened, I ask you - please, do you choose me?"

Next Chapter to be published 14/07/2024 - Set the date.