The Love He Stole

The Wine

Lily sparkled in a sea foam green gown and let her hair hang in loose waves adorned with a silver headband. Lily spent a good while convincing Poppy to change out of her maid uniform and she donned one of Lily’s baby blue gowns. Lily pulled her hair out of her bun and it fell into beautiful blonde curls.

“You look so beautiful, Poppy!”

“I’m going to be in so much trouble. I should change back…”

“No! You can’t! You look amazing! And besides, the lord isn’t going to be there. So you have nothing to worry about.”

“Someone could tell him when he gets back…”

“Don’t worry, Poppy. I will protect you from all unfair punishments,” Lily smiled at her. It seemed to reassure her and they exited the bedchamber to an empty hall. The whole manor was seemingly empty as they walked outside into the breezy afternoon. Lily breathed in the beautiful unpolluted air and happily sighed. She linked arms with Poppy as they skipped down the main road toward the village.

“This is amazing,” Lily exclaimed. She could see the festivities in the town square that pooled into the nearby fields. Colorful tents were all over and there were people out enjoying a break from their arduous labors. Children were playing with goats, women were dancing with their husbands, a band was playing a jig with violins, and people were eating sweet treats that were being passed out along with copious amounts of wine.

They approached the festival and were happily greeted by many of the villagers, most of whom recognized Lily from the feast where Sam announced their engagement. No one knew who Poppy was, much to her relief, and people were too excited about the future lady to ask. The villagers gushed about her impending wedding, how beautiful she’s going to look, and their hopefulness for her to soon have an heir. Lily was overwhelmed by it all and asked where to find the food. They were directed to a tent just to the right and politely smiled before taking off.

They got their hands on some stuffed pastries from one of the tents set up. Lily sunk her teeth into the crispy dough and gooey caramelízed apple bits burst into her mouth. Her eyes rolled back at the buttery deliciousness and she finished it quickly, debating whether she wanted another one. She licked the excess sugary apple sauce off her finger and watched the marvels around her.

“Oh, Lily! They have games over there! We should play,” Poppy exclaimed, gesturing to the field behind the small stone houses. People were gathered around watching as some threw colored stones at lined up bottles.

“I don’t know, I’m not very sporty.”

“Come on, it’s just for fun,” Poppy said, excitedly dancing back and forth. Lily sighed and smiled and nodded her head. They made their way over to the game and waited for a turn.

“You ladies here for a turn?” an older man asked.

“Absolutely!” Poppy beamed as the man passed them each two painted stones.

Poppy went first, knocking over a bottle with her first stone. She squealed in excitement and tossed her second, shattering another bottle. The whole crowd roared with applause and cheers for her and she was elated. She tossed her hands up to the sky and spun around.

“Well done, miss,” the old man praised. “That’s some aim you’ve got.”

“I used to go hunting all the time with my father as a girl,” Poppy giggled.

Lily was impressed but even more nervous to follow her, knowing she did not possess the same skill. The crowd calmed down as she lined up to take her first throw. She stared down at the glass bottles, taking a deep breath. She drew her right arm back and released the stone forward but it went way off to the left. A complete miss. A few people laughed but people still cheered her on with encouraging claps. She tried again and the stone went a little straighter, but nowhere near the bottles. The crowd still clapped for her so she laughed it off.

“Ahh, see. Told you I’m no good,” Lily laughed.

“That’s alright. Did you at least have some fun?” Poppy asked, as they walked back to the main square.

“Yes, yes. It was alright. Now, let’s go find some wine,” Lily grinned.

They strolled over to the wine table that was under the biggest tent and a young man generously poured them each a big glass of full bodied red wine.

“You are the lord’s betrothed, right?” the man asked nervously.

“Yes, I’m Lily.”

“What an honor to serve you, my lady!” he babbled. “I can’t wait to attend the wedding!”

“You’re too kind. Thank you sir,” she said, taking the glass from him. She bowed her head to him to be polite and she and Poppy went to watch people dance. They heard him gleefully telling the others around him who she was and she nervously giggled at the thought of her newfound celebrity-like status. It was all still so weird to her, not even a week ago she had no friends, no boyfriend, and no care for anything but school. She became uncomfortable and her cheeks burned, but she sipped her wine to calm down. She told herself she needed to accept it temporarily, to grin and bear it for just one year.

She remembered admitting to Poppy her dislike of psychology and her stomach tightened. She wished she hadn’t said that and gave her hope. Deep down, she knew it was true but she still wanted to finish what she started. She had told herself it was for her mom, but it only numbed the grief. She was reckoning with four years of self deception and would’ve rather stayed in the lie. Forced to see herself without her crutch, the building blocks of her life were tumbling around her.

Do I really want to be a therapist? Would I even be happy in a life without Poppy? And Sam… She furrowed her brows lost in thought and knew that if she wasn’t careful, she risked falling in love with him. He was too flirty and alluring and she was pretty sure he did actually care about her…add in his cooperation toward a common goal and it’s a recipe for love according to some studies. Lily bit her lip remembering her lessons in that department.

“Are you okay, Lily?” Poppy asked, pulling her out of her thought stream.

“Yeah, I’m great,” she lied with a smile. She gulped down more wine. “Let’s dance!”

They set down their glasses and joined into the crowd dancing to the violin jig. Lily had no idea how to dance, but she did her best to follow everyone else. She threw her worries into the winds and lost herself in the music. She and Poppy joined hands and spun around until they couldn’t see straight and nice men danced with them, switching partners every few beats, arms joined at the wrist.

Lily ran herself out of breath and scampered out of the dancing crowd to cool down. She couldn’t find their wine glasses where they left them and she peeked around in circles, looking to see if someone moved them. A young manservant noticed her and approached with a new glass of wine.

“S-Some wine, my lady?” he spluttered. She smiled at him.

“Yes, thank you!” She beamed at him, taking the glass and he quickly bowed and wandered off. She scrunched her nose up, wishing people would just treat her like the normal person she was. She took a sip of the wine and noticed it tasted a little different from the last glass. It was lighter and more fruity, but the bitterness was almost overwhelming. She took another big sip, just wanting to stay in a happy mood. She watched Poppy continuing to dance and she was glad to see her enjoying a night off from being a maid.

She was nearly done with her wine by the time Poppy joined her on the sidelines. Poppy had a big, bright smile on her face as she rushed up to hug Lily.

“This has been the best day! Thank you for everything, Lily.”

“Of course, you deserve to have some fun!”

“Where’s my wine?”

“Oh, I think someone took it while we were dancing. We can go get some refills,” Lily said, shaking her empty glass with a giggle. They began to walk back to the wine table when suddenly Lily felt her legs becoming tingling and her head foggy.

“Whoa, I’m drunker than I thought,” she laughed. “Maybe I should go lie down…”

“Oh, okay. I’ll take you…”

“No, I want you to stay. You should stay and enjoy yourself. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Abs-ahlute-ly,” Lily slurred, giggling. “I'll be fine. Have a good time.”

Poppy nervously smiled and nodded, letting her go on her own. Lily turned to leave, walking down the dirt road back to the manor giggling softly at her unsteady stride. It was becoming increasingly difficult for her to keep herself upright and her legs felt like they weighed one hundred pounds each. She didn’t have a ton of experience with drinking but it suddenly struck her that something might really be wrong though she couldn’t think straight to figure out what it was. The setting sun was blinding her and making her sleepy.

She made it into the manor barely holding on to her consciousness and stared at the stairs unsure she’d be able to make it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure approaching her from the hallway. She wearily looked over but her vision was swirling and distorted. Her head was aching and she weakly cried out for help as she began to fall to the floor. He slowly approached and she desperately reached out for support to stand back up. She felt like she was in a dream where she had no control over her own body as she lost the ability to hold her head up.

“I’m so sorry, my lady,” the man said.

“Wha-,” she struggled to speak, her eyes rolling back as she felt herself falling into a deep sleep.