Do we really have to go? Elaine thought wistfully as she packed her things. It had been such a wonderful week with Ryan. She'd seen and done so much! And...married. She was married. They were married. Every so often, she looks at the ring on her finger just to make certain it hadn't all been a dream. And she was glad there were pictures ( Read more... )

Elaine can hardly believe the events of the past few hours. It all seems like the happiest of dreams, the very gladdest of daydreams. But even in her fondest childhood imaginings, it was never this wonderful ( Read more... )

Elaine comes into wakefulness sometime long after sunrise, and the first thing she notices is that there's a soft breeze blowing across her back, and that it's very sunny. It takes her a moment to remember where she is ( Read more... )

Elaine is puttering about the greenhouse, making sure everything is neat as possible.

She's planted some lily bulbs she got from Bar, and she's tending them ever so carefully.

There's lots of room for new things to grow. It's a lovely greenhouse.

And it's nice and warm and humid, as a greenhouse should be.

The house is on a slight hill, with a long, gracefully curving drive leading up to the front door. Elaine lived in a rather cheap flat for a few years in Hollywood, saving up for a proper house. She's always been very smart with money, and when she saw this mansion unlived in and unwanted, she bought it and did a lot of the restoration work herself ( Read more... )

...after this...
Elaine is shaking when she comes back to their apartment, and Ryan is somewhere, maybe in the back bedroom, she doesn't know, but he's not here, and she circles the sofa twice nervously before she sits down. She pulls her knees up and hugs them with her arms, staring into the fireplace, which is dark right now ( Read more... )

Ryan and Elaine have both been very busy this morning in the kitchen and around the house. They've been cooking, washing up, rearranging furniture, asking for folding chairs and small tables from Bar, and generally getting set up for a party.

Elaine's been using the back of her cookbook (Better Homes and Gardens, 1969) as a guide for setting up ( Read more... )

after this...

Elaine comes out of the bar out to the lake, and looks out over the water. It's cold, and Elaine can see her breath. There are tears on her cheeks.

Oh, Susan. Peace to thee. Peace and rest.She can't help thinking of the nightmare she'd had while Ryan was gone. She's not ready to go out of that door now, but...being alone would be ( Read more... )

Elaine Sofie Le Blanke was born in Reading, England, sometime in the eighties, to a set of distant and cold parents. Propriety was always strictly observed in her house, and her parents were not physically affectionate with each other or Elaine ( Read more... )