I remember losing hope

Claude had imagined a very different life once upon a time, a home of warmth and love with the man she loved dearly. They’d always complimented each other so well. Her strengths complimented his weaknesses and vice versa. She had won such an unimaginable prize by being engaged to the man she loved, and that prize had been stripped unmercifully from her grasp.

She tipped her head as he spoke, not entirely listening to his words, but listening to the things he wasn’t sayin in between the lines. Did she suspect there was more to things than what he was saying, yes, but was she in the place to pursue, sadly not. She wanted to reach out a hand to stroke the side of his face, but did she dare. Could she trust that there was no one at the wedding that might see and report back to her husband. Not enough to give into her desires. So instead she simply spoke.

And you know how I feel about them, your mind is nothing without your body that drives it. And what a beautiful mind it was, his dashing looks only surpassed by the intelligence of that mind. However, what good was an intelligent mind when the body betrayed it. She stiffened slightly at the comment about the happy couple. It hadn’t been easy sitting through such a wedding, one where it wasn’t arranged and both parties were delirious about being together. She tried to push those thoughts out of her mind, but it wasn’t easy when faced with the man she had truly wished to marry.

I wonder if they know just how lucky they are. I suspect Lucien has an inkling, though his family were always kinder about matters of the heart than some families. Not that she didn’t believe they knew they were lucky in general for having found each other, but the sting of them getting to choose was a deep one. If anyone else had asked her that, she would have smiled and made some sort of typical response, but it was Rene asking that question and in the moment she found herself answering more truthfully than she would have liked, but he had that effect on her.