Cortège of Coincidence [Gabriella]

The writer finished his tea and the last crumbs of cake while Gabriella commented on what he'd suggested. While he was listening to her, he also couldn't resist a glance across to where the rest of the cake still remained. He didn't need another slice, but if it was offered he certainly wasn't going to turn it down...

But perhaps not while they were at a crucial moment in their story planning. She scrawled a few more notes, his wife was silent and he thought perhaps she had finished offering suggestions, until she asked the most crucial question yet. The one around which the climax of the book would revolve, undoubtedly. Dermod thought; and as he often did, asked himself what he would do in such a situation. What would make him angry enough to snap? There was little, but what would...hmm. He thought back to the time Cliona had cheerfully informed him that she'd wanted to murder him while he was still an infant. It was nothing like the same circumstance, but it gave him an idea.

“So the younger brother is rejected by the woman; and he's already blackmailing the older brother. That is nothing new, it's been going on for years. But now there's another dimension, because he has the chance of a different life with their mutual female friend. So perhaps he's willing to...not confess, no. That wouldn't work...” he  rejected the idea before it had even formed and thought for a moment “The older brother is planning to leave the business - no, close it , sell his assets and take the money, start somewhere anew with the woman. Perhaps they're planning to marry...” this was rapidly turning into some kind of romantic thriller. Not the sort of thing Dermod tended to write at all, but he could see the appeal, and there was no reason why he couldn't fill in between the scenes with other minor side plots.

“So the younger brother finds out what they're planning...it might still be in the early stages, maybe our hero hasn't even told the woman yet?” Even as he said it, the Irishman knew that a proposal scene would go down well with a certain subsection of readers he had never before really appealed to. Wouldn't that be amusing if he - in the guise of Gabriella's pen name - suddenly because known to a completely different readership? “So faced with the loss of his livelihood and coupled with jealousy, the younger brother  - as you put it - snaps. This time he doesn't stop at blackmail, he threatens his brother's life. And that is when the heroine decides enough is enough.” He stopped, satisfied but also aware he'd got quite carried away with the idea, and placed the quill carefully on the table.

“So, what do you think? Do we have a plot?” he smiled “And, more importantly, have I earned a second helping of cake?”

Gabriella stared at Dermod for a while, picking at the last little bit of her cake he was fascinating to watch when he was thinking, but hearing his mental processes out loud… it gave her a whole different level of appreciation for the work that he did. She let him ramble on for a while, about to suggest moving to the couch or somewhere more comfortable, but then she’d realized that he wouldn’t have the table to write on and she was glad she hadn’t brought it up. With his hand brace the table was now a necessity. “I definitely like that… perhaps the younger brother convinces the woman to come stay with them? After all, by this point she’d still be his friend, not knowing that he’s been blackmailing his brother behind the scenes. Perhaps a surprise visit for a birthday or some other holiday... And once she’s there, finds a way to trap her there and convince the brother that if he doesn’t keep with the business, he’ll kill the woman?” gabriella’s eyes sparkled with delight at the idea, taking another sip of her tea.

At least her stomach had been cooperative today, even if the rest of her hadn’t been. She’d been feeling strangely sore lately, though she supposed it was just because she was moving about a lot more, throughout the castle, and had been spending a lot of time cleaning up and moving furniture, and starting to organize the greenhouse and adjoining sitting room the way she wanted it. She’d grafted her roses, but those were still out in the main garden. She was thrilled by her new space, and wanted it ready in two months when Rhiannon came home, so they could spend time amongst the plants and flowers despite the winter outside.

“I think we do...this has been amazing.” gabriella was thrilled at the prospect of participating in this, even if it was his birthday. The fact that they’d been able to spend the evening just the two of them, doing whatever dermod wanted to do which had turned into them working on a novel made her very happy, and of course the alcohol in her system helped. Gabriella had always been a happier more confident person when she was drinking, and that definitely showed. Especially when she leaned over after his request for another piece of cake. “I’m sure the cake can keep for an hour or two… if you’d like to perhaps do something else?” her teeth grazed her bottom lip as she watched him for a reaction. The two had been together long enough that she knew he’d understand exactly what she was implying.

When he fell silent, the Irishman realised he was being watched. That was nothing unusual, at least in recent times, Gabriella often watched him while he was reading, or drinking tea - or even sleeping, he'd discovered on a couple of occasions when he'd woken unexpectedly. But this felt different, because they'd been sharing ideas. More importantly, he'd been sharing ideas at a very early stage, something that he'd never done before in more than four decades as a writer. He had a sudden misgiving that she disliked something he'd said, that he hadn't articulated it correctly, that his storytelling had been somehow less than perfect... and then she spoke.

Not only that, but she added a whole new dimension to the tale they were crafting together. Dermod would have had the behaviour of the younger brother at this stage to be predictable, overt and shocking, though perhaps not so shocking to those who were familiar with his works. The idea of the villain behaving in such a subtle fashion was fascinating...though he didn't want to entirely dispense with his comfort zone of vile curses and tortured heroes. “That works...though I think we also need to find a way that he's threatening the woman at the same time. Perhaps the same sort of scenario - if she doesn't choose him over the older brother, he'll kill him, or...” the thought trailed off. If the younger brother actually injured the older and then the woman found out, would that be enough to convince her to, as Gabriella so succinctly put it, snap? He would have continued with the thought, wanting to know how she would add her own slant to this latest plot twist, but then she surprised him yet again.

Considering how they had begun the day her suggestion was unexpected. In no way unwelcome though; Dermod felt his interest rising as she leaned over and offered something more interesting than a second slice of cake. His free hand captured the back of her head as he leaned in and kissed her softly, then with greater insistence as his fingers tangled in her hair. Reluctantly, he broke the kiss. “Now that...” he murmured in her ear “is a truly excellent idea.” Novel forgotten for the moment, he carefully closed the notebook, marking the page and leaving it on the table until later. He rose from the chair and held out a hand to his wife. “Shall we?” Truly, it had been an excellent birthday.

Gabriella was always eager to see how he would take her ideas, and add to them, changing them into more cohesive elements of the story at times, or making them into something more like what he would write. But there wasn’t entirely much of that. She knew his works so well that aside from the insertion of more romantic elements, which in his works had been present, but more as subtle sub plots. Of course those were some of her favorites parts, as her imagination had added to them in her own mind. “I think by the point he reveals what his true intentions are, in order to trap her there, she’d have to know how he’s turned against them. And she knows that if and when his plans begin to fall apart, it would be a situation where he would kill them both. I can’t see the younger brother sparing either of them, and I feel like she’d come to the same conclusion.”

Pleased with her suggestions so far, nevertheless gabriella was also happy to see that they were also wrapping the conversation up. She was very much at the right point of tipsy, after the wine, and the rum in her cake, that she had the right level of confidence to actually make the suggestion for once, rather then Dermod having to coax her into it. Not that he ever had to try too hard… but the fact that his eyes lit up at her suggestion and the grin on his face grew, that made her heart skip a beat with delight as he pulled her closer to him, nearly tipping her out of his hair as he pressed his lips to hers, the building insistence growing as their kiss deepened and grew more passionate.

Gabriella was left breathless as her chair returned to all four legs, blushing brightly but smiling delightedly. He was quick to close his book, which only made her smile grow, waiting for him to get up before taking his hand and joining him. The petite welshwoman stifled a slightly drunk giggle as she wrapped her arm around his, and resting her head on his arm. “I think we shall.” she murmured, allowing her husband to lead her from his study in the direction of the master suite.

{fin}