[reinhardt estate | cork] the day that i met you i started dreaming | wolfgang

December 25th

“This is absolutely horrible,” the young witch complained, turning from one side to another as she looked at her own reflection, the maid, new by the looks of how concerned she was by the woman’s sudden displeased outburst, nervously shifting from one foot to another as she stumbled through an offer to give her something else. “What do you suggest? I am to host the event of the year in a few hours and you’ll have me dressed in a sack of potatoes? Beatrice has done this on purpose,” she decided, her eyebrows furrowing as she waved the young woman away.

Had the heiress been in the habit of taking responsibility for anything that went wrong in her life, she might have admitted that her bad fortune was to be attributed to her refusal to be refitted after the dress had to be taken out a second time. Her last month of pregnancy had not been kind to her and as she became more bound to her bed and to whatever tray of desserts that wandered in her direction, her feelings about herself plummeted along with any hopes of astonishing the crowd that would await her arrival downstairs come dinner time.

The girl pleaded day in and day out that that wretched child would give her one night of peace, she needed to impress Wolfgang’s family as she had done very poorly in impressing her own husband who had only entertained the idea of sharing a room with her but nothing else. He was cold, distant, and often away on some business venture or another that made her increasingly nervous of the position she once held in his life, one she could see slipping right out of her fingers with every waking moment. And then he arrived, the little bundle of joy that immediately won over the hearts of everyone in the estate a little over a week shy of her big event.

And in her moment of glory, a success that even she often thought herself incapable of accomplishing she hoped that everything would return to normal. But nothing changed, if anything things became worst. She was no longer the apple of anyone’s eye and no amount of pouting, whining, anger, or attempt at loveliness would change that.

The sound of footsteps brought her back to her reality and she caught sight of him in the mirror, he was almost a stranger to her. “Wolfgang,” she said softly, there was distance she needed to respect. Turning around she smiled a little, though she was hardly happy, “Will you be joining us for dinner, or shall I count on your absence once again? Your grandfather will not be pleased should he see us apart again, he already suspects that there's trouble in paradise,” she added bitingly. It hurt, sure, but it was easier to pretend she could not care less even if she had everything to lose.

@Wolfgang Reinhardt

It was Christmas even if in his heart it didn’t as such. He holiday had always been shared with his sister, Iris, and now held a sort of somber glow to it. Wolfgang knew he would have to allow his sorrows to rest but losing the memory of his sister was not something he was ready to do. That pain that echoes often reminded him that he was not the monster he saw himself as. Even if, he did terrible things beneath it all he was still someone. He walked silently through the estate, watching as the home turned into something truly grand. She had outdone herself but Wolfgang knew her efforts would be appreciated. As he often did the man stopped in the doorway of the newest addition, watching the baby sleep. The house was full of glee and joyful whisper but not due to the holiday. Their child had brought happiness among the halls on the strained house. They needed a bit of joy wrapped inside whatever uncertainty hey might have held.

He nodded to Taylor as he passed the man just outside the bedroom door. Blue eyes captured her gaze through her reflection. He could only think one thing, the same thing he often did; she was breathtaking. Even in the afterglow that came with having carried their child for months. “I’ve returned home and am all yours. “ though he hadn’t been for some time. He had been distant and cold. He had somehow buried into the him that came from days without her. His own self-imposed punishment was terrible for them both. The Irishman only wondered how she felt laying next to him without his touch because he himself felt cold and lonely. “He’s suspicious of everything. Perhaps someone might sneeze tonight so he may rant about the audacities of people spreading germ. But I’ve Sen what you’ve do downstairs. Amazing.”

He walked toward her the closest they had been outside of sleep. His eyes traced her slowly as if his memory of her beauty had vanished. That distance was gone and he leaned to kiss her softly on the lips, the first in a long time. His heart raced in his chest as his pulled her closer. A strong arm wrapped around her as he deepened the kiss, taking his time to kiss her properly. “Merry Christmas. “  he whispered against her lips. “I have a special gift you for tonight.” He said as he eased back not wanting to wrinkle her dress. She looked stunning and the night was hers and he promised to be best behaved. It was a strange to see what best behaved truly meant concerning him. “The guest are arriving shortly, Taylor will take care of intake while you prepare to head down. Is there anything you need from me?” he asked removing his vest careful with he necklace he wore as he put on a bowtie. “I promise to maintain my behavior until the last guest leaves.” He put on a new vest as he looked at her once more, “Nik will sleep most of the party I figure when he wakes to eat he can meet the guests. We know Effie will hover to keep him safe and happy. I just want tonight to be perfect for you after this long year and all the work you put into it “

All yours, he had said as if he had not been ignoring her for almost an entire year, making her pay penance for an act that she had attempted time and time again to convince him was done against her will. Had she had any humor left to her that day, it was difficult to laugh or smile at anything anyone said lately, she might have scoffed at his insinuation, knowing that soon enough she would be sharing him with the world again and he would once again disappear from her grasp. The little attention he did give her had gone to their child, it was a natural course of events but even so, it left her in a state of mental disarray as she began to find deeper meaning in every action he took.

“Yes well your grandfather is not entirely off the mark now is he? But thank you, I had plenty of time on my own to plan after all, and very little to distract me,” she retorted, her expression stiffer than usual but her eyes searched for something, any evidence that her biggest fears would prove to be true, that he had grown disenchanted with her.

But he always did have a way of defying her expectations, and so when he moved closer to her, a little too close for comfort considering how much she had needed to adjust to his months-long distance, her eyebrows furrowed only a little in confusion. A kiss, she was begin to forget what those felt like, especially when he did it as if there was nothing wrong between them, as if everything had been just as it had been months ago when they were making declarations of eternal love and devotion in the middle of the night in her room when he had finally told her the truth, his feelings.

“We’ve opened all the gifts this morning,” she noted, the morning had been another tale in drudgery, Genevieve never did like Christmas, it reminded her of the many years she had spent without the tender, loving care of her own parents, memories always had I someone else’s living space, a house that had never felt like a home to her. “But I suppose Merry Christmas to you, too,” she did not want to get her hopes up to high, he had barely looked in her direction in the last six months, expecting any more than the customary trinket seemed futile.

“I need you to play your part,” she said, turning back to the mirror to rearrange her hair, “I needn’t be on your arm all night but I suppose a couple of dances and a few pretend conversations ought to do the trick?” it would be the scandal of the year, should anyone notice something was off, the witch just knew it. But he was promising to mind his behavior and that had always been a promise he did keep. “Yes well I suppose everyone had come to see Niklaus, he is the star of this production, is he not? Your family must be satisfied I’ve fulfilled my side of the bargain,” she said softly, turning to Effie in relief when she entered the room with a different dress and set it on the bed before departing. “Is this what you want?”

A brow rose slowly as he eyed her. He knew she had every right to be upset with him, he had after all allowed his pride to get in the way of nurturing her. his ego had made him capable of hurting her when doing so was never a thought to cross his mind. He wanted to mend what had been broken, to prove that he could be trusted with the care of her heart. He had given her much reason to doubt he was the man for the job, but, he was determined to prove otherwise. "He would be wr ong to assume anything about my marriage," he said gently but there was still the hint of something in his words. His life, their lives together, were not up to be questioned by anyone- not even his grandfather. His brows twitched just slightly as his blue gaze searched. He hated to know that this pain she felt had come from him. How could he punish himself for such recklessness but to deny himself the only thing he wanted; her. "It was improper of me to allow my pride to get the better of me." he apologized once more having felt the times before hadn't done the depths of his regrets justice. If he could put into words the way he loved her he knew there would be novels written in her name.

He knew it would take more than his words to fix things between them. He had hurt her and he knew it was something that couldn't simply be brushed under the rug. These were her emotions and to him, they meant more than he was sure she would give hire credit for. He didn’t mind it, fighting for her love, because she was wen worth the fight. Being close to her served to remind him of his desperation. His nostrils flared slightly as a familiar scent touched his nose. He hadn't been close enough to her for the pleasure of such a privilege, at night she usually smelled of lotions. But here as she sought to find the perfect dress she smelled more like he often drew from memory. "Are you saying you wish not to indulge me?" his brows rose as his lips pursed. Wolfgang gave her a curious look as his head tilted to the side. "Shame really, and here I thought you enjoyed gifts."

He nodded as she turned back to the mirror. He had thought they had moved past the times where there were rules to their engagements. He didn't much like the way the conversation had gone. "my part?" he asked as he toyed with the buttons of his vest. His eyes drifted to the other woman's reflection as he once more pursed his lips. He didn't move as he wanted for the soft click of the door. He would address the most important question in the room first. "If by this you mean yourself then yes. I know that my actions have led you to believe otherwise but I love you Genevieve." he took a measured step forward,"l wish there was something I could do to show you how terrible l feel for hurting you in this way. In an attempt to punish myself I've punished you most of all." The distance between them closed again. He reached out letting long fingers brush her hair from her shoulder. He watered her through the reflection, “I’m not sure what role I'm to play." he began, "but I'd much prefer playing myself." he had made mistakes in the past but this one he knew cut deep. He had left her to believe that he had lost interest when that was far from the truth. There was no sensible reality in which he was not made in love with her.

"Tonight isn't about my family or yours. It's about our family, the one we are building together, and what anyone might have to say means nothing." he reached up to run his fingertips along her collarbone slowly as he took an even breath. He wanted to remind her of the worth she held in his life. He let his hand trace up the length of her neck, “Have I told you how stunning you are tonight?"

“It’s the worst kept secret in all of London,” she ventured to say though it was speculation at best, no one in her immediate circle ventured to say anything about her husband’s continuous absence even if Genevieve was certain that the staff whispered about the status of her marriage behind her back. “Anyway, your grandfather is a wise man, he knows that even if you have grown cold with me, I am not one to involve myself in scandals revolving divorce, my family would not approve,” she shrugged lightly, even as she spoke her words she wondered if they had any effect on him. Or, rather, if he would find it in his heart to validate her existence in his life in one way or another. It was pitiful, of this she was certain, but left with confused emotions after the birth of their son she needed to know with certainty that he had not deceived her. She could tolerate him falling out of love with her but the thought that nothing between them had been real to begin with evoked the sorts of emotions better left unexplored. “You mustn’t apologize for that,” she said after a moment, she didn’t want an apology he felt obligated to give her, “You did what was best for you,” she said after several moments of silence.

However, her desire to shrug off the pain accompanied by the sentimentality that enveloped the majority of their memories together made it even more difficult for her not to react to his every move. She wanted to push him away just as desperately as she needed him close; their romance a never-ending cycle of push and pull, the idea that eventually she would have to come to terms with the fact that she loved him and only him frightening her into a sort of perpetual denial that prevented her from living the fantasy she had chalked up in her head. It was her disbelief that love could feel so perfect between two human beings that kept her from the greatest romance of her life. But Genevieve had decided that by keeping him at arm’s length she would protect her heart and prevent it from being broken from his abandonment. “I am saying that I waited to be indulged for practically a year,” she said, her tone slightly bitter, “and that if you’ve come to tease me then you’ve no business here,” she added, tightening her jaw as she struggled to maintain a calmness to her voice.

But it was almost impossible to remain calm when that silver tongue of his used words to write poems into existence, the love word, that word she dreaded so much, causing her cheeks to redden just a little in partial excitement and embarrassment. He had told her thousands of times and yet, hearing him say the word attached to her name in any shape, way, or form, made her heart swell. She frowned a little in response, finding that in order to convince him that there was no hope for them she needed to show it more actively on her face. “You’ve always punished me, Wolfie,” she said, her voice softening a little as she spoke. When she felt his fingers in her hair, however, she melted, his words managing to coax some honesty from her. “You ignored my letters, you went from girl to girl to girl, you abandoned me at Hogwarts…all of these things you’ve done to punish yourself have hurt me tenfold,” she explained. “But I know that how I feel is the least of your worries, you have a son now, your responsibilities lie elsewhere,” she sighed a little, her shoulders dropping as his hand moved along her back.

“You’re deflecting,” she warned him before walking over to the vanity in search of her cigarettes. “I realize I just had a child but surely you did not expect any less from me, or have I lost all worth in your eyes?”