Anna was trying hard to look into George’s eyes, looking for some kind of reaction. It was hard to see in the little amount of light there was. They had decided to sit on a chair down by the river Thames. It was a good spot she decided because rather than have to look at each other as she told him her story they could sit and watch the swans settling down on the banks for the night. It was amazing to see these beautiful graceful swimmers waddle their ways out of the water and up the boat ramps. Their long black slender necks gave them a elegance in the water and yet as they toddled up into the park land they looked quite humorous. Anna couldn’t help but feel akin to these creatures, she knew that people who didn’t know her circumstances thought her to be sophisticated and elegant, those who knew her better saw that although she could be graceful she was waddling under the added pressures of her own life.
“I don’t really know what to say”, George began, “actually yes I do. Marry me!”
“George, please don’t be silly. Does everything need to be a joke to you.” Anna was cross with him now. She had poured her heart out to him telling him the sordid details, some things she had never told anyone before now and he was mocking her.
“A joke! No Anna, I am very serious, listen I understand you are not the type of girl who would take advantage of a simple man, like myself. But here is the thing, you need this more than anyone and I’m not just offering myself out of pity or charity. The first words you spoke sent tingles up my spine, when I looked at you I knew the that I had met a woman capable of challenging me, a woman who would encourage me to become a better man.”
Anna was stunned, what could she say to that. If all that had happened to her over a series of months would seem fast to her, it happening over a few short hours sent her stomach churning.
“Marry me, Anna? I know this is fast but this is exceptional circumstances. I know you love your sister and what happened to her was tragic. If I ever met the man who got her pregnant and then abandoned her I would want him drawn and quartered. But now that she is in the mental hospital you need some means of keeping Charlotte with you. You said yourself they want to take her away and if they won’t let you adopt as a single woman then you need a husband” George was speaking at a fast pace. He knew his idea would drive his own family over the edge after their morning, he now understood the conversation with Timothy too. But George knew that this was a good idea, not just for Anna but also for himself too. “Let me be that husband?”
Anna just sat there looking at George’s sweet face and then back at the water and then back to George again to be sure that he really was sitting next to her on the wooden chair.
“I...I just can’t get you involved” stammered Anna. “There is more than just me involved”.
“Anna, look at me”, George demanded, lifting her face gently to look him straight in the eyes. How am I supposed to explain this, George thought, how can I open her eyes that this is just what is meant to happen. George was never sure about love at first sight but he did believe that God did open doors for those in trouble and he strongly felt that he was an open door for Anna. “Would your mother deny you happiness with a man you loved? Would she be happy at the chance to keep your niece in a beautiful family environment? With a mother and a father? Would your father not be wishing from the grave that your niece be given a loving family home like the one that you grew up in?”
Anna knew he was right that those were things that her parents would want, her sister too but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was wrong to marry a man just because he presented himself as her life preserver. She didn’t want to take advantage of George, she didn’t want him to do this out of charity.
“And if you have any doubts about my feelings for you” George kissed her, their lips were barely touching at first and gradually the kiss deepened. Not in the physical sense but emotionally Anna could feel herself gasping for breath. “And if you have any doubts about your feelings for me”, George kissed her again and this time Anna felt herself applying the same amount of lean as George. This time the kiss met right in the middle, she was not being kissed as a few boys had tried before, this time she was kissing too.
“Oh George”, Anna whimpered. “I just can’t do this, it doesn’t feel right. I feel like I am taking advantage of you”.
“Anna, I am a grown man. I make my own decisions and in this case I feel like I have made the right decision”, George smiled “I am going to make you my wife”.
George didn’t know the details yet but he had already decided that this would be something his father would approve of. George knew that it would be seen by his mother as a rash decision but all the family were believers in love and rash decisions were not always bad ones.
As George walked Anna home through the streets of Windsor he was feeling on top of the world. He walked Anna to the train station, he wanted to escort her all the way home but she insisted that she would be fine. With the threat of war there were plenty of watchmen around on the lookout for planes, she had also wanted to use the journey as a time to think and gather her thoughts.
Was she really going to do this? George had been very definite in his response, she hardly felt like she could say no to him, but she knew that she didn’t want to say no. It was a lightning speed courtship but she wasn’t a girl who was naive of true emotions, George wasn’t a man who promised one thing in order to get another. Anna wanted to laugh and cry both at the same time. How would her mother respond? How would George’s family respond? She couldn’t help but laugh at the next thought- How would Timothy respond?
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