"Martha, what a surprise," Mariana said.
"The gown is gorgeous, Marie," Martha eyed the gown up and down with awed eyes.
Happy to hear the compliment, Mariana offered Martha to sit.
"What brought you here?" She asked.
Martha sat and wriggled her brows. "I thought it must be your lunch time and I wanted to hear about you and Caelen." She gave Mariana a cheeky grin.
A sad sigh left Mariana's lips. "There's nothing about smiling to tell. Everything is horrible."
"Why? What happened?" Martha wrinkled her brows.
Mariana placed her food on the table and while having her lunch, she bagan to tell Martha everything. She felt her appetite reducing when she spoke about how Caelen was emotionally torturing her but she ate. She needed energy to work and never in her life she wanted to give amything less to her work.
Martha's reaction was very opposite of Mariana's. With a breathy sigh, she clapped her hand happily. "Oh Marie. That is so romantic. He loves you a lot."
"Didn't you hear correctly?" Mariana spoke angrily. "He is forcing me. I think Veronica was right. His obsession is increasing. I must stay away."
"Do not talk rubbish," Martha squeaked. "Caelen is acting like a man in love. Of course he would want you all for himslef. Of course he will tell you he will die if you reject him. These are the tactics men uses to impress their woman. Caelen must be trying the same."
"No Martha. It's not good. It's not at all romantic. You should've seen his face. He looked completely barbaric."
Martha waved her hands. "Men behave like that to have us. But let me tell you one thing," she leaned forward. "Veronica has lost her job."
"What?" Mariana asked shockingly.
Martha nodded her head. "Yes. That's why she is back in town. Now all she is trying is to marry a rich man. And I think she is behind Caelen."
Mariana closed her eyes. "No, Martha. She doesn't think this way. And if she knows Caelen wants me then why would she go after him."
"Caelen earns good, Marie. In our village, his butcher shop earns the most. His is easily one of the richest families in the village. Veronica surely wants him. That's why she is trying to keep you away from him. And don't you dare recommend him to her."
"As he is behaving with me, I won't recommend him to anyone, let alone to a friend." Mariana shuddered.
As the evening approached, Mariana closed her work and after bidding Mr. Roberts good night, she went to her home.
She, Voilet and aunt Penny ate their dinner happily chatting about how Voilet had learn to do a small stitch.
"Wow, Voilet!" Mariana praised. "I am so proud of you."
Voilet's cheeks turned rounder as she smiled widely. "When did you learn to stitch, Marie?"
"Oh, I was thirteen years old, darling. But you learned even before me."
Voilet's eyes were shining proudly.
Aunt Penny chuckled.
"Mama, you promised me to get water colours if I show you a stitch," Voilet said to aunt Penny who nodded her head.
"Yes, I remember. And we will buy it."
"I will bring you water colours tomorrow when I return from the shop," Mariana offered. She knew Voilet couldn't paint at all, but still she wanted to offer her little cousin everything she wanted.
"No. I don't want those from the village," Voilet shook her head.
Mariana wrinkled her brows in confusion.
"She wants it from the Lauren's shop," Aunt Penny informed.
Miss Lauren's shop was in the farer direction from Mariana's shop. It was across the large wheat field to the end of their village and required lot of walking as carriage couldn't be taken through the feild. Another good reason to buy a horse, she thought.
"My friend bought water colours from there. They have twenty different colours there. Here, we get only ten," Voilet pouted.
Mariana smiled. "Alright, dear. I will come home early tomorrow. Then we can go there."
"No need to disturb your work, Marie," aunt Penny waved her hand.
That annoyed Voilet. "Why?"
"Don't trouble Marie, dear", aunt Penny pointed a finger at her daughter. Then, she turned to Mariana. "I want to go there, too to buy a pastel vase. Our two vases had already broken and I would like to buy the new one." She turned towards Voilet with a smiling face and said, "We both will go and buy vase and water colours together after few days."
"Alright". Voilet was happy, unaffected by who bought it. She ran to her room after eating her dinner screaming about how she would proudly show her water colours to her friends.
Mariana and aunt Penny, too finished their dinner and she asked her aunt to rest and began cleaning the table.
She thought about whether the king had forgotten about how he was angry with her. She hoped he had. He was her client afterall. And more than anything, he was a king. A king must not be upset on one of his people.
Surely, there was no personal reason that Mariana was feeling bad about it.
After placing all the dishes away, she began wiping the table. Perhaps she must go tomorrow to the palace to talk with him. But what reason she would give for her arrival? Though princess had informed the guards to let Mariana enter anytime without a card, she still must have a profesional reason. She can't simply go there and knock on the king's door and beg his pardon. They were not that familiar.
Should she say she was there to talk about his suit? No, he had asked her to do whatever she felt right. And if even after that she would ask his suggestion, then it would show her inability in creativity.
As she finished wiping the table, Mariana turned around to wash her hands.
Yes, she thought, she could go and meet Princess Amelia. Today, when she was working with the diamonds, she thought whether the weight of the gown would be preferable to the princess. Tomorrow she could go to the palace to ask her that and hopefully, she would cross paths with the king. And when that happened, she would apologise to him.
Mariana was absently washing her hands when she felt a touch on her shoulder.
Frightened, she turned around with a yelp.
"Caelen," she shrieked after seeing him. When did he get in the house? That too, in the kitchen.