Arabella let out a scream as she looked across the room and saw her husband, standing in the doorway, open-mouthed in shock, his wide eyes taking in the scene before him.
“Jonathan!” she shrieked. Belatedly she realised that she was still sitting astride Norrell’s hips, and he was still buried inside her body. She climbed off with as much grace as the situation allowed and tried to hide her nakedness with the covers.
Norrell had also hidden under the covers, completely. He was now just a lump on one side of the bed.
And Jonathan was still just standing there, staring, with a shock writ plainly on his face. Arabella couldn’t tell whether he was angry or not and suddenly she was filled with fear, and cursing herself and her desire to do something ‘reckless’. What a fool she was!
“Jonathan?” she asked. “Jonathan, please say something.”
He merely blinked at her a few times, then turned around and went out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Arabella, after being completely unsuccessful at talking Norrell out from under the covers, put on her nightdress and went in search of her husband.
She didn’t have to search long. He was in the library, sitting in the half dark with only a few lit candles for light. Arabella swallowed hard, feeling like a lump had formed in her throat. Jonathan looked a little frightening, sat there in the gloom.
She approached him, of course. This was her husband; he would never hurt her.
“Jonathan?” she whispered, approaching cautiously.
He looked up at her, his face studiously blank. “Bell! Have you had a good evening?”
Arabella grew impatient. If he wanted to get angry and yell about this, she wanted him to get it over with. “Jonathan! Stop being so ridiculous and talk to me!”
Jonathan suddenly couldn’t quite hold it in. He burst out laughing and laughed until he had given himself hiccups. Arabella could have hit him.
“You really are the most infuriating,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself defensively. “There was me thinking you were angry or upset. There was me worrying about you. I don’t know why I bother.”
“Angry?” Jonathan said after holding his breath to stop his hiccups. “Upset? Bell, I’m utterly bewildered! You have shown no indication that you even like Norrell, let alone want to do…that with him.” He stared wildly ahead, as though he was playing it out in his mind.
Arabella had to admit, her husband had a point. “I suppose I didn’t like him, at first,” she confessed. “A person’s feelings can change. Yours did.”
“Yes, my love, but that is quite different. Norrell is a part of me.” He ran a hand across his face in frustration. “It’s hard to explain.”
“No, I understand,” she said, taking his hand in hers. “I’ve told you time and again that I understand. I’ve always understood. You just didn’t believe me.”
Jonathan gave her that look again, like she was a miracle that he had just witnessed.
“You are part of him and he is part of you,” she kissed his knuckles. “And I love you. Everything about you. Including him.”
“Oh, Bell,” he whispered reverently.
“I confess that tonight I got a little carried away,” she said, suddenly feeling mortified that she had been caught being so wanton and shameless.
Jonathan just laughed again. “Carried away? No that’s quite an understatement.”
“How much did you see?” she asked, feeling herself blush from head to toe, her head buzzing with embarrassment.
“Enough,” Jonathan said with the slyest, naughtiest grin she had ever seen him give. “I’d forgotten how bossy you can get.”
Arabella looked down at her feet. “You are not angry?”
“Angry?”
“About what we did?”
“And what right would I have to be angry?”
Arabella thought about it for a moment. He had a point, but although it wasn’t rational for him to be angry, the human heart was almost never rational. She considered that, even though he had another lover, he might resent her having one. She explained as much to him.
“Not at all. I have always hoped that the two of you would learn to get along a little better,” Jonathan said.
“This went a little beyond ‘getting along’,” she answered.
“It was a rather radical interpretation of the text, I admit, but still…”
Jonathan fell silent and contemplative for a moment and Arabella was forced to wait patiently for him to say anything further. Eventually he sat back and looked up at her searchingly.
“Bell, have you ever wanted something so much, but were convinced that you never be able to have it?”
Arabella sat on the edge of the desk in front of him. “Of course. For four years I wanted nothing more than for you to come home.”
“How did you feel when you finally got what you longed for?”
“Like, it was too good to be true. I always thought there would be some catch, some loop-hole somewhere.” She smiled ironically. “I was right, as well.”
He chuckled and admitted she had been correct. “I wanted nothing more than to have my two loves with me forever. And when I got what wanted, I assumed that there would be something around the corner that would spoil everything.”
“And?” she asked, wondering if she had been the one to spoil everything.
“You and Norrell argued about anything and everything. I thought for a while that everything was going to fall apart.”
Arabella sighed. “And there was me thinking you found the whole thing terribly amusing.”
“Oh, I did, but I still thought one of you would end up leaving.”
“And now? How do you feel now?”
Jonathan’s eyes where shining in the low light. Arabella thought that maybe he was crying, but she couldn’t quite tell. She reached out to touch his cheek, and his own hand came up to cover hers. He placed a kiss on the palm and smiled up her.
“For a long time I have harboured a fantasy,” he began, kissing up her wrist, pulling her off the desk and towards him.
“A fantasy?” she asked, sitting on his knee, letting him kiss his way up her arm and over her shoulder.
“Yes, a particularly sordid little fantasy.” He carried on kissing, working his way up her neck.
Arabella breathed a sigh. “Oh, really? Do tell.”
Jonathan hummed against her throat and she shivered at the vibration of it.
“It involves me coming home and finding my wife and my lover thoroughly enjoying one another.”
She gasps as he raked his teeth against her skin. “That does sound very sordid,” she said, shifting a little on his lap. She winced, still feeling quite sore and sensitive.
“I told you. The trouble is if this little fantasy comes true, then I really will have everything I ever wished for.”
“And you would worry that it would all be too good to be true,” she finished for him. He nodded against her shoulder.
“After all,” he said, “my return to you came at a price, didn’t it.” He sounded so dreadfully guilty that Arabella couldn’t wait to reassure him.
“I thought it was that at first. I thought it was the price I had to pay for getting you back, and it was by no means too steep a price, but…” she trailed off, not knowing how to continue. In the meantime Jonathan was going mad waiting for her to finish.
“Bell?”
She looked into his eyes, the low candlelight making them glitter so strangely. “Maybe I got something that I didn’t even know I wanted. Until now.”
Jonathan kissed her forcefully, desperately. “Oh Bell, my love!” he cried after he broke the kiss.
“Maybe we just need to learn to accept that good things really do happen,” she said.
“You really are very wise, Mrs Strange.”
“I know,” she answered with a smile. “I’m also exhausted,” she said with a sigh.
Jonathan’s face broke out into that cheeky grin again. “I’m not surprised.” Arabella playfully hit him on the shoulder and he just kissed her nose in response. “I suppose we should go to bed.”
“Norrell is probably still hiding under the covers,” she said as they blew out the candles and left the library. “You’ll probably have more luck coaxing him out than I did.”
Jonathan paused in the hallway. With her hand still in his she was stopped in her tracks as well. Arabella looked up at him, her eyebrow raised. “Something wrong?”
“We could just…leave him where he is,” Jonathan suggested. He had that look about him again, like he had asked for too much when he should have been grateful for what he already had.
Arabella smiled and nodded. “It is a big enough bed.” Her husband just shook his head in disbelief, but couldn’t help but smile.
He paused again halfway up the stairs, looking a little awkward, hesitant, Arabella would have said.
“I think this is going to take some getting used to,” Jonathan admitted.
Fill: Everything You Always Wanted (10/10)
Arabella let out a scream as she looked across the room and saw her husband, standing in the doorway, open-mouthed in shock, his wide eyes taking in the scene before him.
“Jonathan!” she shrieked. Belatedly she realised that she was still sitting astride Norrell’s hips, and he was still buried inside her body. She climbed off with as much grace as the situation allowed and tried to hide her nakedness with the covers.
Norrell had also hidden under the covers, completely. He was now just a lump on one side of the bed.
And Jonathan was still just standing there, staring, with a shock writ plainly on his face. Arabella couldn’t tell whether he was angry or not and suddenly she was filled with fear, and cursing herself and her desire to do something ‘reckless’. What a fool she was!
“Jonathan?” she asked. “Jonathan, please say something.”
He merely blinked at her a few times, then turned around and went out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Arabella, after being completely unsuccessful at talking Norrell out from under the covers, put on her nightdress and went in search of her husband.
She didn’t have to search long. He was in the library, sitting in the half dark with only a few lit candles for light. Arabella swallowed hard, feeling like a lump had formed in her throat. Jonathan looked a little frightening, sat there in the gloom.
She approached him, of course. This was her husband; he would never hurt her.
“Jonathan?” she whispered, approaching cautiously.
He looked up at her, his face studiously blank. “Bell! Have you had a good evening?”
Arabella grew impatient. If he wanted to get angry and yell about this, she wanted him to get it over with. “Jonathan! Stop being so ridiculous and talk to me!”
Jonathan suddenly couldn’t quite hold it in. He burst out laughing and laughed until he had given himself hiccups. Arabella could have hit him.
“You really are the most infuriating,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself defensively. “There was me thinking you were angry or upset. There was me worrying about you. I don’t know why I bother.”
“Angry?” Jonathan said after holding his breath to stop his hiccups. “Upset? Bell, I’m utterly bewildered! You have shown no indication that you even like Norrell, let alone want to do…that with him.” He stared wildly ahead, as though he was playing it out in his mind.
Arabella had to admit, her husband had a point. “I suppose I didn’t like him, at first,” she confessed. “A person’s feelings can change. Yours did.”
“Yes, my love, but that is quite different. Norrell is a part of me.” He ran a hand across his face in frustration. “It’s hard to explain.”
“No, I understand,” she said, taking his hand in hers. “I’ve told you time and again that I understand. I’ve always understood. You just didn’t believe me.”
Jonathan gave her that look again, like she was a miracle that he had just witnessed.
“You are part of him and he is part of you,” she kissed his knuckles. “And I love you. Everything about you. Including him.”
“Oh, Bell,” he whispered reverently.
“I confess that tonight I got a little carried away,” she said, suddenly feeling mortified that she had been caught being so wanton and shameless.
Jonathan just laughed again. “Carried away? No that’s quite an understatement.”
“How much did you see?” she asked, feeling herself blush from head to toe, her head buzzing with embarrassment.
“Enough,” Jonathan said with the slyest, naughtiest grin she had ever seen him give. “I’d forgotten how bossy you can get.”
Arabella looked down at her feet. “You are not angry?”
“Angry?”
“About what we did?”
“And what right would I have to be angry?”
Arabella thought about it for a moment. He had a point, but although it wasn’t rational for him to be angry, the human heart was almost never rational. She considered that, even though he had another lover, he might resent her having one. She explained as much to him.
“Not at all. I have always hoped that the two of you would learn to get along a little better,” Jonathan said.
“This went a little beyond ‘getting along’,” she answered.
“It was a rather radical interpretation of the text, I admit, but still…”
Jonathan fell silent and contemplative for a moment and Arabella was forced to wait patiently for him to say anything further. Eventually he sat back and looked up at her searchingly.
“Bell, have you ever wanted something so much, but were convinced that you never be able to have it?”
Arabella sat on the edge of the desk in front of him. “Of course. For four years I wanted nothing more than for you to come home.”
“How did you feel when you finally got what you longed for?”
“Like, it was too good to be true. I always thought there would be some catch, some loop-hole somewhere.” She smiled ironically. “I was right, as well.”
He chuckled and admitted she had been correct. “I wanted nothing more than to have my two loves with me forever. And when I got what wanted, I assumed that there would be something around the corner that would spoil everything.”
“And?” she asked, wondering if she had been the one to spoil everything.
“You and Norrell argued about anything and everything. I thought for a while that everything was going to fall apart.”
Arabella sighed. “And there was me thinking you found the whole thing terribly amusing.”
“Oh, I did, but I still thought one of you would end up leaving.”
“And now? How do you feel now?”
Jonathan’s eyes where shining in the low light. Arabella thought that maybe he was crying, but she couldn’t quite tell. She reached out to touch his cheek, and his own hand came up to cover hers. He placed a kiss on the palm and smiled up her.
“For a long time I have harboured a fantasy,” he began, kissing up her wrist, pulling her off the desk and towards him.
“A fantasy?” she asked, sitting on his knee, letting him kiss his way up her arm and over her shoulder.
“Yes, a particularly sordid little fantasy.” He carried on kissing, working his way up her neck.
Arabella breathed a sigh. “Oh, really? Do tell.”
Jonathan hummed against her throat and she shivered at the vibration of it.
“It involves me coming home and finding my wife and my lover thoroughly enjoying one another.”
She gasps as he raked his teeth against her skin. “That does sound very sordid,” she said, shifting a little on his lap. She winced, still feeling quite sore and sensitive.
“I told you. The trouble is if this little fantasy comes true, then I really will have everything I ever wished for.”
“And you would worry that it would all be too good to be true,” she finished for him. He nodded against her shoulder.
“After all,” he said, “my return to you came at a price, didn’t it.” He sounded so dreadfully guilty that Arabella couldn’t wait to reassure him.
“I thought it was that at first. I thought it was the price I had to pay for getting you back, and it was by no means too steep a price, but…” she trailed off, not knowing how to continue. In the meantime Jonathan was going mad waiting for her to finish.
“Bell?”
She looked into his eyes, the low candlelight making them glitter so strangely. “Maybe I got something that I didn’t even know I wanted. Until now.”
Jonathan kissed her forcefully, desperately. “Oh Bell, my love!” he cried after he broke the kiss.
“Maybe we just need to learn to accept that good things really do happen,” she said.
“You really are very wise, Mrs Strange.”
“I know,” she answered with a smile. “I’m also exhausted,” she said with a sigh.
Jonathan’s face broke out into that cheeky grin again. “I’m not surprised.” Arabella playfully hit him on the shoulder and he just kissed her nose in response. “I suppose we should go to bed.”
“Norrell is probably still hiding under the covers,” she said as they blew out the candles and left the library. “You’ll probably have more luck coaxing him out than I did.”
Jonathan paused in the hallway. With her hand still in his she was stopped in her tracks as well. Arabella looked up at him, her eyebrow raised. “Something wrong?”
“We could just…leave him where he is,” Jonathan suggested. He had that look about him again, like he had asked for too much when he should have been grateful for what he already had.
Arabella smiled and nodded. “It is a big enough bed.” Her husband just shook his head in disbelief, but couldn’t help but smile.
He paused again halfway up the stairs, looking a little awkward, hesitant, Arabella would have said.
“I think this is going to take some getting used to,” Jonathan admitted.
Arabella smiled deviously. “Oh, you’ll adapt. Trust me.”