Together

A few days later.

Days had passed and Darla felt her ankle getting better, she could move, but still not stand on it, but it was better than nothing.

"I never knew that you could be so funny" said Darla as she laughed and Elihu laughed as well as they were both together in her room and they laughed.

"Well I do not consider myself that funny" said Elihu as he laughed.

"But you are… and I have to admit that you do tell good jokes" said Darla as she laughed, she did not know when last she laughed like this.

"Thank you for making me laugh Elihu, and for staying here to keep me company" said Darla as she smiled.

"You do not have to mention it Darla, it is the least that I can do" said Elihu as he smiled and Darla smiled at him. Elihu was such a good person, she felt bad for being unnecessarily mean and insulting to him, but now that she had changed, she realized that he was actually very good company to be around.

"Darla, would you like me to get you anything? Nora and I are going to the market" said Wura as she walked into Darla's room and she smiled.

"Oh Elihu, you are here" said Wura as she looked at Elihu and he nodded as she smiled at him.

"Oh no, thank you Lily, I do not need anything" said Darla as she smiled.

"Oh okay then" said Wura with a smile as Liam walked into the room and they both looked at each other for a brief moment as Liam looked at Darla.

"Darla, Malcom wants to ask if you would like anything from the market" said Liam.

"No, I am fine" said Darla as she smiled she was so grateful that she had people like this, who cared about her, when she had no been so good to them, she was so thankful to them all.

"My lady, I can go to the market with you" said Elihu as he looked at Wura.

"No Elihu, it is fine, I can go on my own, you do not have to come with me" said Wura as she smiled.

"I can go with you" said Liam as Wura looked at him.

"You will?" asked Wura in surprise.

"Yes, I mean, Malcom and I happen to be going to the market to get some new horseshoes for the horses, so we can go with you" said Liam.

"Ahh I see, well alright then, we can go together" said Wura as she smiled and Liam smiled at her.

"*Ahem*, Darla, Elihu, I will see you both later, Nora, should be waiting for me now" said Wura as she looked at Darla and Elihu.

"And Malcom should be waiting for me as well, goodbye" said Liam as he left first and Wura followed after him as Elihu and Darla looked at each other and they both laughed.

"Those two are together are they not?" asked Darla as she laughed.

"Of course they are, their suspicious behaviour is showing that very clearly" said Elihu as he laughed, it would just be sad if Liam and Wura thought that their little pretending was actually convincing to anyone, because they were horrible pretenders, it was clear that from the way they looked at each other that there was something going on between them.

"Lily is his wife is she not?" asked Darla as Elihu looked at her in surprise, she did say the truth after all, so he would not deny that.

"Yes, she is" said Elihu as he replied casually and Darla nodded, she knew it, it was clear to see that Lily was his wife.

"How did you know?" asked Elihu.

"I heard him call her Wura…" said Darla.

"That is her name is it not?" asked Darla as Elihu nodded and he waited for her to finish explaining.

"When I first found Liam out in the wilderness and I brought him back to my home, in his sleep, he kept on repeating the name Wura, Wura… I supposed that was the name of his wife that he was looking for, but when he finally woke up, he had no recollection of the name or anything else for that matter, and I just did not mention it because well… you know" said Darla as she looked at Elihu and he nodded.

"I see" said Elihu.

"So he does not know that she is his wife yet does he now?" asked Darla as she knew that he did not know, or else, Liam would not hide his feelings at all.

"We want him to remember first, it is better than us telling him, he might not believe us" said Elihu.

"You should consider telling him though, If he really loves her, then he will accept it" said Darla.

"I know that, but that is up to my lady to decide on how she wants to do things" said Elihu.

"I understand that…" said Darla as she nodded, she knew that Wura was feeling fear, and that was why she did not want to tell him anything.

"Can I ask you a question Darla?" asked Elihu as Darla nodded.

"Sure go ahead" said Darla as she smiled.

"You like Liam do you not?" asked Elihu as Darla sighed and she nodded.

"Correction, I used to like him, but I realize now that he does not love me, and I allowed my feelings cloud my judgment and sanity, it made me do things that I should not have done" said Darla as she smiled.

"So you no longer like him?" asked Elihu.

"Well no, I do not like him, I would say that my feelings for him prior to this was just admiration and not true love" said Darla.

"I was only under the façade that I was in love with him, but I know now that It was not love at all" said Darla.

"What made you be under that façade that you loved him?" asked Elihu.

"I do not know… many things" said Darla as she sighed.

"I mean, he was the first man other than my brothers who paid any attention to me, who smiled at me, who spoke nice things to me, I guess that I fell in love with the idea of that, I had never had any many show interest in me, and I… I guess that the feeling of being with someone new overwhelmed me" said Darla.

"And I mean, I saved him, I guess that in a way, I felt like he owed it to me, to love me the same way that I loved him, but that was far from the truth" said Darla with a sad smile.

"I should have known better, I should never have expected something from him that he could not give, I was naïve and stupid to think that he could ever love him, when he clearly had another woman in his heart, and my plans were just selfish, I wished so deeply that he would never find his wife, so he could forget her totally and stay here with me, how insensible and selfish was I?" asked Darla as she laughed to herself and Elihu kept quiet, he did not want to interrupt her.

"So now I realize that fate will always be fate, and no one, no one can stand in front of it, no matter how hard you try" said Darla as she smiled.

"I just feel so stupid" said Darla as she laughed.

"You cannot call yourself stupid Darla, you cannot blame yourself for admiring someone new, we all have feelings and emotions, we can easily fall, and that is not your fault" said Elihu as Darla smiled.

"Oh you are only being nice to me Elihu" said Darla as she smiled.

"No I am not, you are a very smart, beautiful girl, and I am sure that one day, you will find someone who truly loves you, and appreciates you, because you are yourself, and no one else" said Elihu as he smiled.

"Thank you Elihu, you saying that… it means a lot to me" said Darla as she smiled.

"You are welcome" said Elihu as he smiled and he and Darla looked at each other for a long while as suddenly Elihu leaned in closer to her and Darla did the same as their lips touched and Elihu snapped out of his daze as he pulled away quickly and he cleared his throat.

"I am so sorry" said Elihu as he started to apologize quickly.

"No… no need to be sorry, I… I should have done something to stop it" said Darla as she cleared her throat and she looked away, she just felt so bad, so bad right now, here she was falling again, how could she fall so easily, how could she have kissed him.

"Oh, I am sorry Darla, it is not that I… not like I do not want to kiss you but I…" said Elihu as he knew that he had messed up, he was talking too much right now, way too much.

"No it is fine, I… I should not have allowed myself to get so carried away by the moment, I am also at fault here, how could I think that anyone would want to… you know what it is fine" said Darla as she refused to look at Elihu.

"I am sorry Darla, I think that I should go now" said Elihu as he got up and he walked to the door.

"Alright" said Darla as Elihu looked at her once again and he sighed as he walked away and he closed the door behind him as Darla looked at the door and she sighed as she touched her lips.

Was she the only one who felt something like magic flow through her when Elihu's lips touched hers… and Elihu apologized repeatedly, so that meant that he did not feel what she had felt of course, she was so stupid.

"You should have known better Darla" said Darla to herself as she sighed, she fell once, and she was about to fall again, why could she not stand her ground??

Elihu groaned as he scolded himself internally, how could he kiss Darla, how could he ruin the fine relationship that they had with each other? He really messed up this time.

He did not want to hurt Darla, but it was clear that he had already hurt her, he was not sure if he could ever bring himself to face her again, this was the worst that he could do.

"I thought that you had left your womanizing ways already Elihu!" said Elihu to himself as he sighed.

He did not want to do to Darla what he did to several other women, he had changed, and he did not want to hurt Darla, she did not deserve to get her heartbroken by his unserious self.

"You really messed up this time Elihu" said Elihu to himself as he sighed, he could never look at Darla the same way again.

"Elihu" called Dothan as Elihu almost jumped in fright as he heard Dothan's voice.

"What??" asked Elihu.

"I asked where Darla is" said Dothan.

"Oh… in her room" said Elihu.

"Okay" said Dothan.

"Yes" said Elihu as he walked away, he did not want Darla reporting him to her brothers, and he did not want to be here when she did so.

"Very strange…" said Dothan to himself as he wondered why Elihu was behaving strangely today, but he just shrugged off his thoughts on what he thought was wrong with Elihu as he walked to Darla's room.