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Author's Chapter Notes:
Kimber, Amelia-Jane, Devin, jt and SarahandJamesFanatic, I can't thank you enough for your wonderful comments. :D



And thank you, Jen, for betaing this chapter for me.
Chapter 12

That day at the beach

Aimée sat on the beach near William the Bloody’s cottage wearing a very simple peasant white blouse and red skirt that she’d bought at the market that morning. It definitely wasn’t a style she was used to, but she couldn’t very well be visiting a man alone dressed as Miss Aimée Summers, now could she? Of course not, she was playing a part and although her dresses were beautiful, they didn’t show as much skin as she’d like. After all, she wanted to be treated like a woman, not a lady.

After a little while of waiting, she saw the man she’d been thinking of step out from the Ocean dressed only in his pants. Her eyes followed the trail the water drops were leaving on his tanned torso.

“Like what you see, pet?”

Aimée gasped as she noticed that the man she had been ogling was now standing in front of her. “Hmm, I—”

“Cat got your tongue?” he added with a smirk.

Aimée straightened as she noticed the sardonic smile; damn, the man was a devil indeed! A very handsome one at that, and from his proud countenance, he seemed to be very aware of it, too.

“No, it did not,” she replied, adding coquettishly, “and yes, I do like what I see.”

Used to women vying for his attention, William was unfazed by her answer, “So, who are you, pet? Haven’t seen you around before yesterday.”

“Well, I have been living in Boston and just came back a few days ago.”

“And do you have a name?”

Aimée toyed with the idea of giving him a false name, but living in a small town like Galveston it was likely that he’d find out her real identity anyway. “My name is Aimée Summers, what’s yours?”

“Aimée,” he repeated, a shiver going through her as his deep voice seemed to caress her name. “You mean you don’t know who I am?” William quirked an eyebrow when she shook her head, he wasn’t sure if he believed her, but decided to tell her what anybody would tell her if she asked. “I’m William the Bloody, Captain, Spike or the Devil, depending on who you ask.”

She looked at him, disbelief clearly etched in her face. “None of those, aside from maybe William, can be your real names, what’s your surname?

Deep sadness flashed in William’s eyes for a second, but he covered it so quickly that Aimée didn’t even notice. “I don’t have one.”

“Everyone has a surname.”

“I’m not everyone, luv. I thought you might have noticed that by now.” He smirked. “Now, what’s a young girl like you doing around here?”

“Maybe I was looking for you.” She batted her eyelashes at him.

William smiled smugly, if he hadn’t been sure that she knew exactly who he was before, he was now. Well, if she didn’t care to be seen with him, why should he? She was quite different from the kind of women that generally approached him. Even if she wasn’t dressed as a lady at the moment, her poise and confidence spoke of her upbringing. And she was very beautiful and quite comfortable in his company despite his reputation to boot. What else could he ask for?

“Me? Why would a lady like you would want me for?”

‘To sweep me up my feet and make me feel like a real woman, before I get married to a man I don’t love and probably never will,’ she thought, but since she couldn’t tell him that, she decided to just answer, “Why do you think?”

“I think that we should discuss this in my cottage; what do you say, luv?”

She nodded and followed him to his cottage.

* ~ * ~ *

Summers’ Household, two days later

“B-but… what am I going to tell Elizabeth, she will be crushed for sure.”

“I know, dear, but there was no way of convincing Angel,” Darla replied, she had decided to leave out the part of Angel wanting to marry Aimée, she didn’t want Elizabeth to suffer that humiliation on top of Angel’s rejection. “The only thing I could get of him was his promise that he would back up whatever version she decided to give as the reason why she had decided not to marry him and he also said would provide Elizabeth with a generous dowry, I am sure it would not be difficult to find her a suitable husband.”

“It seems you do not know Elizabeth, Darla. She’s so proud and stubborn. And this will be a very big disappointment for her. I am not sure how she will react,” Joyce explained worriedly.

“I imagine we do not have another choice but to pray she takes the news with the maturity that characterizes her.”

* ~ * ~ *

Later that same day

Elizabeth paled as she listened to her mother tell her that Angel didn’t want to marry her, and even more when she told her that he’d offered to provide her with a dowry, and give her the chance to concoct a lie as to why she didn’t want to marry him. Why did he do this to her? She’d been dreaming most of her life with marrying him and now he rejected her without even seeing her again? That had hurt her, but to hear that he had offered of providing a dowry for her had been like a slap on the face. How could he dare?

“Tell Aunt Darla that they don’t have to worry about providing a dowry for me.”

“What?”

“I would not need it. I have decided to join the convent as a novice and tomorrow I’ll go talk to Father Michael about that.”

“Elizabeth—” Watching the stubborn set on her daughter’s chin, Joyce decided to recur to her childhood’s nickname. “Buffy, you can not do that. Please, I beg you to reconsider…”

“I can and I will, mother. I refuse to be the laughingstock of Galveston and its vicinities or worse that people feel pity of me. After all, it will be a more credible story to say that I refused to marry Angel because I wanted to join the convent, wouldn’t it?”

Knowing there wasn’t anything she could say to convince her daughter when she was like that, Joyce nodded sadly and left Elizabeth’s room.

Once alone, Buffy ran to the door and locked it; then she climbed on her bed and cried over all that could have been and how her dreams had came to a crushing end.

tbc





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