Noah didn't want to share it with his mother. He had once shared with her something and it had gone to his father, before he was punished. And though Eve was now married, he didn't see a point to tell about this. He said,
"No. I think it is time everyone stopped expecting and telling me what to do. Fortunately or unfortunately, I am the Duke now and I have responsibilities to complete and at the moment, marriage is not on my mind."
He was mentally exhausted after all these years of having to push and meet everyone's expectations, to walk in the lines drawn for him, that he couldn't do it anymore.
Lady Hilda's expression told everything she wanted to tell her son. But she implicitly let Noah know, "I am disappointed by your action, son. It isn't too late yet, and if you think again, Anaya might change her mind and stay."
"We have forced people enough, mother. Let us not do it anymore before more people get hurt," Noah offered a bow to his mother, and walked away from there.
After three hours passed, the three carriages that belonged to the Chambers family was being readied to leave. It was pulled to the front of the mansion. The servants of the Sullivans carried boxes, loading them at the back of the vehicle so that the Chambers could take it back with them from Woodlock.
Mr. and Mrs. Chambers was talking to Noah's parents and uncle, while Anaya and Noah stood at the front of the four horses of the first carriage, a little away from their parents. Anaya, who stepped out of the mansion, smiled at the elders, before her eyes fell on Noah, who was near the carriage.
Anaya made her way to where Noah was with a smile and she said,
"Duke Noah, I am glad that you are here before I depart. For a moment I thought we wouldn't see each other." She came to stand in front of him and said, "I wanted to let you know that It has been a pleasure spending time at the Sullivans mansion. At Woodlock and knowing people here. I have made memories that I will cherish every one of them until my memory and heart will let me keep it."
"It has been a great pleasure to have you and your family at the mansion. The atmosphere in the mansion has been less gloomier than it usually is, during your stay," Noah let Anaya know, that brought a smile on her lips. He bowed, "Forgive me, if there were some things that didn't meet your expectations."
The smile on Anaya's lips faltered, and she said, "Everything was great. I had a good time here and I mean it. I got the chance to meet new people, and though with unexpected scenarios, it was still good. I also realised that sometimes, what we hope and wish for, it doesn't often come to be met." She then softly chuckled and said,
"Might I say, you have humbled my thinking, Duke Noah."
Noah's head slightly tilted in question and he asked, "I don't think I understand what you mean."
Anaya then said, "Though not boastful from the outside, I have always prided myself by thinking that I have excellent manners than most of the women from our high society. And that I am pretty, and there would be barely a handful or less men, who would reject me. But I have come to realise that is never enough. One can have everything, from wealth, to beauty to manners, and yet you can be rejected because you didn't have the spark the person was looking for."
The she-wolf took a deep breath to calm her emotions. She was a strong woman, and she knew feelings couldn't be forced. They were supposed to come from within the other, and maybe sometimes feelings could be nurtured, but Anaya was aware that Noah was past that point. She saw it in his eyes.
"You are a lovely woman, Anaya," Noah said to her, and she shook her head with a smile.
"I don't need consolation words, Duke Noah," Anaya said, pursing her lips to control her emotions. "I know feelings cannot be forced."
"I wasn't going for consolation words," Noah corrected her, and she stared at him. "Maybe if I wasn't born here, and if we had met in a different time. In different places of our lives, I would have been able to reciprocate your feelings."
Anaya nodded with a bitter smile and said, "I seemed to have missed timing. Maybe not this life, but in the next one?"
Noah smiled at the she-wolf's words, "I agree," and that was enough to bring a smile to Anaya's face. "Take care of yourself."
"You too. I hope whatever you are doing, that you see the fruit of it," Anaya wished him luck, while she concealed the worry in her mind. Because even though many days had passed since the death of the former family butler of the Sullivan family, the search for the deceased continued.
"Shall we leave?" Mr. Chambers asked his wife and then turned to his daughter, who was talking to the Duke. "The soothsayer said there is going to be a blizzard and we don't want to get caught in it."
"Yes, father," Anaya responded with a smile and then turned back to Noah, "Thank you for everything again."
"Thank you," Noah bowed and watched the young she-wolf walk to where her mother stood, smiling and sharing a few words with his parents. After a minute, the two women from the Chambers' family climbed inside the carriage.
"We look forward to you visiting us, Duke Noah," Mr. Chambers said to Noah, offering a bow, and Noah did the same.
"I look forward to it," Noah smiled and watched the man climb inside the carriage. Soon the carriage door was shut.
Noah walked to where his family stood, watching the Chambers family, and his eyes met the young woman inside it, who offered him a polite smile. Soon the coachmen pulled the reins of the horses, and the three carriages left Sullivan's mansion one after another on the snowy road before disappearing.
In the travelling carriage, Lady Madge Chambers noticed her daughter looking outside the window and asked her, "Are you sure you don't want to stay here a little longer, Anaya?"
Anaya turned and smiled at her mother's question. She replied, "I have been missing our home. I think we have spent enough time in Woodlock and papa must have work to attend to."
"Well that is true. There are some things that need attention," Mr. Chambers said with a nod.
Lady Mardy said, "How strange," with a frown, "I thought Lady Hilda would persuade her son, after all she did invite us. But it seems like Noah is busy with other things. We will find a better man than him for you, Anaya," she said to her daughter, and Anaya offered a smile to her mother, who went on to talk with her father.
Anaya turned back to look at the snow, her heart growing heavier as the carriage moved farther away from Woodlock and Sullivan's mansion.
