Chapter 70: Chapter 70 – Bonds that tie

And Oscar agreed, this time without hesitation. He had nothing to lose, on the contrary, with how scared Dianne was of the villain lately, he was convinced that she wouldn't think of breaking her word. Not if she could help it, at least.

Having entered through the side door, the chapel was now far from crowded. More like it was almost empty, except for four regular parishioners in the background who had come to pray, a dozen close relatives of the protagonist —including her mother and sisters— and Father Gilmore himself. Who, in a corner of the church, was talking worriedly to Mrs. Cornell, probably about what had just happened.

Oscar had just made sure of the puddle on the floor, the thrown vases and the flowers also scattered everywhere, when he heard someone calling him from above. Looking up to an upper floor where in better times a choir might have stood, Kenneth welcomed him saying:

"The views from up here are great, you should try it! I have been able to see everything perfectly and, not only that! I´ve managed to record it in more than one place.”

Despite not specifying, it was clear what he was referring to; Beside him was another man, unknown to Oscar, with a rudimentary camera. With what Kenneth said, it was intuited that they had not only seen the fight, but had taken photos of it, as a souvenir for posterity.

Oscar just nodded to where Kenneth was, as a sign of acknowledgment, but he didn't stop to continue talking to him. Although he was curious to see those photos, when they were revealed, it was not the time.

Dianne, for her part, must have been too anxious to notice that there were a couple of individuals with compromising photos and showing them off, so she continued on without even looking up from her path. She asked one of the Cornell sisters if the protagonist still refused to come out and, after obtaining an affirmative answer, she led Oscar to the door of the sacristy.

After giving a couple of taps on the wood, warning who she was and reporting that she had brought a visitor, Madeleine's voice was heard from inside:

"Tell that fool to go away with his darling and leave me alone! I don't want to see him!”

Dianne was going to start a few subtle words of persuasion, saying perhaps that Oscar was there for her own good, that it would be good if he at least listened to what she had to say. But he stopped her, addressing the protagonist directly:

“Madeleine, if you want me to go, I will. Albert must be waiting for me already in the gardens of Lilac Hall, before the lavish banquet that the Seymours had prepared. He didn't want me to be idle around here, being able to stay there having fun, eating free food and maybe doing some romantic getaway with him while no one is looking, but...”

Oscar didn't need to complete his sentence, because immediately the door opened a little, enough for a person to enter. And Madeleine ordered:

“Come in”

It was so easy that he didn't know what to do for a few seconds! Was it okay to go in when all he had to do was get the leading lady to relent and unlock the door? That had been the deal with Dianne. And he would be lying if he said he was not tempted, at that moment, to turn around and go back outside the parish the way he had come, leaving the author and company in charge of what was to come.

But there was a flaw in that plan, and that is that Madeleine had only opened the door enough to fit one person. Her hand still resting on the doorknob, she seemed quite capable of reclosing it if he didn't say or do what she wanted.

If one were to make a quick assessment of what Oscar had done for the plot of that insipid novel and, likewise, what he had obtained in exchange for his efforts on the part of the protagonist and author, one could reach the conclusion with some rapidity that there was no point in doing anything else for these two people. Even if this turned out to be a small victory and Madeleine barred the door again, after seeing her sometimes cherished friend decide not to accompany her at this crucial moment, Oscar had already kept what he promised Dianne.

He didn't need or should do more, it didn't matter how she take it afterwards. After all, he had achieved what he promised. If things didn't go the way the writer had planned, it was none of her business.

Ergo, Oscar did not even want to waste saliva for this task. Once he had recovered from the initial shock of being attended to in such haste, he chose not to say a word and simply back away, intending to leave Dianne to force her way into the vestry if need be, taking advantage of that fact. door now allowed it.

Unfortunately for him, Dianne hadn't thought that her protagonist would give up so easily either, and thus she was standing too far from that entrance to react in time: Madeleine didn't waste a second and, as if sensing that the person on the other side was about to flee, she reached out from inside the room and dragged Oscar towards the sacristy, relocking it as soon as she had caught his prey, as if she had everything calculated in advance.

The way the events had unfolded was absurd!

Oscar was caught when he had already taken two steps in another direction, being dragged by his jacket so suddenly and with such force that he fell to the floor of the chapel before Madeleine finally released him. And as for Dianne? That woman realized what was happening too late for a change! Just as she started to protest and ran towards that part of the chapel, her dear friend slammed the door in her face.

Was Madeleine so intent on preventing others from having fun while she remained in her misery, captive of her own volition...?

Oscar was not sure, although it was true that he was the one dragged —and despite having forced him to enter the sacristy in bad manners—, she did not seem to be in the mood to fight. She must have had enough with what happened at the altar and this was something that Oscar noticed just by glancing at her.

The protagonist's dress had suffered some damage. Which would translate to a couple of rips in her skirt, not too major ones, and the fact that she was still soaking wet from the waist down. Her clothes weren't too bad, generally speaking. Now, she couldn't say the same for the rest of her person. Well, she, like her opponent in that improvised ring, also looked bruised and disheveled. And he didn't know if it was because of her tears or because part of her water had splashed on her face, but the truth was that even her face looked terrible.

"You're not going to convince me to go ahead with the wedding," she had sentenced, as soon as they were both alone.

"I didn't mean to either, that's Dianne's job."

Oscar did not want to have a long and tedious conversation with Madeleine. Standing next to the door through which he entered, he was still debating whether it would be appropriate to escape now that the protagonist had moved a little away from it.

Although, again, would he have the opportunity to do so? Dianne didn't try to be let in again, but Oscar couldn't imagine her giving up on her: he was sure that right now she would be putting her ear to the door, trying to catch at least a little bit of what was being debated in that room. As if he were a hostage, at that moment he was not sure that someone was going to let him go without having discussed anything.

So he, at last, walked to the other side of the room, leaning on a small table on which some candles and a couple of clerical books still rested, and motioned for Madeleine to take a seat in the only chair there was.

If it was necessary to talk, it would be better to do it as soon as possible, to end it once and for all.

"What have you come for then?" asked the protagonist, taking a seat, without being too hard to beg.

She looked like she had been occupying that chair before, because of how far away she was from the table.

"Can't I visit a friend on her almost wedding day?" Oscar said this with irony, although he soon resumed his serious tone, seeing that far from Madeleine's usual violent outbursts, the aforementioned seemed about to cry again. “Be that as it may, I wanted to give you some free advice from my intrinsic goodness: Don't marry Patrick.”

"You're the first to suggest it to me," she pointed out, uncomfortable, he didn't know if it was because she didn't agree with that advice or, on the contrary, because she was annoyed that no one had suggested it before, after witness that ceremonial disaster. “Everyone has been telling me to let it go, that it was a slip on his part and I shouldn't let such a good match slip away just because I'm a little upset now!”

“Yeah, well, but the others aren't going to be the ones who have to share a bed for life with a tremendous monkey that who knows if he won't be unfaithful again tomorrow.”

"But aren't all men the same? You are going to have some adventure, that is inevitable. Father says it often; it is better that one gets used to these things, that I does not get angry about it, because it´s normal. He also mentioned some uncontrollable instincts or something like that.”

“Nonsense!” Oscar laughed, avoiding making any sharp comment about the individual who made such a statement to his own daughter. “If a person is born cruel and disrespectful, they will remain so for the rest of his life. It doesn't matter what they have between his legs! And that about "uncontrollable instincts"... The two million years of evolution hurt! We have not gone from living in caves to traveling in vehicles through cities that have all the comforts so that now people are proud of having the same reflexes as a poor animal without any understanding or conscience.”

"Are you telling me that you can control yourselves...? Then why don't you do it?!”

Madeleine snapped that question as if it had been Oscar who had wronged her. Luckily, he didn't flinch when he replied:

“Some of us do. Although, I repeat, we are not animals without understanding; I want to think that if one agrees to have a monogamous relationship with their partner, the normal thing is that he is faithful to her... Unless he´s an unpresentable, but that has more to do with his rotten values ​​than with what he has down there. Then, on the other hand, it's not like everyone has the same sexual desires. It depends a lot on the person.”

"Well, it seems to Patrick that I'm not enough for him! And look, I haven't even done anything with him yet, because I followed my parents' advice to wait until marriage, as decent young ladies do... But I had a chance before, that's for sure!” After a moment's consideration, Madeleine added. “Thinking about it now, I'm glad I didn't sneak into his bedroom. After what happened today with that bitch, I don't even want Patrick around. And if we had consummated the union, I would have had to marry yes or yes!”

“As if anyone would have found out who you're sleeping with if you hadn't said so...”

“Patrick could tell and they'd believe him!”

"That's where I agree with you," thought Oscar. Well, the protagonist was the type of guy who congratulated himself on having hooked up with half the women in town and bragged to his friends about how far he had come with them. Whether what he said was true or not.

"Do you think he could redeem himself?" Madeleine asked, after a period of silence. “When people started to leave mass, and Patrick tried to reassure me, he confessed to me that it was a mistake and that it would not happen again. He apologized and insisted that it wouldn´t be repeated. My family and friends also spoke for him, but it was all so overwhelming that I had to lock myself up…! I didn't want to talk to Patrick at first, as his apologies sounded so empty, and in the end I ended up getting fed up with everyone.”

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"Of course I believe in redemption." Seeing that the protagonist was about to jump to the wrong conclusion, he proceeded to explain. “In redemption for only one person, not a couple as a set. As much as I dislike you most of the time, I don't think you or anyone else has any obligation to tie to someone like that just to try and change their disrespectful tendencies. You're not a doctor or a policeman to go around correcting people and, even if you were, I don't think it's very fun to have a partner just as a project to do therapy.”

"Then you don't think I can make him change with my love either."

“People don't change just like that, even though it seems like it, they still have the same disgusting background as always. I know. If Patrick really wants to keep his relationship with you, he should take the initiative to get out of his affairs on his own, and then make a real effort to keep you around. Not just using words. Which now, from what I see, he is not doing.”

Oscar said this looking at the jacket that covered Madeleine and that, by the way, did not belong to the protagonist, but to Mr. Cornell. Apparently, after they managed to separate her from Ms. Hendricks, it was her father who offered her something to cover herself with after her dress was soaked. Patrick had limited himself to talking to Madeleine for a couple of minutes, apologizing as best he could and, seeing that his words were unsuccessful, he preferred to leave the parish with his friends rather than stay trying to make her see reason or seek help or get out of the place where he was locked up.

But did Patrick really want to get married? He seemed sure of it until the moment that rabid woman appeared on the scene! Either way, it wasn't healthy.

Oscar thought of Albert and the relationship he now had with him. A relationship where there was hardly any discussion and, although they did not always agree, they always tried to solve everything in a civilized manner. They had come to an unspoken agreement on many things, often without much talk. They knew what each other's goals were, and instead of humiliating themselves to try to outdo each other, they helped and protected each other. Neither manipulation nor jealousy existed, since both valued and respected each other, trusting that the affection was reciprocal.

All this not to mention the presents. Well, while Patrick had left Madeleine with a cheap ring that he hadn't even bought with her in mind, the watch that Oscar had offered Albert had stayed with him for all those months. The villain used to wear said watch on his vest whenever he went out, without fail. And, likewise, Oscar used his scarf until the weather got too hot to bring something wrapped around his neck. Then, as expected, there was his pen. Which he always used whenever he wanted to put his ideas on paper.

In short, despite the fact that Oscar was generally unlucky, he felt that he had been really lucky to find someone like Albert.

And it could be that Madeleine was toxic and unbearable herself, without the need to join anyone, but that did not imply that she deserved to be with someone who did not value her flaws. That is why Oscar decided to stay in the sacristy a little longer, not with the intention of convincing the protagonist to annul or continue with the marriage, but rather by making her see the pros and cons that a decision like that would carry her. Both long and in short term.

At first, Madeleine was hesitant. It couldn't be easy to erase nearly two decades of prejudice and false teaching in a matter of minutes, so she had questions and replies prepared for each of the statements that Oscar raised. But, little by little, Madeleine began to change her perspective. Thinking that, perhaps, her being the one to abandon Patrick as a result of this whole incident and despite what society might think, was not such a bad idea.

After all, it was better to have trouble outside the house, with acquaintances, than to bring the disturbance into her own bedroom, not being able to have a place to shelter when her husband overwhelmed her too much.

As the minutes passed, Madeleine became more cooperative. Showing her own opinion before the one that others tried to impose on her, she ended up telling Oscar all the hardships disguised as happy moments that she lived with the protagonist long before they got engaged. She recounted facts that, in truth, did not surprise Oscar at all. Well, it is not that the dynamics of fights, gifts and reconciliations varied from the plot that he had read in the original manuscript.

In the end, he and Madeleine spent more than two hours talking in the sacristy. They talking about what a healthy relationship would be and ended up ranting about the male lead, reveling in each of the mistakes that he did not repair. So by the time they finally unlocked the door to get out, a sleepy Dianne fell to the floor at Oscar's feet.

"W-what's going on?" She inquired, getting up quickly, still stunned by the blow.

She looked like she was transfixed with her ear pressed to the wood, so that when the door opened she didn't even have a chance to break her own fall.

"Did you manage to convince her?"

"I did." Before the author could ask any further questions, Oscar added. “No problem.”

Saying that, he walked past, ignoring the few people still left within the parish and leaving Madeleine to tell Dianne on her own about her decision to leave Patrick and start making something of her existence, without having to depend on a man to provide her with affection or money.

As he left the property, Oscar thought he heard the writer's muffled screech of disgust, but he didn't stop. Instead, he walked faster to avoid Dianne trying to drag him back to the church, demanding an explanation from her.

Oscar thought it had all been worth it, for, vulnerable as she was, Madeleine barely put up a fight trying to reason with her. Which would not have been possible had she possessed her usual haughtiness.

That is, it was worth it until he realized the time, that it was long past lunchtime, and that he was hungry. Why had the conversation had to drag on so long? He could have been gone a lot sooner! The deal with Dianne was only to get Madeleine out of the sacristy, and he certainly did that in spades; after a social gathering with her, left the church by her own feet. There was no need to coerce her.

It could be said that saving her from her wedding was kindness on his part. That, as much as those actions displeased the author, she would have no choice but to accept them and comply with the deal they made after the fact.

But well, as she told Dianne, she would make sure to charge her another day. When she got over her coming hysteria.

For the time being, Oscar set out for Lilac Hall only to notice that as he went, several carriages and groups of people on foot were already returning from there towards the town. He already suspected that it would be so, but he continued to walk until about halfway through, when he met the villain.

“Is it over?” Oscar had asked as he approached, referring to his main motivation for attending that event.

"It's after three in the afternoon," Albert reminded him. “They had planned to have a dance and organize some games, but since the ceremony was canceled and nobody is in the mood for it… Only the food was served and, as soon as we finished, they sent us away.”

"Don't joke with me, did I miss everything?"

"At least, did you manage to get Ms. Cornell out of her confinement?"

“Not only that, I convinced her to leave that human waste she was going to take as her husband and look for a job that would give her some self-esteem.” After a pause that dedicated to contemplate the expression of incredulity of the other, he continued. “Awesome, right? In reality, I don't think the initiative (to find a job, I mean) will last more than twenty-four hours. But it's the same, it was about time that woman listened to me!”

“Of course, what you've done sounds most admirable. Even if she ultimately chooses to ignore you, it's good that she knows she has options other than marriage.”

“Right? And luckily I escaped in time; if Dianne caught up with me, I'm sure she'd try to drag me back to convince her otherwise! Who does she think I am? Does it seem to you that I belong to an agency to solve desperate cases?” Realizing something remained in the hands of the villain, he proceeded to inquire. “What´s that?”

What Albert was holding was a basket of unknown content that he had never seen before, hence it caught his attention when coming across it.

"I was waiting for you for a long time, but after half an hour I sensed that you wouldn't come," he explained. “So I went to the Lilac Hall kitchens with your friend Kenneth, who interceded for me, and we picked out some dishes you might like. By now, everything will be cold, but at least you can have lunch properly.”

The basket in question was large enough to hold a hearty lunch. When Oscar had suggested stealing food earlier, he hadn't meant it; Although he was one of those who enjoyed stealing the odd piece of seafood or a dessert during posh events, he certainly did not expect someone to get him such a large amount of food.

Ah, to hell with communication. What was needed to conquer people was to steal food for them. There could be no greater display of affection than that!

Feeling that it was not enough to take the basket and express a few words of thanks, Oscar preferred to throw himself into the villain's arms, in a hug that he returned with some hesitation. And no, it's not that Albert wasn't happy about that show of attachment in public, it's that he still hadn't stopped passing people by!

In fact, when Oscar latched onto the villain, one of the coachmen passing down the road at that moment was so startled that he jerked the reins wrong and nearly fell into the ditch, carriage, horse and all. He was not the only one, in fact, the occasional guest who was now traveling towards Snodland did not know where to look. If towards the couple who didn´t show signs of making sure where they were, or if they continued with their eyes on a road where there seemed to be more and more traffic jams.

"As much as I'm glad you're getting like this over a simple basket," Albert muttered, perhaps worried that some guy had nearly collapsed under his nose, "shouldn't you save this for when we get back to the inn?"

"Hey, Albert," Oscar interjected, still not letting go. “How many times have I already mentioned that I love you? Because I feel like I don't say it enough.”

"And why say what is already obvious?"

After asking this question, he now seemed to be the villain who didn't want to let him go. And, indeed, they were there embracing for what seemed like an eternity, before the eyes of those who passed by. Until, finally, Oscar moved away and, after placing a kiss on the villain's lips, took him by the hand, intending to return to the village with him.

The road had been cleared at some point, and they would be leaving in a matter of days anyway. It didn't matter if the rest of the people continued with their gossip, anyway, it wasn't like they were going to stay in town to be condemned.

In this way, ignoring the onlookers, they did not even notice that one of the people riding in a carriage to Snodland and who had been overcome with embarrassment by the scene he had just witnessed was none other than Peter Northrop. No doubt Albert would be in for another lecture as soon as he got to his house. But it wasn't like he cared about that either; now he had better things to think about.

 

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