<span style="font-family:Viga">Life with William was more than Adelaide could’ve ever hoped for. She’d never dared to even think of the idea of love again after she’d lost Louis and for Adelaide, it wasn’t because she didn’t think it was possible, but instead because she didn’t want to ever have to endure such a loss again. To love and to lose that love had nearly torn her in two when Louis’s lungs had failed him and Adelaide had been by his bedside to see it all happen. As a young woman in her time, everyone had told her she should move on from him, that she still had so many fertile years yet and that to find another man would be best for her. She’d tried to take their advice about a year out from the loss, too, but memories of his passing had haunted her and she knew that if she loved again, then she could go through that loss again. <br/>
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For some reason, having that loss in common with William made it harder to actually let that fear interfere in their relationship. If they both knew what it was like to lose someone they loved, then they simply wouldn’t let there be loss. However, life didn’t work like that. Even though Adelaide knew that, she still wasn’t quite as afraid with William as she had been in the past. That was what made it work.<br/>
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Anyone in that coffee shop could clearly and readily see that Adelaide had allowed herself to fall in love again. The signs were in the way that she moved, the way her actions seemed to curve around him like they were designed for him to be a part of them. It was a very unique way of moving and it showed how close they were. Of course, such a closeness would seem intuitive considering how long they had been together. Adelaide knew just as well as the next person that their time together had been absurdly wrong and almost entirely inappropriate; there had even been an instance where she had meant to ask him about it because all the stares had started making her uncomfortable. Then she had overheard an older lady say something that made her stop and think differently. <br/>
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‘That girl forgot how to court so long ago and with good reason, too. She forgot how to court, but she learned how to fall in love. That’s the part that mattered.’ <br/>
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When she heard it, she’d smiled and then she had decided that she was fine with her and William’s relationship staying the way it was for as long as he decided to let it be that way. After all, if she had asked about it, that would’ve been breaking tradition as well because the decision to pursue marriage was always supposed to be the man’s choice… in a traditional courtship anyway. Adelaide and William were a bit off from those ideals. That wouldn’t stop them from being together, though. <br/>
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“Coffee and hot chocolate coming up. Is that request meant to imply that you’ll be sticking around for breakfast, Adelaide?” He decided to double check on that point, at least. <br/>
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Smiling brightly, Adelaide nodded. “Yes please, Henri. Two slices sounds wonderful.” She watched as he scurried back into the kitchen and then Adelaide’s senses turned to put full attention on William because she knew she only had so long before his work stole him away. <br/>
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“That would be nice,” she commented. “You could meet me after work and then we could walk over there together.” It seemed like a logical order of things. “Antoine hasn’t sent us to a bad place yet so I think it’s definitely worth a shot.” She smiled at that because they had never really actually been sent to any bad places from the start. Then again, she was quite possibly jinxing them and she just didn’t know it.</span>