Cornwall, late 1700's1316Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡipOQuGnvh4
The sun was setting, sinking slowly behind the coastline. 1316Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡknNXJ081XE
She watched the waves reach up to lick the mountainside before retreating back again. Standing on the clifftop, her hair was blowing wildly in the wind. The air picked up tendrils of her fiery red locks and floated them behind her on the breeze. Her skirts were whipping around her legs, and she was sure that when she took them off later she'd have red marks from where the fabric had made contact with her pale skin.
It was late summer, and the smell of the grass beneath her feet made her nose twitch. It was warm, and the shawl she had wrapped around her shoulders had fallen into the crook of her elbows, releasing the patch of skin where her dress ended at the edge of her shoulder blades and exposing her slender neck. She was a refined thing, he thought as he watched her standing alone near the edge of the rocky cliffs staring down at the sea. You never would have believed she was a poor miner's daughter.
She must have heard his footsteps crushing the dry, brittle grass (there was never any soft grass round here; the sea air and salt always dried it out). Her head turned.
"Ross!" She exclaimed. "I didn't expect ye back for another couple hours yet." Her lips smiled at him warmly. He felt himself relaxing into her embrace as she put her arms about his neck.
"No," He said softly, once she had stepped back to study his appearance. "I decided to leave early." He tapped his riding crop against his leg. He had called home first, but on discovering her absence he decided to go out and find her. He left his horse there, but must have forgotten to leave behind his crop. His mind seemed to be all over the place.
"Is everything alright?" She asked, concerned. He shrugged. She noted his dishevelled curly locks and the trousers that were creased. She could have put it down to the fact he'd travelled a fair bit today, but her gut told her it was something else.
"As alright as it can be, I suppose." He said grimly. "The mine is failing, we have sky-high debts that are soon to be called in and are likely going to have to sell almost everything we own to be able to feed ourselves and keep a roof over our heads."
Demelza moved towards her husband, threading her arm through his.
"My father and mother always lived on next to nothin'. They were raising three children, too. At least we only have one to fret over."
Ross appreciated her attempt at soothing his worries, and patted her arm gently.
"Walk with me a while?" He asked. "The sun isn't down yet and I've been at the bank for so long today that I had half forgotten what fresh air was like."
Demelza nodded, walking silently at the side of her husband for a while. She was aware that all he wanted right now was her presence, not her words. She knew his moods and tempers like the back of her hand, and when he was in this mood talking was pointless; his thoughts were far, far away from her right now.
"We have another couple of weeks left at the mine. After that we'll have no choice but to close her down." He said. Demelza said nothing and focussed her gaze on the stony path in front of them.1316Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7BMtSxyXP
"Half the village will be put out of work." He added. At that, Demelza pursed her lips. Her husband would bend over backwards for the poor villagers on his land, and though she admired it, respected it, loved it, revered it... sometimes it gave him leave of his senses. The villagers would find work elsewhere - but Ross? The owner of a decrepit mine and a run down cottage on the coast road, with no family except cousins and none of his family fortune left? Where would their money come from? She supposed she could farm a little in the fields at the back, it'd at least keep them fed for half the year. She mused over their options silently. She could go fishing in the cove for fish. Ross would never allow it but if she never told him...1316Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKksTQ1a76U
"Demelza?" He asked. She pulled herself away from her thoughts and looked her husband in the eye. He had dark circles underneath his brown eyes, a sign that he hadn't slept properly for days. Whilst she had dreamed easily next to him, he had likely lain awake for hours wondering what they'd have to sell just to survive. Her gaze softened.
"This will pass. This will all be fine in the end." She said cheerily.
He raised an eyebrow. "How?"
"I don't know all the answers, do I, Ross? Else I'd be a... a scholar or somethin' clever. I ain't never been one for doing all the workings out but I feel it in my heart that we'll be right eventually, and I don't take matters o' the heart lightly." She said with a bright smile. The smile caught, and Ross grinned in response. He kissed her lightly on the lips and stroked her cheek.
"Your optimism is admirable, my love." He said. He had stopped in the middle of the road, looking straight ahead. Against the sky that was swiftly turning pink stood his last working mine. Part of the walls were falling down, stones that had long since tumbled or crumbled; he didn't have the funds to rebuild them. As long as it remained strong under the surface, as long as the supports holding up the mine stayed standing, he didn't care for much else. The grass before it was littered with delicate purple flowers, and impulsively he bent and picked one. Rolling it in his fingers for a moment, he reached and tucked it behind his wife's ear. The purple flower stood out against her red hair. She smiled at the gesture and he marvelled how he had managed to marry such a woman; nearly every woman he had ever known would only ever want jewels or fine clothes. Demelza was happy with a single, solitary flower tucked into her hair.
"What are ye thinkin'?" She asked, her thick Cornish accent coming out as it occasionally did so. Though she may have married a gentleman, she liked to remind him often that she was still a miner's daughter at heart.
"Just that other women would like diamonds and fancy hats. You, my dear, are happy with flowers." He said. She nodded.
"I like flowers." She said with a shrug.
He put an arm about her shoulders and brought her closer to him. Her arm went about his waist, her head leaned against his chest.
"Some women want riches. Some want castles."
"Castles?" Demelza scoffed. "I've only ever seen one castle, and it was all fallin' apart with bits missing from the walls. There was no roof either; what would anyone want one of them for?" She asked. Ross smiled, ignoring her question.1316Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWqguubKCI1
"Falling apart? Bits missing? No roof? Sounds a bit like our mine." He said lightly. Demelza laughed.
"True." She answered. "Then I suppose we do have a castle."
He looked down at her, gazing at her young face. The look of lightness and happiness in her eyes made him laugh.
"Yes, I suppose we do!" He laughed lightly for a moment and then sighed. It wasn't a sad sigh, but not a happy one either. Just... a sigh. "Our castle on the hill."
"Our castle on the hill." Demelza repeated.
Ross was about to ask if this was their castle, did that make him king? And if that made him king, would that make her a queen? But Demelza was already more than a queen to him, and though he had never expected to love her, he found that he did not now think he could live without her. Instead he remained silent, and the pair of them stood for a few moments more staring at their makeshift castle as the sun went down, before heading in silence back to their cottage, leaving their worries behind them to be picked up another day. This day was not the day for worries; this day was a day for love, and as Ross and Demelza walked along the narrow country path back to Nampara, they were both inconceivably glad that they had found one another.
A/N: This is Poldark fanfiction. If you've not heard of the BBC tv show - watch it, it's incredible. It also has a scene with Aidan Turner scything shirtless. Honestly it's worth watching the whole series just for that single moment. Anyway, it's about a man who who comes back from fighting the American Civil War to find his father dead, his first love engaged to his cousin and himself the owner of a mine that's failing. Anyway, he meets Demelza and employs her as a kitchen maid. She's the daughter of a poor miner and he's a Poldark, a family that goes back centuries and once had quite a bit of money. He marries her to get back at Elizabeth for marrying his cousin and neither he nor Demelza expect anything out of the marriage. Then the pair begin to really love each other and though they each have their faults - Ross has many - their relationship is one of the best I have ever read about in a book/watched on TV. They most certainly do not have an easy life, and I'd definitely recommend at least getting into the TV show that has currently just finished its second series. There are 12 books in all (I'm currently reading number 8) and honestly the series will have your heart breaking, in good and bad ways. It's also a great insight into 18th century Cornwall!1316Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD1epbS9FiK
Title and inspiration come from the new Ed Sheeran song, Castle on the Hill.1316Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAnneKnigAx
