Once We Were Read Online Free Page A

“Don't fall asleep. Keep talking to me. What do you plan to do in America?”
    “ I'm not going back to America,” Ioan said.
    “ Don't be such a baby.”
    “ You do recall the last time I was in America,” Ioan reminded her.
    “ I can't forget it,” she said.
    “ I'd like to forget it,” he said. “In fact, I was doing an excellent job forgetting prior to this inconvenience.”
    “ Then try harder to forget. Anything to keep from falling asleep,” Cora answered. Simpler to say than do. Forgetting hadn't been an option. Ioan was cursed to remember every detail regarding summer of 1901. It proved an awkward season, to say the least. Two adolescents shoved into a big fancy room, the best the girl's family could reserve. She was beckoned by her nanny through one door, and her reluctant visitor was shoved by his father through another. The girl took her seat delicately by the fireplace and waited, impatiently, but with the politeness demanded of her sex. The boy kept his silence. He looked everywhere around the room. He observed the maroon velvet drapes, the expensive Mediterranean carpets, the shapely chairs, the dark wooden tables carved with cherubs and harps, the teacups, and anything but at her. He stood aloof  and distracted himself from her gaze, fiddling with the handle of an ancient colonial sword put on display.  He was fascinated by the history and noted that Massachusetts was the heart of the American Revolution. He liked the thought of seeing Boston if ever he could spare the time.
    The girl scowled at him. She would not tolerate invisibility. “Mhm?” she cleared her throat, which was astonishing manners for a lady. He turned to face her as if suddenly realizing she was in the same room. “Do you have the time?” she asked. He hesitated before pulling out a silver pocket watch from his coat. “3 o'clock.” He snapped it shut again.
    “We've been here an hour?” she  groaned. “It's pass tea time.”
    “ I can order you tea if you'd like. The attendants here are excellent. Or so I've heard,” he told her.
    “ I suppose we must say something, Mr. Saier,” she sighed, ignoring his suggestion. “We won't leave this room until we do.”
    “ What do people say when they are engaged?” he asked quietly.
    “ Ha!” Even her laugh was unbearable. “Don't you read, Mr. Saier? In the novels, after the gentleman asks for the lady's hand and declares his undying love,  he carries her away on a horse and takes her to far away places for a romantic honeymoon like France or Africa.”
    “ You want me....to take you to Africa....on a horse? ” he replied in disbelief.
    “ The horse is negotiable. I can not be seen on those hideous things. They have a murdering stench,” she complained.
    “ I like horses,” he told her. “My father used to own some.”
    “ Well I'm surprised you don't stink like them. I can't stand to be around the beasts,” she giggled. He couldn't stand that unnerving laughter. He took his silence again, turning his attention back to the painting of a colonial ship leaving port.
    “ So you're English?” she asked, competing for his eyes. “You don't talk like anyone around here.”
    “ Actually, I'm Welsh. Well, half. My father's English, but I prefer my mother's side.”
    “ Oh. My father forgot to emphasis just how much. You're speech is drenched in the accent. You sound like an attendant. 'May I take your order, ma'am?' ” She laughed at her private joke. “If I hadn't known any better, I'd have thought you were a manservant.”
    “ There are plenty of respectable persons, manservant and lord alike, who carry my accent, and they are all very good people,” he defended himself.
    “ Not around here. We don't get very many respectable Brits in this part of town. Most of them are hired as servants because they speak so pretty. I personally never saw any magic in the speech. I think it a bit overpraised and...swanky...but in a laughable kind of way.”
    “ You're