Subj: Gone with the Wyndcliff -- 4
Date: 8/14/00 10:14:51 AM Central Daylight Time
From: DSRules

Days turned into weeks turned into months, and still Barnabas was besotted with his young bride.

Quentin, professing an unwillingness to inconvenience the newlyweds, cajoled Liz into letting him stay at Collinwood, to Julia's discomfort.

Barnabas had told Julia that he wanted to continue being friends with her, so Julia had agreed to go out to lunch with them. They went to a local restaurant. Barnabas brought Josette along. Julia watched them together, sharing loving looks and private jokes. {I think I'm happy for Barnabas. I know I'm happy for him. Who'm I kidding? I wish I was the woman he looked at with such love, and I know it.} She sighed.

"That was an awfully deep sigh, Julia." Julia heard a deep voice behind her say.

She turned around and found herself face-to-face with Eliot Stokes.

"Eliot," she favored him with a weak smile. "How nice to see you."

"May I join you?" Eliot directed this question at Barnabas.

"Yes, please do." Barnabas responded.

"It's very nice to see you, Mrs. Collins," Eliot said to Josette.

"Thank you." The smile that Josette gave to Eliot had such affection in it that Julia felt downright wicked for her envy.

Eliot then directed his attention to Julia, inquiring after her health, and that of the patients in her care. He kept Julia so flattered and entertained with his attentiveness that the rest of her luncheon with Barnabas and Josette seemed to fly by.

After picking up the bill, to Julia's objections, Barnabas announced that he and Josette would be staying in town a while longer to get some shopping done. He was always buying trinkets and clothes for his beautiful bride.

"May I walk home with you?" Eliot asked Julia.

"Yes. Thank you. That would be nice."

The pair strolled back to Collinwood in silence, enjoying the crisp fall air and each others' calm presence.

They reached the doorstep of the great house, and Julia said, "Do you want to come in, Eliot?"

"Oh, no. I can't. I have to get back to my house, for I have to prepare for my class this evening."

Julia felt suddenly bashful. "It was wonderful having lunch with you. And I enjoyed the walk, too."

Eliot looked at Julia with an expression of yearning. Julia thought that he might be about to kiss her. But he didn't. Instead, he said, "May I call on you again tomorrow?"

"Yes. I'd like that."

He blushed and stammered, "S-see you tomorrow, then." He waited until she was back inside the house and headed off down the private road, a spring in his step.

* * *

Julia closed the door and leaned against it. {A date! I have a date tomorrow! When's the last time I had a date?}

Her elation was short-lived, for Quentin, a snifter of brandy in his hand, soon emerged from the drawing room. "So, who is it that has you blushing like a schoolgirl?" He teased.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "None of your business."

He smirked and took a sip of the brandy. "Let me guess. It was our friendly, local college professor, Eliot Stokes." When her color deepened, he added. "*Very* friendly, apparently."

She refused to respond to his needling, saying instead, "It's awfully early to be drinking." Her cool green eyes swept from the top of his head to his feet in a dismissive gesture.

"Ah, my dear Dr. Hoffman." For Quentin never called Julia by her first name. "I'm a Collins. You should know that the Collinses *never* think that it's too early for a drink."

Julia, unwilling to dignify that comment with a response, merely brushed past him and walked up the staircase to her room.