After a good night's sleep, they wake with the coming of daylight, and Catherine is already excited.
'I've always wanted to ride a horse, Nelly's were never used for riding, just for farm work. Let's go, I can't wait!'
Vincent can't help but smile at such enthusiasm, with such a tiny body riding will be quite an effort, even sitting in front of an adult. But her happiness is very catching, and Vincent realizes he has never seen her so obviously carefree before. A toddler, constantly aware of danger around her? That is just heartbreaking, they really need to find that lady and convince her to leave them be, willy-nilly.
But not now, they are safe here, outside the reach of the enemy, and they are going to spend a week in carefree enjoyment, starting with a ride through the country. They'll all have muscle cramps tomorrow, but Catherine will have her ride. And so will he, frankly he is looking forward to riding as much as his girl is.
It is great fun to go out together, Adison astride, very indecent to the rest of the world, but quite normal to Vincent, Cathy used to ride astride in their better days, before her father died and Hindley came back.
What?
No flashback, just a normal memory, of someone he never actually knew?
Purposely concentrating on Adison, Vincent can see she is having more difficulty finding her balance than he has, but still she copes admirably, and Catherine is sitting in front of her granddad with glee, holding on to Sparkles' mane fearlessly.
The estate is very beautiful, very well-kept despite Thomas' age, he must have a good steward, or be an expert manager himself.
They cannot ride more than an hour without getting totally stiff with the unfamiliar exercise, but in that time they manage to work up to a little canter, and whilst Thomas keeps Sparkles back, Adison and Vincent gallop over a few hills, Adison knowing exactly where to go, of course.
To think she grew up here, and chose to live in London as a nurse, though of course despite her having lived here most of her life, none of it is actually hers, on her father's death everything will revert to her brother, whom she hasn't seen for at least five years, probably more. Leaving Adison to live off his charity, at his mercy for the rest of her life.
Seen that way, Vincent can easily understand that her current life is a much better choice. All in all, freedom is a better choice than wealth, and of course she has added love to her life, being independent also means marrying where she likes. For Vincent has no doubt that if her father had refused his consent, they would have married eventually in defiance of him, once she turned twenty-one. Adison and himself are meant to be together, nothing can stop their love.
Adison's hair flows behind her as she gallops beside him, her elegant little riding horse keeping up easily with his larger but heavier cob. Her face mirrors his own, total exhilaration, speeding like this feels heady. She is beautiful, his lovely small lady, and so strong and sweet.
The horses tire soon, they're clearly not used to hard work, and they circle back until they see grandfather and granddaughter again, deep in conversation, Sparkles ambling on, though pricking up his ears at the sight of his stable mates running towards him.
Thomas does rein him in a little, good, he's taking no chances with Catherine in front of him.
They turn back towards the stables altogether, ready for coffee. Vincent offers to help with the horses, but the stablehand is glad to do the work himself, he doesn't have to exercise two spirited horses today, saving him at least two hours of work.
Vincent is looking forward to meeting Thomas' friends tonight, he has already heard a lot about them from Adison, there are four of them, three men and a lady, all over sixty years old by now. Apparently, they choose a subject each time they meet and discuss that amongst them, reviewing all the sides they can think of. But since this is the first time they have seen Adison in years, they have decided not to discuss anything but just to chat with her and her husband.
After his reception by Thomas, and yes, his conversation with Adison yesterday evening in bed, Vincent is not afraid of meeting Thomas' friends, more enlightened souls than they are probably nowhere to be found in the country. And anyway, Adison was right, Mr Alexander and Mr Wilde didn't blink at the looks of him, they seemed in fact eager to see him play.
Maybe he is a bit over-sensitive, but who wouldn't be if they saw skin devoid of any colour in the mirror, and eyes the colour of a bird of prey's, with the same intense gaze.
To be totally frank, he got worse glares when he was still swarthy as a gypsy, eyes black but no less intense. Actually, the people gawking at him were often actively hostile, the people in Gimmerton looked down on him, even hated him without knowing him, just because he looked different than they did.
That changed when he came to London, people were not so afraid of the exotic there, and women started to eye him with interest, his proud stance and yes, the suppressed violence in him, it attracted them like a beacon.
Looking about, he sees Adison in front of him, and he waves her to come over for a moment. When she is walking beside him he asks, 'Remember your father's advice?'
'About recording your memory returning?'
'Yes,' Vincent replies, 'I think I have the ultimate entry: I remembered facts of my former life twice today, but without flashback. Just as memories offer themselves, unasked for, almost randomly, and very detailed but without feelings attached to them.
I remembered that Cathy always rode astride before her father died and Hindley returned, and I remembered getting nasty looks all the time and comments on my swarthy gypsy appearance when living near Gimmerton, and attracting a lot of interest of the ladies once I moved to London. Do you think my memory has returned in full? Just like that?'
Adison does not look happy.
'What is the problem, Adison? It's good to have my memory back without having to live it all, isn't it?'
'Things happen as they will, Vincent, but you are so different from Heathcliff, will they be your memories returned, or someone else's intruding on your new life? You'll certainly be a lot safer, instantly remembering people you have known in your former life, but what if his character starts influencing you?'
Stopping dead in his tracks, he takes her in his arms, and states, 'I didn't think of that, but I promise I'll keep telling you everything, we'll work it out together.