The Night is Dark

[Linden Tinker]

October 15th—Tinker Farm Event!

His brother had suggested it, and the sisters had immediately leapt on board. By the time the notion of hosting an event at the family farm had reached Linden’s ears, the ball had gained so much momentum that there was no stopping it, making Linden question whether he or his collective siblings was truly the patriarch of the family. Resigned, he had involved himself as little in the planning as he could reasonably get away with, focusing on his usual tasks and those of his siblings as they had thrown themselves whole-hog into the organizational process.

With the day now upon them, however, he was no longer permitted to remain separate from the affair, though it was not this that was now causing him to sweat anxiously.

He was to turn thirty-one in just over a week’s time. His age, experiences, and position made him a man by anyone’s reckoning, and Linden Tinker could no longer in good conscience avoid the next logical step. That his mother’s hints at the matter had grown progressively less subtle in the past half-decade did not help, and neither did the fact that he had found himself very infatuated with one young lady in particular.

Of course, infatuation was one thing, while acting upon it was another matter entirely—a much more difficult one, that he had fumbled his way around on their last three meetings and had little confidence he wouldn’t evade at the last moment this time, either. Still, Linden was clad this evening in his finest suit in case he should see her, and had even gone as far as to drink a small glass of cheap whiskey in the hopes that it would settle his nerves, though all it had managed thus far was to make the farmer feel rather light-headed.

Fortunately, he had not seen her yet—he still had time to mentally prepare himself. It was this one thing that he clung to as he turned round with a pumpkin pasty, walking straight into none other than Miss Valencia Cameron as he did so.

“Miss Cameron!” Linden exclaimed, aghast and mortified. “I am so d-dreadfully sorry!”

@'Valencia Cameron'/@'Andromache Pettigrew'

  

[Valencia Cameron]

This time Valencia had needed little coaxing before she had agreed to join Annabeth. The name Tinker would likely have been persuasion enough without the draw of seeing the farm she had heard so much about, a farm which had already surpassed her expectations. The farm was bigger, the land more extensive, than Valencia had ever imagined, and though the secretary knew very little about farming she had some idea of the hard work, the determination that must have seen them this far. No wonder Mr. Tinker spoke of Tinker Farm which such pride!

And speaking of Mr. Tinker. It had taken two hours of fretting over her appearance for the usually sensible secretary to suspect that perhaps she was fonder of the farmer than she had first realised. Seeing him -- or rather, colliding with him -- did little to dispel that notion.

"Please, don't be!" Valencia quickly replied, a warm smile blossoming easily despite the sudden tightness in her chest. "I'm fine. In fact, I was just wondering when I would see you."

@'Linden Tinker'
@'Odira Potter'

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   Linden Tinker

[Linden Tinker]

Wondering when she would see him?!  Was it a good sort of wondering, or a bad sort? Giddiness set into him at her words, and he stammered in reply, “W-well then I must take back my ap-apology as seemingly I have done well in spite of myself.”

Panic momentarily subsided, Linden allowed himself a moment to take in Miss Cameron who looked particularly lovely for the occasion. Seeing her here was quite surreal, and the farmer would not have been at all surprised to learn that he was dreaming.

“Have you been here long?” he inquired.

@'Valencia Cameron'/@'Andromache Pettigrew'