Affaire de Coeur

by Stephanie O’Hanlon

  I then grabbed my shawl from the pink velvet chair, carrying it in front of me as I made my way down the staircase. My whole face lit up as I saw Lucien in what I could only guess was his riding attire. He stood with the Marquis in the foyer.

  “I am sure that he would be happy to assist you. I will inquire of it,” Lucien said to the Marquis, who seemed pleased with the answer, holding his black tricorne hat before him.

  “Well, good. Good.” The Marquis turned as I stopped at the landing, nodding. “Madeleine. Colette is in the salon, as usual. Remind her that she has yet to make an appearance at the Duc’s fêtes. It is imperative that she does, for the sake of the family.”

  I nodded as he turned toward Lucien, bowing to him before he stalked off into his office, closing the door after him.

  Lucien smirked as he walked toward me, bowing to me. He wore a red, double-breasted waistcoat with golden thread around the buttons and up the trim sticking out from his wide, flat collared brown suede frock coat—what my own Pa-pa usually wore. “Good morning, Mademoiselle. I trust you slept well.”

  I smiled. “Of course I did. What was all that about? Who are you inquiring to?”

  “My gardener.” He put his hat under his arm as he took my hand, kissing the back of it. “The Marquise wants a certain type of climbing vine, and my gardener grows said vine.”

  “Ah,” I rolled my eyes. “Well, of course.”

  He put his hat on his head before he took my shawl from me. He straightened it out before he wrapped it around my shoulders, holding it closed in front of me. “Have you eaten, yet? You should before we start on our way. My valet is bringing my effects shortly.”

  “Hmmm, that would mean us behaving in front of Colette. She is in the salon,” I turned from him, pointing toward the room as he nodded. Then, I led the way to it.

  Colette barely looked up as we walked in. She sat at the table with her eyes cast down to the Gazette.

  “Good morning, Colette,” I said, walking over to the table. I continued to stand as I grabbed a croissant.

  “Hmmm, yes.” She nodded, her eyes running over the words. She then looked up quickly, noticing Lucien. “Ah, Comte. Wonderful of you to stop by.”

  Lucien seemed slightly surprised, but nodded. Smiling, he said, “How are you today, Mademoiselle?”

  She shrugged, looking back to the paper. “Wonderful as usual.”

  “As usual,” I said, looking to Lucien as I put a piece of the croissant in my mouth. I turned and started for the door. Colette looking up at us, again.

  “Where are you off to?”

  Lucien turned to her. His valet ran into the room and handed him his musket and a leather bag with a strap. “I am taking Madeleine hunting. She informed me she has never been.”

  I pulled my shawl up around my shoulders. “Yes, do you want to accompany us?”

  Colette scoffed. “Hunting? Goodness, no. I would much rather stick my head in a vat of boiling water. Besides, Rose will arrive soon, and we want to practice our game faces. You must be back before six. All the dealers in Paris are going to be there.”

  I cleared my throat before I swallowed another piece of croissant. “Be where?”

  “The fête.” She looked up to me, and leaned on her one arm. “Tonight, there is a gambling party in town. I think some Duc is throwing it.”

  “Ah,” I said, nodding. “The Duc your father was talking about?”

  She nodded. “Yes, he wants me to make an appearance, so I invited Rose, and us three girls are going to attend.”

  I sighed, nodding. “I see. Well, we are going to go off, now. Are you sure you wish not to come with?”

  She shook her head. “Oh, Maddy. Please. You know that does not interest me.”

  I frowned, turning to Lucien, who smiled delightedly, happy Colette declined the invitation. We turned and walked out the door, making our way across the grounds, past the hedge maze, and toward the forest. His hand found mine once we were out of sight, the rim of the forest approaching closely.

  “So, where are we really going?” I asked, remembering that our discussion on hunting led nowhere toward us actually taking part in the activity together.

  “The Marquis has a little patch of forest by a brook.” He stepped over a log at the lip of the forest, turned, and grabbed my waist to lift me over it. “It is secluded enough that all the animals come out freely.”

  “We are actually going hunting?” I asked, shocked.

  He laughed. “No, no. I will shoot one pheasant or rabbit—something small to make it seem like we made an effort.”

  “What will we be doing instead of hunting?” I placed my free hand on my bodice as I looked around the area, following along after him.

  “You didn’t seem to object to making love out in the wilderness, so I thought I would put it to the test. This will be actual wilderness, of course, though still tame.”

  We stopped in a large brush. Lucien pulled a piece of linen out of his leather bag, placed it on the ground with his effects on top of it, sat on it, and held his arms out.

  “We can be as loud as we wish out here.”

  I smiled as I stood before him, taking a moment before I sat down with him, letting my head rest on his shoulder.

  He brought my hand up to his lips, kissing the back of it. “What is on that mind of yours?”

  “That stupid gambling party, tonight.” I groaned. I sat upright, looking into his eyes. The warmth from the sun died out very slowly as darkness stretched across the area. “Will you be attending? Please, tell me you have an invite.”

  He smiled, reaching into his frock coat and pulling out a letter. “Indeed I do, my love.”

  “I suppose that will make things difficult, though,” I raised my knees up and let my elbow rest on them as I supported my chin with my palm.

  “We will just need to be on our toes. No doubt, all eyes will be on me,” he said as he placed the letter back into his pocket.

  I turned my cheek on my hand, looking at him. “Of course. As usual.”

  “Oh, come now.” He put his arm around my back, kissing my cheek. “It will not be that bad. I am sure we can sneak off for a few moments unnoticed.”

  “Hmmm, but I thought you don’t like social events?”

  “I don’t mind them when I am with you.” He smiled. “It is all the ones that you are not present for that I find almost unbearable. You are a welcomed distraction.”

  “An obvious one, I will bet,” I pointed to his arm.

  Thunder rolled through the area, and both of us looked up toward the sky.

  “Well, seems that we are going to have to postpone our outing.” He frowned. “It gives me an excuse for another day, though. We can reschedule.”

  I nodded, frowning as he got up. He held his hand out for me to help me up. I put my hand in his and carefully stood. The suddenly damp, humid air circled around us and filled my nose with the faint smell of rain.

  Another rumble of thunder softly filled the distance, and Lucien looked up toward the sky. “Something tells me we don’t have much time before we will get soaked. We should hurry.”

  I completely agreed. My hand was firmly in his as he led us out of the brush and back toward civilization. Our hands parted once we were within a close distance of the house and other prying eyes.

  The rain started to fall as we reached the stone steps up to the salon. Rose and Colette sat at the table giggling as Colette tossed a handful of cards down on the table.

  “I give up! Impossible!”

  I smiled, walking up to Rose and kissing her on the cheek.

  “Hello, Maddy darling, and Comte.” Her eyes lit up. “Nice to see your handsome face around here. Where were you two off to?”

  Lucien smirked at her. “We had planned on hunting, but it seems the weather had other things in mind. We will need to reschedule, perhaps on the weekend.”

  “Well, certainly not tomorrow.” Colette looked up, grabbing all the cards on the table and putting th
em into a pile. “We will all be exhausted from the party, tonight. I plan on having a very good time.”

  “Don’t you always?” Rose laughed.

  “That reminds me.” Lucien bowed to them. “I must be off to run my errands before the fête this evening.”

  “Oh, you have an invite?” Rose asked, picking up her glass of water and taking a delicate sip.

  He nodded. “I do. Strange thing, though. The Duc must have picked my name out of a hat.”

  Rose let out a laugh, grabbing my hand. “Well, we will see you there, Maddy darling. You should wear this champagne-colored gown I saw, and the Comte should match you. Get the people talking!”

  My brow furrowed as I tried to suppress a laugh, though Colette’s face brightened. “Yes! Oh yes! Then, we should all dress to match, and really confuse them!”

  Lucien’s deep laugh filled the room. “Well, ladies. As much as I would love to have you dress me for this evening, I am off. Perhaps I will take your color scheme into consideration. Rose, Colette, Madeleine.”

  He bowed to us, his eyes coming up to me for just a moment—long enough for my heart to skip before he dashed out of the room. The sight of him disappearing into nothingness made my heart suddenly shift to aching.

  “Come on, Maddy.” Colette dealt the cards out, in front of Rose, herself, and a third place to her left for me. “Play a game with us. We must be on our toes this evening.”

  I nodded and sat down. The whole time, my eyes continued to go to the door. As usual, I hoped Lucien would turn around and come back into the room.

  I was thankful when Rose decided to wear the champagne-colored robe à la Française. It was actually rather beautiful, if not extravagant, and something that I thought would be better suited as a wedding gown.

  It was silk taffeta with the petticoat matching. Gold lace lined the bottom of it, up the overskirt, and around the neckline and sleeves, which flounced out with mountains of the same gold lace with white lace underneath. It was theatrical, like Rose.

  Colette wore a dark green silk robe à l’Anglaise with lighter green leaves and blooms on it. The style was a closed robe, no overskirt, and the petticoat sticking out from the bodice in pretty pleats. The sleeves were quite tight to the elbows, and little bits of white lace stuck out of it and around the neckline—very simple. The contrast of such a dark color against Colette’s golden skin was striking. Her eyes looked to be a deeper green—an intense but beautiful color.

  As we stood in the middle of the room, I looked down at my gown. It was a light pink, silk taffeta feminine thing. It was the same as Colette’s, a robe à l’Anglaise. Pink muslin stuck out with white lace from my large, bell-like sleeves, and an échelle of dark magenta bows ran on the stomacher. The color in vogue did not concern me, especially when I couldn’t have Lucien by my side at all times or within my sight.

  “Oh,” Rose pointed as Colette grabbed a glass of champagne. “Constanze is here. What luck we are in.”

  I looked over, and sure enough, there she was Constanze de Guillaume in her bright gold gown, Christine and Yolande at her side in matching orange gowns. I rolled my eyes, turning back to Rose and Colette. “Yes, what luck.”

  “I wonder when they plan to start the next game.” Colette looked around the room. Various dealers were at each station: one for a dice game of some sort, another for billiards, and three separate card tables were set up.

  I felt my breath nearly escape me. Lucien walked into the room in a stark white suit with little blue, flowery embroidery up the trim and around the large, upturned sleeves of his justaucorps. The white suit made his hair look dark—a chestnut brown. His bewildering eyes found mine, looking just as dark in contrast to the white of his clothes.

  He walked up to us, smiling lightly as he bowed. “Ladies, how are we all this evening?”

  “Comte,” Colette said as we all curtsied, “seems you do not match much of anyone.”

  He nodded, “It will stay that way this evening.”

  “Oh, your lady is not going to attend?” she asked, bringing her glass up to her lips.

  He looked to me for a moment before turning to her. “I believe she will make an appearance.”

  Colette looked around the room, “Is she here, now?”

  Lucien tried to hide his smirk, nodding. “Yes, she is.”

  If it was possible, Colette became even more frantic in her searching, looking about as Rose elbowed me lightly, smiling.

  “I do not think you will find her,” Lucien laughed. “Do you know even who you are looking for?”

  “Well, if you would tell me who she is, then yes. I would know, wouldn’t I?” Colette snapped.

  “Now, now,” I cut in, holding up my hands. “Let’s be nice, children. We will have none of that this evening.”

  Colette folded her arms, turning from Lucien, who smiled at me. He obviously enjoyed the little prattle. “Well,” he began, “I should go and greet some of the other guests. Put in my appearance. I will most certainly be back.” With that, he dashed off, turning from us and walking into the crowd of people and disappearing.

  Colette turned back to us, and Rose pointing after him. “He really gets you going, doesn’t he?”

  “How do you mean?” Colette snarled.

  “You two love to bicker, almost as much as you and Armand.” Rose laughed.

  “Oh, is Armand going to attend?” I glanced around the room, looking for that dark head of hair or those piercing, blue eyes.

  She shook her head. “No, he didn’t receive an invite. Even then, he is putting a little performance on for some daughter of a, something or other…a Duc, perhaps. I don’t know. He told me, but I was not really listening.”

  Colette’s face went cold as her eyes looked to Rose, concerned or perhaps disappointed. Did she experience that feeling of your heart dropping from your very chest?

  “Are you all right?” I asked, putting my hand out to her.

  She looked at my hand in disgust, raising her chin. “Of course. Like I care what Armand is off doing. Besides, Étienne will be here.”

  Oh, we are back to him, are we? I thought, frowning at her.

  “In fact,” she continued, “I am going to seek him out, and get a place at one of the tables.” She grabbed the skirt of her gown as she turned, stalking off in the other direction.

  Rose sighed. “Well, at least she has someone to entertain her.”

  “Hmmm,” I said, my mouth scrunching to the side.

  “How are you and Lucien planning to hide away?” she asked quietly, looking around the room. No doubt she was looking for one of her lovers for the evening.

  “I am not sure.” I shrugged my shoulders. “It isn’t like we have a plan. I suppose we will seize the moment when it is upon us.”

  “Speaking of being upon someone, Ivan is here!” She turned as a servant passed behind us with a tray, and she placed her now empty champagne glass down on it. “Do you mind, Maddy darling, if I dash off for a moment? If you saw Ivan ride, you would be just as excited at his attendance as I am.”

  I laughed, nodding. “Go on and go. I will be fine.”

  She winked to me before she kissed my cheek, running off to find the man whose hair was all I could see—a dark brown bagwig.

  I couldn’t help smiling as I turned, looking around at all the bustling people. An orchestra played music somewhere in the vast house of the Duc—which Duc was it? I couldn’t remember. My eyes scanned around the parlor, with lovely rose and white colors scattered around it and the odd, gilded piece here and there.

  I suddenly felt a hand on my back. I turned to Lucien, who smiled at me. “Can I steal a dance?”

  “Isn’t that going to be too obvious?” I glanced around, looking for the two sets of eyes I knew were going to be on us: Constanze and Yolande.

  “Why would it be obvious? I am asking a beautiful woman to dance.” He looked down at my gown before looking back into my eyes. “No one is going to be any wiser to it. I will behave
.”

  I nodded, taking his hand as we walked through the large salon to the moderately-sized ballroom—one of three ballrooms in the large mansion. Lucien turned me once we reached the middle of the floor.

  We followed everyone else, and the new dance was about to begin. Four men stood in a line, including Lucien, to the left of three other women and myself, parallel to their partners.

  The music began. The men placing their left hand out first, as if to dramatically show that there was no one there beside them before they did the same with their right hand. They then turned their backs to us before gracefully turning back toward us, facing all us girls, gliding over to us, dancing around us, and finding their way back to their first position. They then repeated their dramatic hand movements and turned directly to face all of us, their arms outstretched to us, as we all copied their initial movements—hand to the right, hand to the left.

  Our section was different, though. Instead of turning our backs to our gentleman, the first woman—myself—turned and glided over her partner—Lucien—meeting me halfway. Our hands touched for just a moment before we parted, circling around to the next person in line and doing much the same, continually meeting up with a random partner and skipping around them until we were all dancing in a large circle, twirling about.

  As the music slowed, we all slowed our dancing, and our hands together as we circled around. The music sped up again, and we switched partners, all the while a bright smile on my face as we all twisted around dizzily.

  I adored the moments when I was dancing with Lucien, but I couldn’t help myself as another partner twirled me around, laughing as we all stepped once, then skipped forward and turned around, again.

  When the music slowed, we all found our first positions. The men all bowed to us as we curtsied to them. Lucien stepped toward me, a large smile on his face as he put his hand out for mine.

  “You dance quite well, but I suppose if you and the other ladies can do the Versailles Glide, it shouldn’t surprise me that you can dance just as lovely.”