“No, Sister. I do not think it makes you bad.”
Chastity seized both Lily’s hands. “What if the city passes a law that all automatons should be shut off? Terence and I would both die.”
“That will never happen. Who, then, would do all the humans’ work for them? Clean their houses? Serve their meals?”
“What if they legislate to shut down the hybrids such as us?”
The thought daunted Lily and made her tremble. Separation from Rey for any cause would be unbearable.
“Then we will fight. And I believe the rest of the automatons will stand with us the way Rey told me they did the night…well, the night we were freed.”
Chastity nodded. Lily drew her close and hugged her tight. “I wish you every happiness. Thank you for being my friend.”
Releasing Chastity, she asked, “What time is Terence calling for you?”
“At two. The ceremony is set for three. Pat Kelly has arranged for horse-drawn carriages to collect us. It will be quite the spectacle when we arrive and gather beside Hoyt Lake.”
“I must go home and prepare. I shall see you at the ceremony.”
****
Lily found a mysterious white box propped against the outside of Rey’s door when she arrived home from the rooming house where the former Landry’s Ladies had taken up temporary residence. She carried it into the room and set it on the table carefully.
Reynold had not yet arrived. He’d told her last night while she lay in his arms that he had a body to collect early this morning—a young child from an orphanage—and several errands to run.
The package must be for him, she decided. Yet when she read the tag affixed to the top of the box, she saw it said Lily Landry.
That was her. Should she open it?
She debated the question as she moved around straightening the room. She did not suffer from curiosity as such—except she did. The unopened box was like an unopened book. She needed to find out what was inside.
Perhaps, though, she should wait for Rey to arrive. One of her biggest challenges operating in the human world had proved to be sequencing. She had difficulty with when things should happen, and humans seemed to keep strict rules about it. From her reading, she’d learned they operated largely on emotion and felt certain things should happen at certain times.
But the large white box drew her, and at last she crossed to the table, severed the string, and lifted the lid.
Brown paper and a little square card with printing on it. The printing, rather uneven, was difficult to decipher, but at last she discerned it read, For you to wear today.
Odd. The note, unsigned, might be from anyone. She unfolded the brown paper and saw…
A hat. Small, and with a tiny, ruffled veil attached, it was ice-blue in color and matched exactly the pile of fluffy fabric that lay beneath.
Not a pile of fabric; a gown.
Lily lifted it in her hands and shook it out. Lace cascaded down, and the softness set all her sensors alight.
“Do you like it?”
So distracted had she been she had missed hearing Rey come in. He shut the door behind him and stood looking tentative.
“It is the most beautiful dress.”
“Good. Then you’ll wear it?”
“Today?”
He smiled. “Today. You’ll be the loveliest woman there.”
“I am not certain about that, Rey. The former Landry’s Ladies are very beautiful.”
“They are.”
“And I have just finished helping Chastity prepare for her wedding. She looks most beautiful.”
“She couldn’t be prettier than you.”
Rey stepped farther into the room. Lily noticed, belatedly, that he did not wear the same clothing he had when he left early this morning. Instead, from somewhere he’d obtained a crisp white shirt and a black suit that fit his large body like a glove.
“Where did you get those clothes, Rey?”
“From Pat Kelly. He’s been helping me…well, with quite a few things.”
“You are all ready for the ceremony.”
“I think I am.”
Stepping up to her, he took her hand in his, engaged her eyes, and dropped to one knee.
“What are you doing?” Lily’s intelligence—speeding through all she’d read—caught up. “Is this a marriage proposal?”
“It is.” Reynold’s skin turned ruddy red. “I’ve practiced, so please don’t interrupt.”
“Very well.”
“Lily, I never dreamed of meeting anyone like you. The first time I saw you getting off that tram—well, you were like a star high up in the heavens. How could somebody like me ever hope to touch a star? But then I met you, and you were better than beautiful—funny and…and adorable, and willing to love me. Me.” Reynold’s eyes went wide with wonder. “I can’t imagine trying to live without you now. The best thing I can imagine is for you to become my wife. Will you?”
Lily went still. For an instant—as it had before—her intelligence stuttered and threatened to fail.
“Lily? Are you all right?”
“I am still operational, Rey.”
“Oh, thank God—for an instant there I thought you’d shut down on me again.”
“I—I am all right. You wish for me to marry you?”
“Marry me, yes. Today.”
“Today?”
“As part of the ceremony at Hoyt Lake. Pat’s arranged it. You need only say yes. I have a ring.” Using his free hand, he dug in his pocket, from which he produced a plain gold band. It sat like a jewel on his rough palm.
“That is what human women wear.”
“You will be my wife, just like a human woman.”
Lily sank to her knees also; the ice-blue gown came with her. She released it to fall in a puff between them and laid both her palms against Reynold’s face, the better to gaze into his eyes.
“Rey—my love—I fear my answer must be no.”
Chapter Forty
“No? You’re refusing me?” In all the scenarios that had danced through Reynold’s head, this one had been conspicuously absent. He’d imagined she would accept quickly, gladly—that maybe they’d have time to make love before the ceremony, and he’d have to get out of this monkey suit into which Pat and Rose had wedged him. He’d worship her there on his bed and then help clothe her beautiful body in the gown he’d chosen, so pretty it was almost—almost—worthy of her.
But she’d said no. Ah, God!
She still had his face cradled between her hands and leaned close enough to kiss him. He often had trouble guessing what went on behind her pale-blue eyes; now he had no chance.
“I thought you loved me.” He sounded like a lost child even to his own ears—one of those back at the orphanage maybe, from whence he’d collected a second little corpse this morning.
“I do love you, as well as an automaton can love. But I am an automaton. And that is why I must refuse.”
“Lily…”
“No, please, Rey. Listen. I’ve learned a lot through my reading.”
“That’s reading. Stories. Not real life.”
“It shows me what it is to be human. It shows me I am not human in many ways that matter.”
“All that matters is I love you. I had a taste of what it would be like without you when you shut down. I never want to live through that again.”
“Chastity said something to me, Rey, something that fit together with the things I’ve read. You deserve to marry a real woman.”
“How do you know what I deserve? Or what I want? Lily, I don’t care about all that.”
“You might one day. You may take a look at me and all at once see the things I lack. I could not bear that.”
“I want to be with you. It’s as simple as that.”
“You want to be with me now. And I am willing to stay with you—for now. I will stay with you, live with you. But marriage, the way I understand it, is forever.”
“Is it because I’ll age a
nd you won’t? I talked to Rose about that. Neither of them minds. Nor do I.”
“Not that.”
“Then what? Tell me one good reason why you won’t marry me.”
“Children.”
“Eh?”
“I will never be able to give you children. And they are important to humans.”
“They are, yes. But I tell you, I don’t…”
She caressed his cheeks. “Not now, maybe. But if the day came that you did mind, and you began to look at me with regret, what would I do then?”
“Lily.” He sat flat on the floor and gathered her into his arms. He could feel the heat from her boiler, her foreignness. He could also feel the familiar comfort of holding her close. He tucked her head beneath his chin and held tight.
“If you’ll consent to marry me,” he said, seeking desperately for words—the right words, “ours will not be an ordinary union, no. We’ll be pioneers like Rose and Pat—like all the others getting married today. Why should our family be ordinary, then? That doesn’t mean we can’t have one.”
“No?”
“No. Lily, in this city there are children longing for someone to love them—aching for it the way I ached for you even before I met you.”
“As I ached for you when all those other men pawed me?”
“Yes. Yes. I guess it doesn’t require a heart for someone to long for love. Or maybe—maybe love doesn’t come from the heart after all. Maybe it’s part of the spirit. Anyway, I’d like nothing better than to get some of those little ones out of the dark, cold places they’ve been sent to live. Give ’em a home. A family.”
“Us?”
“Us, if you’ll marry me.”
“Would these human children be able to love me, Rey?”
“I defy anyone not to love you.” He tipped her face up and kissed her, long, slow, and gentle.
When the kiss ended, she placed her palm against his chest, over his heart.
“So what do you say, Lily? Will you become my wife?”
“Today? At the park?”
“Today.”
“Best to hurry and get me into that gown.”
****
The procession of horse-drawn conveyances wound its way slowly through the city—carriages, wagons, buggies, all decorated with flowers and driven mostly by human grooms. It paused frequently to pick up couples who at first glance appeared human also. When the last of them had been collected, the colorful snake turned up Delaware Avenue and wended its way to the park.
There, beside Hoyt Lake, the stage had been set. Splashes of color lay everywhere—mountains of flowers, and tables shaded by multi-colored umbrellas. When the brides disembarked—a mobile rainbow—it only became more beautiful.
The day couldn’t be more perfect for a wedding. Fluffy white clouds dotted a sky of azure, and a light breeze fluttered skirts and veils alike against the emerald grass.
Around the perimeter of the park, a chain of blue had formed. The Buffalo Police had come out in force and formed a barrier against the human protestors who thronged farther out. Some hurled stones and insults. Several were promptly arrested. No one who gathered there beside the lake paid them any attention. Protests were expected. But within the ring of blue, as invited guests, was every steamie that had been able to get away from its assigned duties, a wall of silver.
Reynold stood in the bright sunshine, not far from the edge of the lake, with Lily’s fingers clasped tight in his, and Chastity and Terence to one side of him. The gathered couples formed a semicircle. Opposite them stood the human justice who, with impressive open-mindedness, had agreed to join them all in marriage.
Reynold turned his head and looked at Lily. The clever little hat hugged her head—which barely reached his ear—and the ruffled veil danced in the breeze. The gown fit her perfectly, and he could only marvel at her beauty.
This, he knew, would be one of those moments he’d remember forever, like that when he’d watched her get off the tram for the first time.
He might be surrounded here by circle upon circle of individuals, but at this instant he was the luckiest man alive.
The justice began reading out the lines, and dozens of voices repeated them dutifully. When it came to the last part, Reynold lifted Lily’s hand and pressed it against his heart.
“Yours,” he whispered, and she lifted her face to him. “Yours forever.”
“You may kiss your bride!”
Joyfully, Reynold obeyed.
And the air of the park resounded with steel kisses.
A word about the author…
Born in Buffalo and raised on the Niagara Frontier, Laura Strickland has been an avid reader and writer since childhood. She believes the spunky, tenacious, undefeatable ethnic mix that is Buffalo spells the perfect setting for a little Steampunk, so she created her own Victorian world there. She knows the people of Buffalo are stronger, tougher, and smarter than those who haven’t survived the muggy summers and the blizzard blasts found on the shores of the mighty Niagara. Tough enough to survive a squad of automatons? Well, just maybe.
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