by B L Bierley
“I will let you know very soon, Papa. But right now we need to go down and see the others. Aunt Pen is very delicate these days and shouldn’t be troubled by the twins or Andre’s incessant pleading to visit the music room before lunch,” Bliss said as she turned and left her bewildered parents to head downstairs.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Bliss, Bristol, April 1811
Bliss was aware that the process she’d have to endure in securing Eric as her fiancé would be messy, slightly painful and possibly embarrassing. But the difficulties couldn’t discourage her because she knew it would all be worth it in the end.
In visions depicting the final outcome, barring a few slight variations, not many things changed. Only minor details would be shifted or altered.
The three days leading up to the ball were filled with enough activities to keep Bliss’s brain very busy. Eric stopped by every day, but his behavior was above reproach. He always stayed within the respected boundaries of his profession.
Bliss attempted to get him to stay longer or come back. She had him fetched for a minor altercation between the twins that caused a small, insignificant cut on Tillie’s shoulder when they’d been fighting over a seat by Lord Victor at breakfast and fell over backwards into a vase.
Nothing kept him away. Yet, even while visiting with her family and teasing little Jennie that he was the first person she ever met, he didn’t make a move. Not that she really expected the scene to change. It was just hope for a twist of fate.
The morning of the ball, Bliss spent her time listening. Andre’s continuing lamentations over her musical recital and the poor reception her personal composition received from the critics made up a good thirty percent of the news. Cori talked about being excluded from one of the parties thrown by the young people on the estate, and Merryann said for the seventeenth time that she didn’t want another season out when this one ended.
While preparing to dress, Bliss insisted on an older gown despite her mother’s ladies’ maid protesting that it was slightly too short. Mandy was filling in as her attendant. Pauline had eloped with Rex Hastings. When news reached his ears about the maid’s bravery in trying to find Bliss at her own personal risk of possible incarceration, and of Rex’s willingness to believe her, Lord Ollie blessed the union.
In the interim of her bathing and dressing, Mandy filled Bliss in on the latest news from Lem and Lettie. Lem was apparently trying to find a worthy godparent to name their baby after, one that would be acceptable. Bliss gave Mandy a hint, “Tell him I said Amanda Luxury for a girl and Cillian Oliver for a boy. See what he makes of that.”
Luxie told her the news of Russ’s latest ship assignment, his long overdue promotion to commander, and when she hoped to hear from him again. Bliss assured her mother that Russ would visit next St. Patrick’s Day at her urging, and he’d be considering a move to their father’s shipping company by then. He would eventually take up a route for father once he was up for a captaincy. Luxie beamed with pleasure upon hearing this.
During the late family luncheon, Bliss asked how her younger brother’s school was going. Her father proudly explained that Mac had finally gotten to see the famous Swedish professor Dr. Linnaeus’s works in person with his own botany professor on an extended field trip.
Luxie broke in and pointed out all the details that Ollie had left out about Mac’s new interest in etched printing and plant sketching for scientific publications with his new friend, Lord Crane. They were discussing the possibility of going in on a joint venture to begin mass production of scientific journals and tomes.
Bliss knew a lot more than she let on, of course. True to form she kept her knowledge of most ordinary things to herself. It was easier to get people to cooperate and make the best choices if you nudged instead of shoving. So Bliss simply asked questions about the details that wouldn’t factor into the futures and continued to know what she knew.
The only people she didn’t have a lot of information about yet were the twins. Tillie and Jennie were extremely indecisive more often than not. They still enjoyed being led instead of being independent, except in immediate satisfactions of course. Bliss could see futures for them, but their indecision played a large role in how it would all come to pass.
Around six in the evening, a kitchen maid brought a light snack up for the girls to eat before getting dressed and prepared for the ball. Bliss felt tense with nerves. The time finally arrived and her stomach was in queer knots. Bliss sampled the apple slices and cheese, but ate less than a third of her portion.
Mandy cinched Bliss’s corset tightly, even though she could barely breathe. Bliss knew the detail would be important later on. Mandy again tried to discourage the older navy gown and promote another cream colored one she’d pressed. But Bliss remained adamant that it should be the navy one.
Bliss further frustrated Mandy by having her pin up every single strand of her curls in a tight, high bun, relenting a little by allowing a few curls to be pulled down in front to look wispy and more stylish.
At seven thirty, Bliss convinced her mother to allow Cori, at the nearly debuted age of seventeen, to be given a few hours to attend the ball following dinner to practice her dancing with actual partners. Luxie agreed so long as Cori promised to dance only with the men in her family, including Lord Osterburg’s sons Victor and Maxwell.
By eight o’clock, Bliss was being escorted into the dining hall on Maxwell’s arm. Maxwell stumbled several times, still clumsy like a schoolboy even though he and Bliss were practically the same age.
Maxwell wasn’t as shy with Bliss as he was with most women, though that didn’t say much. Maxwell was just dead clumsy, usually because he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings. He was a genius with numbers and finance, but he was lacking the most grounded characteristics of common sense.
For whatever reason Maxwell’s clumsiness and inattentiveness were unfortunately exaggerated whenever he was around any strange female, including those on the household staff! This made it impossible for him to come across with any respectability. His mother was absolutely right that he needed someone to watch out for him, but it just wasn’t going to be Bliss.
He and Bliss were reluctant playmates over the years, though Maxwell preferred to sit and do calculations or predictions with analytical mathematics rather than anything adventurous. Bliss had eased his worried mind during their adolescence when she told him he would be a great mathematician, that his gifts for numbers would give him numerous advantages with the right investments someday.
As they walked down, Maxwell told Bliss he’d taken firsts in Math and Science at Oxford and told her that his father had presented him with ten percent of the Osterburg half of the shipping company. His profits were already proving useful in other endeavors as well.
Bliss encouraged him to look to ingenuity—specifically in the realm of the modernization of agriculture and industrial processes, but to check with her first to make sure the investment would be sound. Maxwell was stunned by her offer, but agreed to give her a chance to direct his key investments.
Bliss also made him promise to dance with her during the fourth set.
“Are you sure? I’m not the best at quadrille you know? Even with the numbers in my head, I have no rhythm! You may as well give me the first set while you’re at it. I need all the practice I can get, and apparently it’s imperative to mother that I dance with you often tonight,” he looked painfully nervous.
“Don’t worry, Maxwell. She’ll be more than preoccupied in the near future, and her interest in getting you a bride will diminish somewhat. Oh, and in case I don’t remember to tell you afterwards, I know you didn’t do it on purpose,” Bliss told him with a warm smile. Maxwell paled.
Bliss didn’t see Eric until after dinner. As she and Merryann were being escorted from the table by Victor, Eric stepped up to her.
“May I be so bold, my lord?” he asked Victor. Victor smiled and handed Bliss over with a mildly mocking tone, “It’s yo
ur own risk, sir.”
Eric chuckled and bowed before taking her arm. “Thanks, I’ll take my chances.”
As they walked away, Eric asked what risk Victor meant.
“Oh, don’t mind him. He’s just sore because I pointed out that he would marry someday despite his every effort to the contrary. I told him it was far into the future, but well worth the effort in the end. He took umbrage with me, but I suppose it’s to be expected when and old dog must learn new tricks,” Bliss chuckled. Then she turned to give him her shrewdest scrutiny.
“What took you so long? I am beginning to get the impression that you are avoiding me,” Bliss said bluntly once they were a few steps away.
“Not you, just unmarried females in general. I took your warning very seriously, you know. I’m done putting myself in the path of dangerous liaisons. I’d prefer a nice quiet life, thank you very much,” Eric said almost too crisply. Bliss frowned.
“You’re really that averse to marriage, then? That’s too bad. I had such high hopes for you sir,” she hinted.
“Not averse to marriage, only against compromised marriages. I’ve never understood how people could put themselves in such situations willingly. But I want you to know that I will not dance with anyone else tonight. It will be virtually impossible to get into a slippery situation when I don’t mingle with any ladies,” Eric promised somberly. Bliss gave him a look of mock confusion.
“I’m sorry. I thought I was a lady? You should know, being my surgeon and all that! What is the medical field teaching its graduates these days,” she teased.
“I guess being with you in any situation doesn’t alarm me in the least,” Eric smiled.
He was about to ask her for the first dance when the gentlemen began breaking off for cigars and liquor while the ballroom was prepared for the dancing. Eric was dragged reluctantly away before another word could be said.
Bliss fumed at the timing. She felt certain he’d been about to declare his affections! Of course it was likely just wishful thinking that the sequence of events could be somehow thwarted in favor of a more direct approach!
While the gentlemen were off doing manly things, the ladies refreshed themselves and discussed their dance cards in hushed giggles. Cori soon arrived and asked Bliss if she might dance with Maxwell for the first set instead. Bliss told her it would be fine. She said she hoped to snag a different partner for the first set anyway.
Finally the bell signaling the beginning of the ball began to ring in the distance. Bliss told Cori to stay to the middle of the ballroom while dancing with Maxwell. Cori agreed and hurried off to tell him the news.
Unfortunately for Bliss, another young lady managed to get Eric’s first set. A middle aged commander asked her to dance instead. Bliss made it through all three of the first sets without once getting to dance with Eric. Her frustration was palpable.
At the beginning of the fourth set, she found Maxwell waiting for her near the edge of the ballroom near the western wall. He was quite put out with her.
“You threw me to the wolves, Bliss,” he said in a low hiss when they began the dance. His first set with her sister had been a strain on everyone’s patience. Lady Cordelia Penwood was the only person in the realm who was clumsier than Lord Maxwell Osterburg!
“Cori has to get practice somewhere. She’ll be debuting next season, you know. And your mother will try to pair you not just with me but also with Merryann and both of my younger sisters before this ball ends. She’s barely excluding the twins. You may as well get comfortable dancing in public, friend,” Bliss sighed.
She knew Maxwell wasn’t paying attention to his floor space. Their turn at the quarter of the set was dangerously close to the wall. And the wall was lined with tall candelabra.
“But you could have switched this set with her! She could have started with Victor! He’s a much better dancer! I stepped on her slippers a dozen times and handed her off to Lady Dunstone by mistake! She stepped on the woman’s skirt and tore it nearly to the waistline! Your sister is likely traumatized for life!” Maxwell complained.
Bliss shook her head and nodded toward the fourth couple down the line of dancers. There Cori was dancing with a young, handsome cadet in a fine navy uniform—quite against the rules of dancing only with family members, while several others lingered near the edge watching her. Whenever she stumbled they were all eager to catch her if she fell. No, Cori would certainly never have trouble gaining attention.
Maxwell gave a grunt of frustration. Bliss tensed.
“Well, you know it wasn’t fair to do that to me! I haven’t danced since last season when I nearly broke Lady Grissom’s foot! She could have been seriously injured and ...” Maxwell had begun extolling the list of grievances his dancing caused when he forgot to reverse their step on the second count of four.
Bliss knew the exact moment when the back of her stiff petticoat jostled the candelabra. Three lit candles fell down her back, dripping hot wax and scorching the fabric until landing on the floor and igniting her ruffle. The back side of her dress was instantly flaming.
Bliss couldn’t help but react, even though she expected the pain. Her cries alerted Maxwell who immediately gasped and yelled for a footman to fetch water. Penelope, who was seated near the same wall a few yards away in the wallflower seating, jumped up to pull Eric away from the refreshment table to see to Bliss.
Holding very still so as not to fan the flames, Bliss waited until three footmen appeared with pitchers of quickly scooped punch and doused the back of her dress. The ruined fabric continued to smolder and smoke while Luxie and Ollie hurried to her side.
Eric shouted for a basin of chipped ice and water, several towels and for a maid to have the cook begin drawing enough water for a lukewarm bath. He scooped Bliss up into his arms without asking or caring about the scene he was making and hurried to the stairs. Following them, Ollie asked if he and Luxie should come, but instead Bliss answered cheerfully.
“No, Papa. You can come in fifteen minutes. I’ll introduce you to my fiancé,” Bliss told him with a grin over Eric’s shoulder. Ollie stood stock still on the first step as they continued up the stairs before him.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Eric, Bristol, April 1811
Eric did his best not to stumble when he heard her declaration to Lord Penwood. But he couldn’t worry about it while she might be in pain. He hurried into the sitting room on the second floor. That was far enough away from the ball guests to give him room and privacy to treat her wounds but near enough to protect the propriety of the scene.
Shoving his coat off and rolling his sleeves, he began looking at the damage to her back. A maid scurried up from the kitchen with the basin of ice water and another girl followed with a stack of towels. They also brought word about the bath.
Bliss told the maids that it was mostly her dress and a little burn from the wax, nothing to worry about. She would prefer not to have the bath now. Eric nodded to them in agreement as they left the room to let him do his work.
Eric then began pulling the wax from the skin of her shoulders and neck. Bliss hissed a few times when the wax seemed to pull out the tiny fine hairs with it. Eric began unbuttoning the gown and pulling it from her back.
He then unlaced her corset and checked beneath it to see if any of the wax had somehow gotten beneath it. Finding none, he moved the gown away quickly to reveal Bliss’s stockings. They were untouched. He breathed a sigh of relief.
“I’ll put a cool compress where the wax reddened the skin. I don’t think you’ll have blistering. It looks no worse than a mild sunburn. I will summon the maids back and have them fetch you a nightgown.” Eric said in a voice that didn’t hide his emotions.
He dipped a towel into the cold water and wrung it out before draping it around her shoulders like a cloak. He paced around to look at her.
“Are you not glad that I wasn’t burned?” Bliss asked him quietly.
“Of course I am, Bliss. But,” he broke off and stared
wordlessly toward the floor.
“What’s wrong, Eric?”
“What’s wrong? You didn’t see this coming for one! And second, I had no idea you were engaged!” Eric blurted out.
“I’m not engaged. At least not yet,” Bliss admitted pointedly.
“But you told Lord Penwood ...” Eric began, but Bliss cut him off.
“I just told him that so he wouldn’t worry and to make sure he came to check on me after you determined that nothing was wrong,” she explained.
“So you’re not engaged?”
“No, not yet.”
“Do you expect a proposal?” Eric looked at her intently.
“Any minute now,” Bliss replied.
“Who is it? Do I know him? Because Bliss, I have to tell you something. I don’t think I can just let you go and marry anyone.
“Who will appreciate your beautiful and annoying gift? Who will protect your secret and make sure you are well cared for and safe? Who will love you like I do,” Eric demanded, suddenly losing all sense of propriety.
Taking her carefully into his arms he began kissing her as if she was the last breath of air in the world, as if he needed her to survive. His hands were gentle and careful on her cheeks as he pressed his lips into her surprised mouth and tasted her.
He kissed her the way he had the day she showed up in his office, only this time there would be no confusion or chagrin when they stopped. If anything he would beg for more. When he leaned away and looked at her, he got an unexpected surprise.
“You love me? Oh, good! I wasn’t certain you actually felt that way yet! I love you too. And you’re already to be congratulated! You’re going to be knighted, did you know? The Regent just decided it. Took a while for the message of your bravery and heroism to reach him, you see.” Eric was flabbergasted.
The idea of his slight elevation didn’t keep the reality away, though.
“But I’m not wealthy, Bliss. I’m just a surgeon. What would I have to offer you? It would never work,” Eric said somberly.