Page 61 of A Perfect Engagement
Olivia spoke first. “We don’t feel she needs to be suspicious. You have made your choice.”
“You do feel you made the right choice, don’t you?” Susanna asked.
Charlotte looked around the table at each of her friends’ faces. They all shared an identical expression of curiosity mixed with sympathy.
“You don’t think I made the right choice?” Not one of her friends would meet her gaze. “Should I have run away with Daniel, jilting my fiancé? Caused a huge scandal for my family over a man I knew for less than a week?” She could hear her voice rising to shrill tones. She had made a sensible decision. Her friends should be applauding her.
Susanna opened her mouth, but Ellie sent her a stern look. Then she laid a hand on Charlotte’s arm. “We don’t think anything of the sort. We simply want you to be happy. We know you were put into an impossible position in the drawing room that day.”
Not for the first time, tears threatened. Charlotte had replayed the scene many times. The joy which raced through her at Daniel’s declaration of his feelings. The horror of seeing the faces of her family when they came into the room. The shock of seeing the brothers fight. And most of all, the pain she had seen in Daniel’s eyes, were all burned indelibly in her mind.
“Charlotte, do you feel as though you made the right decision?” Olivia asked quietly.
Charlotte closed her eyes. No, she hadn’t. She let Daniel think she didn’t value him. She let him walk away. “It doesn’t matter now. I hurt Daniel, and I can’t undo it. I will marry Miles.” She wiped at her tears. “Thank you all for coming to help me today with these. I truly appreciate your support leading up to the wedding.” She forced a smile.
Olivia stood first. “Anytime. I will always support you, my dear friend.” She gathered her reticule. “I best be heading home. Henry promised he would be home for dinner this evening.”
Ellie and Susanne rose as well. Ellie came around the table and gave her a brief, hard hug. “It will all turn out the way it should. I know it will be all right.”
Susanna opened her mouth, “But I think she should…”
Ellie shot Susanna a stern look. “We will support her decisions, right?”
Susanna sighed and then leaned down to give Charlotte a hug too. “Yes, of course. Whatever you think is best, dear.”
Once her friends had left, she began to gather all the invitations, organizing them into four tidy stacks. She filled a box with neatly addressed notes. As Charlotte reached for a stack of invitations, she caught sight of bold black lettering across worn parchment,my love. She brushed aside the papers that partially covered the letter and found the others next to it. They must have gotten mixed in with her writing supplies from the library’s desk. Wait, four? They had only found three. With shaking fingers, she picked up the fourth letter. Scrawled across the top, in Daniel’s slanted, hurried writing were two lines.I found this in my book of flora and fauna. I wanted to wait and read it together. ~D
She fell back into her chair. When had he put this one with the others? She ran a finger across his words. She missed him so much. How had he managed to steal her heart in just a few days? She would never have believed that love could blossom so quickly. Things like that only happened in novels.
She wanted to see him, to be enveloped in his embrace once more. She wanted to see the dimple emerge as he grinned down at her, she wanted…the impossible. She couldn’t have him. What’s done is done, and she must make the best of her situation. A tear slipped down her face, and she brushed at it impatiently. There was no reason for tears. Miles would make a kind and decent husband. It was a smart match.
Charlotte carefully unfolded the letter, smoothing the wrinkles out against the table before picking it up to read.
My dearest love,
Your silence these last three months has driven me to madness. Where have you been taken? For I refuse to believe that you would be so cruel as to snatch away your loving words. Your letters, filled with the simple minutia of your days and nights, breathe life into my own gray existence without you. You cannot know how much joy I take in our letters. Our time together this past summer is branded into my soul. I relive each kiss, each stolen moment as I lay alone at night thinking only of you. Do you stare at the same moon? Do you long for the heat of my body next to yours? The sweep of my fingers across your cheek?
Please don’t let me languish in this madness. I must know where you are, if you are healthy and unharmed? I will wait for two weeks for a response, and then I will come for you. Reputations be damned. I will come for you.
Always, J
Now Charlotte’s tears began in earnest.I will come for you.She crumpled, laying her head in the circle of her arms and sobbed. She thought she had cried all her tears of disappointment, of guilt, but the sadness that stole over her now refilled the well. The great oak table absorbed her tears as her heart broke all over again.
*
The following week,Charlotte stood at the top of the stairs next to her fiancé as they waited to be introduced at the Fredrick Ball. The ballroom sparkled with the light of hundreds of candles reflected in the long mirrors which filled the entire south wall. The hum of voices rose from the room below and threatened to overwhelm her senses. There were so many people here tonight. She ran a hand down the smooth silk of her light blue gown. The gown fit her beautifully, and she had felt so confident standing in front of her tall mirror earlier.
When Hawksridge arrived at the house, he had told her how lovely she looked in blue and then presented her with a gift. The necklace of aquamarine stones dazzled Charlotte. Her mother gasped loudly, fawning as Miles drew the stones around her neck and fastened the clasp.
Charlotte toyed with the strands now, running her gloved fingertips across their cool, reflective facets. Miles glanced over at her and smiled. She returned his smile and lowered her hand to lay it on his arm. It really was a lovely gift.
“Miss Charlotte Grisham, escorted by Lord Hawksridge.”
She and Miles descended the stairs and joined her parents. The evening would be good practice for the kind of events she would attend with him once they were married. Her mother had quizzed her repeatedly about who she should pay extra attention to this evening, who Hawksridge worked with and against on various bills in Parliament. Charlotte wanted to make every effort to be the kind of wife Hawksridge needed. She owed him that much.
The music began with a flourish of violins. “Would you care to dance?” Miles asked.
“Yes, thank you.”
