Enchanted by The Lord (Historical Victorian Romance) (7 page)

Chapter 18

I feel quite excited today. My parents arrived yesterday, for the wedding, and have been given a grand room within the house, the Duke is most generous. I am surprised that the wedding is still going ahead, the Duke was not happy at Guy’s indiscretion, but it seems that Guy has wriggled out of the gossip, and into Lady Harriet’s favor. Good luck to the pair of them, they deserve each other.

My excitement is not for the wedding, but that Harry will be meeting my parents for the first time. I made the decision, in our early days together, to tell Harry about my stupidity with Lord Guy. Whilst a little hurt, he was not taken aback at all. He has known Lord Guy for many years and understands his character, fully. It is suspected that a maid who worked within the inn is having his child. I wonder why the Duke has not kicked his behind, and is allowing him to marry his granddaughter, but I understand it to be a good match for the family. These things seem all important to the upper classes.

I spend most of the morning showing mama around the grand mansion, and in the afternoon I take a walk on the grounds with both of my parents. The house is in such chaos that we are glad to be away. I take little Laurence with me as the girls are delighting in helping out with all the fancy arrangements.

The church ceremony goes without incident and the younger girls look so very pretty in their bridesmaid dresses. Lady Harriet looks beautiful and I feel in my heart that I want to wish her well, but somehow I do not see how that marriage can be a happy one.

When I told Harry about my imprudence with Lord Guy, I gave him the option to step out of our growing relationship. To my relief he has not mentioned it since. I think he respects that I admitted what I had done, and hopefully he forgives me.

The weather holds out for the huge garden party, so we all have a wonderful day. Boats have been put out on the lake and huge tents have been erected with food and drink. There is even an orchestra playing music outside, it is all a very grand affair.

The Duke invited us to dine with the family, when my parents arrived yesterday, so they met everyone, making them feel at ease today. I see my father in deep conversation with the Duke, from across the gardens. As I go in search of my mother, I find her sat at a table with Harry and his father. It all makes me feel so happy.

“Shall we go on one of the boats?” Harry asks me.

Of which I agree and meander down towards the lake, leaving my mother and his father chatting about fixing a broken locket.

“I only wanted to be alone with you,” he tells me. “We haven’t had a moment alone all day,” he complains.

“Am I to take it then, Harry Ashbourne, that you like my company?” I say, teasingly.

“Truth be told, I want to ask you something,” he says.

We arrive at the boathouse, and someone helps us to board a small rowing boat, of which we are to row ourselves. It is wonderful, and fun. Harry makes me feel so very, very happy.

He rows us to the middle of the lake. “Now then, I have you alone at last,” he says.

“Indeed you do sir, should I scream? Are your intentions honorable?” I ask.

“Rose, I want to give you this,” he says, handing me a burgundy colored, tiny box. “And, I want to ask you to be my fiancé. I know you might think it’s too soon, after Peter, and I’m willing to wait. I only ask that you assure me you will consider it, and one day we will be man and wife. If that’s what you want, of course,” he finally finishes with his stuttering.

“Oh, Harry, it’s beautiful. Have you made it yourself?” I say, looking at a dainty pink, diamond rose, set on a gold band.

“Yes, as soon as I saw the stone I thought of you,” he tells me.

“Oh Harry, you still want me after all you know about me?”

“I Love your Rose, whatever has come before doesn’t matter, only that we love each other now, you do love me don’t you?”

“Yes, yes, yes, I do love you so very much, my darling. While it is too soon for me to marry, if you can be patient with me, then one day we will be together as one.”

My answer seems to satisfy him and he pulls me into his arms and kisses me passionately on my lips. My life has changed, from the despair of only a few months ago, to complete happiness. It is all because of this wonderful man.

THE END

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Colorado Calling by Catherine Scott

              “Oak Ridge, Colorado Territory. Next stop, ladies and gentleman, is Oak Ridge, Colorado Territory.”

              Louisa Forest awoke, startled by the sound of the conductor’s voice as he walked through the rattling car. It had been a small miracle that she’d slept at all; the three day trip from Baltimore that had begun with so much hope had become increasingly exhausting as she found the shaking movements kept her awake through the empty plains of Iowa and Nebraska. It was all so disorienting as well. She had grown accustomed to city life, with its close quarters and settled horizon. There were always people around that she had known for her entire life. But as the train had shuttled across the country, everything familiar had fallen away beyond the Appalachians.

              She looked down at her rumpled travel clothes with some distress. The pretty blue dress had gathered a fair share of dust from the travels, despite the pleasantly ornate Pullman car. Her beau had purchased her a good ticket, and for that she was grateful. However, as the days had wound onward, the soot that blew back from the engine had seemingly gotten into everything. She wasn’t sure how she was to maintain any mystery and attractiveness in such an environment.

              Louisa pulled a hand mirror from her bag. She noticed she wasn’t the only one doing so; it seemed a few other unaccompanied women had the same destination on their ticket. She wasn’t surprised. It had been her friend Rebecca who had suggested she put a correspondence ad in the magazine, in hopes of finding a worthwhile man in the West. None of her suitors in Baltimore had been worthwhile, mostly gamblers and drinkers. Not that the same couldn’t be said in unsettled parts of the country, naturally, and Louisa had no illusions that life would be perfect or even better here.

              However, she did have hope. There were good reasons to leave Maryland, as she recalled them. Rebecca had been just about the only one still talking to her after she and her family had supported the Union. When she had been a young teen, there had been at least one night of pure terror when a small mob had demanded her father come out and face them. Windows had been smashed, the police had turned out to just in time to chase the rioters away from burning down her tenement.

              The friendly, neighborhood faces that she had known all her life, the butcher, the newspaper seller, the neighbors, had one by one gone cold as they associated the Forests with the “tyrant” Lincoln. Maryland had stayed loyal to the cause, but some parts of the state such as Baltimore were firmly set in Confederate sympathies. Only a handful of like-minded or forgiving neighbors had taken the Forest’s part when their son Donald had signed up to join the Union cause. When Donald returned in a box from Chancellorsville, her mother had died of a broken heart. The war ended, and she recalled sitting at the kitchen table with her father.

              “A blacksmith must work, dear one.” He’d explained, his face looking pained. “I have a brother in Ohio who would be happy to take us in, and you could stay with family there. It is improper you have stayed on with me alone as long as you have. Were it not for the war, I’d have sent you on long ago.”

              “I could not leave you alone here, father.” She had answered, fearing his suggestions.

              “Yes, but you are a grown woman. It is perhaps time you make your own way in the world. If you wish to go with me to Ohio, I will be winding down my affairs here by the fall, October at the latest. If you wish to find a husband between now and then so that you may stay in Baltimore-”

              “I have no love for this city left.” She had spat out. He smiled at her words, and she continued. “But I will see what I can do. I don’t wish to be a burden and, truth be told, I have grown lonely.”

              Heading out into the plains in late September of 1965, she had her doubts about this wild place. The territory had just completed a mini-war of its own from what she’d read, the “Colorado War” between Kiowa, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Comanche tribes and the white settlers. Though she was herself a settler, she felt sympathy for their cause. No one had invited people like herself to come to the west and claim these lands. It would have, perhaps, been more conducive to a civil society if folks like herself stayed East.

              She reflected on these thoughts as she gazed out the window onto the eastern plains of Colorado, with her first real glimpse of the Rocky Mountain range fast approaching. She felt a bit like an interloper, an adventurer who was seeking a new life among a quickly-shifting backdrop. On the positive side, she could start a whole new life here, create her own identity without any preconceptions from her old life.

              On the negative, she was marrying a man she knew almost nothing about.

              The pictures they had exchanged gave her some hope. She looked to her locket to see his face again. He seemed an ordinary sort with a youthful, handsome face. His large mustache obscured part of his face, and he parted his hair down the middle. Louisa hoped that he was as kind as his letters had made him seem.

              All of that would be settled soon enough. She could see that a few ranch houses were now in view, signs that they were approaching the town. The engine was slowing, and she smiled as she thought of the possibilities.

              Eventually, the train stopped and she let out a deep sigh  of relief, glad to be leaving the rocking train behind her at last.

              She stepped off the train and waited to see Thomas, the man she’d been corresponding with over the past few months. To her consternation, she couldn’t place him. But as she pulled her bags off the train and waited, a trio of people approached. They included an older man, a young man around Thomas’s age, and a similarly young red-haired woman.

              “Pardon me, ma’am.” The young man began. He had a brown mustache that somewhat resembled her Thomas. “We might be wrong, but would you be Miss Louisa Forest of Baltimore, Maryland?”

              “That is I.” She confirmed, feeling uncomfortable. “I had hoped to meet Mr. Thomas Bradford here.”

              “My brother.” The man said, and by his tone, she sensed she was about to receive some bad news. She wasn’t disappointed. “I’m sorry, there was no way to give you warning. Thomas died two days ago.”

*****

              “You’ve all been so kind to me. I couldn’t eat another bite.” Louisa said, pushing away her plate.

             
Louisa had been invited to the Bradford home after the initial shock of the discovery. She was trying to be as polite as possible with the traumatized family. Though she too had suffered a loss of sorts, she had only known the man through his letters. She felt she had no right to grieve.

              The older man, Jim, pushed away from the table as well. “Another wonderful meal, Ann. You’ve done well.”

              “Thank you, uncle.” She kept her head down, her expression difficult to read. The other in their quartet, Jeb Bradford, had said little as well, leaving Jim to handle virtually all of the social interaction with their guest.

              She felt as though she were intruding on their grief, and after clearing her throat, offered a thought. “You have been so generous, but I must ask one more favor. Before it becomes dark, would you be so kind as to find me a boarding house for women of good character? I am so new here-”

              “No, no.” Big Jim Bradford insisted, brushing his huge white beard. “We won’t hear of it. You’ll stay here as long as you please. No debate on that, now.”

              “I have no desire to impose on your good nature.” She insisted.