Chapter Nine
Despite Dr. Mercier’s instructions, Jean-Francois and Marguerite each sent word to Céleste’s room shortly after Henri’s departure, informing her that she would be required to participate in that night’s social engagement.
She had once enjoyed Society gatherings. Paris had been full of life and possibility and excitement. She’d imagined herself making a wonderful match that would bring her happiness. And she’d been afforded ample time for playing her violin.
None of those things were true any longer.
In anticipation of whatever whirl she was to attend that night, her hair was tended to and she was dressed in one of her finer gowns. As she slowly took the stairs to the first floor, she firmed her determination to endure her brother’s company.
Her path crossed, instead, with Julia and Nicolette.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
Julia, in a tone of undeniable conspiracy, whispered back, “We are undertaking your rescue.”
Nicolette slipped her arm through Céleste’s and walked with her toward the parlor, Julia on her other side. When they stepped into the parlor, Marguerite was there already.
“Excellent,” Julia said quietly. “We had hoped to find her alone.” Obviously, they already had a plan.
“Lady Lampton.” Marguerite looked both surprised and pleased.
“Oh, we had hoped to find you at home still.” Julia managed to sound truly delighted at the discovery while not saying anything untrue. She crossed to Marguerite. In friendly tones, Julia said, “You will not mind if we borrow your sister-in-law for the remainder of the evening.”
“She is to attend a gathering with us,” Marguerite said.
“And we do regret upending your plans, but we simply couldn’t bear the idea of not having Céleste with us for a time. We have been here for two days now and have had so little time with her.”
Marguerite was clearly vacillating. Céleste knew enough not to jump into the discussion.
Julia continued as the exclusive discusser of the situation. Nicolette’s established connection to Céleste would likely undermine the new countess’s ability to use her standing to persuade Marguerite. It was an excellent strategy.
“It is so good of you to allow us to have her with us for an evening,” Julia said. She even went so far as to reach out and squeeze Marguerite’s hand in the way one would a friend who had just offered a tremendous kindness.
Marguerite was clearly a little bit confused but also excessively flattered. “I suppose an evening with our English visitors could be permitted.” It was more progress than Céleste had made in ages.
“Should anyone wonder where Céleste is,” Julia said to Marguerite in conspiratorial tones, “you need simply tell them she is spending the evening with the son of the Duke of Hartley and the Earl and Countess of Lampton. That will impress the curious.” Though Julia didn’t wink, Céleste had the distinct impression she was tempted to take her playacting to such lengths.
Marguerite’s uncertainty gave way to a smile. “I believe I will enjoy telling people that.”
“Do,” Julia said. “And we, in turn, will tell everyone who asks how much we have enjoyed spending time with Mlle Céleste Fortier.”
“Perhaps you could tell people that at the ball tomorrow,” Marguerite suggested.
Julia nodded eagerly. “We most certainly will.” She squeezed Marguerite’s hand one more time. “We will not keep you from any remaining preparations for this evening.”
With an amusing degree of haste, they quit the room and rushed from the house. They were in the carriage and well on their way before any of them seemed to so much as breathe.
“Julia quite neatly accomplished that rescue. Don’t you think?” Nicolette asked with a laugh.
“I will never again doubt the Countess of Lampton.”
Julia smiled. “Most people do not do so twice.”
That set them all laughing. There’d been so few reasons for happiness these past two years. Céleste meant to cherish the coming hours. That would help when Jean-Francois inevitably made her suffer for it.
When they stepped inside the rented lodgings that Henri and his friends had secured for themselves while in Paris, Lucas was first to spot them.
He greeted Céleste with a bow so overdone and regal that she might have been royalty.
She offered a curtsy in return that matched the one she had performed during her one and only audience with the King and Queen.
Lucas laughed, just as she’d hoped he would.
These friends of Henri’s were wonderful. They made her feel welcome and wanted, something she hadn’t experienced in two very long years.
Henri pulled her into a hug. How she’d missed his hugs.
Aldric appeared in the doorway of what was likely the drawing room. “I see our confidence in the ladies was not misplaced.”
“They were brilliant,” Céleste said.
“Of course they were.” He gave a quick dip of his head and returned to the room beyond the doorway. Why his swift departure rankled her, she wasn’t entirely sure.
“We’ve decided to play a game,” Lucas said.
Henri kept one arm around Céleste and set his other around Nicolette. They walked alongside Lucas and Julia.
“I suspect I know which game has been chosen,” Julia said with a laugh as they stepped into the drawing room.
Only Aldric didn’t smile along with her. Even wearing a somewhat gruff expression, he was shockingly handsome. And Céleste found herself determined to pull him into the conversation, if only to see if she could wrangle a hint of a smile from him.
“What game will we be undertaking?”
In tones of annoyance, he said, “Hide-and-seek. It is a Gents’ favorite.”
“But not yours?” She posed it as a question but suspected she already knew the answer.
“It was a lot more fun when fewer of us were married.”
“I propose Aldric be the first to seek,” Lucas said, wiggling his eyebrows a little, which seemed to indicate he knew Aldric wasn’t entirely pleased with their choice of activity and he meant to torture him a little over it.
“Céleste can hide every round, regardless. Then she won’t need to walk about all night expending her energy. ”
“Count more slowly than usual,” Nicolette instructed Aldric. “That will give Céleste more time to choose and reach a hiding place.”
Céleste’s ruse was necessary, but she disliked having to maintain it then.
Being dishonest with such dear people rankled.
But she also disliked not being able to fully participate in the first activity she’d truly felt excited about in years.
She had no choice though. Escaping Jean-Francois and Marguerite was paramount.
And quick as that, the evening’s entertainment was underway.
Aldric tucked himself into a corner with a show of annoyance and began counting.
Céleste wandered a little from the room and into an adjoining corridor.
The second room she came to included a tall wingback chair with its back to the door.
That seemed as good a place as any to hide herself.
She sat with her feet tucked up on the seat in front of her, grateful that wide panniers had gone out of style.
She wouldn’t be spotted there unless Aldric stepped around the chair to look.
The game was a bit childish, but she was thoroughly enjoying it already. She didn’t have to worry about this group of people scolding her, chastising her, locking her in a room, or punishing her for insufficient fealty.
Ever since Henri had suggested she come live in England with them, she’d not been able to entirely convince her heart to let go of the possibility, though she knew it to be entirely impossible.
After all she had endured and was still enduring to prevent Jean-Francois from destroying what Henri and Nicolette had, it wouldn’t do to indulge in dreams that would put everything in jeopardy.
She didn’t know how long she had been sitting there when Aldric discovered her.
“Generally, once a participant is found,” he said, “that person joins in the seeking, but if you do not feel equal to it—”
“I would like to look,” she said. “If I find I have overtaxed myself, I will tell you.”
He watched her for a moment, apparently not entirely satisfied with her answer.
His quick mind and sharp intellect had been part of what had claimed her heart so quickly seven years earlier.
It made her nervous now. There were a great many things she didn’t wish him to see: how ill she wasn’t, how miserable she was, and how much her heart had once been his.
“I should tell you that I’ve already found Henri. He and Nicolette are refusing to emerge from their hiding place.” Aldric motioned her from the room. “This is not an unusual thing in the Gents’ rounds of hide-and-seek now.”
“Now that they are married, you mean?” she guessed.
Aldric nodded. “What began as an actual game many years ago has become a thin excuse for a bit of sparking.”
Ah. “And you are the odd man out.”
“At our last Gents’ gathering, Digby and I were the only ones still unattached. When we took up this game then, we were the only two who cooperated at all.”
“Likely also the two who enjoyed yourselves the least.” She smiled, and she swore he almost did too. She very much liked the idea of having made him almost smile.
Don’t be foolish, Céleste.
He walked slowly around the public rooms of their rented residence, his pace likely set in deference to her weariness.
She was doubly grateful for the care he was taking now that the rooms were going dark with approaching night.
Ample candles were lit, but she always struggled to see at night.
Every bit of light, be it the flicker of a candle or the flames of a fire, burst into dozens of rays of light expanding in all directions from the source.