27. Chapter 27
twenty-seven
F rom the moment the lights went down in the theater the next night, David was entranced by the performances.
He sat in a box with Dev and Jenny’s family, along with Alfred and Kit, Thorne and his wife, Camille, and Lord and Lady Aberdeen, but he may as well have been sitting alone.
As soon as the lights went out, he forgot everything but Jenny.
His eyes and his heart were hungry for her.
He knew how important this night was to her, which made it important to him in a way he had never understood it would be until just this moment.
He’d been to countless operas before, generally leaving before the final act to appear fashionable and because he honestly never cared how they ended.
But tonight was different. Tonight, Jenny had her much-anticipated debut and he wanted to witness every moment of it, as if his presence might lend her strength to overcome her nerves.
Her character didn’t make an appearance until the fourth scene of the first act.
The previous scenes had been the adults making plans and arrangements for the young duke and duchess without consulting them.
In this scene, the young couple make their appearance as happy newlyweds.
The irony of his own less than ideal newlywed state wasn’t lost on him.
Still, the moment Jenny stepped on stage, David’s breath caught and he sat forward in his chair, consumed by her.
He didn’t miss the tremble of her hand when she took hold of the singer playing her duchess.
He could even make out the slight waver of her voice in the beginning that was unlike the determined soprano she had been back at their engagement party.
His own hand clenched into a fist as if by the might of his own will he could lend her confidence.
He glanced to Kit to see if he noticed. Kit was the only one who might have been paying as close attention as David.
Kit lowered his opera glasses and smiled at something Alfred said, which led David to think he was the only one who knew her well enough to have caught the tell.
The next scene closed with a duet between the duke and duchess that David knew was one of the pivotal arias of the opera.
Jenny had explained the significance of it at dinner one night with her family and how important it was that she convey the proper depth of emotion.
“C’est pourtant bien doux” was a light but romantic song that was supposed to capture the depth of the couple’s love for each other.
That emotion would be expected to carry the weight of their relationship through the rest of the opera until the couple found their happily ever after at the end.
David didn’t realize he was holding his breath until his lungs burned.
He sucked in a breath and Kit reached over to place a hand on his arm.
The touch grounded him. Kit removed his opera glasses long enough to give David a look of reassurance before turning his attention back to the stage.
David forced another breath and watched as Jenny stepped to center stage and opened her mouth and sang, “ Oui, mais c’est moins doux que: je t’aime! ”
Her voice was strong and pure, vibrating out across the audience in a way that suggested she had never been nervous. He found himself smiling as the couple debated which phrase was sweeter: je vous aime or je t’aime. David would have settled for any form of I love you.
The couple sang the final line together: “ Et veux mourir en te disant: Je t’aime! ” Jenny’s gaze flicked to the family’s box and firmly settled on him in the front row. His stomach flipped. And I want to die saying to you: I love you!
The theater exploded in applause the second their voices faded.
The aria had been everything Jenny wanted, showing the sweetness of the love the couple felt for each other, which would sustain them through the forced separations until they found their way back to each other in the end.
David joined in the applause and fought back a burning behind his eyes.
He had known from the day he arrived in Paris that he loved her and that knowing had only grown deeper.
Now, he knew he longed to hear her say the words to him.
But how could she when he had never properly declared himself?
He needed to be brave first, to show her that it could all work out for them. He needed to let her know how he felt.
The rest of the opera continued at a fast clip.
It was a comedic production that drew rounds of laughter along with applause.
Jenny managed to hit the right note between young ingenue and believably in love.
She was magnificent. He couldn’t have been any prouder of her performance.
At the end, the performers received a standing ovation that seemed endless.
Her family were beside themselves with joy.
Between Fanny and Cora, no one could get a word in edgewise except for Kit who managed to enthuse along with them.
David quietly excused himself and took the stairs down.
He was stopped every several feet to receive the congratulatory remarks of some important person he must have met at the party but couldn’t remember.
As a result, it was some moments later before he finally made his way backstage.
It was much different here than in the elegant theater.
Everyone was running around chaotically, both in celebration and in trying to clean up and prepare for the performance the next day.
David found Jenny in the corridor of the dressing rooms, where the singers were celebrating their triumph while still in their costumes.
Jenny stood surrounded by performers as she talked animatedly about the performance.
David waited at the entrance, loath to interrupt her but also wanting to see her. He couldn’t take his eyes from her.
She still wore the soldier’s uniform she’d been wearing in the final scene, when the duchess sneaked into the duke’s tent after finding him at the end of the war.
Her wig was long gone and her hair curled around her face, wet with sweat.
Even from this distance, he could see the heavy makeup she wore was smeared from the sweat and heat of the lights.
It didn’t make her any less beautiful. Her face was lit up with her victory.
“The real duke,” someone called out.
David turned to see Mr. Winpenny approach and clap his back in some strange congratulatory pat as though David had anything to do with the success of the evening. “Not yet,” he said, mildly annoyed. “The real duke is in the audience.”
“Ah, is he in attendance? I must go and say hello. Well done, my darling girls,” the man called down the corridor to Jenny and her co-star émilie.
They called back and Jenny’s gaze caught on him. David half expected her to frown, but her smile widened. His heart fluttered and she started toward him. By the time she worked her way around the people between them, she was nearly at a run and she launched herself into his arms.
“Did you see the whole thing?” she asked against his ear.
What sort of question was that? “Of course. I saw it all. I couldn’t look away. You were magnificent.”
She pulled away to look at him dubiously. “Do you really think so?”
“Yes, I do. Jenny you were more than magnificent. You were resplendent, brilliant, the most impressive soprano I have ever seen in my life.”
She laughed. “I was nervous…in the beginning.”
He smiled tenderly at her and brushed a thumb along her cheek. It came away coated in stage paint, but he couldn’t be bothered to care. “I thought you were, but by the time you sang ‘ C’est pourtant bien doux ,’ you’d found your footing.”
Her eyes brightened, as did her smile. “You noticed.”
“I notice everything about you.”
She swallowed audibly. “I…I saw you. The way you were watching me…I liked it.”
“I liked watching you.”
“You gave me strength, I think. I…” She seemed like she didn’t want to admit something, but she charged forward. “I liked knowing you were there. I looked for you earlier but couldn’t find you. I should have asked which box was yours.”
She’d looked for him. He felt light and airy. “I liked being there.” It was now or never. He’d tell her how he felt and they’d spend the rest of their time in Paris in each other’s arms, where they belonged. “Jenny—”
She pressed up onto her toes and touched her mouth to his.
He was so surprised, he didn’t react at first. He kept hearing her say she didn’t want to kiss him, that it was her one rule.
He didn’t want to break it, but then her fingers curled into his hair and she tugged him down to more fully fit their lips together.
He groaned aloud as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him.
Her tongue swept into his mouth and he eagerly chased it with his.
She tasted of champagne and a sweetness that was hers alone.
He’d known that kissing her would be glorious, second only to being inside her as she clung to him.
But he hadn’t known how vulnerable he would feel, how completely and utterly out of his depth it would leave him.
How could he? He’d never kissed someone he loved before.
He’d never felt her mouth beneath him or felt her sigh into his kiss.
“Brava, Jenny, darling, you were outstanding!” Fanny’s boisterous voice broke through the haze of their kiss.
Jenny pulled away, smiling as she greeted her mother.
Bleary eyed, David looked up to see that her family and his had found them backstage.
He had to lean against the wall to keep his composure.
His knees didn’t seem up to the task of holding his weight any longer.
He could feel the slick of her stage paint on his lips and chin and he couldn’t be bothered to wipe it away.
She’d marked him and he loved wearing her for everyone to see.