Chapter 5 #3
They turned purposefully around the room.
The afternoon light pressed softly through the muslin drapes, and over her shoulder she could see Lydia watching them with unconcealed delight.
Aunt Violet was half-entertaining another woman’s conversation and half -watching, looking pleased with herself for how everything had turned out.
Aurelia returned her attention to Evander. He was already looking at her, not past her, not at a point somewhere over her shoulder like Frederick always did – but at her. She felt a strange pressure in her head and ears, more than just the accumulation of her nerves and anticipation for the day…
His eyes were a darker green than she'd realised.
And she had the sudden, inconvenient impression that she could look at them for quite a long time.
Then she remembered everything they had agreed, and she looked away.
They finished the dance in comfortable silence.
He returned her to the sidelines and told her they would speak later.
“My, my…” Lydia said a little breathlessly, appearing at her side the moment the music changed again, and Evander had left for air with some of the gentlemen.
She dusted off the bottom of her skirts and laughed.
"That was… it was something, Aurelia. The way he looks at you…
I'm simply noting it as a fact, now. But it is very surprising. "
“He doesn't look at me in any particular way,” Aurelia said, feeling embarrassed. She tucked her hair behind her ear and tried not to look for Evander through the windows. “And if he does look at me, it is only with respect and resignation.”
Lydia shook her head and gave a burst of laughter. “You are such a funny thing. You could not be more wrong if you tried. But whatever pleases you on your wedding day… We can argue that point later.”
The afternoon unwound slowly after that.
Guests took their leave in the usual order: the clergyman left first, then the others guests, each party with varying degrees of warmth.
Lydia was last, naturally, waiting for her cousin to pack away his instrument.
She held Aurelia's hands behind the front door for a long moment, dragging her thumb over her friend’s knuckles.
“You must write to me,” Lydia said sadly. “Constantly, about everything. If you forget – if you forget about me and find a woman in Norfolk you like much better than me – I will walk all the way there to confront you.”
“I will write regularly and appropriately,” Aurelia assured her. “I could not forget you if I tried.”
“Well, of course not,” Lydia teased, rolling her dark eyes.
“But a woman has to make these things known.” She kissed Aurelia’s cheek, then stepped back and looked past her with a frank, assessing gaze.
Evander had arrived, two dogs trailing behind him.
“Take care of her, Your Grace. She will never ask you to. That’s her worst quality, her total disregard for her own person.
So you'll have to think of it yourself, remind yourself everyday of what she deserves.”
Evander looked at her steadily and nodded. Satisfied at last, Lydia left and could be heard shouting at her cousin to hurry as they walked toward their carriage.
Aunt Violet appeared briefly to say she would give them a moment and wrap things up with the staff. She disappeared in the direction of the kitchen in a swish of blue silk, pausing briefly in the doorway to smile at Aurelia.
And then, for what felt like the first time, it was just the two of them. The sound of glasses being picked up and furniture pushed back sounded from the drawing room. The maids were chatting happily. For a second, everything felt well.
“That could have gone considerably worse,” Evander said, clasping his hands behind his back. His cravat had come a little loose, and Aurelia suppressed the urge to reach up and fix it – and to keep her hands there once she had. “Are you pleased, Aurelia?”
She was still not used to hearing him say her name, and she gasped quietly. “I… I could not be more pleased. You have done a very wonderful thing for me.”
“So you do not wish you had rejected me and become a spinster instead?”
Aurelia was sure she did not, but chose to tease him. “Ask me again in a couple of weeks once I have had time to settle into this marriage.”
Evander nodded. His breath hitched and he looked down. “Here comes Margie,” he said, crouching down to stroke the eldest of her aunt’s dogs.
Aurelia fell into a crouch as well and let the dog sniff her hand. “You nicknamed Marguerite? Did you get my aunt’s blessing?”
“She all but begged me to take the dog of my choosing home.” Evander readjusted Marguerite’s collar and stroked her. “But I have more than enough animals already.”
“In Norfolk?” Aurelia asked. “I had no idea. How many, exactly?”
“Two dogs. But the stables there are…” He closed his eyes and laughed, looking genuinely happy. “Well, I should keep some things a surprise for you, or you will be tired of Carrstone and loathe it before we even arrive.”
“I don’t think that’s possible,” she replied, a nervous knot forming in her chest at the prospect of the journey, the move, the country. “Not unless Carrstone offends me in some way.”
“It will try its best not to,” Evander said, evidently not talking about his estate any longer. “But only time will tell.”