Chapter 21 The Train Home #4
“Read the book. We can discuss it when we next meet. I will write to you.”
“Yes,” Celise repeated, feeling more stupid than ever before.
Then the train whistle blew a second time. “Last call for boarding!” the conductor yelled.
Marcella rushed off to find Lord Dhastel, with Dasha following close behind.
Elias caught Celise by the elbow and placed her arm in his.
Then he strolled with her across the platform, escorting her down the long line of passenger cars to the first-class carriage.
Celise tried to ignore the gawking passengers staring at them from the public cars down the platform.
Elias was easily recognizable due to his black mask, and news had probably traveled across the countryside by now of their engagement.
Bloomheather Crossing was not far from Gravenmere Castle, and guests had been arriving all day to catch the train.
“Until next we meet, Lady Celise,” Elias said as he helped her onto the steps of the first-class car.
He pressed the back of her hand to his lips and held her eyes for several seconds too long.
Then he turned and retreated across the platform to where the other members of the Daemonguard were watering their horses across the road.
Celise watched him go, her gaze lingering on his broad shoulders, his tousled hair, and his long coat flapping in the wind.
That strange, fluttering warmth filled her chest again.
She wanted to leap off the train and run after him, but she forced herself to watch him from a distance.
Some part of her feared this might be the last time she saw the duke.
But the heavy weight of the book in her hand reassured her of his intentions.
It was tangible proof of his promise to see her again.
She clutched the book to her chest, her gaze still locked on his retreating silhouette. He was aloof and brash, moody and tempestuous, and yet . . . did she like the Mad Dog duke?
“Come, Celise, stop gaping after His Grace like a randy scullery maid; you’re embarrassing yourself,” Marcella snapped, emerging from the depths of the car with a bundle of train tickets in hand. “Our cabin is this way. Pick up your feet.”
The attendant took their tickets and escorted them to a private booth: a little pocket-sized room near the front of the train with cushioned seats that folded out into sleeping cots for the evening.
It was cramped but more comfortable than the wooden coach seats, and most importantly, it was private.
Dasha was not present. She had been sent off to the cheaper cars where the servants traveled, forced to leave the bag of moonberries and honey biscuits unattended.
As Celise entered the cabin, she saw that Heather and Katrina were already snacking on the sugary treats.
Marcella reached for a biscuit before taking her place next to her husband.
Celise was not offered any.
She sighed. It looked like her family had already stolen Elias’s gift right out of her hands.
In either case, she would not give up her bouquet of flowers with its hidden Starlight Dahlia. She planned to put the rare dahlia in a vase on her windowsill, where it could bloom under the stars. She held the bouquet protectively in her lap as she squeezed into a seat next to the window.
“You should throw that away, Celise. It takes up too much room, and it will rot before we get home,” Marcella said, indicating the flowers.
Celise felt her heart plummet—she thought she might be sick.
Unexpectedly, her father came to her defense. “Let the girl have her roses, Marcella,” he grumbled. “What would His Grace think if he discovered you made her throw them out?”
Marcella’s jaw clicked shut. Celise gazed at her father in shock.
Lord Dhastel didn’t look at her. He almost seemed uncomfortable with his own intervention.
He adjusted his jacket and picked up his newspaper, ignoring the ladies just as he did at the dinner table back home.
He opened the paper wide and disappeared behind the printed page.
With a pale face, Celise found herself confronted with the newspaper’s front-page headline: "The Mad Dog Bites Again: New Engagement Announced to Windhaven Heiress."
Beneath the title was a fuzzy, black-and-white photo of Celise standing before the ballroom in her tattered dress, the blood stains on her bodice softened by the bloom of the camera’s lens, while the duke stood irreproachable by her side.
She hiccuped.
Marcella didn’t bring up the bouquet again.
Celise was startled by the picture on the paper's front page.
The Mad Dog bites again? Even the paper's headline sounded skeptical of their engagement—like she was the victim of a wild dog attack!
How terrible! She didn't want to read the article—didn't want to know the reporter's take on the evening.
There was no way to stop the rumors and speculation from spreading.
By tomorrow morning, the story of her engagement to Elias would be the talk of the kingdom.
Her mind flew ahead to the Dhastel manor.
What would the servants at Windhaven Ranch think?
The manor would be in an uproar of excitement.
She could already imagine Mordwen's gleeful smile as the housekeeper bragged about the outcome of the weekend.
The old bitty's oracle deck would be given full credit for Celise's engagement; many other servants would probably ask her for readings.
Steffie would point to her skills as a seamstress, claiming her design for the silk dress caught the duke's eye.
Mr. Talisworth would shed a tear of pride.
Dasha would be in her element—she wouldn't tire of telling the story of the gala over and over, even if half the details changed with each retelling.
It was enough to make Celise smile, and she buried her little grin in her bouquet. She missed her friends—and she couldn't wait to be back in her cozy bedroom above the stables.
The train’s whistle blew, and with a gasp of steam, the cars rolled forward.
Celise settled back in her seat. Outside the window, a single crow took off from the platform and followed along next to the train, wings flapping, racing against the wind.
She watched the crow fly with furious wing flaps as rows of grapevines passed by outside the window.
Although Gravenmere Castle had long since disappeared from view, her eyes flickered to the distant horizon, where she imagined those high curtain walls standing in the distance.
In her mind, she walked through the decadent halls of the Blackwood estate.
She thought of the Zodiac Gardens, the ballroom, the Brazian twins and the many new faces she had met.
As she reflected on her adventures at Gravenmere Castle, it was hard to believe so much had happened in such a short weekend.
Truly, the gala had been a clandestine event.
Although she was returning home to Windhaven Ranch, she had a feeling her life would be far different now than it was before. But she wasn't afraid. Instead, a buoyant sense of hope remained in her heart.
Her eyes followed the crow alongside the train, who so arduously tried to keep pace with the thundering steam engine. Despite its struggles, the crow continued to fall farther and farther behind, until it banked its wings and soared out across the rows of vineyards, heading toward the sunset.
Fin . . . for now.