Chapter 19
After much consideration, Mya decided to go to the Auteberrys’ ball.
Not to confront Blanche, she argued with herself, but to simply show that she was above what the woman had said and done.
When she explained the situation to Lottie and Eleanora, both had stared at her like she was crazy.
It likely didn’t help that she made the announcement just after meeting Kayden in the rain, as they both stood, dripping all over the rug.
“You are certain about this?” Lottie asked, her eyes moving from Mya to Kayden and back and forth between them.
“Very. Kayden's sure. We're both sure.”
Lottie’s and Ella’s heads moved at the same time to stare at Kayden, who nodded. The way he looked at Mya must have confirmed everything. Or maybe the way he couldn’t stop staring at her.
“In that case,” Lottie said, clapping her hands together with a grin that Mya thought looked a little too dangerous. “We're going to want new dresses. All of us.” She winked at Kayden. “Except you. Maybe a new suit?”
From that moment on, everything became about getting ready for the party. As it had been the first time, there were dress fittings and new gloves, new hats and shoes. But this time, there was also Kayden.
He didn't take Mya out, but that was her choice as much as his.
Neither of them had wanted Blanche or anyone connected to the Auteberrys to see them together.
It would ruin the revelation. It needed to be an eye-opener for Blanche.
And Mya was very much looking forward to that bit of theater.
She was quite sure Blanche would never forget it.
***
The day of the ball dawned cloudy and gray, but Mya refused to let it dampen her spirits.
“I hope you are aware,” Eleanora said as they readied themselves to leave that afternoon, “that what you are doing will be quite a shock to the community. They will not stop speaking of it for some time, and there will be varying opinions on the matter. Most of them negative. People will treat you with concealed if not outright disdain.”
“I don’t care,” Mya answered. “If everyone in the world is against me, as long as I have Kayden, I will be fine. He makes me strong.”
Eleanora reached out and laid a hand over her wrist, stopping Mya from reaching for the bracelet she had been about to put on and waiting until Mya turned and met her eyes before speaking.
“It will not be everyone in the world, of that I can assure you. You will always have my support, and Lottie’s. ”
On impulse, Mya took a step forward and wrapped her arms around the other woman, pulling her into a tight hug. For a moment, Eleanora was startled stiff in the embrace, and then she softened and returned it. When she moved back a moment later, she was smiling.
“Your decision,” she said, “might be an outrageous one, but it is the right one. People forget, in all this pageantry, what true emotion is. Love, when it is true, is worth more than all the social status or money in the world.”
Lottie rushed in just then, looking for the necklace she had meant to wear to the dance, which she could not find, and the moment was broken.
Eleanora, laying a calming hand on her shoulder, went to help her retrieve it.
As the sound of their footsteps retreated, Mya turned to the mirror and stood looking in it, studying the face that looked back at her.
She did not look like someone about to make an outrageous decision, she thought.
Nor did she feel like it. She felt… calm.
As though there was no other decision that could have been made.
She supposed there was, of course. They could have gone a more socially approved route.
But Kayden was determined that everyone know he wanted to be with her, it was his way of declaring publicly that he did not care about her lack of family or her financial state, did not care about the political connections that he could make by marrying Blanche.
And if he wished the world to know where he stood on those matters, Mya was more than happy to help him demonstrate.
The carriage ride over was an exercise in patience. Mya watched the landscape slide by outside the window, tapping a finger against her knee. She was ready to be there. Ready for it all to be over and Kayden to be officially hers.
“You are sure you want to do this?” Lottie asked, watching her.
Mya looked up. “Yes. I am sure. Do I look like I am not?”
“You look nervous.”
“No.” Mya shook her head, smiling slightly. “Not nervous. Impatient.”
Lottie laughed. “In that case, then, dear, you will have your moment soon enough. Wait, and enjoy it for what it is.”
It was good advice. Mya sighed, and tried to follow it.
Still, she was grateful when they arrived at the Auteberrys’ estate.
They stepped down from the carriage and went inside, once more introduced by the butler.
She saw several heads turn, and wondered if any of them were close friends of Blanche, if they were expecting an entirely different end to the night than the one she and Kayden had planned.
If they were mocking her behind their polite smiles.
Lottie’s gown was a blue so deep it was nearly purple, and this time it was she who wore bluebells in her hair.
Eleanora, in pale green touched with silver, had sprays of heather in her chignon, and Mya smiled to see so many eyes follow her and Lottie through the room.
Mya's own gown was layer upon layer of sky blue lace, its edges fluttering gently with her motion.
She felt rather like she thought royalty might, making her way over to the side to be seated and feeling all eyes on her.
Kayden had not seen the dress yet; she had wished it to be a surprise. But she was rather certain he was going to like it.
The night went on, at first, as it had the last time they had attended such a ball. Mya's dance card filled up, though she was careful to set aside several for Kayden, and she saw Lottie and Eleanora on the arms of various partners, both of them looking as though they were enjoying the night.
When Kayden arrived, the dance had been in full swing for nearly an hour. The butler called his name, and then he was moving down the stairs and into the ballroom. The Auteberrys moved to intercept him.
Mya wondered what Blanche Auteberry had told her parents.
They were undoubtedly involved in the attempt to marry her to Kayden.
She watched them smile and nod and present Blanche in her lilac-colored gown to Kayden, whose face was impassive.
A moment later, he glanced up and his eyes met Mya's through the bustle of the crowd. She smiled at him.
He let Blanche take his arm, and lead him out onto the dance floor. She clung to him in a way that almost verged on impropriety, and Mya resisted the urge to stalk out into the middle of the dance and pull her from his arms.
As the dance continued, she watched from the sidelines, saw Kayden lean down to say something to Blanche, likely whispered in her ear to be heard over the music.
Blanche's expression went from pleased to startled. And then from startled to angry. She moved to step back, but Kayden held her for a moment longer, bent his head to her ear to say one last thing. When she jerked herself from his arms, the dancers around her faltered.
She knocked into the couple that had been behind her, and turned immediately to apologize. The dance had lost its orderly motion, and the rhythms were crumbling. The music fumbled and stopped. In the sudden silence, Mya could hear her heart beating loudly in her ears.
Blanche, obviously realizing that she had every eye in the place on her, spun on her heel and stalked away without saying a word.
Mya’s heart beat faster. This was the moment that they had planned for.
Kayden was making his way through the crowd.
Lottie and Eleanora, Mya suddenly noticed, had reappeared, and were standing just to the side, watching her.
Close enough that they could step in if something went wrong, she suspected.
And then Kayden was there. And he was going to one knee in front of her.
A murmur ran through the crowd, but Mya hardly heard it.
She had expected him to show that he was courting her, not thing.
But looking down into Kayden’s dark eyes, her entire world consumed by the want and warmth and love laid bare there.
Everyone in the room disappeared, except for him.
“Mya Boyle,” he said. “In the time that I have known you, you have altered my world utterly. I cannot imagine it now without you in it, cannot imagine a life without you by my side. I am completely and devotedly in love with you, and nothing in this world would make me happier than for you to be my wife. Will you consent to marry me?”
She hadn’t known the proposal was coming. Without needing to consider the question, she knew what her answer was. She couldn’t stop the joy from rushing up through her like a tide, filling her chest and making her throat tight and her eyes prickle with happy tears.
“Yes,” she said, realizing only as it left her that the word was a whisper hardly loud enough to be heard. “Yes,” she said again, louder and laughing with pleasure. “I will marry you, Kayden McGregor.”
He was on his feet in the next moment, sliding a silver ring with a lover’s knot in the band onto her finger and taking her hands in both of his.
There was a wide smile on his face. Mya was laughing.
Distantly, from the corner of her eye, she noted Blanche and her parents watching from the other side of the ballroom, their expressions horrified.
Mya didn’t care. She had everything she needed right in front of her.
They were thrown out of the ball. Mya had half expected it.
Kayden had gone against their hosts when he’d chosen her over Blanche; it was hardly a surprise that they wished to see neither him nor Mya in their house.
Lottie and Eleanor, though they likely would have been grudgingly allowed to remain, had come with them.
“You have succeeded,” Eleanora said, “in becoming the most talked about couple in Inverness tonight.”
Mya laughed. “Yes. I imagine that we have.”
Kayden handed her up into his coach, and Mya slid onto the seat, straightening out her skirts. A moment later, he followed her up. The door closed behind him, and then he was pulling her into his arms. Kissing her hard. Mya wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him in return.
When they broke apart, Kayden was smiling again.
Mya felt an answering grin on her own face. “That went better than I expected,” she admitted.
He laughed, gathering her up and pulling her into his lap, his arm supporting her shoulders. “Did you expect it to go badly, then?”
Mya shook her head, not sure how to put into words the feeling she’d had. “I just… I thought there might be a catch or something. It was such an astonishing thing to the people in there, but I suppose they’ll content themselves with gossip and refusing to speak to us later.”
Kayden’s fingers curled gently under her chin, lifting her head to meet her eyes. “No catch,” he said gently. “We were meant to be together. No moment in time can tear us apart.”
“I love you, Kayden McGregor,” Mya said, voice catching a little over the words.
“And I love you,” he answered. “Utterly.”
“And forever,” Mya said.
“And forever.”