Part 15 (1/2)
He saw he'd made a mistake when the captain's face, already red, took on a deeper, almost purple shade of rage. His feeling of satisfaction and confidence a.s.sumed the barest quiver of uncertainty.
”Contradict my orders, will you? In my own house! My own house!”
”I should go,” Vivian whispered.
He did not want her to have to stand here and suffer as a target of Captain Twitchen's fury. The man might say something hurtful. ”Perhaps for the moment,” he whispered back.
She started to slip away from him, and he bent down and pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head. ”Not to worry. You'll be called back down within the hour, I promise.”
She cast him a quick glancea”was it one of hope and uncertainty?a”and he smiled in rea.s.surance.
Once she was safely from the room, Captain Twitchen lent full force to his ire. ”Now, sir, are we going to settle this like gentlemen?”
”That is indeed my intention.”
”Pistols or swords?”
Richard felt a sinking in his gut. Soothing Captain Twitchen was going to be more difficult than he'd thought.
An hour pa.s.sed, and there was no call for Vivian to come down. She paced her bedchamber, she listened at her door for footsteps or the distant sound of voices, she watched from her window as guests left in pairs and in groups. She built up the fire in the grate, and wished that there was something to eat.
Horrible, to have been seen by Captain Twitchen with her bare legs wrapped around Richard, flat on her back, his mouth at her breast. She knew that she had briefly entertained causing such a scandal, buta The sickening embarra.s.sment of it made her stomach churn. Far worse, was not knowing what was presently happening down in the library.
Another quarter of an hour pa.s.sed. Was Richard still here? He must be. He and Captain Twitchen must still be arguing. She rubbed her forehead; the muscles there were sore from her frown of worry. Richard had given every indication that he would ask permission to wed her. Captain Twitchen couldn't possibly refuse, could he? Surely his pride could not be so severely offended.
And if it were?
She would marry Richard despite the captain's objections. She would abandon all family ties, if that was what it took. It would be cruel repayment for the generosity the Twitchens had shown her, but there was no other choice. She had to have Richard. She would have him.
Only, if she could, she would do so without breaking her ties to her cousins. She found herself surprised. In the short time she had been with them, she had grown fond of them alla”Mrs. Twitchen with her social ambitions and motherly heart; Captain Twitchen and his blunt good cheer; even Penelope had become something of a friend, despite her selfishness.
But the one thing Vivian knew about this life was that caring ties to others were more precious than gold, more precious than t.i.tles or gowns or beauty. She would not easily give up even the meager ones she had with the Twitchens.
And she would never give up the one she had now with Richard. Never.
Another half hour pa.s.sed. She was torn between the need to find out what was happening and the fear of interrupting and somehow spoiling whatever advantage Richard may have gained.
She went to the window and gazed down at another pair of partygoers as they departed. She could feel the cold of the night seeping through the gla.s.s.
A knock on her door turned her around, and Mrs. Twitchen entered. She rushed towards her cousin, then stopped as she read the distress upon the woman's face.
”Is Mr. Brent still here?” she asked.
”He is, but not for much longer if Captain Twitchen has anything to say about it.”
”Tell me, what is happening?”
”This is a fine mess you've managed to get yourself into,” Mrs. Twitchen said in a stern voice that quavered on the last word. ”A fine mess. I can only be thankful that we are yet in the country, and that it was the captain who came in upon you, and not one of our neighborsa”else I don't know how we would have been able to save you from a future with that man.”
”The captain hasn't refused Mr. Brent, has he? Surely he could not have!”
”Mr. Brent has nearly caused my husband to fight a duel, that's what he has done! The foolish man!” Mrs. Twitchen wrung her hands and then burst into tears, sinking into the chair by the fire.
Vivian didn't know which man Mrs. Twitchen meant was the foolish one, but she felt a wave a guilt wash over her at the sight of the woman's distress. She went and knelt by her side, and laid her hand on the woman's knee.
”Hush, now. Hush,” she said. ”Mr. Brent would never engage in the nonsense of a duel.”
”Nonsense? This from you, sitting there with your honor in shreds!” Mrs. Twitchen dropped her hands from her wet and reddened face. ”Captain Twitchen has more honor in him than Mr. Brent could ever dream of, and knows a coward and a sneak when he sees one. We won't be letting you throw your life away on such a man, that we won't!”
Vivian sat back on her heels, taking her hand from Mrs. Twitchen's knee. She steadied herself to disagree. ”Mr. Brent is the most honorable man I have ever known. It may be a peculiar sort of honor, but it is true and deep, and I love him for it. I will marry him, with or without the blessing of you and Mr. Twitchen.” She bit her lip. ”But I would rather have it.”
Mrs. Twitchen's expression softened to one of pity. ”You are not thinking clearly, child. Don't think that because I'm old I do not know what you are feeling, the pa.s.sions that are in your heart. And that is how I know that this is a time when you must rely on those older and wiser than yourself, who can see with clear eyes. Mr. Brent is a scoundrel, and will bring you nothing but unhappiness. It is too late to save you from the pain of an entanglement with him, but we can at least save you from public dishonor.”
She had lived long enough by the rules and wishes of others. No more! ”I am well past my majority. I can make up my own mind in this.”
”Have you forgotten the engagement Mr. Brent broke in the past? Do you not think that other young woman felt as pa.s.sionately as you do now?”
”I am sure there must have been a good reason behind that.” And she was.
”How can you know?” Mrs. Twitchen asked. ”You have known Mr. Brent little more than a week. I have been with the captain nigh on two decades, and still do not know him entirely. Anyone can be charming for a week, my dear. Let his history speak to you of who he truly is.”
Vivian shook her head and stood. ”It is his very history that tells me he is a man worthy of love. You cannot dissuade me from what my heart knows is true.” She marched to the door and laid her hand upon the k.n.o.b.
”Vivian, darling.” Mrs. Twitchen rose and came toward her, hands fluttering. ”Can you at least give us this one night? Can you at least sleep upon it, and let us know that you have considered fully?”
Vivian took in Mrs. Twitchen's frantic concern, her distress, and wavered. She let her hand fall from the k.n.o.b. If waiting one night was all that the Twitchens required of her, she would be heartless not to give it. Such was not so much to ask. The bond she felt with Richard would not suffer for a handful of hours apart.
”I will sleep upon it.”
Mrs. Twitchen nodded and opened the door herself to go. She was through it and pulling it closed when she paused and turned, her face in the narrow s.p.a.ce between door and jamb.
”Forgive me, child. I do this for your own good.”
Vivian lunged for the k.n.o.b, but was too late. The door slammed, and the key turned in the lock from the other side.
She was a prisoner once again, to another's idea of how she should live.
Chapter Eight.
Twelfth Night The few bits of Christmas greenery in her room had been taken down and were waiting now in a dried-out pile to be fed into the fire. Her hopes of a marriage to Richard Brent might as well burn along with it.
Vivian had been locked in her room for five days now, allowed to send no letters nor receive them, and even Penelope was forbidden from visiting. Vivian saw Mrs. Twitchen daily, and suffered through her lectures and, more dangerously, the growth of the seeds of doubt that the woman planted and watered so carefully.
Richard wanted her. She knew he did. He had offered for her, she was sure of it. Did he love her enough to continue to fight for her, whatever the obstacles?