Page 32 of Dropping the Ball

Alden didn’t find out what might happen without duty and honor. Waldorf’s explanation was cut off by a shrill scream from the hallway, followed by a terrified shout of, “Snake!”

Chapter Eleven

Bernadette was so glad to see her friends that she could hardly keep her emotions in check until they made it into the safety of the parlor. Even then, the purpose of their flight into the parlor was to find Napoleon.

“I do hope he hasn’t upset or damaged any of Lord Alden’s belongings,” Kat said, heading straight to the sofa along one wall, under which Napoleon could be seen. “Come, darling. Come to Mama,” she said, kneeling so that she could reach under the sofa.

“I hope Napoleon has not encountered any of Lord Alden’s creatures,” Muriel said, searching the area around the sofa, as if looking for lizards. “He would likely eat them, and while I have no great love for my cousin-in-law’s slithery things, I would hate for any of them to have come all this way only to be devoured by a house cat.”

“Napoleon would never be so inhospitable to his host, would you, dear,” Kat asked as she pulled Napoleon into her arms and stood.

Napoleon seemed content to have attention lavished on him rather than to chase after lizards. Bernadette was glad he’d been caught. She liked Napoleon well enough, but she could already see the disasters that would befall if the feline decided Egbert or the others were his playthings and his meals. Or if the alligators or larger snakes decided Napoleon would be the meal.

Of course, thinking about Egbert and alligators led Bernadette to think about Alden. Once her thoughts started down that path, misery followed.

Fortunately, her friends noticed.

“My dear, whatever is the matter?” Kat asked, stepping towards her, though she had to keep a strong hold on Napoleon as she did.

Bernadette told herself that she would be brave and strong, and that she would not trouble her friends with her own heartbreaks. But that did not and could not last.

“It’s been so wonderful and so, so terrible,” she burst as soon as she saw the expressions of care and affection her friends had directed at her. She was glad that none of the other guests had invaded that room yet and that she could express herself freely, at least for the moment.

“Darling. Your letters have been both heartbreaking and encouraging,” Muriel said, stepping forward to draw Bernadette into her embrace, which Bernadette accepted as if Muriel were her sister. “If I had known there was any danger of you falling in love with Alden, I never would have suggested you for the task of planning this ball.”

“No!” Bernadette gasped, pulling away from Muriel and looking at her in horror. “If you had never brought Alden andI together, then I would never have met him. Despite my poor, breaking heart, I am so desperately glad to know him.”

Kat frowned, stroking Napoleon’s head. “How can you be glad to know a man who has fooled you into falling in love with him, then broken your heart by insisting you choose someone else for him?”

Bernadette smiled at her friend’s cantankerous outlook. Kat always had had claws. Particularly where men were concerned. Like Napoleon, she saw them as something to play with and devour, but not necessarily to fall in love with.

“None of it is Alden’s fault,” Bernadette said. “Neither Alden nor I knew we would fall in love, and when I was forced to reveal the full truth of the chains of matrimony that my parents bound me in …” She could only shrug to conclude the thought.

Muriel huffed an impatient breath. “Your parents are among the cruelest in all Britannia,” she said. “I’ve always thought so, and my opinion of them has not changed.”

“Is there any way at all you could write to Lord Hethersett to ask for an annulment?” Kat asked, lowering her voice suddenly at the second half of her question as a group of laughing guests passed the door of their parlor while she spoke.

Bernadette cast a look to the doorway, knowing they did not have much time to discuss the matter before the entire house was overrun. “I have already written to him about exactly that,” she said. “I explained the entire sad situation to him and appealed to our years of friendship, even though it has only been through correspondence, to set me free. But even if he agrees to end our marriage, Father would never approve of an annulment.”

“He cannot be any more attached to this marriage than you are,” Muriel reasoned.

“Oh, but he is,” Bernadette sighed, wanting to flop into one of the sofas. “In fact, I daresay Father has benefitted from my marriage to Hethersett more than even Hethersett or I have.”

“How so?” Kat asked with a frown.

“He has used our marriage and his connection to an esteemed diplomat to secure loans and to advance his social standing in East Anglia,” Bernadette explained. “Father cares for little above reaching for a higher place in society. He sacrificed his eldest daughter to improve his standing. I cannot possibly see him agreeing to an annulment when it would humiliate him in the eyes of the people he esteems the most.”

“What is this about an annulment?”

The question was asked by Minerva, who strode into the parlor in her jet-black traveling clothes, removing her bonnet with a dramatic sweep.

Bernadette laughed as she crossed to greet her friend with an embrace. “Dearest Minnie,” she said, pulling Minerva into her arms. “I can always count on you for precisely the right distraction to take me away from my gloomy thoughts.”

“Whyever would you want to be taken away from gloomy thoughts?” Minerva asked, hugging her back. “I find they are the most entertaining thoughts of all.”

Bernadette laughed again. Now that her friends and sisters-in-arms were all with her, she felt as though she could take on even the most disappointing heartbreak.

“I was just telling Muriel and Kat that I am in love,” she said, her voice lowered, as there were still people in the hallway, “and that I have no hope.”

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