Page 124 of Winterset
“Would it surprise you to know I am nervous to host one?”
“Truly? You seem so calm.”
“I paced my room all morning,” she confessed. “I checked the girls for fever about fifty times, thinking I might find some excuse to bow out.”
“You didn’t.”
“I did,” she said, and we shared a laugh. “Kate, I believe tonight will be an enjoyable experience for us both, but if it isn’t, we will use the twins as an excuse to leave early and retire upstairs. Is that agreeable to you?”
I nodded.
“All right, then.” Hannah squeezed my hand. “It is time. I will go first, and then you follow.”
“Could we not descend the stairs together?” I asked.
“Not tonight,” Hannah smiled. “I want to see your face when you lay eyes on your surprise. So, count to thirty, and then come down.”
I opened my mouth to tell her I was terrified that I might tumble down the stairs without her to hold on to, but she dashed away before I could. I counted to thirty to give Hannah time to descend the stairs and then again, trying to calm myself. But there was nothing for it; I was a bundle of nerves and would be until the night was over.
Ever so slowly, I made my way to the grand staircase. At the top, I smoothed my dress, straightened my gloves, and gripped the railing. I kept my gaze down as I descended, fearing that if I looked up, I might lose my footing and fall.
Halfway down, when I felt sure of my footing, I finally looked up.
My breath caught.
Oliver.
Standing in the middle of the room, set apart from the others, seemingly conjured here from one of my dreams.WasI dreaming?
I blinked, and he didn’t disappear.
I drank in the sight of him. Oliver was devilishly dashing, dressed in buff breeches, a dark coat, and a crisply tied cravat.
His head tilted slightly to one side, mouth set in a slanted smile, as if my shock at seeing him were somehow amusing. He strode across the floor and took the stairs two at a time until he stood before me. His eyes, so blue, bluer than I remembered, searched my face.
“Are you really here?” I finally managed.
“I’m really here,” he murmured.
I wanted to throw my arms around his shoulders and bury my face in his neck. And then I realized that if he was here with me, it meant he was not at Winterset, where he should be. “How are you—?Whyare you—?”
“I had to see that you made it safely here and were all right. Are you?”
I wanted to answer. Itriedto answer. But seeing him here when I’d thought I would never see him again, was too much to make sense of. I could only nod.
“Would it be too soon to ask you for your first set?” he said.
“Not too soon. It’s yours. And my supper set, too, if you want it.”
“I wantallyour dances, Kate, but tonight, I shall try to be satisfied with just the two.”
My stomach swooped at his words, and I clutched the railing to steady myself.
Oliver offered me his arm, and I relished his nearness as he helped me descend the remaining stairs and walk to where Hannah and Lord Jennings waited in the entrance hall.
“Itoldyou that you would want your surprise,” Hannah whispered in my ear, and then to the group, “Here are your masks.” Mine was made of heavily starched black lace and was decorated with glass beads. Oliver’s mask was also black but was made of satin and had no embellishments. “Hurry and put them on. The guests will be here any moment,” Hannah said.
Oliver held up his mask to me. “Help me?”
