Page 37 of The Lord who Captured Her Innocent Heart
“Is it really so bad?” Tatiana returned.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Ella offered. “You look stunning.”
Finally, Tatiana turned her attention to the mirror, to herself. She stretched her fingers across the bodice, at her belly button, and turned swiftly to the left, then the right, admiring her cinched figure. The dress came along with her, shifting with her glorious body.
“They won’t be able to keep their eyes from you,” Ella said, her voice still hushed. “They’re going to call you the most beautiful bride they’ve ever seen.”
Tatiana’s eyes flashed with apprehension. “You don’t mean it.”
“I do,” Ella sighed. “I really do.”
Tatiana stepped closer towards the mirror, leaning towards her face. Her nose was but inches from her own reflection. “It’s a funny thing, growing older,” she murmured. “I dare say I can already see the sort of woman Frederick is going to grow accustomed to seeing, day in and day out. Where the wrinkles will form. Where my neck will begin to sag…”
“Don’t, Tatiana. Don’t dwell on the things you cannot change ...” Ella began.
“No. It’s really quite beautiful, isn’t it? Knowing that he’ll see that in me. He’ll notice the changes, even when I perhaps don’t. And I will love seeing him transition from a very young man to an older one. To a father. I imagine him introducing our children to literature, while I teach them to sing songs, to dance. I imagine our house will be a chaos of story, of light, of information. And Ella, I long for you to be a part of it, with your own children accompanying you.”
At this, Ella’s cheeks burned. After her conversation with Peter, she’d felt awash with apprehension, sensing that what he said — regarding her future with some lucky chap — was not to be. She couldn’t imagine it with anyone, after imagining it so long with Frederick.
Unless, of course, Peter somehow tugged himself from his sincere, beating heart, which held no name but Tatiana’s.
“What happened with Lord Holloway, Ella?” Tatiana asked now, her eyes cat-like. She reached to the back of her neck, undoing the first button. It seemed that already she’d had enough of this pre-wedding gown session.
“What do you mean?” Ella asked, sounding coy. She swept towards Tatiana, taking up the task of undoing the buttons, one by one, until she reached the base of her glowing back.
“I wasn’t the only one who spotted something brewing between the two of you,” Tatiana affirmed. “But it seems that in recent weeks, we haven’t seen much of him. Mother and Father insisted that I invite him to the last garden party tomorrow afternoon, but I wanted to enquire your opinion first. If you wish that he isn’t around you, then I shan’t invite him. Although Mother will be heartbroken, after thinking–”
“Whatever it was that you and Mother and Father thought regarding my friendship with Peter Holloway, it isn’t true,” Ella said, her voice hollow. She helped her sister step from the delicate lace, back onto the clear wooden floorboards. “Of course, he should be invited to the garden party, especially as a member of Frederick’s family. I dare say there will be several eligible women there, many of whom would be lucky to be courted by Lord Holloway.”
Tatiana stuck her lower lip out, lending a ridiculous, girlish expression. Ella busied herself, stretching the gown out onto the bed. She shuffled to and fro, adjusting the lace, ensuring nothing had torn during the fitting.
“You’re absolutely no fun whatsoever, are you, Miss Ella?” her sister sighed.
“I apologise that I can’t give you what you want,” Ella spat back. “It’s only that my feelings are my feelings, and mine alone. I cannot force myself to covet the attraction of Lord Peter Holloway, nor can I force his attraction towards me.”
“I dare say he’s attracted to you,” Tatiana said, arching her brow.
“How can you possibly be sure?” Ella said, her voice rising. She spun around to stare at her sister, feeling as though her eyes might pop from their sockets. “How can you know what lurks within Peter Holloway’s mind? All men are difficult to read, but I dare say, he’s the most difficult. All those years we spent daydreaming up the perfect men to marry, I couldn’t have imagined anyone more — more a subject of his own self-confidence and dare I say arrogance. He’s no prince charming, Tatiana.”
Tatiana lent Ella a slight eye roll. “I suppose he’s not the only one filled with arrogance, in this case.”
With that, Tatiana sauntered to the side of the room and slipped back on her day gown, casting the back of her shoulders towards Ella. They looked like wings. Ella took this as a sign she was no longer wanted in the bedroom. She hurried to the door and slipped through the crack, careful to let the door bang behind her a bit louder than was necessary. She felt every bit the younger teenager who’d once tried to “get back” at Tatiana for garnering far more attention at a recent family affair than she had. “What a remarkable child Tatiana is,” Ella had heard a woman whisper to her mother. “How terribly wonderful that you had two children, isn’t it? Tatiana can show Ella precisely what it means to be a woman.”
As Ella swept down the staircase, she encountered Tiffany sulking out of the parlour, her hands stitched into her apron pockets. Ella sprung forward, her tongue sizzling with questions. Tiffany spotted her and very nearly rushed out of sight, but Ella was rabbit quick, ultimately drawing her into a nearby cupboard. The shadow overtook them as Ella shut the door behind them, latching them in.
“Tiffany, darling,” Ella said, noting that, despite the darkness, Tiffany’s eyes glowed with fear. “Please, don’t be frightened. It’s only that I need to ask you a question, and I must uphold the strictest of boundaries.”
“This is quite mad, Lady Ella,” Tiffany said. She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring.
“I understand that.” Ella sighed. Gosh, how ridiculous she must seem? “It’s only that — remember the bit of work I had you do for me, weeks ago? The work regarding the — um. The letters?”
“I remember,” Tiffany said.
“Right. Well, I was hopeful. I was thinking that perhaps because I wasn’t so keen on keeping up with the, shall we say, payment plan I had initially orchestrated, you’ve perhaps kept a few of my letters from me?”
“What are you suggesting?” Tiffany asked, her voice raspy.
“Just that if you have kept a few of my letters back, I am eternally grateful. It’s really rather good that my parents haven’t yet seen these letters from this particular — person. And I know I need to pay you, and I shall. Can we make a trade?”
