Page 29 of A Lady’s Fairytale Come True
Climbing out of the coach he made his way to the door. Nathaniel turned once and looked at his coachman who seemed anxious to be in that part of the city. If he had hoped for a bit of courage, this was not the man from whom he ought to have sought it.
The door to the home was ajar when he reached it. It was not a great opening, but enough that he was able to peer in. Nathaniel knocked firmly, hoping that someone might come to it.
No one came. He knocked once more and decided to call in.
“Hello? Miss Digby?” he said into the quiet.
Still there was no reply.
Nathaniel was at a loss. Certainly, someone must be home if the door was open. But no one came when he called for them. He could not be so rude as to enter uninvited, but he knew not what else to do.
He stepped in with one foot and called again.
“Hello? Excuse me?” came his voice, still without reply. He took another step.
With each foot forward, Nathaniel tried to call out, but had the same result.
He took in the sight of the home. It was clean and sparse. There was no clutter despite the small size and he was impressed at how tidy it was kept. Nathaniel could not help but wonder how many people lived in the home.
Was it only Miss Digby? Did she live with her parents? Did she have any siblings?
Her saw a few dolls that seemed as though they must belong to a child and he wondered all the more.
“Hello?” he called out again. Nathaniel sighed, feeling completely at a loss. What could he do?
He reached the far end of the parlour, which was not really so far. But looking out of the window, he saw her. Miss Digby.
She stood with another young woman and a child. The three of them were near a garden and he watched as Miss Digby went back and forth between helping the elder of the other two pick a few sparse vegetables and then turning to tease and play with the younger.
As the child called out something he could not quite hear clearly, Miss Digby would turn her face and distort it into something silly, eliciting giggles.
No, this was not an easy life that these young women led. But it was one they made the best of, he could tell that for certain. And Miss Digby was making a lovely job of it. He couldn’t help but enjoy watching her efforts.
Miss Digby would make an ideal mother one day. And even with those strange faces she made, she still looked lovely with the sun shining against her. Even in her simple, pale blue dress, she was quite beautiful and effortlessly charming.
Nathaniel wondered if the other two were Miss Digby’s sisters. They both had fairer complexions with lighter hair, but similar eyes and noses. They were certainly related and it would make sense for them all to be sisters based on the affections between them all.
He noted that it seemed they were finishing up and, suddenly, Nathaniel felt extremely vulnerable.
If Miss Digby walked in the back door and saw him there, she would be furious. She might assume that he had been spying on her or trying to invade her home somehow. This was not the right way to make an apology.
Nathaniel looked around and tried to think fast. His only solution was to make his way quickly to the front door again. He rushed back through the tiny parlour and to the entryway. Indeed, he looked quickly through the windows to the back and saw that the sisters were making their way to the house from the petite garden.
He had only seconds, but Nathaniel shoved his body through the front and back into the sunlight.
“My lord?” came the voice of the perplexed coachman who saw him emerge.
Nathaniel looked up at him in bewilderment and embarrassment for his strange escape.
“Um…yes. I…uh, had to come back outside for a moment. I am awaiting their approval for my entrance,” he said, stumbling over the words that made little sense and failed to hide the discomfort he felt at his actions.
The eyebrows of the coachman knit together in an attempt to refrain from laughing. His amusement was visible, but his confusion equally so.
Nathaniel felt the heat of his cheeks, which he felt certain were reddening beneath his freckles. He was making an even greater mess of all of this than he had already created.
He turned back and saw the young women coming through the back door. He could knock immediately, but then they would know that he had been aware of their coming. So he stood for another moment. Quietly. Waiting.
Their voices carried through the parlour and into a farther room. It was better this way. They would not see him and it would not be so suspicious when he suddenly appeared.
