Page 2 of Elixir of a Duchess' Passion
It was at that moment that Betty arrived with the tea. The maid, who had been with Melissa since she was a little girl, only a couple of years older than her, took a moment to curtsey them both before placing the tea tray upon the table between them.
“Would you like me to pour, My Lady?” she asked with a smile.
“I think I can manage, thank you, Betty.”
Melissa waited for the brunette to retire to the edge of the room before pouring tea for herself and her friend. “Honey?” she asked, holding up the small pot of sweet honey she had collected from her hives at the bottom of the orchard.
“Oh, yes, please!”
With a smile, Melissa contentedly stirred the honey into the herbal concoction of tea she had prepared herself from her herb garden and stored in the pantry along with everything else. Thanks to herself and the farmers who occupied her estate, they were all practically self-sustaining, making Melissa’s happy life of near solitude even easier.
Handing a teacup and saucer to her friend, she picked up her own and blew gently upon the top of the herbal tea before taking a delicate sip to be sure she had used enough honey.
“Hmm…it is lovely as always,” Daisy said, taking a sip of her own. They were silent for several moments while Daisy drank a little more, and Melissa watched her, still wondering what she was doing there.
Then, when she could wait no longer, she asked, “Surely you did not mean what you said earlier about Anthony? Has something happened between the two of you?”
Daisy sighed at that and shook her head, placing her cup and saucer back on the table so she could stroke her hands over her skirts, clearly unable to look Melissa in the eye.
“In all honesty, Anthony is lovely and sweet and accepting and just wonderful, as he has always been,” she admitted, playing with a loose thread upon her gown. “It is I who is the problem.”
“Oh, I am certain that is not true,” Daisy protested. Placing her cup and saucer opposite Daisy’s, she moved slightly forward in her seat and reached for her friend’s hand again. “Tell me, what is the matter?”
Daisy glanced at their entwined hands before offering a discreet glance over her shoulder at Betty. Clearly, she was embarrassed about whatever she had to say.
“You may speak freely here, Daisy; you know that.”
As if she sensed the countess’s unease, Betty half-turned away with her hands clasped behind her back, looking as though she was purposefully not listening.
“Melissa, the reason I came today is because, well, Anthony and I are struggling,” Daisy said, squeezing Melissa’s fingers so tightly that it was almost painful. “We have been trying for so long.”
The despair in Daisy’s voice clawed at Melissa’s heart, and she gave her friend’s hand a reassuring squeeze to let her know she knew exactly what she meant.
“It has only been a few years,” she told her gently though the words sounded a little silly even to her. It was no secret that every couple began trying for children almost immediately after their wedding, especially those at the head of a family and expected to produce an heir as soon as possible.
“The ladies Hennel, Cranmer, and Burnington were all with child within months of being wed,” Daisy pointed out, looking at Melissa with desperation darkening her hazel gaze.
Melissa scoffed a little at that. Shaking her head, she pointed out, “Daisy, we all heard the rumours of Lady Cranmer. She was likely with childbeforeshe was wed.”
Daisy looked shocked at Melissa’s words. Not because of the rumours themselves but at the fact Melissa had even mentioned them. Usually, she was not one for spreading idle gossip, but in this case, she felt it necessary to make her friend feel better.
“Besides, some ladies have a better time of it than others,” she pointed outwith a shrug of her shoulders. “Look at me, for example. It was not for lack of trying that Thomas and I failed.”
A lump formed in her throat at the words, and though she knew she and Thomas had been in no rush for children, she hoped it would ease her friend’s suffering.
“I still hold the opinion that had he not been taken so cruelly from me, we would have eventually had a little brood of our own,” she said, smiling sadly to her friend.
“Oh, yes, I am certain you would have,” Daisy responded, nodding eagerly. She was silent only a moment before her gaze became enquiring. “I…I was wondering…might you have anything in one of your books that could help me?”
At that, the countess glanced quickly over her shoulder at Betty again, clearly terrified that the maid might somehow let it slip somewhere that a reputable lady such as herself had come to someone like the duchess for help rather than seeking the aid of a ‘proper’ doctor.
Melissa gritted her teeth at the sense of the thoughts going through her friend’s mind, though she couldn’t entirely blame her for them. The society within which they both were forced to live was not kind towards women like Melissa.It was the main reason she preferred her quiet life in the countryside, helping those who truly needed her, like the farmers and the other commonfolk who lived nearby, their wives and daughters included.
“I do not need to consult my books,” Melissa said, shaking her head. Releasing Daisy’s hand, she stood and said, “Wait here a moment.”
The anxious look on her friend’s face grew worse as Melissa swept from the room and into her study down the hall, where she kept a cabinet of her lesser tinctures and concoctions. Scanning through them, she found the vial of herbs she had been looking for and gave them a good shake to check they were still good and the cork and wax seal still secure before she returned to the drawing room.
“Here,” she said, handing the vial to her friend.
