Page 18 of Seven Swans a Swimming

What a blaggard!

It took but a moment for Arabella to carefully fold the pages of her letter, write the address of Chalcroft on the front, and drop some melted sealing wax onto the fold. She left it there on the desk, cooling, as she walked to the window.

Dreary wintery sunlight was pouring down onto the grounds of Oxcaster Lacey. She smiled listlessly as she looked out at them.

In different circumstances, perhaps, she would feel joyful to look out at this view, her future home.

As it was, all she could think of was how far she was from Chalcroft, from her family. How they would all be celebrating the festive season, and here she was, in a cold, dreary house with a family who did not seem to have any desire to like her whatsoever.

Arabella’s eyes drifted over to the lake. Perhaps there would be time for her to walk along its banks and see the birds before luncheon.

And then movement caught her eye. Although it was hard to see any great detail from this distance, there was only one person with that sort of figure.

Nathaniel. He was walking along the banks of the lake slowly, his hands in his pockets, from what Arabella could make out.

She glanced at the letter. Would her father agree to her suggestion; would he call off the match?

Her stomach twisted uneasily, and tension pinched the back of her neck. Arabella knew her father well. His oath was his word, and she had never known him to break it. Though he of course cared about her happiness, he also cared about the fact that he had made this arrangement a good many years ago, and he had never broken a vow before.

Arabella swallowed. There was a very real chance, then, that her Papa would disagree with her, that he would insist the match went ahead.

If that was so, it was probably a wise idea to at least become accustomed to Nathaniel and his strange ways. Just in case.

Arabella sighed as she turned back to the window. Though she may not enjoy it, and she was certain that Nathaniel would not appreciate her company, she owed it to herself to try.

If she was going to be trapped in an arranged marriage, she should at least be able to look back and know that she did everything in her power to make it right.

Grabbing her pelisse and a thick woolen scarf, Arabella trotted down the stairs and out of the front door. The cold air hit her lungs most painfully, and she gasped with a wry smile. She should have guessed the wintery sunlight she had seen from her bedchamber window was not the warm beams she had expected.

It took her a few minutes to reach the lake, but Nathaniel was still there. He looked around as she approached, snorted, and turned back to the water. And then it struck her, the thought which had been tickling at the back of her mind since she had first met him.

“Do you know what I think?” Arabella said cheerfully as she reached him.

Nathaniel sighed without looking around. “That you delight in tormenting me?”

“That you are shy,” she said promptly.

She was not entirely sure what had made her think of that, but it had struck her the moment she had seen Nathaniel’s hunched shoulders and clear desperation not to look at her as she approached him. This was not a man who enjoyed company.

Perhaps she should have worked it out sooner. After all, she had been at Oxcaster Lacey four days, and no one had come to call. There were no neighbors close by; the grounds were too extensive. And besides…

“You are an only child?”

“What of it?” snapped Nathaniel.

Arabella sighed. He truly was going to be an irascible husband if the match went ahead. “Well, I am one of six sisters. I have always had to share, to take turns, been surrounded by noise and laughter and chatter. And tears,” she added fairly. “Lots of tears.”

There was a strange sort of sound from Nathaniel as a pair of geese sauntered before them on the lake. “What does that matter?”

“Well, I suppose what I mean to say is that I have a great amount of experience with other people,” said Arabella quietly. Was this it? Was this the moment that she finally was able to break through that shell of his? “Whereas, I think you have not.”

They stood in silence for a few minutes, but this time, Arabella was able to resist the temptation to fill it.

That was always the challenge of being a Fitzroy. There were never silences. Arabella was not entirely sure what to do with them, but she was learning. The best thing to do, at least in the short term, was to keep quiet herself.

Then Nathaniel sighed. “You do not give up, do you?”

“Never,” said Arabella cheerfully. “At least, I have not been known to so far, and I do not see why you should be any different.”

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