Charlie
It was half past nine, and Mary Margaret still hadn’t made her appearance. Charlie slipped his pocket watch back inside of his jacket and took another sip of his drink. Surely, she’d be there soon. What could possibly be keeping her?
“It’s not like her to be late,” Alise mentioned, sliding up next to him.
“She said she’d be here at nine,” Charlie sighed. “You’re certain she’s not here?”
“I don’t see her,” the debutante replied.
“At least you know what she looks like,” Charlie muttered.
“I told you. She’s tall with blonde hair and a witty smile. She’ll light up the room as soon as she walks in, and half a dozen young fellows will trip over themselves scrambling to have their turn to spin her around the dance floor. She dances like a ... a swan.”
Charlie couldn’t help but chuckle at the description. He’d always liked Alise, even though she was much younger than him.
“I’ll let you know when she gets here, I promise. Even if it means I have to cross the ballroom unaccompanied!” She made an “O” shape with her mouth and covered it with her gloved hand, as if doing such a thing was the worse atrocity one could commit.
“Thank you,” Charlie replied, still laughing. “Well, I suppose your dance card is quite full, on this festive occasion. But if you have a spare line, I should like to sign it.”
“Why, Charles J. Ashton, I thought you’d never ask,” Alise replied with a demure smile.
Once Charlie decided to dance with Alise, and several other girls, he decided that Mary Margaret was the one who was missing out and determined he would have as much fun as possible, with as many other young ladies as he wanted, hoping word would reach her that not only was she horribly rude for not showing, she was the one who looked like a fool.
Meg
She’d always thought this moment would be frightening because of the trauma she’d been through, but it wasn’t. Ezra was gentle and kind, and though it wasn’t quite what she had expected it to be after hearing Kelly’s description, she felt certain that Ezra loved her. She was ready to start her new life with him.
He helped her clasp the row of buttons that ran up her spine, and after she’d slipped into her shoes, he kneeled to buckle them, a smile plastered on his handsome face. As he stood and wrapped his arms around her she said, “I suppose I don’t look half as polished as I did when I came in.”
“You always look beautiful, Meg,” Ezra assured her, kissing her again.
Eventually, she pulled away and gestured at the blanket and flower petals saying, “I guess we should clean this up so they don’t know what happened and get on our way.”
“Oh, I’ll get it in the morning,” Ezra said, nonchalantly, finally releasing her.
“In the morning?” Meg questioned. “Ezra, we won’t be here in the morning. We’re running away. Tonight. Remember?”
He stood before her, looking down at his shoes, one hand in his trouser pocket, the other running through his hair. “About that, Meg, I don’t think I can go tonight. I need to stay here and say goodbye to my father.”
Meg could hardly believe her ears. “What?” she asked, taking a step forward. “But… you said, if I proved my love to you, we would go. And I did.”
“And it was wonderful,” he assured her, stepping forward and clasping both of her hands in his. “We will go. First thing in the morning, I promise.”
“No, we won’t,” she shouted, pulling her hands away. “Ezra, we have to go now. If my mother finds out that I didn’t go to Alise’s ball she’ll… she’ll kill me.”
“She’ll never know.”
“She may already know! I was expected there well over an hour ago. It’s quite possible someone’s come looking for me.”
“If that were the case, they’d have come back here to ask if I took you, and clearly no one has. Meg, we’ll get up early, before your mother rises, and we’ll leave then.”
Inhaling sharply, she held her breath for a long moment, trying to calm herself. “Why can’t you just tell your father goodbye now?”
“Because he’s sleeping, and I don’t want to wake him. He’s very ill. He might even be dying. Isn’t it enough that I’ve agreed to leave him to run away with you?”
“Fine. Then take me to the hotel and then you can come in the morning.”
“Your mother will know that I’ve taken you somewhere. She’ll get it out of me.”
“You’d tell her?”
“I’m not a good liar, Meg,” Ezra replied. “Listen, just go back in the house. Get some rest, and then, early in the morning, I’ll come for you. I promise. We’ll leave. I love you, Meg. Surely, you trust me.”
Meg could hardly believe what she was hearing. She considered taking the car and driving away herself, but she didn’t think that she would be able to do it; she’d only driven once and that was years ago. She wasn’t even sure how to start it. She could try to walk to the hotel, but it was fairly far, and she’d be walking near the pier at night. Sighing in frustration, she finally said, “Fine. I guess we’ll have to change our plans. But I’m telling you, Ezra, my mother will find out that I wasn’t there, and when she does, she will likely kill me.”
“I will never let her—or your uncle—harm you again, Meg, I promise,” he said, taking hold of both of her arms and pressing his forehead against hers.
“All right,” she finally acquiesced. “Where’s my pocket book?”
After a careful search of the floor, Ezra finally found it behind one of the bales of hay and handed it back to her. He went down the ladder first, careful not to let her fall, and before she headed off to the house, he took her in his arms one last time, kissing her longingly, declaring his love, and promising to see her early the next morning.
Meg was able to sneak back into the house undetected. Once she reached her room, she couldn’t help but let the tears flow down her face. She was so frustrated that Ezra was able to talk her into showing him her love but then wouldn’t agree to leave. She cleaned herself up with water from the washbasin and pulled quite a bit of straw out of her hair before slipping into her nightgown and attempting to get some sleep.
Thoughts of what might be happening at the ball and of what her mother would say when she discovered she hadn’t gone prevented her from resting. She even wondered what Kelly would do when she realized she hadn’t left home. Would she make it to the hotel before the O’Connell’s? What would Ezra do if her mother attempted to punish her in the morning? She knew for certain he would protect her, but she couldn’t imagine him actually fighting her mother or uncle.
She also recalculated precisely what Kelly had told her about what time in a woman’s cycle she could get pregnant. Meg was fairly certain she couldn’t possibly need to worry about that right now, but the thought had crossed her mind. She was never good at math, but she thought she could manage the easy calculation this problem demanded.
She finally began to doze off just before the sun came up, wondering how much longer it might be before Ezra came to wake her. Would he be able to sneak in undetected? Surely, it would have to be soon. Otherwise, everything would be ruined. Her last thoughts before she finally drifted off were of freedom—freedom for herself and Ezra, and freedom for Charlie Ashton who would no longer be forced to wed a woman he’d never even met.