London 1871
"Pardon me?"
The starch in Mrs. Wickham's black dress seemed to
wilt
as she quivered. The soft folds of her jowls shook. "The
Duchess is not coming down, Your Grace," she repeated.
The Duke of Wexford stood stock–still. The
guests
were to descend on his ancestral home in a matter of
moments. The candles lit, the buffet laid, the flowers
had
bloomed on cue. The last remaining detail was the
receiving
line.
"Mrs. Wickham. There is a small matter of greeting two
hundred and fifty guests arriving momentarily. The
Duchess
needs to attend them," Blake Sanders, the Eighth Duke of
Wexford, said sternly to his housekeeper.
When the woman had announced his wife would not be
joining him, Sanders was certain he had not heard
correctly.
The Duchess knew her duties, as did he. He turned
abruptly
to the staircase and stopped as a shiver trailed down his
arms. He turned back. The rotund woman had not moved
other
than the flitting of small hairs peeking out of her
mobcap.
After twenty–five years of service to his family,
he
supposed she stood rooted for good reason.
The Duke spoke quietly. "Is there a problem conveying
this message, Mrs. Wickham?"
The woman swallowed. "Yes, Your Grace. There is."
"What is it, Mrs. Wickham?" he asked.
It was then he noticed a folded piece of paper in the
woman's hand. As with most lifetime retainers, he had
seen
worry, seen anger and joy in her face. But never fear.
And
it was fear indeed that hung in the air, widened her eyes
and had the missive shaking in pudgy fingers.
A lifetime later, in his memory, he would envision
the
slow transfer of this note as it made its way from her
hand
to his. The moments stretched out when life was sure –
before he read it. With the reading, life changed,
flopped
perversely like some great beached sea turtle. So memory
or
God or mind's protection lengthened the seconds until he
read.
In the present, he snatched the note, unfolded it and
recognized his wife's script. He dared not glance at the
still–present servant. Blake Sanders read to the
final line, folded the paper neatly and met Mrs.
Wickham's
eyes. Had he been six, he may have hurled himself in the
great black comfort of her skirts. But he was not a boy.
"The contents of this note, I gather, you read?" he
asked.
The mobcap nodded. "Twas open and lying on Your
Grace's
pillow."
"Very well," he replied and stared at the ornate wall
sconce and the shadows the candles threw. The butler's
distant voice broke through his emotional haze. He knew
he
must ready himself for the onslaught of guests but not
before he made clear his wishes with Mrs. Wickham.
"We must be certain the Duchess is left alone with
such a
malady." His eyes met hers with a dark intensity. "You
will
be the only one in her attendance tonight."
"Yes, Your Grace." The housekeeper nodded to leave and
turned back with tears in her great gray eyes. "The
children, Your Grace? What if . . .?"
"I will handle the children tonight, Mrs. Wickham," he
answered.
She nodded and hurried away.
The composure he had been born with, cultivated, and
that
now ruled his life, wavered as he slowly made his way
down
the staircase to his butler. Briggs stood sentry near the
newel post as he had done for as long as anyone could
remember.
"The guests are arriving, sir," the butler said.
"The Duchess is unwell, Briggs. Lady Melinda will
stand
attendance beside me." "Very good, Your Grace," Briggs
replied.
Somehow Blake found himself between his children in
the
receiving line. On his left stood his
seventeen–year
old daughter, Melinda. Fifteen–year–old,
William, the heir to the title, was to his right. Donald,
the youngest, was certainly fighting his nursemaid to
escape
and peek through the balustrade at the splendor of the
upcoming ball.
"Where is Mama?" Melinda asked softly.
"Terrible headache, sweetheart. She needs to stay
abed,"
he said and made yet another crisp bow. Melinda would
make
her come–out in a few short months, but she had not
as
of yet. Blake had made the decision to have her play
hostess
in an instant, not knowing what else to do. "You are
doing
beautifully in her absence."
Between greeting the next guests Melinda whispered to
her
father, "I'll go to her as soon as I can. You know how .
. ."
"No," he shouted, startling guests in line and his
daughter. Her look of shame and surprise shook him. His
menacing gaze softened as he turned to her. "I didn't
mean
to snap, my dear."
Melinda's lip trembled until an aging matron shouted
in
her ear. She turned a practiced, polite face the
dowager's way.
Moments in every life indelibly etch in the mind. The
birth of a child. A father's grudging respect seen in a
wrinkled face. The first time love is visible in a
woman's
eye. But that evening and all its details were a blurry
mass
of glad tidings and lies. Conversations muted amongst his
thoughts leaving his mind only capable of a nod or the
shake
of his head. One stark moment glared. Blake's longtime
friend and neighbor, Anthony Burroughs, looked at him
quizzically as he repeated his wife's excuse. The man's
eyes
bored into his, and Blake nearly spilled the details of
his
dilemma in the midst of the glowing ballroom. He
shuttered
his feelings quickly, but he knew Anthony was not fooled.
William and Melinda were so exhausted by night's end
that
he had no trouble convincing them to wait to the
following
morning to regale their mother with the evening's
excitement. For himself, he could have cried for joy when
the last guest left at nearly four in the morning. He
sent
his valet to bed, untied his neck cloth and slumped into
the
dark green damask chair in front of a wilting fire.