Finding Bliss (25 page)

The Penwood’s, Bristol, April 1811

Much to everyone’s surprise Lord and
Lady Penwood, their children—at least the ones not off at school or at sea, and
Lords Victor and Maxwell Osterburg, all arrived on Wednesday.

Bliss stayed above stairs in her room until Ozzie took the
opportunity to tell Ollie what happened, after a double tumbler of bourbon
apiece first, of course. Ollie was by equal parts angry and relieved that Bliss
suffered no permanent damage.

After being assured that the charges were already filed on
his behalf for Bliss and that the guilty man was sentenced early that morning
to die on the gallows, he and Luxie hurried up to see about their daughter,
leaving worried siblings in the downstairs sitting room with their aunt.

When they arrived in her room, Ollie immediately set upon Bliss
with questions.

“Why in the world would you ask to come to Bristol if you knew
you might be in danger,” her father demanded, taking an odd line of support for
her “common sense” premonitions. Bliss didn’t let his hypocrisy slow her down
in admitting the truth.

“I had to come. I’m going to marry soon. And this was where I
saw my husband.”

“Oh, ho? A husband, she says! Luxie did you know that our daughter’s
heart was to be won in Bristol? I’ll have to meet this man before he can even
dream of marrying one of my girls! Besides, how can you be ready for marriage? Merryann
is still single. Don’t you also want another season out? Why, your mother had
nine before she settled on me,” he said as though he believed it to be so.

“Correction, mother was forced to have nine seasons because
you were missing, and Grandfather was stubborn. Just as fate played a hand in
you finding mother, fate also has a hand in providing me with the man I’m to
wed.” Bliss looked at her father’s pained face in triumph.

“You should know it’s really futile to doubt most things she
says,” said Luxie as she hugged her daughter from the left and worried her
fingers delicately over the bruises.

“Does it hurt dear? Oh, my, I know it won’t be clear before
the ball. But I suppose it’s too late to put it off for a week now.”

“It’s fine Mama, really. I can barely feel it if I keep my
hands off. Besides, I heal quicker than most of you. They’re going to be so
pale by Saturday evening people will think I’m just a bit blushed. It will be
flattering!”

“So are you not going to tell me who this young man is? Is
it one of Ozzie’s boys?” his eyes looked hopeful.

“No, Papa, but don’t worry. No matter what happens, I’ll be
the happiest wife in England, even if he isn’t a peer,” Bliss sighed.

“Not a peer, what do you mean? My daughters are worthy of
princes! How can I bless a marriage between my daughter and ...” Ollie started
to get upset. Luxie laid a hand on his arm and patted.

“Dear, need I remind you that you once stole away with a
woman of the peerage when you were thought to be little more than a sailor?”
Luxie pointedly said. Ollie flushed and cleared his throat. Then another idea
came to him.

“Is he, perhaps, a sailor? I will gladly bless a match with
a respectable man of the lines! It’s been a secret wish for all my little girls
to marry sailors. Your husbands could go to sea and you girls could live at Penwood
Manor Estate with your mother and me!” Ollie said hopefully. Luxie covered her
mouth to hide the smile.

“No, Papa, he’s not a sailor. But he is a very respectable
man, of that I am sure. And I know, despite a minor misunderstanding, that you
will love him almost as much as I do.” Bliss confessed genuinely. Ollie gave a
reluctant sigh.

“What can I do to help you?” Ollie asked giving Bliss a
tighter, but still remarkably gentle, hug from the right side.

“I will let you know very soon, Papa. But right now we need
to go down and see the others. Aunt Pen is very delicate these days and
shouldn’t be troubled by the twins or Andre’s incessant pleading to visit the
music room before lunch,” Bliss said as she turned and left her bewildered
parents to head downstairs.

Bliss, Bristol, April 1811

Bliss was aware that the process
she’d have to endure in securing Eric as her fiancé would be messy, slightly
painful and possibly embarrassing. But the difficulties couldn’t discourage her
because she knew it would all be worth it in the end.

In visions depicting the final outcome, barring a few slight
variations, not many things changed. Only minor details would be shifted or
altered.

The three days leading up to the ball were filled with
enough activities to keep Bliss’s brain very busy. Eric stopped by every day, but
his behavior was above reproach. He always stayed within the respected boundaries
of his profession.

Bliss attempted to get him to stay longer or come back. She had
him fetched for a minor altercation between the twins that caused a small,
insignificant cut on Tillie’s shoulder when they’d been fighting over a seat by
Lord Victor at breakfast and fell over backwards into a vase.

Nothing kept him away. Yet, even while visiting with her
family and teasing little Jennie that he was the first person she ever met, he
didn’t make a move. Not that she really expected the scene to change. It was
just hope for a twist of fate.

The morning of the ball, Bliss spent
her time listening. Andre’s continuing lamentations over her musical recital
and the poor reception her personal composition received from the critics made
up a good thirty percent of the news. Cori talked about being excluded from one
of the parties thrown by the young people on the estate, and Merryann said for
the seventeenth time that she didn’t want another season out when this one
ended.

While preparing to dress, Bliss insisted on an older gown despite
her mother’s ladies’ maid protesting that it was slightly too short. Mandy was
filling in as her attendant. Pauline had eloped with Rex Hastings. When news
reached his ears about the maid’s bravery in trying to find Bliss at her own
personal risk of possible incarceration, and of Rex’s willingness to believe
her, Lord Ollie blessed the union.

In the interim of her bathing and dressing, Mandy filled Bliss
in on the latest news from Lem and Lettie. Lem was apparently trying to find a
worthy godparent to name their baby after, one that would be acceptable. Bliss
gave Mandy a hint, “Tell him I said Amanda Luxury for a girl and Cillian Oliver
for a boy. See what he makes of that.”

Luxie told her the news of Russ’s latest ship assignment, his
long overdue promotion to commander, and when she hoped to hear from him again.
Bliss assured her mother that Russ would visit next St. Patrick’s Day at her
urging, and he’d be considering a move to their father’s shipping company by
then. He would eventually take up a route for father once he was up for a
captaincy. Luxie beamed with pleasure upon hearing this.

During the late family luncheon, Bliss asked how her younger
brother’s school was going. Her father proudly explained that Mac had finally
gotten to see the famous Swedish professor Dr. Linnaeus’s works in person with
his own botany professor on an extended field trip.

Luxie broke in and pointed out all the details that Ollie
had left out about Mac’s new interest in etched printing and plant sketching
for scientific publications with his new friend, Lord Crane. They were
discussing the possibility of going in on a joint venture to begin mass
production of scientific journals and tomes.

Bliss knew a lot more than she let on, of course. True to
form she kept her knowledge of most ordinary things to herself. It was easier
to get people to cooperate and make the best choices if you nudged instead of
shoving. So Bliss simply asked questions about the details that wouldn’t factor
into the futures and continued to know what she knew.

The only people she didn’t have a lot of information about
yet were the twins. Tillie and Jennie were extremely indecisive more often than
not. They still enjoyed being led instead of being independent, except in
immediate satisfactions of course. Bliss could see futures for them, but their
indecision played a large role in how it would all come to pass.

Around six in the evening, a kitchen
maid brought a light snack up for the girls to eat before getting dressed and
prepared for the ball. Bliss felt tense with nerves. The time finally arrived
and her stomach was in queer knots. Bliss sampled the apple slices and cheese,
but ate less than a third of her portion.

Mandy cinched Bliss’s corset tightly, even though she could
barely breathe. Bliss knew the detail would be important later on. Mandy again
tried to discourage the older navy gown and promote another cream colored one
she’d pressed. But Bliss remained adamant that it should be the navy one.

Bliss further frustrated Mandy by having her pin up every
single strand of her curls in a tight, high bun, relenting a little by allowing
a few curls to be pulled down in front to look wispy and more stylish.

At seven thirty, Bliss convinced her mother to allow Cori,
at the nearly debuted age of seventeen, to be given a few hours to attend the
ball following dinner to practice her dancing with actual partners. Luxie
agreed so long as Cori promised to dance only with the men in her family,
including Lord Osterburg’s sons Victor and Maxwell.

By eight o’clock, Bliss was being escorted into the dining
hall on Maxwell’s arm. Maxwell stumbled several times, still clumsy like a
schoolboy even though he and Bliss were practically the same age.

Maxwell wasn’t as shy with Bliss as he was with most women,
though that didn’t say much. Maxwell was just dead clumsy, usually because he
wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings. He was a genius with numbers and
finance, but he was lacking the most grounded characteristics of common sense.

For whatever reason Maxwell’s clumsiness and inattentiveness
were unfortunately exaggerated whenever he was around any strange female,
including those on the household staff! This made it impossible for him to come
across with any respectability. His mother was absolutely right that he needed
someone to watch out for him, but it just wasn’t going to be Bliss.

He and Bliss were reluctant playmates over the years, though
Maxwell preferred to sit and do calculations or predictions with analytical
mathematics rather than anything adventurous. Bliss had eased his worried mind during
their adolescence when she told him he would be a great mathematician, that his
gifts for numbers would give him numerous advantages with the right investments
someday.

As they walked down, Maxwell told Bliss he’d taken firsts in
Math and Science at Oxford and told her that his father had presented him with
ten percent of the Osterburg half of the shipping company. His profits were
already proving useful in other endeavors as well.

Bliss encouraged him to look to ingenuity—specifically in
the realm of the modernization of agriculture and industrial processes, but to
check with her first to make sure the investment would be sound. Maxwell was
stunned by her offer, but agreed to give her a chance to direct his key
investments.

Bliss also made him promise to dance with her during the fourth
set.

“Are you sure? I’m not the best at quadrille you know? Even
with the numbers in my head, I have no rhythm! You may as well give me the
first set while you’re at it. I need all the practice I can get, and apparently
it’s imperative to mother that I dance with you often tonight,” he looked
painfully nervous.

“Don’t worry, Maxwell. She’ll be more than preoccupied in
the near future, and her interest in getting you a bride will diminish
somewhat. Oh, and in case I don’t remember to tell you afterwards, I know you
didn’t do it on purpose,” Bliss told him with a warm smile. Maxwell paled.

Bliss didn’t see Eric until after
dinner. As she and Merryann were being escorted from the table by Victor, Eric
stepped up to her.

“May I be so bold, my lord?” he asked Victor. Victor smiled
and handed Bliss over with a mildly mocking tone, “It’s your own risk, sir.”

Eric chuckled and bowed before taking her arm. “Thanks, I’ll
take my chances.”

As they walked away, Eric asked what risk Victor meant.

“Oh, don’t mind him. He’s just sore because I pointed out
that he would marry someday despite his every effort to the contrary. I told
him it was far into the future, but well worth the effort in the end. He took
umbrage with me, but I suppose it’s to be expected when and old dog must learn
new tricks,” Bliss chuckled. Then she turned to give him her shrewdest
scrutiny.

“What took you so long? I am beginning to get the impression
that you are avoiding me,” Bliss said bluntly once they were a few steps away.

“Not you, just unmarried females in general. I took your
warning very seriously, you know. I’m done putting myself in the path of
dangerous liaisons. I’d prefer a nice quiet life, thank you very much,” Eric
said almost too crisply. Bliss frowned.

“You’re really that averse to marriage, then? That’s too
bad. I had such high hopes for you sir,” she hinted.

“Not averse to marriage, only against compromised marriages.
I’ve never understood how people could put themselves in such situations
willingly. But I want you to know that I will not dance with anyone else
tonight. It will be virtually impossible to get into a slippery situation when
I don’t mingle with any ladies,” Eric promised somberly. Bliss gave him a look
of mock confusion.

“I’m sorry. I thought I was a lady? You should know, being
my surgeon and all that! What is the medical field teaching its graduates these
days,” she teased.

“I guess being with you in any situation doesn’t alarm me in
the least,” Eric smiled.