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Chapter 23: Surprises

By Sunday evening Elizabeth felt exhausted. Although William had promised that she would be able to see him today, she hadn’t seen him at all. A messenger had been sent to the house to say that he had been delayed in the City and it may be Monday morning when he would be arriving home. She felt disheartened.

Slowing dragging herself up the wooden stairs, she was unsure how she was even keeping her eyes open. Her entire body felt drained, she had worked so hard this week, and now she was paying for it.

Reaching the servant corridor, she pushed open the door to her room. Her eyes immediately widened.

Sat in the centre of her bed was a large box tied with a gold ribbon around it. Quickly she shut the door so that none of the other servants would see it. Rushing over to the box, she untied the ribbon with shaking fingers. As the ribbon fluttered down to land on her bed, she felt the edge of the box and slowing she lifted the lid.

Inside the box, lay a single red rose amongst layers of tissue paper. Picking up the rose, she lay it gently on the bed next to her. Underneath the rose was a simple card. Elizabeth placed it next to the rose, she would read it when she knew what was in the box. Moving the tissue aside, Elizabeth’s breath caught in her throat as she saw the most amazing red Duchess silk. Running her hand along it, she relished the feel of it against her skin. Carefully, she took the corners and gently lifted it out of the box. Elizabeth stared in amazement as she pulled out the beautiful dress that was made of layer upon layer of silk and antique lace. A simple label was sewn into the dress, revealing the creation as a Rose Bertin’s. Elizabeth knew well that the Queen herself favoured this costumier. Holding the dress against her body, Elizabeth twirled around the room. Her tiredness had suddenly vanished.

Gently placing the dress down on the bed, Elizabeth looked back into the box. Taking out the delicate petticoat and corsets, she marvelled at the work that had gone into making these items of beauty. Laying them carefully on top of the dress, Elizabeth looked at the last items that lay in the box.

At the bottom, lain amongst the tissue paper and scattered rose petals, lay a pair of shoes. They matched the dressed perfectly, made in the same exquisite fabric. Elizabeth knew automatically the shoes and the dress where her size perfectly. Next to the shoes, lay an antique lace drawstring bag, that, from talk in the village, Elizabeth knew was the height of fashion. The bag was lined in the same red silk as the shoes and the dress.

Next to the shoes and the bag, lay a slim wooden item. Taking it out of the box to examine it, Elizabeth discovered it was a beautiful hand crafted fan.

Elizabeth was overwhelmed by the gift, the collection must have cost a kings ransom. Remembering the simple card that had been in the box, Elizabeth placed the fan gently back into the box. Moving the rose to her bedside table, she picked up the card. Turning it over she saw William’s telltale writing, a simple inscription was written on the card;

I have seen your world. Time for you to try on my world.
Yours always, your William



***
William paced his study. He had left the gift for Elizabeth in her room three hours ago, as soon as he had got back for Dublin. He had made sure that no one had seen him, he didn’t want Elizabeth to find out too soon that he was back, he had wanted to surprise her. However the anticipation was slowly killing him, he wasn’t known for his patience.

He had been right about Cordelia, she had been of great help. William just hoped she would keep it confidential. He had wanted the best for his angel, and knew that as Cordelia had been a rich aristocrat she would have been the best to advise him.

She had known right away that if he wanted the best he should go into Dublin and go to Madam Bertin. William had done that, finding a dress in the richest red fabric, he could imagine what Elizabeth would look like in it. It had unfortunately taken him longer than he had expected and it had been the evening when he had been able to return. He had hoped to be leaving by the morning as he had promised Elizabeth that he would see her in the afternoon.

Glancing at the clock, he knew that Elizabeth would be finishing for the day now and would be going up to her room, with a sigh he carried on his pacing.

He was planning on taking her to the ball on Monday night. He knew that as he had seen her world, she had to see his. No one would recognise them at the ball, with Peaches and Darla away there was no chance that they would be seen, it was a masquerade ball anyway, so everyone had to go as someone else.

Glancing at the clock again, he realised that only 10 minutes had passed since he last looked at it. Growling, he decided that he had waited long enough, time to go and see his lady. Opening the door, he checked no one was around he stepped into the servant corridor and headed off to find her.

***
Knocking quietly on her door, he heard her quickly rushing about inside he heard her call “Just a second”. Hearing a shuffling, he couldn’t help the smirk that spread across his face. He knew she must be desperately trying to hide the dress so that whoever was on the other side of the door wouldn’t think that she had stolen it.

Suddenly a very flushed Elizabeth poked her head around the door, just enough so that William couldn’t see into the room.

Her eyes widened as she saw William stood there with his hands behind his back in a submissive gesture. Grabbing him by the lapels she pulled him into the room before anyone could see him.

Silently they shut the door.


***
An hour later the door opened again and William silently left her bedroom. He gave her a gentle kiss on the lips, running his fingers through her silky hair. Looking deep into her eyes as they broke apart, he let her see his heart and the love it held for her.

“Goodnight, sweet William.” Elizabeth smiled at him, loving the feeling of how he held her close.

“Goodnight, my love, sleep well. I will see you tomorrow.”

Giving her one last chaste kiss, he backed away from her until his back touched the wall behind him. He then turned and walked back towards his bedroom. He would have loved to spend the night in her arms, but he knew it would raise too many questions come morning, and so had left her.

Elizabeth smiled as she watched the man she knew she was falling in love with walk away. Tomorrow was going to be a fun day, and Elizabeth couldn’t wait.

Standing at her door for an extra moment to check that no one was awake and had heard them, she smiled to herself and walked into her room, shutting the door too.

Taking on last look at the red dress hung up against her door, she climbed into bed, the smile never leaving her face.

***
Elizabeth had worked hard all Monday, though she had been smiling all day as she kept thinking about what the evening may hold for her.

At 6 o’clock Elizabeth was able to stop working and go up to her room to collect her things.

William had somehow managed to work a miracle, Elizabeth wasn’t sure how exactly and she knew that William wouldn’t be telling. He had managed to get both herself and Willow the night off. He had also managed to secure them a small cottage where she could prepare.

He had given her detailed instructions that at 6 o’clock she was to finish work and go and collect everything he had given her. The little horse drawn buggy would pick her and Willow up so that they could be taken to where they where to get ready. Larry would create a slight distraction so that they would get away with the parcel without any questions.

Elizabeth almost ran to her room she was that excited. Gathering everything up, she found that the large box was very difficult to carry and wondered how William had ever got it up here in the first place. As she opened the door, she ran head long into Willow, nearly causing her to drop the heavy boxes. Giving a little squeal, Willow quickly placed her hand over Elizabeth’s mouth to quieten her.

“Shhh, you’ll get us caught.”

Nodding that she understood, Willow removed her hand from Elizabeth’s mouth. Quietly, they walked down the staircase and out into the yard.

Sat in the front of the buggy holding the rains was Oz. It appeared the only people who didn’t know about this evening were Maggie and Wesley. Where once the thought of all these people knowing would have scared Elizabeth, now she wasn’t scared in the slightest. She had learnt to trust these people and she knew that they wouldn’t tell.

As they climbed in and settled down, Oz urged the horses on, setting off at a brisk trot that sent both girls falling back into theirs seats. Giggling, they watched as the manor slowly disappeared behind them, as they got further away from it. It was clear Oz knew where they were going.

Elizabeth smiled as she imagined what the night might hold for her. Slipping the lid off the box, she reached her hand inside and felt the silk again. Willow was going to help her to prepare, she was going to look beautiful for her William.

As they slowly pulled up to a small cottage that had ivy growing up the wall, and a garden smelling of honeysuckle and night blooming jasmine, Elizabeth noticed a candle glowed from inside the house and she worried that they had the wrong house and were about to pull up while a family was having their evening meal. However Oz pulled the buggy to the side and climbed down. He then helped first Willow and then Elizabeth out. Both girls felt like royalty as they walked up the well-manicured path.

Just before they went into the house, they both turned and waved as Oz turned the buggy and horses and slowly drove back down the lane he had come up. He would be back for them later, but now he had other important things he would have to do before then.

As they saw Oz trotting down the lane and out of sight, they turned and walked through the small door that led into a little kitchen.

Directly in front of them sat a small wooden table, where a single candle burned. On the table a bottle of champagne was in an ice bucket cooling. Next to the ice bucket lay a red rose and a small note.

Walking up to the table, Willow handed Elizabeth the rose, who lifted it to her nose and smelled the sweet petals. Willow picked up the note that had Master William’s hand writing on.

“He says we should make ourselves at home, there is a bedroom where we can get ready and there’s a bath as well if you want one. He’ll pick you up in an hour and a half.”

Elizabeth just smiled, William really did think of everything. “Well then what are we waiting for, we really should go get ready.”

Picking up the bottle of champagne and the two champagne flutes that sat next to it, both girls headed towards the bedroom to go and get ready for Elizabeth’s big night.


TBC…..

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