* * *
The new morning’s rays of sun seemed brighter in the New Forest as Cheryl blinked, moved lazily in her soft bed, and then, with sudden recall, sat bolt upright. “Faith!” she exclaimed out loud as the events of the night came pouring into her mind.
She had slept deeply and without incident—couldn’t even remember dreaming—and now in the newness of the late morning she realized just what she had done and just what the consequences would be. “Oh … oh …”
Her eyes rose heavenward. “What have I done?”
Her outrage with her stepmother’s announcement that she had ‘picked out a husband’ for her had led her astray and into uncharted seas. Now she was a bit in the suds, but she told herself she didn’t have a choice—she had to see it through.
She recalled how unbending her stepmama had been and clucked over the memory. What was done was completely done. In fact, if she had remained, she would soon be greeting a total stranger and hearing her mother call him her fiancé! No—oh no.
Her anger came to her rescue and advised that she was very right to have run away. Her stepmama had meant business and left her no choice in the matter. Cherry would not be tied to a man she didn’t even know!
A knock sounded at her bedroom door, and a plump, pink, sweet face appeared. “Ah, so my little widgeon is finally awake?” Polly Corbett clucked her way into the room and moved to the nightstand to set down her tray.
“Oh, Polly … please don’t be angry with me.” Cherry jumped to her feet and threw her arms around the plump woman.
“Whist with you, silly goose. Of course I am not angry.” Polly sat down and sighed as her hand slid back and forth over the armrest of the maroon brocade upholstered ladies’ chair. She indicated the cup of hot cocoa with her chin. “Sip your cocoa, and you and I will have a nice long chat.”
Cherry took up the warm brew, plopped on the bed, and pulled the covers round her underclothes. “I don’t know where to begin, and don’t tell me at the beginning, for then this might take forever.”
“Straight and to the point—no bends. Start at where you think this particular beginning might be, and if I think there is more that I need to know, I will tell you.” Polly was no fool, and she knew her girl very well.
“First, and to be fair to Mama, I should tell you that I have been kicking up quite a lark after lark in London.”
“So I gathered from your letters.” Polly nodded.
“Yes, well, my last little adventure seemed to cause more than a stir …” Cheryl bit her bottom lip. “Oh, Polly, Mama said an Almack’s patroness had actually indicated to her I would be refused a season’s voucher.” She frowned. “Not that I care a fig for such things … but Mama does, and I must admit I did find myself snubbed by some of the dowagers at the last function.” Sighing, she looked at her former governess/nanny and admitted, “You would not have approved.”
“No, child,” Polly said gently, “but tell me b
efore you tell me anything else. What prompted you to create such a fuss?
“Polly—rules for women are outrageous. They suffocate what a woman can be, what she can do … women like myself need to break out and change things …”
“Yes, dear, but that isn’t what all this is about, is it?”
“No, it is London … I wish I were back at Elton running about the country as I was wont to do … I don’t want to look for a husband. I think it will just happen when it is meant.”
“Ah, in London you must sit properly, dance properly, never ride astride …” Polly smiled sweetly. “I understand that all went against the grain, and the longer you had to endure, the worse your behavior became. Just like my girl.”
“I have been so heartily bored … and then one of the young men who is forever courting me challenged me in Hyde Park.”
“So you took up this rascal’s challenge … and did what?”
“I galloped through Hyde Park at the fashionable hour—not just galloped, Nanny, but I raced this outrageous London beau …” Cherry let the remaining words trail off as she pulled a face and recalled vividly what she had done. The expression on her dear nanny’s face made her realize just how brazen she had been.
“Dear God, dearest child, there is little worse than that!” Nanny returned in shocked accents.
“I suppose, and Mama was so very enraged. I have never seen her like that before.”
“Never say you ran away because your mama was angry with you?”
“No … not exactly …”
“And don’t bamboozle me with a tale about being shy about the gossip that must have ensued. You have never given a fig for such things.”
“No … not exactly …” Cherry repeated before she squared her shoulders and allowed her aqua-blue eyes to meet with her nanny’s clear gray.