Chapter 15: Meetings with Edward

As instructed, I return at noon to Mama’s study, properly dressed in one of my light cotton dresses. I’m not looking forward to this at all. I walk up to the white line in front of her desk and wait. She is busy writing. Apart from the scratching of her pen there is silence.

“Sit down over there, Andrea,” she eventually says as she finishes writing.

Sit down? And not Miss Thibert, but Andrea? What’s going on? I go over to the chairs near the window and sit down. These chairs are usually reserved for special guests, and then only those who satisfy Mama’s exacting standards.

She comes over and sits opposite me.

“I had been concerned since Samantha’s departure for St. Lucia that you were becoming withdrawn and melancholy. While I don’t approve of your actions last weekend, they at least show you have regained some spirit and independence. But until you marry, I am responsible for your well being. I cannot have you wandering off on your own, but equally it is unreasonable for me to expect you to be confined to the house all weekend.

“Consequently I am willing to approve a request I’ve received from a young gentleman of good standing to accompany you for an outing on Saturday afternoons. Annie will accompany you as chaperone. My approval is, of course, subject to your promise not to sneak out the house again. I am lead to believe this young man is already known to you, and you would not object to his company. I’m sure you know which young gentleman I mean. What do you say, Andrea?”

“Yes, thank you, Mama. I’m sorry I left the house without permission, and I promise it won’t happen again,” I reply with as much contrition as I can fake.

Now all I have to do is work out which young gentleman she means. But it doesn’t take me long, and I can’t think of a more perfect person.

I spend the next few days busying myself writing and sewing. Both being proper pastimes for a respectable young woman. But not everything returns to the way it was before. I now have a new friend in Eloise, and even Charity is not quite as mean to me as she was before. By mutual agreement the kissing incident is never mentioned.

I receive word that Richard is uninjured from the skirmish on Tuesday night, and he sends his regards. He is due to leave Fort Royal any day. He managed to retrieve my ball gown from Yvette’s house. I had not expected to see my ball gown again. I’m relieved it has been returned to me, as it linked me to Yvette’s death. Not that anybody seems to be bothered about investigating her murder.

Thanks to Eloise making enquiries through her parents, we confirm Louis was not among the pirates killed, but nobody knows what became of him. Perhaps he set sail on the Southern Witch. Eloise also received word that Lieutenant de Valdon is safe, and he is to return to France shortly. It was he who had come to Richard’s assistance as we fled the Southern Witch. Together they had forced the pirates to retreat to their ship.