And Peggy

Fulfilling my duty

A few days after my disastrous dinner with Stephan's parents, mother gets a letter from Catherine Rensselaer. She calls me into the lounge room and says in a sincere tone,

"Peggy, we have to talk."

I gulp but lightly sit on the couch as if I have no idea what it is that we are going to talk about.

"Of course, mother. Whatever about?"

" I've just received a letter from Mrs Rensselaer," she says. " she says that you had an outburst when you attended dinner with her family the other night. Is this true?"

I sigh and hang my head in shame.
"Yes mother."

"Well I hope you didn't let what that absolute cow of a woman said get into your head, did you? Because you are not a disgrace to our family in any way."

I do a double take. And stare at my mother with confusion etched into my face.

But mother continues.
"From what Mrs Rensselaer says in her letter, you, and I quote,
"Eavesdropped on our family conversation as we were discussing Stephan's life choices then proceeded to carry on about how you weren't a disgrace to our family, which clearly you are after you yelled at your hostess." But this must be wrong because we have never once thought, let alone mentioned that you are a disappointment to us. So clearly, Mrs Rensselaer has put the idea in your head. Is this right?"

I nod silently but then burst out,
"She said that I was wild and immature and she insulted Eliza. She said that I wasn't good enough for her son and that our bloodline was unclean." Before I know it, I am sobbing into mother's lap.

"Well then I guess I'd better write back to Catherine explaining that is was her who came from a family of farmers and that my daughter is the pride of our family!"

"But mother, what about Stephan? He'll be caught in between."

"Don't you worry about Stephan," mother croons. "If Catherine knows what's good for her, she'll let you two be."

I give my mother a watery smile and stand to leave but mother has something to add
"Also, there was a note from Stephan himself enclosed with the letter. He would like to meet you at Tia's cafe. Will you accept?"

I nod but I am inwardly shrugging. Tia's cafe? I've never been there before. I wonder if it's Stephan's favourite cafe.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

As I hop into the carriage the next day, I ask our driver to take me to Tia's cafe. Evidently, the driver has a better sense of direction than I do because he drives me to the edge of the city square. Even then, city square is massive and full of so many cafes so I ask the driver to identify it for me.

"Excuse me, what does Tia's cafe look like?"

"It's the one with the navy green sign and a green and white striped awning." He replies.

I thank and pay him and then nervously step into the busy square. I am jostled by the crowd. How am I ever to find Stephan in this mess? Over all the heads, I can make out a green and white striped awning so I elbow my way through the crowd.
Sure enough, sitting at one of the tables, is Stephan. As I find the sign that advertises Tia's cafe, I realise that;
"This is the cafe where we came during the war-ending celebrations! This is where we first met!"
"Yes, yes it is! I just thought to bring you here for,ah-old times sake. Please take a seat."

I sit and we both start talking over each other.

"I'm sorry for the other night." I say.
"Mother has finally accepted you for who you are." He says.

"That's great!" I say at the same time that he says,
"You shouldn't be!"

We both burst out laughing. Then I look deep into his eyes so that he knows I mean it and say:

"I really am sorry for how I spoke to your mother. I just get so defensive of my family and insecure about who I am but I shouldn't have spoken to her like that."

"Peggy, it's alright. You are loyal to your family. I would have gone the same thing if it were me except there would be fists involved." I laugh at this. "You are the funniest, smartest, prettiest person I know."
He gets off the chair and I think that he's coming over to comfort me but instead, he kneels down in front of me and says,

"With that in mind, will you Margarita Schuyler, do me the pleasure of being my wife?"

He puts his hand into his breast pocket and emerges with a small box.
I gasp and tears start pouring down my face. My thoughts fly to John who never got this chance. I can't help thinking that it should be him instead of Stephan.
As all this goes through my head, Stephan is gradually becoming more and more nervous. He is taking my hesitance as rejection.
To end his suffering, I jump into his arms and kiss him on the cheek, nodding profusely.

"Yes! Of course, yes!"

He lets out the breath he has been holding and slips the ring onto my finger.

The bands are made of silver sparkling diamonds. It has three bands. The first is just a straight round one, the next is shaped into oval shaped curls. The last band is circular diamonds joined next to each other. The bands are joined together with a centre diamond.

I give my hand a flourish, to show off my ring but the crowd are so oblivious to what is happening around them, that they keep walking.

"So, what should we order?" I ask, attempting to make conversation as if I haven't just become engaged.

"I don't know, how about a chocolate mousse to share?" Stephan suggests, playing along with my flirtatious behaviour.

Stephan hails a waiter and places our order.

"A chocolate mousse to share for my new wife and I, please."

The waiter just nods and shuffles back to the kitchen. Stephan and I roll our eyes and smirk.

][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]][][]

We decide to tell our parents rights away. First, my parents. The Schuylers.

We enter the house, hand in hand. Mother is in the living room reading.
"Where's father?" I ask, "we have something to tell him."
"He's in the study dear," she replies.
I call out to father and finally he emerges from his little haven. He takes a seat next to mother and looks up at us with mild curiosity.

"So, as you know, Stephan has been courting me for some time now." I start
They nod.
"And this afternoon, he asked me to be his wife."
Mother and father look up at me expectantly.
"And I said yes!"

They both jump up from the couch and start squealing hysterically. Hannah comes out from the kitchen to see you what all the commotion is about and all I have to do is flash the ring on my hand before she too comes and smothers me in kisses.

"Welcome to the family, dear!" Mother hugs Stephan.

"I look forward to having you as a son in law." Father firmly shakes his hand.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The reaction to The Big News could not have been taken more differently.

Catherine and Stephan Rensselaer II stand in front of us with blank expressions on their face. Catherine's eyes are narrowed while Steve's are pleasantly curious

"Mother, father," Stephan starts, "Today I asked Peggy Schuyler to be my wife," he takes a deep breath. "And she said yes."

Catherine plasters a false smile on her face and says stiffly,
"Congratulations dear."
I can't tell if she's talking to me or Stephan.

Steve shakes his sons hand and says
"Well done son, you've chosen well."

Then he turns to me and kisses my hand.
"Welcome to the family, Mrs Rensselaer."
I smile back but it is strained.

They still aren't satisfied with me yet.