The Duke's choice

April 1802...

It was a lovey spring day, Lucy was taking her daily walk on her grandparents property. She was humming a lovely tune as she picked wild flowers. Her grandmother was still mourning her grandfather's death two years after he had passed away. So she thought that  a lovely vase full of fragrant wildflowers in her grandmother's sitting room would cheer her up.

As she filled her basket, she would turn her face up to the warmth of the sun. She loved to be outdoors when she could. She always tried to get out of her lessons to be outdoors, in the garden with the roses. Her grandmother insisted that she have lessons, because she would soon be brought out in society.

Lucy had dreams and getting married was not at the top of her list. Just because she was a girl didn't mean that she couldn't have dreams. She sometimes she wished she could have been a boy. They got to do whatever they wanted and society looked the other way. If you are a woman and do things like a man, they frown upon you and brand you as a light skirt.

Lucy grabbed her basket full of flowers and headed back towards the house. Her grandmother would be worried about her out here alone. Since her grandfather died, she is all that her grandmother has. Except for her Aunt Elizabeth and her family, which she had daughters around Lucy's age.

Two of her Aunt's daughters were out in society, Annabelle and Rachel. Annabelle had been out for two seasons working on her third. Rachel was out for one season working on her second. Lucy and Payton were the only two who would debut this season. The only hope that Lucy had was that since Annabelle had been out for almost three seasons. She hoped that she would have that much time if not longer to be forced to marry a stranger.

She wouldn't just marry anyone, she wanted to marry for love. Not to the highest bidder, she wasn't for sale. For only being sixteen, she knew what she wanted. Her mother had married for love. Her grandmother married then fell in love afterwards.

She walked through the gardens towards the manor, she could hear her grandmother barking orders. " Don't forget to dust the study and also the parlor, we can't have our guests notice all the dust that's been collecting."

She watched as the maids were running around with feather dusters, sweeping the dust from the furniture. She had to suppress a giggle, she didn't want her grandmother to know that she had been standing there watching. It was to late as one of the downstairs maids noticed her. When she smiled at Lucy, Lady Joyce turned to see what caused her to stop dusting.

As soon as Lady Joyce spied her granddaughter standing there, she smiled and waved Lucy in the door. " Lucy dear, please come inside before you start to turn brown." Her grandmother stood there waiting for her to move indoors.

Lucy sighed" coming grandmother, I have brought you some lovely flowers from my stroll." Lucy showed her the basket full of different colors. She was rewarded with a smile," I thought that these would look nice in the sitting room."

Joyce smiled down at her granddaughter," hand the basket over to Palma." Lucy waited for the housekeeper to take the basket of flowers. They walked to the sitting room and Joyce rang for a tray of tea and cakes to be brought in.

Lucy smiled at the transformation of her grandmother," grandmother, are you feeling all right?" She studied her grandmother's appearance. She noticed that her cheeks were more rosy today. " Have you heard of anything new while I was out?"

Joyce smiled, " we are going to have visitors tomorrow afternoon, your cousins will be arriving with your aunt and uncle." Joyce sat down on the settee, she watched as her granddaughter took in the news.