The Sea & The Storm

seven

Aidan

"Louisa and I are delighted that you all could come and join us in christening our daughter, Isabella Jane Gerrard."

Marcus stood proudly, the beaming expression of a man who was proud of such a feat, despite it being Louisa who carried his child all that time. And it was Louisa who stood meekly by, glowing with pride at her little family.

And I stood at the back of the room, drowning every sorrow in brandy.

Sarah had stayed, much to my dismay, because of complications with her own child, the one resting in her womb at the moment, though Thomas was beginning to become a handful. Natalie resigned to leaving Bear and Thomas to play outdoors, as she watched in the tall grasses of the fields. I watched from afar, sitting in my study counting figures.

Natalie had recovered after nearly two weeks, and she was every bit as she was before, except for the unspoken agreement between us to avoid one another since the exchange at her bedside. We couldn't go on with whatever had come over us. Stupidity, or rather a moment of recklessness.

Life was dreary as it had been before. There were moments of ease, though they rarely came. And a month ago, I was sure life was turning up, and suddenly, autumn had come and with it the impending payment on my loans. And then this, the birth of my cousin's first child, Louisa's little girl.

I stood, isolated, amongst the crowd of onlookers, in the cramped drawing room of Berkeley House, as the party-goers mingled and stood adoringly beside the parents.

This was the first time in two months, that Natalie had come even close to speaking to me. Tonight, she was obligated to, because she was here with me, acting on part of her mistress. She was nowhere to be seen at the moment, she was probably away, helping Louisa's own hired help. What she had come here for, though she would be joining me later because Sarah had insisted that Natalie be introduced into society properly, for she wasn't simply a maid, but a young heiress of her uncle's home and business.

I rolled my eyes at that, but perhaps it was for the best. I reminded myself that she wasn't mine.

"Aidan."

Prudence neared me with a jovial air that I hadn't seen her don in months since her father's death.

She was always covered by Marie's beauty, Prudence was. She was two years older, and at one and twenty, a few men guessed that she was to be the old maid of Berkeley. She wasn't incredibly beautiful, and there was nothing about her appearance than compared to the rest of the women around her, but she made up for it in her own manner. Prudence was like a sister to me, and she had my trust and heart in a way that Marie would never. She was good and kindhearted, and she stuck beside me through everything. There was nothing I wouldn't do for Prudence, just like there was nothing I wouldn't do for Sarah.

"Only a christening could bring me to such a lively state, Aidan, and I'm glad for it." Her smile was unwavering, and I was reminded of Natalie. It was the same with her always, except for the few moments the world truly troubled her.

I chuckled, "I'm glad, Prudence. You've had Sarah worried these past weeks."

"Only Sarah, now? What kind of cousin would that make you?"

"A preoccupied one, caring for that younger brother of yours." And it was true. Oliver took most of my time these days, but I didn't mind. It satisfied me, to think that I was doing something productive and yet, simple and carefree. Oliver was but a boy, but I understood him in a way I never had before. My father had died at a similar age, and I wished that I would have had someone to show me the ropes. I wanted to spare him the sorrow of learning, and failing, miserably. He was a good man, anyhow, always had been.