Through My Eyes

Chapter Nineteen

I sit on a high-backed chair, forced into a 'pleasant' conversation with a woman I have never met.

She whines on in a mild wine-induced stupor, "So my husband decided that enough was enough... This bachelor thought that he was good enough for our little girl. The outrage! My husband banished him from the county and now, my daughter is married to a suitable man and is the mother of two!! Not to mention, she is only your age!!"

The woman titters hysterically.

I chuckle softly at her drunkenness, which is so rare amongst 'women of society', looking around the rest of the heaped ballroom for a means of rescue.

Once I had woken from 'hitting my head', my dress was sewn and my face scrubbed once more to help regain the colour it had lost. I have not seen Emmanuel since.

Rose appears, blocking my view of the guests. "Mother-in-law calls for you."

"Of course." I say, rising to my feet as gracefully as possible. "Excuse me."

I follow Rose, weaving through the throngs of strangers, smiling when a 'congratulations' is thrown my way. Wine is nearly spilt over me numerously by patrons of the welcoming ball, but Rose always pulls me away with lightening reflexes, chiding the other person softly. Lady Elizabeth is standing in the middle of an arc of women, all laughing and gasping at her words. As we approach them, Lady Elizabeth beckons me.

She winds an arm around my waist and pulls me closer. "This is my daughter-in-law, Eloise. Emmanuel's wife. Rose darling, go and call Emmanuel."

Rose rushes off immediately without another word, zipping in and out of peoples' paths.

The women - there are five of them - all coo at me, grabbing my hand to gaze at my wedding ring, tugging gently on the material of my dress, running their eyes appraisingly over my whole body. I feel like an object at an auction, put on display for everyone to declare their prices. 'One, two, three sold!' and I belong to you now.

That would be all it would take.

"How old are you, darling?" One woman asks.

"Seventeen, Miss." I reply curteously, lowering my gaze respectively.

"Oh, pish-posh!" The woman chuckles heartily. "Call me Arlene. And seventeen. My, my, what a ripe age!"

"I do not understand."

"Why, my dear, seventeen is the perfect age to bear your husband children!!" She announces excitedly.

I almost choke on the air I'm breathing and my neck flushes, the redness seeping upwards into my face. I splutter, "We just got married yesterday!"

Even though it seems so much has happened...

"The sooner, the better, my dear." Arlene winks suggestively.

"Arlene!" Lady Elizabeth chides. "Do not be so forward, you have barely met her!"

I sigh in relief.

"They have only had one night together, give them a few months!"

My sigh turns into a suppressed cry of surprise.

"A few months for what, Mother?"

An arm curls itself around my waist. I fight the urge to slap it away and look up into the blank eyes of Emmanuel.

"Here is the man of the ball!!" Arlene squeals. "Don't you look handsome!"

"I have to make the effort now, Arlene." Emmanuel grins, pulling me closer into his side. When Arlene looks at me warmly, I have no choice but to manifest a smile for her.