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 Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:42 pm
The Duchess revived herself a few minutes later, but a bump had appeared on her head, and it was throbbing. "He's such a fool," sighed the Duchess morosely. "Well meaning, I suppose, but really..."
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Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:43 pm
The earl nodded, sighing again at the note. "Terryn has never done this before...what are we supposed to do? Just...just let them go off on their own?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:51 pm
"Well, I don't see what else we could do. We can't very well track them down, Marcus has dozens of estates, any one of which they could have gone to. And a fortnight--that doesn't give us much of a clue either. They're most likely still in the country, or at furthest, France." The Duchess examined the note once more. "Priorities--what does that mean?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:54 pm
The earl shook his head, clueless. "I have not the faintest idea..." He stood up and began pacing the room, striding over eventually to the window. He looked out at the front entrance, where the duchess's carriage was conspicuously missing, and frowned. "I can not believe they are actually doing this..."
"I can not believe we are actually doing this..." Terryn gulped, her stomach feeling all knotted up. "Do you think we acted too hastily?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:58 pm
The Duchess suddenly clasped her hand to her mouth, feeling like she was going to pass out again. She didn't. "They're going to get married," she said faintly, lying down again, and closing her eyes.
Marcus raised an eyebrow at her. "Hastily, yes, but not too much. Hastiness was called for. We wouldn't have gotten another opportunity to do this, and running away isn't running away if everything is planned."
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Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:01 pm
"What?" The earl turned back to her, an almost horrified look on his face. "Surely, you can not be-but, why would they do-Terryn has-" He sighed and joined her in despair on the bed, his face buried in his hands. "It is our fault...we pushed them..."
Terryn sighed. "I do not feel so good about this now...my poor father must be having a herat attack over this all." She looked up to him and bit on her bottom lip pensively.
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Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:05 pm
"But...perhaps this is not for the worst. After all, both of them must have agreed. And did we not want them married after all?" The Duchess, though shaken, had a knack for making things to her advantage.
Marcus sighed and put an arm around Terryn comfortingly. "Oh, I wouldn't say that. He's probably surprised, yes, but if I know my grandmother at all, she'll have convinced your father that this is for the better. She's pulled me out of many a scrape before."
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Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:07 pm
"Yes...yes...I suppose." The earl looked down at the floor sadly, feeling that melancholia that arises whenever a father realizes his little girl is not so little anymore.
Terryn looked up at him and nodded, though it was obvious she was missing her father. After so long being the only ones in each other's lives, it was hard to just detach like this. "I suppose..."
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Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:15 pm
The Duchess recognized this, and patted her friend on the shoulder. "I'm sure she was a precocious child," she said, realizing that the Earl probably wanted to talk.
Marcus swallowed. "We'll be back very soon--within a week, if you wish. I just want you--I want us to enjoy this time now, and I can't very well unless you do too."
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Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:18 pm
The Earl half chuckled at that, nodding slowly with a small, wistful smile. "That she was my dear...always so willful. She could never accept that she had to tie herself down and be a lady of breeding. She was always my little rebel."
"A week? Really?" Terryn had expected longer than that, and she was almost glad that it wouldn't be too long. It was still going to be the longest time she had spent away from home. "A week is nice..." She blushed a bit, embarassed, and looked out the window. "As rebellious as I may be, I still can not deny that I have a strong connection to my home..."
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Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:26 pm
"She was a terrible fright to all the boys, I distinctly remember," added the Duchess, smiling. The Young Countess Terryn was, she remembered hearing, a force to be reckoned with.
"That's not a bad thing. Often times I wish I did as well." Marcus was beginning to relax now, his arm less rigid, and his posture slumped.
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Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:29 pm
"That is an understatement." The earl's eyes lit up a bit as he thought back to his daughter's childhood. "She could do a number on her brothers by the time she was eight, and they were both considerably larger than her." He sighed. "Of course, that is not to say she was never gentle...I remember whenever Liana was out in the garden, Terryn would always come by and help her water the roses."
Terryn leaned over, resting against Marcus and drawing her knees up as she situated herself. "So where exactly is this Scottish Estate of yours?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:38 pm
The Duchess smiled. Marcus, too, had liked roses. "She looks a great deal like Liana."
Marcus smiled, resting his head on top of Terryn's. "Well, it's a mile or two from Galloway, in the valley between a hill and a mountain range. The Marque presented it to me when he received it and many others as dowry for his girl with some wealthy man in Strathclyde."
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Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:42 pm
The earl nodded, feeling a tear come to his eye. "I know...everytime I look at her I am more and more amazed at how similar they are. Even in spirit too. It took me three years to win Liana's hand, do you remember?" He chuckled a little. "What was it she called me the first time I came to call on her? Ignorant pig slop?" He sighed wistfully, dabbing at his eyes with his handkerchief. "I was smitten from that day forward."
"I have never been. The only time I was in Scotland was when my father and I travelled to Glasgow to meet with some aunt that I can no longer remember." Terryn closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths to help calm her.
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Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:52 pm
The Duchess smiled warmly. "I imagine Marcus felt the same way." She, of course, had no experience in such things. She'd been the conventional shy maiden, putting up no barriers or walls, and falling into love quite easily.
Marcus kissed the top of Terryn's head. His excitedness had ebbed away now. "You're alright now, aren't you?"
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