Bluebells And Blushes

Chapter 7

My eyes shoot open. Someone was nudging me with their foot. I was on my feet in a split second. "Alice?" She grins and gives me a curtsy, "The one and only." I was momentarily distracted by her swirling blue eyes.
"The maid, uh. Sarah! That was her name. She had told me where to find you." "Oh, well it's very nice to see you Lady Alice." She nods and was about to say something else "Will I was meaning to tell you-" "Alice!"

I saw a boy running towards us, he looked a little younger than I, Maybe sixteen? When he arrived he bent down, I thought he was trying to bow but then I noticed he was just trying to catch his breath. "Alice, ha, Robert, Eleanor, I were all wondering, ha, if you could join us in a ,ha, game of cricket." He said catching his breath every couple of words or so.

He was small. Couldn't be more than 120 lbs and he only came up to my chest. He had a thin face with sunken in eyes. Everything about him screamed 'rich'. "I suppose you should be getting to your cricket match." I bow (properly) and grab her hand softly touching my lips to her hand. My eyes meet hers out of my mouth came a low, "Lady Alice." She nods and says back to me "I suppose I should, Sir William. Might I say as our parting words for this moment that you look very handsome."

I blush, I've never worn these clothes before. Sir Benedict liked his help to look nice when he had a party. I had on an old brown tweed coat with a sweater. The sweater was navy blue with red and black diamond shaped patterns on the chest. Underneath that I had on a crisp white button-up. Matching the coat, was a pair of pants. My shoes were black and shiny, as oppose to my normal ragged work boots. The pants came down to my ankle. My other pair came to mid ankle, and I was glad for a pair that fit properly. To finish of my outfit, I was wearing the hat Lady Alice had given me. Daniel, the Shepard, had given me some of his Brilliantine, a kind of hair grease. He was also there in the corner looking scared.

Just like me, Daniel's best friends are the animals he takes care of, although in the summer sometimes we have lunch together in the meadow. He was quite the looker with his midnight black hair and deep blue eyes. He was able to carry himself in a way that could trick anyone that he was a Lord, but even though many women approached him, he would reject them all.

     I was thinking about the interesting color of those roses by the crumpets and jam when the whole crowd went quiet. Lord Benedict was making his entrance. I hid behind the swan shaped topiary and peeked around the edge. Lord Benedict had made it down the stairs to the lawn where the party was taking place. When he stopped, everyone started to clap, why? I don't have the faintest notion, but the wealthy tend to do stuff like that. He was now clapping his friends on their backs talking about the rising market of cashmere, or something.

     Since that Lord Benedict doesn't like me (that's an understatement) I leave the party to go to the garden. When I reach the peeling green garden gate I have to give it a mighty shove in order to open it. I walk around until I get to the wishing fountain. You put in a penny and make a wish, supposedly it comes true. I'd need some solid proof before I go wasting my money on something so trivial. Even though I was a ways away from the party, the music floating over the hedges. It made it sound almost ghostly.

       When I was younger I pretended that the garden was my kingdom and I was the king. After my parents died however, it turned more into a prison. I couldn't leave it because the garden was the only thing I had left when they died. When they died a part of me went missing. I stopped working, the garden filled with weeds, and oddly enough it lost it's color. Around that time Sir Benedict gave me my first beating. He never hit me before because I suspected he was afraid of my father, when I didn't have him anymore the beatings became a regular thing. Sometimes they were just a slap, but other times I could barely breath afterwards, like what happened in the basement. He kept me there for five days, beating me regularly. During the first one, he must have hit my head pretty hard because not two days later I picked up a trowel and started to take care of the garden. Its color came back after a week, the birds started to sing again and my life finally had meaning. That garden is my baby.  

    I was jolted back to reality when I felt a hand on shoulder. I whirl around, my nose almost touching Alice's. "Aren't you supposed to be at a cricket match?" "I bloody despise cricket." We laugh over that comment for awhile. "Are you going to have a picnic with that boy?" I said nodding at the large picnic basket around her arm. "You mean Alfred? No. no!" I was confused, my eyebrows furrowing. "I must say, that's quite a large sum of food for someone as small as you." She chuckles "Well then it's good I won't be eating alone than." My eyebrows raise, I'm still confused. Lady Alice frowns. We stay silent for a while. She sighs exasperated. "I'm asking you to eat with me dummy." "oh." I look down at my feet embarrassed. She starts to walk away and I, a loyal sheep dog follow. 

       Lady Alice wades through the field of wildflowers smashing them to death, I cringe whenever she purposely stomps on the delicate petals,  cursing them out. When she decides on a destination, a clearing with a few of small ash trees and a sea of bluebells surrounding us, I lay down the checkered blanket she had so cleverly concealed in the basket. She takes out some finger sandwiches, some crumpets and jam, a few berries with cream, chocolate chip cookies, and bottle of champagne with two flute glasses. We take what we want from this assortment and eat, her daintily and me rather rudely. You can't blame for this however, since I very rarely get to feast upon such delectable goodies. "Lady Alice, do you mind me asking what is was you wished to say to me earlier at the party." "Well William, I was going to tell you that it would be easier to converse with you if you didn't call me Lady anymore." "Oh. Well I don't think it would be proper for me to call you anything but." She sighs and says loudly, "Screw proper, proper can go die in a bloody hole for all I care, proper can go to hell and I wouldn't bat an eyelash." I'm taken aback, by now I should be used to Lady- to Alice's vulgar choice of speech but just by looking at her you wouldn't expect it. 

     Now this isn't to say I think women should sit still and be quiet. Not at all, the thing is I don't get out of the garden that often so I'm not able to get  involved in any of the politics surrounding women's rights. I'm sure that if I lived in the city I would take part in the protests, that's to say if I had time (I'm known to be quite the workaholic). Alice cocks her head "You don't get out much do you." I chuckle  " Is it that obvious?" "Will,  not many people space out during lunch with company, you need to get your head out of the clouds. What you just did was very rude." My eyes widen, even though there's no one around I'm quite embarrassed. She stares at me then laughs. "You actually though I was mad at you!" "Well now," I protest, "That was hardly fair." She snorts with laughter in a most unladylike manner and clutches her sides. I fear that she'll faint if she doesn't draw a proper breath. She finally calms down gasping for air. She looks at me and bursts into laughter all over again. I can't help but smile at her silliness, soon the grin turns into a chuckle. Now I'm laughing hysterically by her side.

       When we end it I'm wiping tears away away from my eyes. She looks up at me, fondness clear in her eyes. "You are just too funny." She says ruffling my hair. We get packed up and start to trek back through the wildflowers and towards the party. "Can we go back to the garden?" "Why?" "I want you to show me around." "What do you mean around? You already know what the garden looks like." "Yeah but I want to see it the way you see it." Once again I ask her why. "Because when I saw you in the garden earlier you looked happy, free and happy." I tilt my head. "I've never felt that before." She explains tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "What makes you think that the garden will make you feel that way?" She answers my question with another. "Well why does it make you happy?" I frown thinking hard for a moment before answering. "I've grown up tending to it, I suppose it's my greatest accomplishment, it's the closest thing I have to a family." She nods. I realize we have veered off course to the party and, indeed we are heading over to the garden. When we get there I show her the little green gate. Shoving it open for her I bow saying "My, Lady." She giggles and we walk through the gate.

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