Foxgloves in Summer: A Tale of Cinderella by Penelope Daniels

Author:Penelope Daniels [Daniels, Penelope]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-05-08T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Westley couldn't stop smiling the whole ride back to Mayfeld Hall. He made Mr. Hyde promise not to tell a soul what he saw. Things would reveal themselves in due time.

Looking out across the swaying fields of golden barley, Westley thought back to the conversation he’d had with his father. He’d told him to marry and when he’d said the words, Westley could only imagine himself standing beside a self-involved gossip who would demand he accompany her to tea and balls. They might be happy for a while, but over time, she’d come to despise his work and criticize his lack of social graces. It was the same way he’d always envisioned himself with any of those society girls and nothing in his imaginings improved when he added children to the mix.

But what if it didn’t have to be that way?

For the first time in his life, Westley thought that there might be something else. When he was with Nora, everything was different. With her, there was simply companionship. He felt at ease. He felt like himself—better than himself, in fact. He felt inspired, supported, encouraged. Most of all, he felt understood. As he considered it, he wondered if that’s what all of the loneliness in his life had been. His obsessions had never made sense to anyone else, but Nora not only accepted them, she embraced them. Because she was the same. He’d come to trust her in a way that he’d never thought possible. He wanted to share the desires of his heart because he knew that she’d understand, and that was something that didn’t come along every day.

When they reached Mayfeld Hall and the carriage rolled to a stop, Westley entered the house and requested that tea be brought upstairs. After returning to his workroom, he mixed a small amount of plaster to seal the cast they had made, repairing the part he’d cut with the shears. When that was finished, he lined it with another cotton stocking and then poured more plaster inside until it filled the cast. The plaster was thick and would need hours to dry, but once he removed it from the hardened linen strips, he’d have the exact shape of her leg and would be able to frame the next socket to fit perfectly.

Just as he set it aside to dry, Nathaniel knocked at the door and then entered with tea and a few slices of bread with butter. Westley knew Mrs. Merriweather had added the extra food knowing that it was nearly noon and he’d not yet eaten that day. She’d told him more than once that she worried at how often he skipped meals when he was working.

Setting the tray down on one of the long tables, Nathaniel pointed to the plaster cast.

“I’m glad to see that it was a success,” he said. “How did the rest of it go?”

“It went well,” Westley said and couldn’t help the flush of red that moved all the way up to his ears.

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