A Fiery Dalliance

XLII

It had been several hours of talking before Lily managed to seize hold of Perrie's arm while quickly pulling her to the door of the drawing room. In seconds, the two sisters were out into the empty foyer, and were moving swiftly about the house searching for somewhere private to talk. Lily pushed her sister into the library, before she shut the door behind her.

Perrie looked upon Lily's face, and she immediately sensed her sister's anxiety. There was a desperation in Lily's blue eyes as she leaned backwards against the door.

"Perrie, this is madness," she croaked.

"I know it may seem that way," Perrie agreed. "I know Joe and I do not exactly have a history of great warmth towards each other. I imagine everyone in the village at home who knew Joe and I as children will get quite a shock when they hear."

Despite being fifteen and approaching womanhood, Lily was still quite comfortably dressed as a young girl. Their father most definitely had a hand in that. Lily wore her long, dark hair down, with only a white silk ribbon fixed at the back holding her front tendrils out of her eyes. Her day dress matched and was hemmed above her ankles. It was her youthful appearance that made her anxiety all the more heartbreaking for Perrie.

Lily shook her head. "No, that is not at all what I meant," she rebuffed. "I knew that there was something between you. I think it was confirmed for me when I watched you instruct Joe with the bow and arrow. Perhaps I always knew it, I don't know. One does not expel so much time and energy on someone they have no regard for. But that is not what I am worried about, Perrie! This is mad!"

"What is?" challenged Perrie.

"Perrie, you are not yet eighteen!" stressed Lily. "You were supposed to debut next year. You were supposed to have time, and choice. You might have been courted by Joe for a year, maybe more! You could have still been at home with us! But this is a forced marriage, is it not? You were compromised. If you do not marry now, you are ruined. How is that right? How is that fair? Your choice, your life, your freedom, is taken away just like that."

Perrie's face softened and she immediately went to her sister, pulling Lily in for a tight hug. The moment she did, Perrie felt Lily shudder with tears. She understood her sister's worries, and she truly loved Lily for her compassion. "We do have to marry, you are right. It would be a lie to say that I wasn't nervous, or that I felt ready. I told Joe this very information the other night. I worry that I will make a terrible wife. You have heard Mrs Liscombe utter the very words. I'm not ready, I don't think. I agree, I do this I would have liked time to grow up a little more. But something else has happened, and I do think it is a blessing in disguise.

"Joe and I will have the chance to grow up together. We certainly have much to learn, and I do doubt entirely that our marriage will be free from challenges. But I know that we love each other, and I know that our regard for each other will only grow as we do.

"And if you think I will be leaving you, then you are entirely wrong. I am your sister, Lily. I am the eldest. It is my job to order you around." Perrie grinned as she pulled back to look upon Lily's face.

Lily, however, did not seem convinced, and her eyes still swum with emotion.

"The same will not happen for you," Perrie promised. "I will make sure of it. "Grandmamma desires for us all to be great debutantes, but you know Papa will never make you if you do not wish it. If you want to remain at Ashwood and never marry, you know Papa would be quite content."

"I am certain Grandmamma would die for the shame if I became a spinster," Lily murmured, a wry smile teasing her lips.

"She is dying already if she is not permitted ice cream at my wedding breakfast," Perrie snickered. "Fear not."