A Silent Storm

02. My Sweet Ella

'Where is Mr Finkelstein?' My beloved aunt looked down at me with narrowed eyes.

'Fow 'ud I 'wo?' I muttered through a mouthful of solid chocolates.

My aunt looked at me as if I'd suddenly grown six heads and a tail. 'Where are your manners, Lillian?!' She whispered furiously, quickly looking around us to see if anyone else had noticed.

I swallowed down the solid chocolate I'd been busy devouring. 'I'm pretty sure I'd packed them with me before leaving.' I grinned at my aunt.

Suffice to say, she did not share my humour. At all. 'Don't you dare go around using that tone with me, Lillian!' If it was possible for steam to come out of one's ears, it would be coming out my aunt's ears right about now. What a jolly good sight it would make! I suppressed a giggle at the images that thought produced. I reckoned it wouldn't go over well with my aunt if I suddenly started giggling while she seemed just about ready to pop a vessel with all the glowering she was doing.

'My apologies. But I really do not know where Mr Finkelstein is. We were dancing when a really wealthy looking man in a black tailcoat came and asked if he could talk to Mr Finkelstein. I haven't seen him since.' I explained to my dear aunt.

A really wealthy looking man in a black tailcoat. Hmm, I wonder what Mr Ambrose would like to say to that?

My aunt looked satisfied with my response. She nodded, looking way too thoughtful for someone who had looked just about ready to kill someone with her bare hands just moments ago,'He must have been a business associate.'

Oh, he definitely was a business associate alright. A business associate Mr Finkelstein should've known better than to meddle with.

'Probably.' I agreed, stuffing another one of those heavenly delicacies into mouth.

'Well keep an eye out for him. I want you to go and dance with him as soon as he returns.' She told me sternly.

I opened my stuffed mouth to agree but then thought better of it and only nodded in response.
As much as I despised my dear aunt, I did not particularly want her to spontaneously combust out of anger, at least not in a room full of people.

She harrumphed in response before leaving me alone. I stood up and rubbed my hands together, ready to go find my one sister I could actually bear talking to.

I spotted her standing amongst a group of women, smiling shyly and nodding every now and then like the polite young lady she was.

'Oh, my dearest, Ella!' I exclaimed, standing next to her. She gave me an almost relieved smile in response.

'Lillian.' She smiled.

'Would you please excuse us? There is this really nice young lady I want my sister to meet!' I said with the brightest, sweeter- than-sugar smile I could muster.

The ladies all looked satisfied with my excuse and mumbled their agreements with equally-if not more- fake smiles on their faces.

'Where is that nice young man who asked you to dance, Lill?' My ever so sweet sister enquired thoughtfully.

I resisted the urge to grin evilly but didn't quite succeed. 'He won't be coming back anytime soon, that's for sure.'

'Oh?' She looked quite worried.

For the sake of my little sister's innocent soul, I assured her,' He had to attend to a matter of utmost importance, so he had to leave early.'

'Oh. I hope everything is alright.' She muttered. My little sister sometimes seemed a little too good to be true.

'Have anyone asked you to dance yet, Ella?' I changed the subject. No need to waste our breath talking about a man neither of us would be seeing anytime soon.

'Not yet.' My little sister looked relieved. 'I hope no one does either.' She added and I did not blame her. Most of the men weren't below letting their hands wander and while I was more than capable of reminding them where to keep their hands while dancing, Ella was a bit too polite to resort to stepping on their toes or hitting them with her parasol if need be.

I smiled at her. With the kind of natural beauty my sister had, she hardly ever got to sit a dance out. I was surprised that no one had asked her yet.

I was just about to say something in reply when Ella's eyes widened at something behind me. Judging from the murmurs that rose around us and the sudden icy warmth that seemed to envelope the whole room all at once, I think I had a pretty good idea of what, or more specifically who my sister was looking at.

'Um, Lill?' Ella stuttered out, her eyes still glued to someone over my shoulder.

'Yes, Ella?'

'I reckon you wouldn't particularly like this, but there's a man coming towards you, again.'

If only you knew exactly how much I'd like this Ella...

The voice inside my head muttered and I shushed it furiously.

Of course, I did not like this!

Why was Mr Ambrose coming towards me? If I knew him-and I knew him quite well- then he should've left once his meeting with Mr Finkelstein was over. Then why hasn't he? Why is he still here? Its simply impossible for him to suddenly grow an interest in socializing. He always said that events such as this were nothing but a waste of his time. The only reason he was here was to talk to Mr Finkelstein and now that that was out of the way, why had he not left? What was he still doing here?

Was it because....

No! It simply couldn't be!

But what if... What if he was here so he could dance with me? What if-

'May I have the pleasure of this dance, Miss Linton?' His cool voice abruptly cut off my inner ramblings, snapping me out of my thoughts and into the real world.

I opened my mouth to agree when a voice which sounded a bit too much like Ella's mumbled a shy, 'Of course.'

What the hell just happened?