Incognito

34

Deja vu to the days when the girls donned their very best clothes and set out to greet their cruel father and walk to the chapel with masked faces of joy. Elizabeth twirling in a pink gown with ribbons in her hair.

Now her younger sister twirled slowly in a white gown, smiling in the mirror at Angelica. Maids from their house and the duke's bustled around her, measuring, trimming, lacing, squeezing and tying. Angelica decided she never wanted to wear a wedding gown. She smiled back at Elizabeth who winced as Evangeline pinned up a perfect curl. Rita sat on the bed next to Angelica and squeezed her hand. "You're a beautiful, blushing bride, my darling."

Elizabeth rolled her eye and Angelica's gaze drifted to Prosper playing quietly in the corner. Zac had made her some whittled blocks and she gnawed on them instead of stacking them. The mia herself had not spoken to him since that dreadful day he misunderstood her.

A knock sounded on the door and Kalliope, the cute pregnant maid, poked her head inside. "Miss Angelica, Earl Holden wishes to see you in his office."

Angelica rose and before she left Elizabeth called out. "Leave him able to walk down the aisle, please."

A smile broke onto Angelica's face and she followed the woman down the hall. The men working on the ballroom made enough noise to give someone a headache, but after two weeks of work, it was almost clean enough to be functional. They had almost made it to the huge wooden doors over the office when Kalliope stumbled against the wall. She brushed off the mia's assistance and took a deep breath before continuing.

"Only a couple more weeks," Kalliope says in her usually chipper voice. Angelica decided she never wanted to be pregnant either.

Kalliope stands in front of the heavy wooden doors but the mia hesitates. This office once held a wise leader who had loved a prodigal son and a pardoned a thief with a baby girl. Now the man, who loved her sister more than the world he lived in, sat inside. Mia never had a conversation with him and he was controversial. The day he met her sister he made her laugh and cry. His father had stolen her father's beloved. He had little respect for his younger brother. She had no idea if he would love her or ruin her. And she couldn't decipher her own feelings on her future brother-in-law either.

She took a deep breath and flipped her short hair out of her face. Kalliope gave her a small smile and tugged open the door. Mia walked into the dark.

A single candle burned on his desk and Brooks Holden was busy studying a map pinned to the all. Her footsteps were light enough that he didn't realize she was there until he turned. A smile lit up his face. Angelica was immediately suspicious. 

"I am so sorry. Let me give some light. Please take a seat." He scrambled behind his desk and carefully caught a flame underneath each of the lamps. He turned back to her and the mia could swear he squirms.

"You terrify  me." He admits. He stands in front of the heavy chair leaving only a table between them. "You survived in the woods and rumor said you were everything to be feared. For a while, no one saw anything but a silhouette. Then there were rumors that you had the vocabulary of a sailor, you raided entire camps, you murdered men and women alike. I brushed it off as Richard's thieves but Father was convinced there was a woman. He may have been the one to coin the mia, the rebellious woman." Brooks cleared a space and sat on his desk. "I was scared because I could never build that image. I could shoot every target and lead villages and men but I could never be legendary. So I sit here today and pray you don't steal my purse or slit my throat. Both of which you could do because I have no guards nearby. Angelica, you are Beth's only family remaining, and though I am terrified you will say no, I am asking for your blessing over Beth and I's union."

The mia opened her mouth but Brooks lifted a hand and bowed his head. "Let me prove to you my worth. Your sister is an independent, charismatic young woman who does not need me. But I need her. She completes me and keeps me light and fun. She takes away the weight of life. I may be an earl and now soon a duke but Elizabeth will always be the most important aspect of my days. That is why I will promise you anything for you to be willing to share her with me."

Angelica fell back into her chair and she could remember when. A hand lay upon her mouth and she found her heart heavy and her voice unwilling to come.

"I am leaving during the wedding." She boldly met Brooks's eyes and he met hers back. "Do not even try to convince me to stay for the ball afterward. I was never meant to live in this glittering world of swirling skirts and finery. My bags are packed. I already stole food and clothes and blankets to last us through to summer. I am not going to ask you for anything other than this: keep my sister so happy she won't realize I am gone and keep Zac so busy he won't come after me."

Brooks wet his lips and stood. "You know I am going to make Zac an earl." He paced to the map again. The mia saw the circles and notes decorating it. Brooks had turned into a duke seemingly overnight.

"You cannot convince me to stay unless it is against my will in a locked dungeon. Even you wouldn't do that. I am going to find Richard's men and punish them for what they did to the innocent."

"I am not going to lock you up. For your crimes, I should but my father was a wise man and if he pardoned you, it was for a good reason. But if you murder people, I will send men to hunt you down."

"I would count on it."

"Can I deputize you?" Brooks turns and looks at her. "You can legally hunt down these men in my name and bring them back. Visit your sister. And my brother."

The mia met his eyes. "Then I would have to tell you how I plan to find these men and tell you where I go, what I do. If you learned that, you would have to lock me up."

Brooks nods and purses his lips. The mia stands and walks over to the soon to be duke of Averie. "Make my sister happy and pregnant."

He smiles. "I will do my best." He completely surprises her by giving the mia a hug and it startled her enough that she let loose a naughty word. She let go when she hears him gasp.

When she slips out, the groom-to-be is still standing in the same place with an astonished chuckle coming from his lips.