"They're going to notice we're missing!" Florence whined up at Ruby.
"I don't care. This is wonderful." Ruby breathed out his words as if they were a song.
"I know, I know, but this is a dance after all." She complained.
"Please, Florence." Ruby was rendered utterly captive to her.
"Remember all those insignificant times I touched you?" He asked out of the blue.
"I know you do; the carriage, the attic, in the library. I could practically feel the desire radiating off of you, God." He muttered to himself.
"You were much too intimidating for me to even speak to." Florence teased.
"Intimidating? I'm not sure that's the proper word." He clucked his tongue thoughtfully.
"We still have to get downstairs." She reminded him.
"A little while longer."
"Ruby, we can't."
"Will you at least dance with me?"
"Of course I will dance with you."
"Do you remember that night at Devil's Tavern?" He asked her gently.
"It felt like a dream." She reminisced.
"You- you put your head on my chest." He sputtered out, marveling at the thought.
"It was lovely. You dancing with me like that." Florence whispered back.
After a moment of quiet she added, "I don't want you to leave."
Ruby caressed her check gently and rolled over to his side to get a better look at her face. His worn thumb stroke carefully over her cheekbones.
"You'll do wonderful without me." He reminded her gently.
Something seemed to be crushing down on her shoulders. "I'm never going to see you again. Ever." She muttered, staring at the ceiling.
"We don't know that for sure my love. Perhaps your father would invite me to stay again." Ruby tried to comfort her.
"I doubt he will. I'll miss you so much." She whispered against his golden cheek.
"When do you think you'll be leaving?"
Ruby sighed. "My uncle sent me a letter only a day ago. He'll arrive here next week to take us all back."
Florence gasped. "Next week?"
"I promise I'll make it feel like forever." Ruby pleaded with her.
"But how?" She asked hopelessly.
"I'll spend every second with you. Your father is working and your mother as well, nobody will think anything of it." He explained hurriedly.
"I don't want you to go. I feel like I know you." A tear ran from the corner of her eye making Ruby's heart contract.
He pulled her closer into him. "You do know me." He confirmed.
"Please don't leave me." She begged, curling hopelessly into herself.
"I'm sorry." Ruby croaked out, feeling a lump growing in his throat.
"How long have you been here, maybe only 10 days." She pondered with a saddened tone.
"Don't despair, my love."
"But you're so wonderful. You make everyday feel like a dream, like I'm living in a storybook, Ruby!"
"I'll find you again, I promise." The words felt horrifically familiar to Ruby as he spoke them.
"I think I'm in love with you." She whispered against his cheek.
"But how can I be, we've just met." Florence added, growing uncertain of her own feelings.
"Perhaps it's just like that, love at first sight."
Florence suppressed a shiver of delight at his words.
"Ruby. I know you're hiding something from me."
Ruby's eyes became alert and he looked nervously down at her.
"I'm not stupid, please tell me why your here. Please just explain to me why I've been so confused this whole time. Confused as to why I saw Cathryn dancing with Maylis, why I heard Cathryn in Clair's room late at night on the first day they arrived, why you even bothered to lie about Cathryn being your "lover", and why Cathryn and Clair never told us they were step-siblings. I'm not completely oblivious, please just tell me. And how you said kissing me in the garden was "good," Ruby I don't understand." Florence rushed out, she felt hurt and confused.
It made her feel even worse when all Ruby seemed to have gathered from her speech was that Cathryn was in Maylis' room. "You say Cathryn with Maylis?"
"Yes! Ruby please just answer me, I'm growing impatient. Why do I feel like I'm always being lied to?" Tears pricked at her helpless wide eyes once more.
"Florence..." Ruby began desperately.
"Please. What's going on?" She cut him off.
"I'm going to explain to you everything. I'm going to tell you all you need to know. It's going to be confusing, but I don't want it to hurt you my love. Just promise me you can understand. Promise me you won't tell anyone unless I allow it." He answered strictly.
"I promise." She pressed a soft kiss to his lips.
Ruby exhaled calmly at this and began. "I'm going to start from the beginning. Please don't ask anything until the end darling."
"You have been being lied to Florence. By everyone, even me. I'm not just a family friend of Cathryn's." He paused to shut his eyes for a moment.
"We were in love once." His now opened eyes shone with a delight that wasn't present before.
"She adored me, as I did her. And one- one hellish night I made everything wrong. We were only fifteen. The both of us ran off to a small speakeasy down the road in Liverpool. We, I- Cathryn was pregnant."
Florence did her best not to gasp. She pressed her lips together and Ruby continued.
"She was furious with me. She shoved the child into my arms and told me never to speak to her again. But I, I made her this promise. I told her I would always find her. It was foolish of me, I was an ignorant child. I now know, because of you Florence. That you can love more than once. So, I took the child home to my uncle and lied, I told him I'd found her abandoned in a basket in an alley. Together we raised her."
Florence nodded to let him know she was following.
"And Florence, Maylis is my child. She isn't my cousin."
"That's why Cathryn was with her. She loves Maylis." She responded, slowly understanding the story.
"I'm elated that she does. I can't imagine what I'd be like to be torn away from your little one for so long." He inhaled a long gulp of air from between them.
"Cathryn and Clair. Their story is a dreadful one. The two were close since birth. Maybelle Lovell and Robert Thompson practically raised the two. They silently fell in love over the years."
Florence blinked hard to keep herself from crying. Clair really didn't love her, but did it matter? Apparently she's in love with Ruby now. Everything was a foggy mess.
"But so did Maybelle and Robert. Eventually the two married, and Cathryn and Clair didn't know what to do. Didn't know if what they had was allowed. Both Maybelle and Robert didn't think so. I'm sure they knew sending the two away like this, alone, would be no good." Ruby paused to let Florence digest all of this.
"When did you meet Cathryn?" She inquired shyly.
"Just around the time Robert and Maybelle had married. I think I acted more as a distraction for her." He admitted solemnly.
"Does Clair still love her?" She asked hesitantly.
"Yes, I think so." Ruby answered carefully, he understood how she felt about Clair.
"Does he know about Maylis?" She ventured to ask another question.
"No, and I don't think Cathryn intends on telling him." He replied.
"I'm so confused." Florence mumbled.
"Is it because of Clair?" Ruby spoke softly.
She nodded her small head against his chest.
"You're worried he doesn't love you." He spoke for her.
Her shoulders dropped in surprise.
"I'm not completely oblivious either." Ruby stole her words.
"It's okay to feel like this. He does love you, I can tell. I've known him for ages as well. Clairence is a very respectable man Florence, you ought to not give up on him." He told her.
"How? I think I love you more, but I don't know. Clair showed me wondrous moments. Ruby, I don't know how to feel. Perhaps the both of you leaving will be good for me." She pondered with a dry laugh.
"No Florence. This shouldn't be a contest. Don't pick, you truly don't need either of us. You're a strong young woman who I know will do tout simplement magnifique without the both of us." He responded wisely.
"You're a strong young woman who I know will do just magnificent without the both of us."
"But when you speak like that, I just can't help but admire you." Florence allowed.
"You should despise me. After knowing what you know. How I willingly lied to you, that I had a child in my hands at only fifteen. Most people are afraid of me for that." He announced to her.
"I'm not afraid of you Ruby." Florence let him know.
"Don't understand how you feel." He commanded her with her beautiful voice.
"Welcome the uncertainty. Dance with Clair, dance with me. Hell, dance with whomever you please. Dance with Julie! I love you, I understand how you feel. It won't matter to me when I see you with Clair. Just know that, my love." Ruby told her lovingly.
Florence felt at ease. Ruby slowly peeled away from her side and stood at the edge of his own bed.
Smoothing her hair over with his hand he announced, "I'll be in the ballroom. Stay in here as long as you please, it's your house after all."
His shoes clacked gently across the shiny floors. "You don't have to come find me." He reminded her just before he closed the door.