Lyra & Samuel

a short story of a childhood love rekindled ~ originally penned May 2023

"Presenting …. Her Grace, Lady Elyria Valle, Duchess of Greenbriar, and of Langston Park."

"Lyra?" He looked up and saw her standing at the top of the staircase. She wore an elegant form-fitting gown in her signature emerald green, with matching shoes and a clutch. Her auburn hair was pulled from her face into a severe bun, with flyaway wisps to frame her face and dotted with emerald hair pins. Emeralds also glinted from her ears, throat, and wrist; as well as twinkled in the simple silver tiara atop her head.

By the time she had reached the bottom of the stairs, Lord Samuel Finnegan Adair -now the Count of Fullerton- had made his way through the crowd to stand there, waiting for her.

"Your Grace." He bowed, then held his hand out to her.

"My Lord." She replied, and placed her hand in his.

He laid a kiss across her knuckles, then led her through the gathered crowd to the dance floor, where he spun her in a circle before pulling her into his arms.

"When did you get back into town?" He asked her casually as they swayed to a familiar song.

"Last week." She told him.

"And you didn't think to call on me?" He asked.

“You’ve been busy; I’ve been busy.” She shrugged. “By the way, I hear congratulations are in order. Your engagement to Anna Snow is all anyone can talk about in town. I assume you’re making the announcement tonight?”

"Nothing's been made official." He looked above her head, not meeting her eyes for a minute before he looked back at her. “And allow me to bestow upon you my own congratulations, Your Grace. When was your entitlement ceremony?”

“Just this week. Grandmother decided on a private ceremony, and then we had a light luncheon and tea afterwards with some close friends.”

“I’m surprised I didn’t receive an invitation.”

“You did receive an invitation, Finn. I know you did because I hand delivered it to your butler myself.”

“You called on me?”

“I have called on you everyday since I’ve returned!” Lyra spoke through clenched teeth to keep her voice quiet, her eyes wide with astonishment and frustration. “I’ve left my card, I left messages, I even left a letter to be delivered to you. And everyday, I received the same reception: you were indisposed and not to be disturbed, or you were out for the day and were not expected until dawn. I have come to call on you everyday, Finn; until two days ago when your mother came to the door and lectured me quite nastily on the inappropriateness of my behavior -a sad pathetic little orphan girl desperately seeking the attentions of a gentleman so far above her status as to be considered a god in comparison- made even more embarrassing on account of his engagement to the most eligible maiden in the county. Oh, and did I forget to mention that she threatened to call the police if she ever found me on her doorstep again, charged with trespassing, before she slammed the door in my face! Needless to say, I did stop calling on you after that. Now then, if you will excuse me. I thank you for the dance, and I congratulate you on your engagement. I came as a courtesy as the Duchess, and now that I have extended that courtesy, I find myself quite in need of time alone. Good night, Lord Samuel.”

Lyra turned on her heel and made her way to the stairs. On her approach, she saw Lady Beatrice -Samuel’s mother- standing with a cluster of other old bitties such as herself, all clucking about this girl’s dress or that gentleman’s posture, about that lord’s estate or this lady’s expensive jewels. They all stopped their whispers when she stood before them.

“Good evening ladies.” Lyra addressed them with all the regal bearing her entitlements had instilled in her.

“Your Grace.” They all curtsied.

“Lady Beatrice, congratulations on Lord Samuel’s engagement to Miss Anna Snow. I’m sure the county of Fullerton will be much improved for their youthful ideals and the income that will provide. Please, extend them my invitation; I’d be honored to host them for a spell at my estate in Greenbriar.” Lyra took from her clutch a thick parchment envelope addressed to Lord Samuel Adair and Miss Anna Snow, sealed with green wax and stamped with the coat of arms recently granted to her.

“I will be sure that he gets it, Your Grace.” Lady Beatrice’s voice was flat, deflated in the presence of a higher ranking noblewoman.

“See that he does, Lady Beatrice. I am not so low-born as to openly threaten a person for their assumptions, but make no mistake … I do not act kindly towards those who displease me.” Lyra told her, her lips set in a hard line.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Taking a breath, she turned to the other women and inclined her head towards them before making her exit, up the stairs and out the main doors.

“What did you do?”

“Oh Samuel! My sweet, sweet boy!” Lady Beatrice practically fell into her son’s arms, her voice nearly hysterical. “That … that woman! She …”

“Please stop with the theatrics, Mother. You’re making a spectacle of yourself and no one here is amused by it any longer.” Samuel dismissed, tiredly while grasping her wrists gently and pushing her back onto her own two feet. “What did Lyra say to you?”

“Only that she congratulated me on your engagement to Anna, and that she’s offered to host you two at her estate in Greenbriar after your nuptials.” Lady Beatrice smiled smugly as she handed over the parchment envelope, which Samuel tucked into his inside jacket pocket.

“And why didn’t you tell me she had been at the house to call on me?”

“She came to call on you? How very sweet of her. I had -”

“Mother, stop it. She told me you spoke to her; that you threatened to have her arrested.”

Lady Beatrice had the good grace to say nothing, though her mouth opened and closed like a fish as she searched for the right words. In the end, she closed her mouth and hung her head ever so slightly.

“What about her bothered you more, Mother? That our childhood love survived into adulthood? Or the fact that you couldn’t control her?”

“She’s beneath you, Samuel!” Lady Beatrice screeched. “She’s an orphan! A street urchin! And far too wild to be tamed by anyone! She should’ve never been allowed to enter polite society. And then to be passed off as the only heir of two duchies? Such a farce! What was Old Lady Sybill thinking? And then of course, you had to go and fall in love with the wretched child. To teach her the ways of the aristocracy that she should’ve never been introduced to in the first place! Damn you, Samuel! She was better off laying dead in a ditch somewhere, than having you fawn all over her like a lovesick puppy!”

The crowd surrounding them parted as a gnarled gentlewoman stepped through and into the circle made around mother and son as they stood off against each other.

“Lady Sybill.” Lady Beatrice breathed, bobbing a curtsy to the older woman. The old woman acknowledged the countess with a cold stare and thin lips, before turning to the young gentleman who had dropped to his knee in a low bow.

“Lord Samuel.” She rasped, and he looked up at her. “Has it always been pure? Do you love my granddaughter for the wild, untamed woman that she is?”

“I do, yes.” He nodded.

“And her newly obtained fortune? Her titles? Do those play a part in your affections towards her?”

“Never has, never will. She could be richer than the King, and it still wouldn’t play any part in my affections.”

“Then what the hell are you still doing on your knees?” She asked him with wide eyes, and a look of confusion washed over his face. “Go after her, you fool!”

“Thank you, Your Grace.” He smiled at her, then took a moment to kiss her knuckles before getting to his feet and turning towards the stairs, where his intended stood and he came to an abrupt stop. “Anna.”

“Samuel.” She smiled softly at him. They stared at each other for a long moment, their eyes conveying everything their mouths were not. “Go. She’s waited for you for long enough.”

Samuel took her hands into his, and kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”

He took the stairs two at a time, bypassed the coat closet, and burst out into the night.

*****

Lyra was sitting on a familiar swing set in the children's park, when the rustle of leaves behind her made her stand and turn, a pistol in her hand.

“Woah!” Samuel took a step back, his hands up where she could see them. “Lyra, I know we’ve had our differences, but … that’s a bit extreme, isn’t it?”

“Sorry, Finn.” She sighed in relief, releasing the hammer and sliding the pistol back into her clutch. “A woman alone can never be too careful.”

“Apparently not. Did you have to fend off many unsavory characters while away at university?” He asked, lowering his hands and coming to stand next to her at the swings.

“A few.”

“Enough to warrant the purchase of a pistol?”

“Better the blood splatter on my dress than being raped.” She shrugged, then turned to him. “Speaking of blood, won’t your fiance be out for mine if she finds you here with me? Why aren’t you at your engagement party?”

"That was my mother's engagement party, not mine." Samuel said. Lyra arched a brow at him. "You know Mother always intended me to marry above my station, and for years she's shoved Anna Snow in my direction. But Anna's always had competition for my affections. So when you went away to university, and especially when you stayed away to earn your Master's degree, Mother redoubled her efforts to place Anna in my path and forced us into a kind of relationship. It's only been in the last six weeks or so that she's suggested an engagement; she started planning the announcement gala about a week ago."

"Probably right around the time I came back and started calling on you. She had to secure your legacy and her standing in society, before you realized I had returned and ruined all her hard work."

"That sounds like my mother, all right." Samuel sighed, then looked at her. "What about you, though, Lyra? Is there anything unfavorable you need to disclose to me? A jealous lover perhaps, or an abusive ex-husband you ran away from?"

"No, on both accounts." She chuckled. "Number one, I gave my heart away a long time ago and I've never gotten it back. And two, any man I marry needs to meet the approval of not only Lady Sybil but also that of Uncle Taylor as well, as he is the steward of my father's estate. So, no, there are no men -or women- who anyone needs to worry about."

“That’s good to know; otherwise, this would be entirely inappropriate.” And Samuel reached out for her and crushed her to him, bringing his mouth down on hers in a kiss that rekindled all of their old flames.

~ * ~ * ~