Page 18

“What are you going to say?” I asked.

Curtis squeezed my hand. “I guess you will find out soon.”

He pulled me behind him back to the ball. We found Father and Mother dancing in the middle of the floor, as usual. I hadn’t realized until now that Curtis was almost as tall as Father. Curtis approached Father and tapped him firmly on the shoulder.

When Father turned, Curtis asked formally, “May I have a word with you, please?”

Father led Mother over to a couch then followed Curtis out of the hall. I sat with Mother on a sofa. Comfort came and joined us. She looked at me, a delighted expression on her face. “Did you and Curtis…?” was all she asked, then trailed off. I nodded. Comfort squealed and clapped her hands, bouncing up and down in her seat.

Mother looked at me curiously. “What is all this about?” she asked.

“About us… me and Curtis, that is...” I said softly.

Mother was too ladylike to gasp. But as she looked between my embarrassed, fiery red face and Comfort’s delighted grin, her eyebrows popped upward. “Really? When did this happen?”

“Recently.”

“Settle down.” Mother chided Comfort in her gentle way. People were beginning to stare at her exuberant cheering. “Your father and I will still need to discuss this.” Then she smiled at me. “But I’m sure we can bend the sixteen rule a little for someone like Curtis.”

I smiled, hope swelling in my chest. We sat waiting for a long time. What could they possibly be talking about that would take that long? Several songs played and I sat with Mother and Comfort, watching as couples drifted by, spinning and waltzing.

It was maddening to just sit and wait. Was Curtis declaring his love for me? Was Father strangling him? What was happening?

I was just about to get up to go find them when I saw Curtis and Father returning. Curtis seemed a little overwhelmed, but managed to smile encouragingly at me and gave a tiny thumbs up. Father beckoned, and I followed him. Father led me around the corner and then turned to face me, arms folded.

I gulped, unsure what to say.

Father broke the silence for me. “Curtis says he is interested in you,” he said.

I nodded.

Father sighed. “Normally, this would be the point in the conversation when I would ask if you like this boy, but I already know the answer.”

“I really do like him,” I assured Father.

He sighed. “I still say you are very young.”

I waited.

“Curtis is a fine young man, and he assured me his intentions are honorable. I guess it is alright, but with some rules.” Father narrowed his eyes. I wasn’t quite sure if he was teasing me by pretending to be overly firm or was genuinely serious.

“I already laid them out to Curtis, along with a few warnings. But to sum up for you—you will have a curfew. You will tell your mother or myself where you are planning to be at all times. You are not to be in any bedroom alone with that boy ever. Ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. If he even once treats you with anything less than the utmost respect, you tell me and I will break his scrawny little neck like a twig. I don’t care if he is a prince. Nobody tampers with my girl’s affections. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Daddy,” I said, using my early childhood name for him. This seemed to soften him a little. He hugged me.

“Don’t grow up too fast, okay?” Father said quietly. “You are still my little girl.”

Then he straightened and said, “I won’t tell you to have fun. That is what your older sister is for.”

“Thanks, Daddy.” I said, hugging him quickly.

I found Curtis shortly after Father had returned to the ball. “How did it go?” I asked.

“Your father is absolutely terrifying,” Curtis answered calmly as he casually looped an arm around my waist. “He listed off several different ways that he would utterly destroy me if I step out of line with you. If it was Hubert in my place, he probably would have your father arrested for threatening a member of the royal family, but that wouldn’t exactly put me into your father’s good graces. So instead, I was very polite and agreed to all of his terms and conditions.”

I laughed. “I thought I would be the one getting lectured and threatened from your parents. Be told to keep my grubby hands off their son and stay away from the kingdom.”

“You can put your grubby hands on me any time!” Curtis grinned, then hastily amended, “Just not around your Father. He might use my face to shovel all the horse manure out of the stables.”