Chapter 35
The ball was happening;Iris could hear the wonderful music pouring through the hallways as she stood to one side in her maid’s uniform. Again, she had to blend into the background, again she didn’t want anyone to look at her, again she had the sense that something huge was about tohappen.
There was so much about this night that reminded her of her own ball... the only thing that had changed was her. Iris was strong now, Iris was powerful, ironically, Iris knew herself better than she ever did when she was aWarwick.
She still had not made up her mind about where her future lay, but she had an inner confidence that she would make the right choice in the end. She could feel it, brimming withinher.
“Amy looks very happy in there,” Ewan commented as he found her hiding away in plain view. “She is talking to the very eligible and respectable Lord Taylor in there, and I think I see something shining in hereyes.”
Iris nodded happily. She knew all the names on the guest list because she had gone through it extensively with her. Unfortunately, due to her years spent indoors, Iris did not know many of them but it was not too hard to find out the reputations ofpeople.
Lord Taylor was known as an extremely handsome, very pleasant young man. The sort that Iris wanted Amy to choose... not that she would ever give her any advice on the subject. Whoever Amy chose was totally up toher.
“Do you approve?” Iris asked cautiously. “Do you think that he is a goodmatch?”
“It does not matter what I think?” Ewan shrugged his shoulders and grinned. “The choice is not mine, after all.” He paused for just a beat. “But yes, I doapprove.”
“Good.”
Iris angled her head up towards Ewan and she delved deeply into his piercing green eyes. They bore into her soul once more, unravelling her entirely, only this time he knew everything. There were no secrets anymore. He saw the truth to her and she liked thatsensation.
“I still cannot believe that you have never attended a ball like this of your own,” Ewan told her smilingly. “The way that you dance deserves to be seen by theworld.”
“Oh, I do not think the world wishes to see me dance,” Iris teased in a more playful manner than she had spoken in a while. “After all, I do not know how to do the stepscorrectly.”
"I think we both know that is not true," Ewan acknowledged the fact that Iris was, in fact, a Lady who had surely been taught at some point in her life. "But dancing freely is the way that I like,remember?”
Ewan held out his hands to Iris, sending her delving backwards into the past for a moment. The flip flops, the sparkles, the electricity... it all came rushing back to her. She recalled exactly how she felt that night when she was terrified of being discovered, and this man gave her a wonderfuldistraction.
He changed her in that night, she just did not realise howmuch.
“Come on.” Ewan cocked his head to one side and he gave Iris a playful smile. “For old time’s sake?” I know that no decision has been made, but we can share another moment, can wenot?”
In her maid’s uniform, the moment was as deliciously taboo as it was the first time they danced together. It brought all those old feelings rushing to the surface, and Iris found them utterlyirresistible.
There wasn’t any harm in one more dance... wasthere?
Iris took Ewan’s hand and he spun her rapidly making her giggle loudly. Then he curved his hands around her waist and he pulled her close. As they moved in time to the music, that this time they could hear, Iris found her lips twisting up into a big, brightsmile.
This... in Ewan’s arms, this was what made her trulyhappy.
They slowly moved, and with each step Iris found herself moulding into Ewan more and more. As they swayed she wondered why she was making this man wait, why she wasn’t one hundred percent certain about him. How could she not want to be with this man? How could she not want to follow him everywhere? What did it matter if they lived across the other side of the world if they had each other? Everyone else had their happiness, why shouldn’tshe?
The more she thought along those lines, the freer her steps became, the faster her heart raced. She wanted this, she needed it, she desired to have this feeling forever... and with Ewan, she could haveit.
As she looked into his eyes, she swam in the green, loving the sensation. How could she ever find this again? She only had one life to live, her mother had taught her that, and she had already wasted so much of it. She did not want to waste anotherday.
“Yes,” she whispered quietly, her heart flooding with happiness as the word fell from hermouth.
"Yes?" Ewan was not sure what Iris meant by that. Of course, he knew what he wanted her to say, but he didn’t want to get his hopes too high. He needed to be cautious so as not to put the pressure on. “What do youmean?”
“I mean yes.” Iris stepped back from Ewan and she flung her arms to the side willingly. “Yes, we should do this, we should get on your ship and go to America. We should be free to be together, to be inlove.”
“You... you meanit?”
Iris grabbed onto Ewan’s hands and she gave him an intense wonderful stare. Her heart flapped loudly and her stomach churned excitedly. “I mean it,” shepromised.
“It will not be easy.” Ewan wasn’t sure why he was now being negative about the journey that he was so excited about. He just wanted her to understand everything. “The journey will be challenging, as will startingagain.”
