And with that, he walked off view finally, leaving her to grapple with this new concept that he had introduced to her. Now where was she meant to get a costume?
Later in the night, she found herself marching over to the parlor. She paused in the doorway, her lips parting in astonishment. The space had been transformed. Chairs and tables were pushed back against the walls to clear a large open area on the rug. And in the center of it stood Oliver, Theodore, Eleanor, and little Clara, each one dressed in an outfit more outrageous than the last.
Oliver was facing away from her at first, adjusting something about his person. He wore a white linen cravat wrapped around his head like a comically oversized headband, its ends flopping over one ear. His broad shoulders were draped in what lookedsuspiciously like a pair of trousers, threaded over his arms in place of a jacket. And on his feet...Were those pumpkins?
Alethea clapped a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle.
Yes,pumpkins. Two small round pumpkins had been hollowed and strapped onto Oliver's boots, covering them entirely.
"Heavens," she whispered to herself.
She knew that life at the estate was different. But never could she have anticipated something like this.
Theodore looked equally ridiculous, if not more. He had dressed as a lady, complete with a wig and what appeared to be rogue on his face.
At the sight of Alethea in the doorway, Theodore smirked.
"Oh my! If it isn't our dear new duchess. Come in, come in."
Across from him stood Eleanor. She seemed to have had the same idea as her brother, and had dressed as a gentleman. She had drawn a mustache on her face with some sort of charcoal and even slicked her hair back.
Oh, and then Clara did not stray behind either. She appeared to be covered in fur, and was crawling on the ground to pretend to be a dog.
For a moment, Alethea could only watch on in astonished silence.
"How good of you to finally join our humble gathering, dear wife," Oliver addressed her, bringing her out of her rather confused state of mind.
Alethea found herself smiling, albeit nervously.
"You said that attendance was mandatory," she nodded. "I would not have wished to get myself into trouble by not attending."
"Oh, you took my words too seriously," Oliver chuckled. "You would not have gotten into trouble, though you might have missed out on an evening of fun."
"Well, what matters is that I am here now," Alethea nodded.
"But you did not adhere to the rules," Eleanor giggled, pointing at the Duchess' outfit.
She had chosen what she hoped would pass for a silly costume: a simple gilt cardboard crown perched atop her dark brown hair. But she wore her everyday ivory muslin gown, for she hadn't known how tomakea costume out of her clothing. Surely a little crown would suffice?
"Is that all you've got?" Clara gasped.
Theodore clucked his tongue in false disapproval.
"Such a lack of commitment to our theme, dear sister," he sighed theatrically, shaking his head.
Alethea flushed, suddenly self-conscious.
"I did not realize one was expected to go to such lengths," she protested softly. She glanced down, twisting her fingers together.
Perhaps she should have tried harder to assemble something amusing, but in truth she'd never participated in anything like this. During her years in the nunnery, fun had been in short supply. Games and costumes belonged to some other life, certainly not hers.
"Utterly unacceptable," Oliver said, solemnly.
Alethea's heart lurched at his stern tone, but she saw the unmistakable sparkle in his eyes and realized he was only playing a part.
This was a performance, not true anger. In fact, the corners of his mouth twitched as though he fought back a laugh. Relief flooded her instantly.
He is different,she reminded herself again.
