Friedrich, on the other hand, helped himself to another slice, adding butter and plum preserves.He ate and grinned at her, seemingly at peace.
“Why didn’t you go into the army?”she blurted, having thought about it since Jonathan asked her.
He froze and frowned, then took another bite, slowly chewing and swallowing.Clearing his throat, he said, “I thought we’d discussed this when Henrik joined as an officer.”
“Remind me,” she said.Her stomach turned to think of Friedrich seated at her father’s table, eating their food while Henrik was on a campaign somewhere, his life in danger.
“It’s nothing extremely significant.To be honest, I don’t have the stomach for violence.You don’t hold that against me, do you?”
Shouldn’t he want to protect his homeland?But she recalled when they were children, playing in the woods.Henrik’s games often turned to pretend soldiers, while Friedrich mostly wanted to sit in the branches of a tree and give them orders as a pretend king.And he always wanted her to be his queen.
Now she wondered what he did to earn his keep at home.Was he simply waiting to inherit his father’s estate?It was her right to ask, as his future wife, although her father probably already knew.That was, if he had signed the contract last night, sealing her fate.
“How will you keep me?”she asked.“And where shall we live?Under your parents’ roof at first, I understand, but later?”Thinking about having his children, Lise’s heart twisted.Maybe she would be allowed to return home to her mother during her confinement at the very least.
Friedrich’s face broke out into a genuine smile.“You have no idea how happy your questions make me.To know you are thinking of our life together.”He leaned forward.“It’s time to tell you everything.I have purchased a house for us in Lübeck.”
Her mouth dropped open.“But the port is so deeply under Bonaparte’s rule.”
He shrugged.“Still, it’s a good parcel, and I purchased it directly from a French administrator, so it cannot be taken away from me.”
“It was taken from someone, though, wasn’t it?”she asked.
Friedrich pursed his lips, his expression turning sour.“Here, your father’s land is considered under Danish rule, isn’t it?”he said flatly.“There, it is no different.”
“It is different,” she persisted.“The French are ruthless.”
“Oh, Lise, everyone on every side is ruthless.They are all the same, really.”He leaned back and folded his arms, while she considered living in Lübeck.It was distasteful, as her mother might say.Old families had been pushed out.Some had come north.Others had emigrated to Britain.She’d met some of them during her time in London.
“I thought you would be pleased not to be any farther from your parents than Lübeck.My other option was in Celle.More land, but I didn’t like the lack of an easy waterway.Transport on the Aller River is too reliant on the season and the rain.Whereas the port of Lübeck is always open for trade.”
She couldn’t help frowning.Her secret imaginings of living in London — something she was barely able to admit to herself — caused her less distress than moving twenty miles and half a day’s journey from her parents.
“Don’t worry,” he continued.“My new home’s former owner fled of his own volition.The house had to be managed by someone.I stepped in.”
Naturally the owner fled!He probably had a family to protect while French soldiers were rummaging through his home.
These thoughts must have been on Lise’s face, for he added, “I paid a fair price for it.The house is spacious.Very pretty.You will love it.Our children will love it.”
She nodded and tried to smile.What choice did she have?“Did your father give you a portion of your inheritance to buy it?”
Friedrich didn’t care for this question.He puffed up his chest.“A gentleman does not discuss financial matters with a woman.”
“Not even his future wife?”she pressed.
He rose to his feet.“Not even then.All you need to know is that I am affluent enough to keep you in the style of your birth and even raise you above it.”With his pride pricked and somehow feeling insulted, Friedrich left the breakfast room.In a few hours, he would be gone again.
She released a long sigh.What little appetite she’d had fled, but outside, in the hay loft, Jonathan would appreciate a large chunk of the sweet, chewyHefezopf.If only she could get it to him.
That was impossible, what with Friedrich there, her mother hovering, her father watching her with that careful, knowing look.Thus, she busied herself and counted the hours.
Lise waited all day, long after Friedrich had left.Finally, at midnight, when the house was dark and quiet, she crept down the stairs once more.
She did not bother with food this time.She only needed to see him, to know he was safe.
The ladder creaked under her weight.When she reached the loft, her hands were shaking.
“Jonathan?”She whispered his name into the darkness.
