My stomach ached with fullness, though it had long abandoned trying to dissuade my appetite. The strangest sensation filled my throat—a thickness I could not swallow. But I’d somehow managed to indulge in one last cheesecake, which meant Charlie would too. I motioned for his attention over Liza, who sat between us on our blanket cushioned by soft grass.
“Your turn,” I said.
Charlie groaned, but he reached into the box for his next bite. He wore a golden ring with a ruby crested in little diamonds. A family heirloom, I imagined. “Fine ladies are supposed to eat polite portions in front of gentlemen.” He took in a long breath before raising the cheesecake to his lips.
I looked toward the wide-open blue sky, where fluffy pillows of white beckoned, and leaned back to stretch out my throbbing stomach. I could smell the sun-heated pond a few paces away and the wind as it blew through the grove and the grass.
The finish line for indulging sweets had come and gone, and I was miserable. “If a woman cannot eat in front of you, she is not worth having. For if she hides her appetite, what else will she keep from you?”
He harrumphed as he took a bite, choking the sweet cheesecake down like a child would an unwelcome vegetable. “What is our total?”
“Each? Seven cheesecakes. Five queen cakes. Two penny buns. And two slices of buttered bread.”
“And three marzipan,” Liza added, flipping a page in her book. She’d had two cheesecakes and fruit from the picnic. Wise. But she could have indulged alittlefor my sake.
Charlie groaned. “How, pray tell, are we getting home after this?” The carriage had left long ago, still stacked high with boxes full of sweets, despite what we’d taken out for ourselves.
Liza laughed. “Neither of you can walk. You shall both be bedridden for another day at least.”
“What choice do we have?” Charlie asked, leaning up on an elbow to swallow down the last of his cheesecake. The motion stirred something within him, and he moaned and laid back down.
Liza sat gracefully on her cushion with her hands in her lap. “Lie back. I think she’s finally finished eating.” She cast me a conspiratorial smile, which I would have returned if I had any strength left in me.
Silently, we watched a pair of ducks land in the pond for a bath. I shifted from side to side, trying to find a comfortable spot, but the pain in my stomach only grew more severe.
Then my throat had that too-full feeling again—like it was getting harder to swallow. Saliva pooled in the back of my throat, and I had no choice but to swallow. Only then did I realize that my body had planned the motion.
My stomach heaved, and I stood and ran toward the pond, away from Liza and Charlie, landing behind a wisp of tall grass near the water’s edge. Remnants of every once-delicious thing left me in foul waves of upset.
“What is wrong?” Charlie called from behind me. I hardly had time to be embarrassed, let alone to warn him, before he was upon me, asking, “Are you—”
Thenhegagged, and the next moment my cruel fate became his somewhere behind me.
“Oh!” Liza called. “Oh, my goodness.” Then she was above me with a handkerchief and patting my back.
I dispelled and dispelled until the pain in my stomach eased. It seemed that whenever I took a breath, Charlie heaved, and all the while Liza fussed between us with handkerchiefs and lemonade to wash out our mouths.
“I’ve made you a bed. Come lie down,” she told Charlie.
I eased back from my crouching position, wiping the sweat from my brow with Liza’s handkerchief. I felt as though I’d run five miles for how weak and shaky my legs and arms were.
“Drat that list of yours, Ros,” Liza whined. Color had drained from her own face. “How will we ever get you two homenow?”
She tugged on my arm and helped me to my feet. The ground swayed like the sea, and I leaned into Liza’s side. We returned to the picnic blanket where she helped me sit down. She’d placed a cushion for my head. “Lie down,” she instructed.
Charlie lay on the opposite side of the blanket, just over an arm’s reach away. “You have poisoned me,” he managed weakly, his face pale.
I rolled on my back. “I am never eating cheesecake again for as long as I live.”
“Donotsay that word.”
Liza paced above us. “I could walk home and order them to bring back the carriage, but I cannot leave the two of you out here alone.”
Charlie moaned. “I only need a few minutes. Then I can walk.”
“Walk?” Her eyes grew as wide as saucers. “Your entire stomach just came out of you.”
My muscles had turned to jelly. With what little strength I possessed, I leaned on my side toward Charlie. “Just let her go. The walk back is long, and I want to rest in my bed.”
