Slightly shorter chapter this time. I'm afraid the Ball will not be the Ball in Bath, but a ball I have invented :)
Thanks to Tom Cat Hengrave and Catalina Cruz for your support these last few chapters and thanks especially to LiningsofSilver for your advice when my plot went off track and thank you to everyone who has been reading too :)
I hope you all enjoy this…
Money for a dress
"What ball?" I was surprised, but fought to keep my facial muscles neutral.
"The one we're having to welcome my Uncle Richard," he replied. "You remember?"
I did.
"Yes," I said. "But I'm not sure I want to go."
"Why not?" he looked confused, definitely hurt and he kept glancing at Syd and the customer like my response was an embarrassment to him.
"The last time we went to a ball Frank, you ignored me the whole time," I pointed out, crossing my arms over her chest.
I was getting very annoyed. He was asking me a question and yet he only looked at me every other second. Another customer walked in, just making the situation worse. So what if he was an Earl asking a butcher's deliverer to a ball. That's what he'd come to do wasn't it?
So he should stick with it. Right? I felt something hopeful in my heart though. I felt that in Tahoe features there was some deep love for me.
And he had come back, just like Mrs Burnsey had said.
"I know and I'm sorry," he said, looking me straight in the eye at last. "That won't happen this time. I want to take you to the ball and introduce you to everyone."
Really? That was it. That would prove everything wouldn't it?
"I don't know," I said. "It's a lot to think about. I mean you know what you said Frank."
"It was a mistake," he said, eyes pointed down at the corners in earnest. "And I hope that you are willing to give me another chance."
I looked at Syd. He was watching me carefully form the counter. There was a choice to be made here and I couldn't ask Frank to wait all day. Well, I could, but it wouldn't be right. He was inviting me to a ball, as his partner and plus-one.
Love is always a strange thing reader. I considered the future: it is always true that if you look back on a moment with regret then you made the wrong decision. Faced with an action and being passive, you will only ever regret what you didn't do. If I went to this ball, I would not regret it. It might shatter my heart, it might anger me to my core, but I didn't know any of that yet. I couldn't spend the rest of my life wondering what might have been between me and Frank.
And, after all, he had come back.
"Alright," I said. "I will go to the ball with you."
"Steady on Cat," said Syd. "Don't rush into things."
The customer waiting for his lamb leg looked unamused and the other was still waiting patiently in line although they seemed more interested in the conversation. I had a feeling that this little rendez-vous would reach every ear in Bow Street by the end of the day.
"It was only last night that he broke your heart."
"Syd please," said Frank. "I made a mistake. I was rude to you the other day Syd and I apologise. I have been anything, but a good friend to you," then he turned to face me. "And least of all to you, Cat. It pains me more than I can say that I rejected you like I did. A single day without you and I believe I am coming to my senses. I love you Cat and I promise I will make it up to you."
He fixed me with almost doe-like eyes. I don't know what it was, but there was something different about him. It wasn't just the clothes. There was something in his soul that had changed. This was it, this was what I'd been dreaming of.
And everyone deserves a second chance, don't they?
"I believe you Frank," I said, my chest suddenly becoming a lot lighter, like the weight of a broken heart had been lifted.
"Will you come home with me now?" he asked.
"I don't know," I said. "Has my absence been noticed?"
Frank shrugged up his shoulders and chewed his lip.
"It may have been clocked," he said. "My mother may want to talk to you when you get home. I warn you, there will be a lot of questions."
"Now hang on a second," said Syd actually coming out from behind the counter now. "I don't trust you an inch Avon. If you break her heart again, I don't want her running around on her own in the London streets. Ain't no place for anyone at night."
"Syd," I said. "It's alright. I trust Frank, but if it's okay, I would like to stay here for another night. Just to gather all my things and perhaps put off the Duchess' questions. I don't feel strong enough to face interrogation just now."
"Nobody does," said Frank, then checked his pocket watch. "I am expected for dinner so I must return home, but I will be here tomorrow at five to pick you up. In the meantime, I brought you some money, to buy a dress."
Then his eyes went wide and panicked as though he'd stepped on a banana skin.
"I mean…" he stammered. "Not that you have to get yourself a new dress and if you want to come to the ball like that," he gestured to my plain grey dress. "Then I'm fine with that. I am not trying to prune you or change you, Cat. I love you as you are."
I couldn't help cracking a genuine smile.
"I'll get a dress," I said. "I have some pride of my own you know."
Also, Catalina Cruz has created a Cat Royal Wiki page that anyone is free to help edit so go and google it. It's fairly comprehensive of the topics it has so far :)