"Let's try this again, shall we?" Pastor Gourdwells grumbled. "With this hand, I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine. With this candle, I will light your way in darkness. With this ring, I ask you to be mine. Shall we see if we can get it right this time, Master Van Dort!"
Victor gulped. "Uh, with this candle…" He attempted to light the wick, but each time the fire refused to catch on. He continually pushed the wick into the flame, but each time it came out the same way.
"Shall I do it for him?" his mother hissed irritably.
Mr. Swanton was continually tapping his foot in an edgy manner.
Poor Victor realized that Emily was giggling behind her hand. Then he noticed that the candle had finally caught on fire, and he attempted to begin again.
"Um, with this hand, I will…"
With trademark clumsiness, he didn't so much bang as slam into the table.
"Three steps, boy!" The Pastor roared. "Can't you count?"
"I-er, sorry." Victor stammered.
"Did you even remember to bring the ring?"
Victor's eyes went panicky. "I-er, of course I remembered to bring the ring! H-here it is."
He fished around in his pockets for a few seconds, and then finally pulled out a small gold ring.
The young man's grip was so tight on the ring, however, that it flew out of his hand. While everyone groaned again, Victor dashed after the metal band.
Quite unexpectedly, another hand caught the ring.
"A Lord Barkis Bittern, to see you, sir." The butler announced stiffly.
The new arrival, almost certainly Lord Barkis, entered the room with a careless look on his face. "I've never been very good at remembering dates." he commented, idly tossing the ring in the direction of a red-faced Victor. "It seems I'm a day early for the wedding."
Victor attempted to catch it in the same way Lord Barkis had, but instead fumbled, and had to crawl under a table to find the band.
While Mr. Swanton assured him that it was perfectly all right, Victor surfaced from underneath the table, only to see his fiancée gazing at Lord Barkis in such a soppy way it was positively criminal.
Feeling worse than ever, the young man dragged his feet over to the altar, where Emily did not seem to notice he was there, in favor of looking at the other man.
The Pastor banged his staff quite loudly on the floor, causing the adults and Lord Barkis to sniff, and the engaged couple to jump.
"I was under the impression I was conducting a wedding rehearsal." he barked. "If that is still our aim, might we be allowed to continue with the proceedings?" This last was said with a very nasty look towards Lord Barkis.
Emily flushed. "I'm very sorry, Pastor Gourdwells." she murmured demurely.
"Don't be sorry, be quiet!" he growled, but looked slightly mollified. Turning back to Victor, he added, "Kindly try it one more time, Master Van Dort. With this hand. Three steps. Again?"
He swallowed. One, two, three steps. "With this hand, I will-"
"Your right!"
For a moment he was confused. "Right? Right? Oh!" Victor tossed the candle to his other hand quickly. He could have sworn he heard Emily give a resigned sigh.
"Watch that hand, boy!"
To his horror, Victor realized he was holding the candle to the fabric of the tablecloth. As soon as he jerked it away, three things happened in unison.
Emily, in a moment of considerable foresight, dashed away from the table.
The candle's wick went out.
The table burst into flames.
Victor's parents were shouting directions at him, Emily's father was roaring, "Just put it out, boy!", and the Pastor was howling all sorts of things.
Certain that there was no way to remedy the situation, Victor barreled his way into the door, desperately searching for the knob. When he found it, he sped out of the house as fast as he could.
Once everyone had stopped panicking, the fire was put out hastily, and no real damage was done.
"Well, he's certainly a catch." Lord Barkis commented sarcastically. Emily blushed.
--------------------
Victor sighed, glancing at the doll on his desk. In fleeing, he had gone to the most secure place he could think of.
Well, his house would be the obvious place if anyone decided to look for him, but he wouldn't mind it if someone looked for him. At least it would prove that someone cared enough to look.
"Oh, Victoria." He murmured, raising a finger to gently touch the side of her face. "At least you'll never think I'm an idiot."
Victor sighed again. He couldn't help wishing that she could think. "Oh, it's hopeless. If only you were real, then I wouldn't be engaged to Emily."
He turned away, and therefore didn't see the slight twitching of Victoria's right arm. "I mean, she seems nice. She's nice…but- Emily wouldn't be happy with someone like me."
Meanwhile, Victoria's limbs had begun to move of their own accord. Her arms slowly bent upwards, her tiny white fingers clasped together, still keeping the blue flower between them. Her face remained at the same angle, but she was blinking now.
Slowly, ever so slowly, as if to the rhythm of Victor's continued talking, she began to grow. Once she was a foot high, she leaped off the desk, landing quietly on the floor behind him.
"- She seemed to like that Lord Barkis, anyway." Victor continued, still not noticing what was happening behind him. "If only my parents weren't so set on me marrying Emily…"
A white hand landed on Victor's shoulder. "What if there was someone else with equal status, who liked you for who you are?"
"Yes, that would be- Aaah!" Victor jumped and spun around.
There was Victoria, standing in front of him in the flesh, with her familiar smile, which changed to concern when she noticed his shock.
"Are you all right, Victor?" she asked, raising her hand to feel his forehead. "I didn't startle you, did I?"
Victor's jaw was bobbing up and down uselessly, his eyes so wide it seemed impossible. He couldn't seem to get out any coherent statements. Finally, he managed a- "Y-you…..Victoria?"
She beamed. "Yes, you remember. I've been your doll for over ten years." Victoria frowned again. "Oh, dear, I did frighten you. I'm sorry, Victor."
"T-that's perfectly all right." Victor babbled. "Well, I did wish you were alive, and- here you are…."
"Yes." Victoria said softly. "I'm here now, Victor. I've always been here, but I could never speak to you before."
Victor's hand went to his head, as if he suddenly had a headache. "Always? But that means…oh dear, I'm so sorry I broke off your arm when I was twelve! I fixed it, but it was never quite the same…"
She laughed quietly. "Oh, that! I didn't feel anything at the time, don't worry. Besides, it's fine now."
"It- it's really all right?" Victor said hesitantly.
Victoria smiled again. "Yes, it's really all right. I could only hear and see faded images when I was a doll."
"Look…" he said nervously. "You must think me terribly rude, but- if you were a doll all those years…how did you come to be well…alive?"
She sighed. "Well, it's a bit of a long story. You see, Victor… I wasn't always a doll. About, well…I suppose it's around fourteen years ago now. My parents were aristocratic, but they were losing money so quickly that they were becoming desperate. They-" Victoria swallowed hard. "They engaged me to a middle-aged rich lord who seemed to get money out of nowhere. As it turned out, his source of income was through marrying rich women and disposing of them in various ways. One of his paintings told me about it. She had been an heiress once, until she married him."
"My parents wouldn't have believed me." Victor said glumly.
"Well, neither did mine." Victoria said wryly. "They told me I was raving, and insisted on going through with the marriage. At least, until he asked about my dowry, after the ceremony. When Mother told him I didn't have any… well, at first he said that it was perfectly fine. He lost his head once they were gone, and turned me into a doll."
She looked at the floor. "I don't really remember much after that, to be honest. I think he must have sold me off to a shop, because the next thing I remember was your parents buying me."
Victor frowned. "But- I named you Victoria." he said slowly. "If you were alive before that- then what's your real name?"
She smiled. "Victoria. I never had any name but that. You just happened to give me the same name I had all the time."
"Oh….really? And you've been my doll all this time?"
It was suddenly all too much.
Victor fainted.