CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
At any other time Andy would have been quite pleased to be dancing about with a pretty, giddily drunk, lady from a wealthy family. However right now, Elizabeth was being quite a pain. A band of fiddlers had started a fast jig, and Andy was lost in a crowd of rowdy dancers. He had lost sight of Ben and Felicity over at the bar. To make things more annoying Elizabeth kept giggling like a hyena. At the rate she was going, she was still going to be sick day after tomorrow, at her wedding.
Felicity slowly turned around.
"Hi Lissie, it's me," Ben said softly looking into those vivid green eyes.
He certainly looked like Ben Davidson. He seemed a little taller, he had filled out some, his hair seemed a little longer, and he was a little thinner in the face, but he still had those big brown eyes.
Heavens, Felicity thought. I must be really intoxicated if I am seeing Ben Davidson here at the tavern.
Felicity said nothing. She thought that the more she stared at him, the sooner he would disappear, or turn into somebody else. Nothing happened. Felicity just stared at him, clutching her mug of cider as if it were a mug of gold.
"Lissie, aren't you going to greet your fellow soldier home from the war?" Ben asked.
"Ben?" Felicity groaned. "I." She couldn't say anything else. By now her heart was racing, and her stomach was doing somersaults. She shouldn't have had so much to drink.
Ben pulled her close.
"I'm back Felicity. Back for good. I just made it home today, and I am so happy to see you. I will never leave again," he said. To his relief, Felicity returned the hug. He wrapped his arms around her tiny waist, and buried his nose deep into the red locks, that had fallen down in long tresses down her back and into her face, from where they had been primly pinned up earlier.
Felicity broke out into tears, partly from shock, happiness, and being drunk.
"I thought you were dead," she moaned. "You didn't write for so long."
"I know Lissie," Ben answered. "I'm sorry I couldn't write, but we were so far out I couldn't send or receive mail, then I was in the hospital."
Felicity's eyes fell to the cane at Ben's side. She was at a loss for words, her mouth formed an O.
"Does it hurt?" She asked.
"Not since I've had all that rum," Ben replied.
"I want you to know, I don't get like this often," Felicity stammered, her face went completely drunk. "I don't want you thinking Elizabeth and I are drunks. It's just a one time thing, before Elizabeth's wedding."
"Lissie I don't care that you're drunk," said Ben. "I think it's cute. I am just glad you are still here."
"Don't tell Father," Felicity pleaded. "I'm sorry. You have been gone three years, been back with me for five minutes, and here I am asking you to keep another secret, but he'd be terribly disgusted with me if he knew I was here."
"Felicity Merriman quit jabbering so!" Ben laughed. "You should know by now your secret is safe with me." He hugged her again and Felicity began weeping heavily.
Brady had come over to the bar. He gave Ben a smile and a nod.
"Lissie I want you to meet my dear friend Brady Barlow. I owe him my life," Ben said and motioned Brady over. Felicity wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I'm sorry," she apologized feeling foolish. Here she was meeting a good friend of Ben, all red faced, unkempt, and drunk. "I am not usually like this, I'm not a drunk."
Brady chuckled as he took Felicity's hand and kissed it.
"Trust me lass, we are all in the same boat. Why your boy here is as drunk as a skunk, and I've had enough ale to fill a small brewery."
They erupted into laughter. Andy finally had made his way over to the bar. Elizabeth had started to feel queasy, and he had set her down at a table. Elizabeth was slumped over the back of her chair like a dead deer carcass.
"Felicity you better tend to your lush of a friend," he ordered. He handed Felicity a tin cup of water. "Give her this."
"Andy, I want you to meet Ben Davidson, my father's apprentice and dear friend of mine," said Felicity. "Ben this is my friend Doctor Andy Matthews."
"I've met the doctor," Ben said. "He fixed my leg up earlier today."
Felicity took the cup and went to aid her friend. The thought finally occurred to her, that Elizabeth better not be so sick that she couldn't go to supper with her family and in-laws tomorrow night.
"So Mr. Davidson," Andy said as he took a swig of ale. "What did you exactly do to be a dear friend of Miss Felicity, and not just a friend?"
"I've known Felicity since she was nine years old," Ben replied. "I stay with her family, and I worked next to her in her father's store for two years."
" Well doesn't that just sound like a fairy book romance," Andy sneered, his jolly mood suddenly turning to dark. "Sorry soldier, but you went away, and your girl has moved on."
"Moved on?" Brady asked. "Why she's Ben's lass."
"With all due respect sir," Ben said. "I spoke with her father today. She isn't really courting anyone, I don't believe she has moved on."
"You foolish lad," Andy chirped. He finished off his ale and patted Ben's shoulder. "I would have thought that after being in the army, you wouldn't be so naïve. Oh well, it is to be expected. You probably think that since you survived the battlefield, that you are invincible, with women falling at your feet."
"I don't reckon any women falling at my feet as of yet," Brady observed. Andy just rolled his eyes.
"Who courts her, and whom she has feelings for are two different things," he retorted and then went to help Felicity with Elizabeth.
Ben was glaring at Andy, with intense hatred. If a look could kill, Andy would have been a dead man.
"Don't let that bastard bother ye," Brady muttered. "He's just a drunk and cantankerous fellow."
"I am not letting Lissie leave with that scoundrel, I don't care if I got a bad leg, I'm going to fight that no good picaroon!"
"You don't need to go about picking fights your first night back, You don't want Mr. Merriman taking your apprenticeship back," Brady said. "Have this," he slid a mug of cider over to Ben.
"I don't want it," Ben yelled in a harsh tone. He gimped on over to where Felicity and Andy were congregated around Elizabeth. Elizabeth had just batted the cup of water out of Felicity's hand, and sent it flying.
"I'm dizzy, I'm dizzy," she moaned. "I want to go home."
"I'll take you home," Felicity said, helping her friend to her feet.
"I'll escort you girls home," Ben volunteered. "You shouldn't be out about by yourselves."
"Like a cripple can do any good if somebody gives them trouble," Andy barked. "I can take them home."
"Oh Andy, you forgot that Ben has fought in the war for independence. He could ward off a whole fleet of Brits if he needed to. We are plenty safe in his company, plus we have a lot of catching up to do. You live right upstairs anyway, there is no point in you going out again," Felicity replied. She grabbed onto Ben's arm, and nodded to Andy. "Thanks for the drink. I'll see you around sometime."
"Felicity," Andy started but Ben interrupted.
"Trust me Doctor Matthews, the girls are safe with me. Unlike some around here, I am not afraid of anything, not even the war."
And with that the trio went out into the misty, muggy night.
Elizabeth had quieted down a good deal as they made their way home. Her fair skin had a small tinge of green in it, and Felicity hoped they got her home in time, before she got really sick. Felicity was beginning to feel a little sick herself. Fortunately, since the wedding pressure wasn't on her, she had eaten way more than Elizabeth had at the party, and the food had mopped up some of her alcohol.
"You shouldn't have said that bit to Andy, picking on him for not joining the army. My father didn't join the army, and I think he is very brave," said Felicity.
"And he was right to call me a cripple after I risked my life for his independence," Ben replied hotly.
They fell silent. Every so often Felicity would peek at Ben's leg out of the corner of his eye. He was limping an impressive stride, but he was drunk too.
They had reached the Cole mansion. Felicity wasn't ready to retire yet, she wanted a few moments to talk with Ben alone.
"Can you make it to your bedchamber all right?" She asked.
Elizabeth gave a sleepy, drunken, nod.
"Right to sleep," she yawned.
"Okay, I'll be up shortly."
Felicity and Ben stood outside the gates staring at each other. Finally, Felicity threw herself into Ben's arms, and wrapped her arms around her neck. Ben held her away at arms length.
"Who is he?" He asked.
"Who is what?" She asked.
"Don't act stupid with me Liss," Ben demanded. "How do you know Doctor Matthews?"
"He's the town doctor," Felicity replied.
"Funny," Benn quipped. "I never saw you parading around on the arm of Doctor Williams just because he happened to be the town doctor."
"Benjamin please," Felicity cried. "You went away. You made me kiss you, made me feel for you, and then you left." Tears were beginning to form, and fall down her cheeks. "I wrote to you devotedly, only to have you hardly write, and then never write at all! How dare you judge me after I held a torch for so long? Everyone said I was foolish!" She began sobbing heavily and he took her into his arms. He couldn't stand seeing her cry, he handed her his handkerchief.
"Felicity I have seen enough hurt and pain between the war, and the field hospital. I am not about to see more. I understand that I left for a long time. You went along time with no word from me, not knowing if I was dead or alive. You are a strikingly beautiful girl Felicity Merriman, and I understand that you probably had many suitors. If you have feelings for this Doctor Matthews I want to know. I don't want to get involved with someone I can't have." He had a very sad expression on his face. He had tried to prepare himself for the fact that Felicity could be taken, but seeing her again that night, full of life, laughing, and playing the guitar, her beautiful red mane, falling down around her face, nothing could have prepared him for losing such a beautiful and vibrant woman.
Felicity was looking down into the fog that was pooling around them, sniffling back her tears.
"Andy- I mean Doctor Matthews and I secretly courted briefly," she admitted. "But he refused to ask Father's permission, he could never officially court me. He never told me why, and then he told me that Matthews isn't really his last name. It was a very short lived and foolish thing. Until tonight, I hadn't seen him for three months. Elizabeth and I ran into him on the street, and we were all heading to the tavern. He is a fun man, but I have no feelings for him. He's not half the man that you are."
"That is all I need to know," Ben said. He gently lifted her face up to his and bent down and kissed her softly. Felicity returned the kiss with a fiery passion, as red as her own hair. Ben pulled her close to him, and wrapped her in his arms.
"Hey you two," a man who was driving by a cart yelled to them. "I don't reckon your parents would be too happy about the spectacle you are, kissing out in the street. I don't know what this world is coming to!"
Felicity and Ben were both blushing.
"I can't seem to stay out of trouble," she whispered.
Ben gazed at the Cole mansion.
"Do you think you would be missed if you didn't spend the night at the Cole's?" He asked.
"No," Felicity replied innocently. "I don't think Elizabeth will be up and about much tomorrow. You must be tired Ben, you made that long trip."
"Let's bundle," Ben said wildly.
Felicity hadn't made it to bundling yet. Elizabeth had bundled with Joseph twice, but under the supervision of a chaperone. Bundling was supposed to be for the engaged, and supervised, but the idea of lying next to Ben, them privately together at last, greatly appealed to her. Felicity nodded.
"I sleep in your old loft over the stables, no one will ever know!"
"Aye," Ben said. "Tis quite convenient for us that you moved into the stables. I have been upgraded to your guest chamber."
They began to walk towards the Merriman house. Felicity was queasy with liquor and excitement that she got to spend a whole night bundling with Ben, and Ben was alive. Just that was a shock in itself.
"Really?" Felicity replied.
"I can't do stairs very well with my leg, and your mother wouldn't hear of anything else," Ben laughed. "But trust me, I would climb a million stairs if they led to you."
They walked back to the Merriman house as fast as two drunks, one with a bum leg, could walk. As soon as they got up to Felicity's loft, Felicity collapsed onto the bed.
Five minutes later Felicity Merriman believed with every inch of her heart that Benjamin Davidson truly loved her when he gently held her hand and held her hair back as she hurled into her chamber pot.