Felicity: An American Girl ROMANCE PT3 CH33: Leaving Bel Hall

The following morning Lord Eric went out on his morning ride and was gone for quite sometime. None of the servants thought this particularly odd, because many times he was known to have visited Squire Babcock or any number of the servants whose families lived on the extent of his property. Maggie was busy over-seeing breakfast for all late risers and guests that had stayed overnight, and young Thomas, having missed the lovingly fussy headmaid of the house, wanted to be helpful in the kitchen. Among the kitchen staff, any extra help, even that of a near six-year-old, was joyfully welcomed. No one had even thought it strange that Lord Eric had not included Thomas in his ride that morning, as he had been doing since the lad's return.

Felicity, Ben, Elizabeth and Arhur were having breakfast with several of the duke's guests after sleeping in so late, but after last night's merriment, no one was surprised that there had been so many late risers. Or so many hangovers. But this gave Maggie the opportunity to serve her hangover remedy to all who were willing to ingest it: Dandelion tea with boiled egg and large strips of bacon. Arthur Pratt, being one of the worst hung, nearly turned green when his plate of eggs and bacon was sat before him. Both Ben and Felicity had to work at not guffawing or giggling at him. After all, he was in a state of nausea. But his face beheld such a look of utter queasiness that made any resistance to hilarity almost impossible.

"Eat, , it'll do ye good," encouraged Maggie, waiting and watching. At her side was young Thomas, who had taken a liking to Arthur and the blond Brit's comedic ways, watching with fascination to see if did as he was told.

"B-B-But I am already feeling better," lied he, looking green.

"Oh bother, Arthur, just eat it," commanded Elizabeth, sitting beside him. "All you have had in your stomach is drink!"

Arthur's chin trembled. "I-I-I suppose I should. Perhaps if I purge I shall feel lots better."

"Do it, man!" This came from the likeable Viscount Klosterfuch, who sat on the other side of Arthur, happily hung himself. He was a burly-built man wearing spectacles and a white wig, slightly askew , but no one really cared about things like that when headaches and nausea were running rampant among the rueful party attendants at the table. "If you can hold your liquor you can hold your bile!"

"Please do not say 'bile', my Lord," muttered Arthur queasily. He picked up his glass of dandelion tea, gave it an unfriendly look, and to those who sat near to him, said, "To all hearty drinkers and those of their kidney. May we live to regret all intoxications." Groggy murmurs of "Here here" followed his meager toast and he swallowed the dark contents of the glass in four gulps.

Those on his end of the table watched curiosly for reaction. Arthur sat down his empty glass then took a bite of egg with bacon. Those close to him watched his throat work as he swallowed forcefully. He stiffened as though he'd been nudged hard from behind, then slowly relaxed, his mouth forming a queasy smile to match his queasy face. "I am happy to report that my stomach has accepted the bite it was sent, although reluctantly."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Feeling triumphant and showing it, Maggie gave a curt, satisfactory nod and returned to the kitchen. Elizabeth patted Arthur's shoulder. "You'll be set to rights once you have Maggie's good cooking in you."

Felicity and Ben exchanged a meaningful look, meaning they were both aware of how married Elizabeth and Arthur already seemed to be, and they both found it sweet and dear. Beneath the table cloth, Ben took Felicity's closest hand and gave it a squeeze.

Lazlo entered the dining room, looking official and urgent. Without arousing too much notice from those eating, he came all the way to Felicity's end of the table, leaned close to her ear and said, "Miss Merriman, Lord Covington wishes to see you in the foyer immediately. 'Tis rather important."

Felicity at once looked compliant. "Thank you, Lazlo, I shall come at once." She dabbed her mouth with a napkin, then realized Ben was on his feet, holding the chair for her. He had heard? Well of course he had, she mused absently, rising quietly. He is Ben! Obviously he is going to go wherever I go, so I cannot be surprised, the loveable hot-head. Ben took her arm and escorted her out behind Laz. Elizabeth gave them a curious look, having sensed something going on, but remained seated where she was, thinking it too improper to leave when unasked. But she resigned herself to worry until she could find out why her friends were exiting the dining room with discreet haste.

"The duke has returned from his ride rather late, hasn't he?" Felicity inquired as they swept out into the connecting hall. "Everything is all right, isnt it?"

"You shall see, Miss Felicity," replied Lazlo, giving her a secretive smile.

Puzzled, Felicity did not know what to make of the butler's mysteriousness, and she was even more dumbfounded when she entered the foyer and saw Lord Eric standing at the bottom of the staircase, tricorn and riding crop in hand, still clad in his riding attire. His face beheld a cryptic smile as he watched her and Ben approach. She curtsied, Ben bowed briefly, but Eric said serenely, "There is no need for formalities at this welcome time. I have a surprise for you, Miss Felicity."

Felicity gulped dryly, looking uncertain. Once upon a time, she had loved receiving surprises. These days, most of the surprises she experienced were not pleasant one; even Ben's unexpected arrival had been tainted with negative fellings. Although she was feeling more forgiving of Ben now, she was still uncertain of the future. But she was facing yet another surprise at this moment, unsure of what was to happen next.

Lord Eric smiled cryptically. "I do believe you know this person..."

Only when he said that did Felicity notice there was someone standing at a framed picture of an Italian landscape, apparently having previously been looking at it. The person was indeed familiar: a turbaned head and dark skin: Lettie!

Felicity gasped, her mouth dropping open and tears filling her eyes. Even as she flew to the dark girl, crying out her name, Lettie was already staring at her with those familiar mysterious black eyes and typical blank expression. When Felicity flung her arms around her she slowly responded in kind, with arms stiff from being unaccustomed to being embraced and embracing in return. But Feelicity hugged her tightly and cried quietly upon the girl's shoulder and said, "Oh how I've worried about you! I went back to the Forsythe house and looked for you while Tristan was being arrested! Where have you been? Are you well? Oh say something, Lettie, please!"

It took her a minute to find her voice, but Lettie did indeed speak softly, in that quiet voice and equally mysterious accent, "You are still a strange white woman."

Felicity laughed through her tears, stepped back to look Lettie in the face with a radiant smile. "I defy you to find any white person stranger than I!"

"You are well?" Lettie asked curiously. "You are no longer suffering from the powders?"

Ben cringed, feeling quite guilty again.

"No, Lettie, I am fine now. But they certainly took a lot out of me. I don't want to talk about me, though. Tell me about you! What happened, you know, after that night..."

Lettie shrugged lightly. "I expected to die or to be killed by one white man or another. But Tristan, he passed out from the smoke and the shock of being burned. No one could get in to save him because fire was consuming both ends of the barn after you left. I took my chances and ran through the flames. I, too, would have rather been burnt to death than return to that house. My clothing caught on fire as I climbed over the beam that had fallen between us, but I ran out of the barn and dropped to the ground. My action put the flames out before I could be harmed. Then I just resumed running, but I did not go far. The white men were more concerned with finding you thatn they were me."

"My friends tell me there was a reward offered for the both of us," Felicity told her darkly.

"But it is we who reap a reward, do you not agree, Felicity? We have escaped, though not as we had planned."

"And we are together again!" She gripped Lettie's shoulders dearly. "Will you not come home with me, Lettie? We leave tomorrow. Please, come with me!"

"I suppose," shrugged Lettie, attempting indifference when it was obvious to Felicity that the dark girl was trying not to smile too much. "I have no where else to go."

"Oh, that's wonderful! So help me, Lettie, you are a free black and you will have a job and a place to live, and-oh! I must introduce you to my fiance, Ben Davidson! Ben, come here."

Ben stepped forward, smiling warmly, trying to convey to the suspicious-eyed Lettie the fact that he was a friend, not a foe. Apparently. the girl did not trust anyone white outside of Felicity. But Ben was grateful to her, and he wanted her to know it.

"Is this the man who abandoned you?" Lettie inquired passively to Felicity.

Again, Ben cringed with raging guilt inside. So Felicity had spoken of him in her anger and despair. She'd had every right to believe the worst of him: he had treated worse than Forsythe had that day.
Felicity swallowed hard and replied "Well, yes, he is...but he is sorry for what he had done, and I am in the process of putting all of that behind me." She looked at Ben with hopeful eyes.

"Even though I do not deserve her forgiveness, nor do I deserve her love, but I would cease to exist without them both," spoke Ben in total agreement and humbleness. He made a very proper bow before Lettie and smiled at her generously. "You saved the life of my Lissie. Therefore you have saved my life as well! I am endebted to you, always. I am at your service, Lettie."

Lettie looked at Felicity like this was one of the most bizzare things she'd ever seen. A white man bowing to her. Said Felicity with a wry grin, "And you thought I was strange? Just you wait, Lettie, you are about to meet even more strange white folks!"

The dark girl's expression was saying what her voice did not: Is this for real? Felicity turned to the duke, who'd been watching with a pleasant look on his face, and asked in amazement, "Oh how were you able to find her, my lord? I was beginning to think it was impossible!" She looked back at Lettie. "I did not want to leave England without you, but the longer you remained unlocated the more it looked like you would never be found! I had so hoped that you were not at Forsythe manor and had escaped into the countryside and was able to get far, far away!"

"I went back to Forsythe Manor this morning myself," said Lord Eric, strolling over to them. "I spoke to that elderly black butler, Pompey. Now that Reginald is dead and Tristan in custody, he felt it was finally safe to disclose Miss Lettie's whereabouts. Turns out she did not go far from the Manor after all, for Pompey was able to sneak her out food and clothing. She was waiting to hear what had become of you after the barn fire."

Felicity gave Lettie a look of such warmth and gratitiude that Ben was moved to simply beam at her.

"Now that we are away from that house of demons, it would be best that we do not look back," Lettie suggested in her familiar stony way.

Lord Eric smiled kindly at her. "Miss Lettie, you are a free woman and a guest in my house. Anything you wish I shall see it done, you need only name it."

She looked at Felicity and said, "I wish only to sleep for a while."

Maggie had entered the foyer, which had become nicely lit with the sunlight making the skylight dazzlingly white above them. Apparently Lettie had thought this unusual, as Felicity had at first, for neither one of them had ever seen a skylight before. Maggie was always proud to see guests marvel at it. She curtsied amicably before Lettie, who looked Maggie up and down, yet again taken by surprise by a white person's behavior towards her. "I can show you to a private room, Miss, if sleep is what you desire."

"It is," said Lettie curiously. She looked to Felicity again, and Felicity grinned and nodded vigorously.

"I can have breakfast sent up to you, too, if you are hungry?"

Lettie's 'This is too good to be true' expression was nearly turning comical, so Felicity hooked her arm through the dark girl's and said, "Come, Maggie, let us show my friend the true nature of the English!" To Lettie she said, "Not all of us whites are brutes. And if you give Maggie a moment, she will fuss over you as if you were one of her own!"

" 'Tis true," agreed Maggie, clasping her hands modestly atop her aproned belly. "All who enter this house are my charges. Even those hungover sots in the dining hall." She jerked her head in the direction of the hall. " 'Tis quite ridiculous, Miss! If you whisper, they think you are yelling at them, and they all moan of their heads about to split like summer melons!"

The duke lifted his chin with dead-panned pride. "I refuse to let it be said that I do not keep a well-stocked cabinet," he declared of his wines.

Then, as if on cue, a still queasy-looking Arthur Pratt ambled in with Elizabeth at his side, holding his arm more in support than in companionship. "Dear God," said he, shaking his blond head in hung-over remorse, "Never again shall I drink bourbon! It is the drink of the devil, Beth. Oh blast, is this not the brightest moon you have ever seen?"

"We are in the sky-light of the foyer, Arthur," Soothed Elizabeth sympathetically. "And it is nearly noon. Look, here are Felicity and Ben."

"Must you holler so, dearest?" whined Arthur, wincing pitifully.

Elizabeth bit her botton lip in an effert not to scold.

"Elizabeth! Arthur! Come here and meet Lettie! She is coming home with us!" Felicity bubbled happily. Ben hadn't seen her so happy since he had reunited with her. "Lettie, these are my friends Elizabeth Cole and Arthur Pratt. They are as firmly against slavery as I am." Felicity watched smilingly as Elizabeth curtsied and Arthur, despite his aching head and sensitive eyes, bowed, but then had to clutch his stomach upon straightening up too fast. Lettie nodded to them, unwilling to extend her trust of white people beyond Felicity right now. Felicity assumed the dark girl was overwhelmed by all of this already, on top of being found and brought here by a white man of rank.

" 'Tis an honor to meet you," Elizabeth said to her amicably. "We have heard so much about you! Felicity did not want to leave unless you came too, Lettie. Please accept our gratitude for saving our dearest friend."

Lettie merely nodded again.

"Come along, my dear," urged Maggie warmly. "Let us get ye settled. The ship leaves tomorrow, and you never know when you will be able to sleep on a soft, stable mattress again without getting tossed about."

"Amen, Miss Maggie," muttered Arthur with sickly dread, thoughts of being pitched and thrown upon the waves in a ship dwarfed by the mighty sea making his already churning stomach churn even more.

Lord eric grinned approvingly at Felicity as she accompanied Maggie and Lettie up the stairs.

Immediately, of course, Ben began to follow.

"Oh, you needn't come, too, Ben," Felicity assured him sweetly, turning around a little to look at him. "I shant be long."

"But-"

"Truly, Ben, I'll be back down soon. I am only going upstairs with Maggie and Lettie. I'll be fine!"

Ben looked skeptical. He did not like it when she was out of his sight, it made him extremely nervous. Just because she was in the house of the duke and safe from anyone named Forsythe, Ben did not trust fate. Lettie glanced at Felicity like her impression of Ben was that he was mad. Felicity merely smiled tolerantly.

She liked it when he had to squirm.

In a small but pleasantly decorated green and cream-colored room, Lettie sat at the foot of a very large bed looking around as the pale sunlight filtered through gauzey white curtains. Felicity herself had seen to it that the curtains were drawn back as much as possible. Lettie stared at her a moment, then said, "The young white man...you will marry him?"

Felicity sighed softly. "Yes, Lettie, I will."

"Even though he had hurt you?"

She nodded slowly. "I love him. I have loved him ever since I was a child. He knows he treated me horribly, and he continues to torture himself over it. I have forgiven him, but the memory still lingers. I don't quite know what to do about that, either. I just know that I want so badly for things to go back to the way they were...yet I am not convinced Ben will never do anything like that to me again."

"You must not marry if you are uncertain," advised Lettie wisely.

Felicity sat down beside Lettie. "I know. It is so good to have you back with me-or am I back with you? I hope I always have you to advise me. The trip home will be dangerous and lengthy, I'm afraid. But it will give me more time to know that I am making the right decisions. I feel like a completely different person than the girl who Forsythe snatched away from Williamsburg."

"Of course you are different. You cannot endure a trauma and not be changed in some way or another." Lettie's dark mysterious eyes beheld a wisdom far beyond her years. "You either break or you perservere. Which do you think?"

Felicity thought about it. "Perservere," she said at length. "I am not a weakling. I am no one's fool anymore." She rolled her eyes and made a sound of frustration. "Just listen to me, Lettie: here I am going on about my woes, and you have just been found! Will you not tell me how you have been?"

Lettie shrugged as if there was nothing to tell. "I was pefectly fine once I was away from the manor. I went a distance, then eventually crept back so that I could see what was going on and contact Pompey. He was able to sneak food to me and I even found a way into the abandoned smoke house."

"Really!"

"Yes. None of the white men knew what to make of the old smoke house once the new one was built, and there were other things to keep them occupied. They were not giving much attention to a small building with all else they had to contend with."

"God bless that Pompey."

"Yes, I agree."

A sound outside the door got their attention. "Well, that is either Ben pacing to and fro or one of the maids with your lunch, or maybe even Ben with your lunch! Either way, I will stay in here and eat with you. I've missed you terribly."

"And I must admit I missed your presence as well," Lettie confided, although expressionlessly. "You make me laugh."

Felicity cocked an eyebrow. "You laugh? Why, Lettie, am I flattered. I promise I will do my best to keep you entertained henceforth."

The mysterious dark girl smiled crookedly, a gesture which few ever saw, and was reserved for a very scant few at that. It made Felicity grin. "Let's have lunch!" she declared.

Felicity did not emerge from Lettie's room until late afternoon, when Lettie had ate, they had talked all they could, and the dark girl needed to get some decent rest. Felicity told Lord eric that despite his gracious hospitality, Lettie still felt uncomfortable around so many upper-class white folks, and opted not to come down to dine with them. Eric understood immediately, sympathetic soul that he was. Some of his late wife's family hesitated in leaving, for they were very concerned that he was taking young Thomas so far away, and by ship on top of that. Of course they were all happy that he had his son back, but Evangeline's family was not eager to lose Eric or Thomas at sea. He talked with them a while in his library, and finally convinced them that he and Thomas would indeed return.

It was nine o'clock when Ben finally got Felicity alone to himself again, and he took full advantage of it, kissing her long and hard, with a great deal of passion and longing. He undid her stays and turned down the bed linens. She simply smiled pleasantly and allowed him to kiss and caress wherever he pleased. Into her ear he murmured sweet, loving words of devotion and stroked her hair as she lay in his arms. In his protective embrace.

"We're leaving for home tomorrow, Ben," she whispered in amazement to him, there in the near dark of their room. The fireplace had a small fire still going in it. "Soon I shall see my family again. It is really going to happen."

"Aye," he agreed sleepily. "And soonafter, we will be married. At last."

Felicity smiled just as sleepily. "Is that all you can think about, Captain Davidson?"

"Well...no. I have been thinking about last night in the maze..."

"Me too." Her drowzy reply took Ben by surprise. She continued with "I've been thinking about that all day, too. Amazing, wasn't it?"

"Oh indeed," Ben agreed, grinning. He was feeling quite manly as well as proud of himself. "Once we are married, I am going to pleasure you until you are senseless!"

"I shall enjoy that." She snuggled against him sensuously, then actually chuckled in spite of herself.

"What," Ben encouraged.

"Oh nothing. I just realized you have been poking me with your, er, knee for the past few nights again."

If the room had enough light, she could have seen Ben turn bright red had she lifted her head. And she would have seen that there were still traces of his adolescent shyness despite having been a soldier for as long as he had.

"Ben?" she inquired, having noticed his shy silence.

"Yes?"

"I just wondered if you had fallen asleep already."

He gave her a squeeze. "No, pretty Lissie, not yet. I'm sorry if my, um, knee is annoying you. I just can't seem to help it when you are close to me. Hell, I cannot help it when you're not close to me, either!"

"What am I to do with you, Benjamin Davidson?"

"Marry me, so that I can spend the rest of my life making you happy. In the bedchamber and outside of it. Marry me and make me the happiest man alive."

Her voice turned sweetly soft. "Why, Ben, I have told you that I would marry you. I have told you that a lot lately."

"I know, I just dont want you to think you have to. I mean, Lord, I'd die without you, Lissie, but I dont want you to be miserable married to me. I dont want you to be unhappy because of me ever again."

One of her hands, wearing its soft, lace fingerless glove to conceal her scars, slipped inside his mostly unbuttoned white sleep-shirt and laid upon his heart. "Ben, I am learning to trust in you again, and I think my heart is on the mend. But I do not trust fate any more than you do. Thoughts of the future actually terrify me. I suppose that if I can make peace with everything that has happened to me I can feel secure about our future together. I hope you can understand that."

"I do, love," he reassured her gently, kissing the top of her mussed red head. "Take all the time you need. I will be here. I will never leave you."

This produced from her a contented sigh, and she allowed herself to finally drift off to sleep. Thoughts of boarding the ship to take her home were both exciting and anxious. But it was really going to happen! She'd be with Ben all the way home. And Elizabeth, Arthur, Lord Eric and Lettie. It had become a typical reaction to instantly doubt that anything good would ever happen to her again, but now she felt strong about getting back home to her family.

It was going to happen.

Constable Poon was there in the morning, speaking with Lord Eric, who had taken young Thomas with him on his ride earlier before breakfast. Eric relayed that Lazlo was in charge of the estate until he returned, and some of his late wife's family would be staying as well (and that was more for Maggie's sake, so that she would have people to tend to and fuss over). Felicity was neck deep in tearful goodbyes with Maggie and the Babcock children, the latter of which demanded letters from her as often as she could. It moved Ben to see that she had made such attachments during her stay here, and that not everything she had experienced was horrible. Aye, there were good people in England, just as there were good people to outnumber the bad all over the world, Ben Davidson assumed peacefully.

The duke's grand carriage was not strong enough to be laden with all that was being taken, so stable boys loaded a wagon to follow the carriage. Eric had been gracious in allowing Felicity and Elizabeth some of Evangeline's lovely clothes to take with them. He had even offered Lettie some dresses, too, but the dark girl politely refused, maintaining that white women's wear was not to her liking. That in her land, women wore very little above the waist, aside from neck adornments, which had everyone flabbergasted and awed. Lettie did, however, accept the blouses and lesser-confining skirts that Maggie offered.

The group knew the duke was taking things to his younger brother in Newfoundland, but what they didn't know was that he was taking certain other things meant as gifts for a certain bride and groom's wedding.

Once Felicity was able to detatch herself from Poppy, Pudding, Rex, and Marvel-Anne Babcock, she had Mrs. Unguin Babcock's emotional hugs to contend with. But this, too, came in time. Felicity actually felt like she was leaving behind a second family, an adopted group of people whom she didn't expect to be so sad in leaving. She was actually leaning out of the carriage window she sat beside of, waving and laughing through tears as the carriage began to roll along. Eventually, Ben had to gently pull her back inside lest she get bounced right out of the window by the unkind road.

"I know I will probably never see them again," Felicity sniffed with a sad smile as Ben took one of her hands in both of his. "But they will always be in my heart."

"And they know that," the duke told her sympathetically from where he sat across from Ben. "You will always be in theirs, Miss Felicity. And as for the children..." He grinned with soft amusement. "...they will never forget that they befriended a wingless faerie princess."

Felicity blushed profusely while Elizabeth and Arthur laughed heartily, Ben kissed her cheek, and Lettie looked mystified. As the carriage rattled on, both Arthur and Lettie fell asleep, their heads rolling back and to the side, Elizabeth engaged Lord Eric in talk of England and how in the time she had spent here she never once gave thought to visiting old acquaintances in Lancashire. all she had thought of was finding Felicity and bringing her home. She mused that no one that knew her family in Lancashire would probably even recognize her now, all grown up. Felicity gave her a supportive, warm smile.

It was getting close to evening when they arrived at the Bristol quays to board thier ship. It would be a clear, moon-lit night, but the ship they were to board would not weigh anchor until first light. All preparations were finished.

It was time to go home at last.

End of Part 3 (Thank God)

So, I'm starting on Part 4 as we 'speak.' I really don't want to call it 'Part 4' but what else could I call it? Makes sense, doesn't it? Anyways, the deluxe edition of the Felicity movie comes out this Tuesday, so check it out!