Windmera-Desperation

Godwin was kind and bent towards her. “Now, you surely cannot believe any man could be wrested from you, Miss Sara? Your beauty is quite riveting.”

She didn’t feel the blush she wanted to appear on her cheeks, but she managed to demure and looked at her feet.

He laughed. “Come, st

and with me near the fire.”

She did just that and saw Lisa gaze their way with a look of puzzlement. She wondered then if Lisa was in fact truly infatuated or in love with Godwin. Well, that would be too bad, but Sara told herself she had no choice.

The next time the four of them were together, Sara pressed on. Time and time again, Lisa and Oscar behaved in a manner she was able to point out to Godwin in sad terms, and then her strategy unfolded just as she had hoped it would on the night of Lisa’s ball.

Sara wore a gown of soft gold, a bit too bold for her maidenly status, as it showed the swells of her breasts. Sara had been leery about the gown, but her mother actually convinced her that it was all the rage and she must wear this gown this night, as all the eligible beaus would be present at Lisa’s ball.

The dress was adorned with dark gold silk roses and the entire confection hugged her slim and provocative figure. Sara was aware of all the intrigued looks she was getting from the men, but she wanted only one to stare and appreciate.

All of them were naught next to Godwin, and she could see he was aware of their admiring gazes as they looked in her direction. She bantered with Godwin, laughed with him, teased and invited him using her eyes as no seventeen-year-old maid should do. All the while, she was confident everything was falling into place and her plan would work.

Sara left nothing to chance. Even then, at seventeen, she always knew what she needed to do to get what she wanted. She looked Godwin over for a moment. She could no longer wait ‘til she was eighteen and for her parents to give her a London Season, as they had always planned.

She couldn’t wait, although she was not in love with Godwin and dreaded the moment she would have to give her body to him. But, again, she told herself, she had no choice.

It was her father’s fault. Her father, who every year allowed a gypsy clan to use one of their open fields to rest their horses and recoup their supplies.

Over the years, Sara had found her way to their camp. She enjoyed their robust lifestyle, and this year, when they came with the spring, Sara visited the camp. This time, it wasn’t curiosity, it was with a purpose.

She needed a little extra to insure her plans would work.

Thus, it was that night in which Sara carried an herbal concoction that Magda, the gypsy matriarch, had assured her would do little more than make the victim slightly queasy.

Sara thought about Lisa and felt a slight twinge of guilt as she prepared to make her ill.

What she was about to do would ruin Lisa’s only ‘coming-out’ ball. It was cruel. Was she cruel? No. She was only doing what she had to do.

All guilt was quelled in that moment when she saw Lisa descend the stairs in her white-on-white gown! Her friend did look stunning. Her dusky curls fell in an array around her pretty face, and though she was plump, she looked sensual and alluring.

Sara glanced at Godwin who had, at that moment, no eyes for anyone other than Lisa. Thus, she made up her mind to go through with her plan and administer the potion to her friend…her only real friend. Cruelty be damned.

When Lisa came over to Sara, bubbling with her excitement, laughing over being breathless over the rounds of dances she had enjoyed for the first time in her eighteen years, Sara smiled sweetly, especially as Oscar had accompanied Lisa.

“Sara, you will turn eighteen in a few months, and Mama tells me your parents are planning your ball in London. It is all so exciting.”

Sara had been holding a glass of Negus and handed it to Lisa. “Here, love…you are flushed, this cold drink will do you good.”

“Oh, but don’t you want it?”

“Oscar, be a dear-heart and fetch me another glass,” Sara said. As both girls watched him hurry off to do as he was bid, Sara added, “He is so good, it is no wonder you have a fancy for him.”

“I—fancy? No…no, you mistake,” Lisa covered her mouth with her silk gloved hand and shook her head, “we…Oscar and I, are friends, nothing more. It is you he wants,” Lisa said, and took a long sip before she added, “you know, he is hurt that you won’t dance with him.”

The rebuke in Lisa’s voice irritated Sara and she said, “Drink up…there, good girl. You need to cool down and as to wanting me—indeed, before he laid eyes on you, I suppose he did. But I see how he dotes on you. The two of you are far more suited to one another than Oscar and I.”

“Oh no, no,” Lisa objected.

Sara laughed, well pleased with the look of doubt that came into Lisa’s eyes. She had made her think of Oscar in another light. “Now, what was that you were saying? Me—dance with Oscar? Whatever for? I have no interest there and would not lead him on.”

Lisa regarded her friend doubtfully. “Well, there is that…one wouldn’t want to…but one must be kind. What is in a dance after all?”

Sara clucked her tongue as her eyes narrowed. Had the potion already done its job? She seemed to think so as she watched Lisa put down her glass and lay a hand to her head.