An Illicit Indiscretion

Don’t worry.’ Dashiell reached inside his pocket for his watch and flipped open the gold case.

‘It’s five o’clock now. We should sleep so we’re well rested for another long night.’

‘I’m fine,’ Elisabeth insisted stubbornly, tossing her cloak on the bed and sitting down to remove her shoes. ‘I think I’ll go over my notes one more time.’ But she promptly proved herself a liar after only two minutes of reading the star charts.

When Dashiell woke her, their crude room was dark except for a small lantern on the table. The basket of food sat beside it along with her telescope case and tripod.

‘Elisabeth, wake up, darling.’ He sat down on the bed, his weight warm and heavy beside her. He smelled of soap. Elisabeth reached up a hand to trace his jaw.

‘You shaved,’ she murmured sleepily. He’d changed, too, into the clothes ‘You slept,’ Dashiell scolded softly, ‘after all your protestations to the contrary. Come, get changed, I have the carriage waiting. It’s nearly midnight.’

That galvanized her. She’d slept for seven hours! Elisabeth dressed in her trousers and boots, hurriedly gathering her charts and notes. She looked around the room for anything else she might need but Dashiell had thought of everything. Her telescope was even waiting on the seat for her.

‘I think we’re ready, Sleeping Beauty,’ Dashiell teased, hauling himself inside and calling to the driver.

‘Did you sleep?’ She was going to feel awful if he’d stayed awake.

‘Yes, both my driver and I did. Don’t worry, we’re well rested to tote your supplies up hills. In the dark, I might add.’ He grinned good-naturedly.

‘I once heard that women find sincerity a very appealing quality in a man.’

‘Cleanliness, too.’ Dashiell winked and they both laughed.

‘Cleanliness, too,’ Elisabeth agreed. But she’d been serious earlier. Dashiell was gorgeously handsome, an extraordinary lover, and yet she might not have embarked on any of this adventure if there had not been something more beneath the surface of his good looks.

These were not things she could say out loud any more than she could voice the nagging fear that this would end and take with it all the brief happiness she’d found.

They found a hill above the town and after a quick survey, Elisabeth declared it would serve her purposes. The sky was clear. Inside she was rejoicing. In the next few hours, her dream would come true.

Elisabeth was nervous. Dashiell could see it in her motions. Her hands weren’t steady as she set up her telescope and she was full of frenetic energy while they laid their little camp.

‘Come eat something, Elisabeth,’ Dashiell called after she’d checked the telescope for the fifth time in a half hour only to find nothing.

He’d built a small fire out of the way of the telescope so as not to obstruct her visual path. Now, he busied himself melting cheese on bread. Elisabeth came to the fire and took the tin plate he handed her.

‘Where did these come from?’

‘The innkeeper. The glasses, too.’ Dashiell passed her a glass of red wine. ‘Relax, Elisabeth. The comet will be there. You’ve got your midnight clear.’

Dashiell turned his head skyward. It was a good night. December evenings didn’t get much clearer. Stars were out in full force against the dark, crisp sky. He looked out into the sky over the telescope and stared.

‘Elisabeth, is the comet visible to the naked eye?’ Dashiell began slowly, not wanting to get her hopes up and not understanding what he saw.

‘Yes, but the details can only be seen with a telescope, to the eye it will just look like a…’

Dashiell jumped up and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet. ‘Never mind the dissertation. I think your comet has just arrived.’ He pointed to the place in the night sky where a light blazed between two stars.

‘Oh, my God,’ Elisabeth gasped and bent her head to the telescope.

‘We did it, Dashiell!’ she exclaimed a few seconds later, throwing her arms about his neck in unabashed glee. ‘We did it!’

He kissed her hard on the mouth and spun her around, her joy absolutely contagious. In the wake of her jubilation, he suddenly felt a great appreciation for the sciences on her behalf and for her…well for her, for Elisabeth Becket, Viscount Graybourne’s daughter, he felt a bit more than a ‘great appreciation.’ He felt something more appropriately named love, an emotion he’d long given up for myth.

He did not question it. He merely accepted it. At long last, he had finally, and he suspected irrevocably, fallen in love. He would not forget the night it happened; the fire, the melted cheese and bread picnic at midnight, the sky speckled with silver stars, one of them shining brighter than the others. Most of all, he would remember the sight of Elisabeth’s face when her dream came true.