Not as provocative as it sounds, Mercedes reflects on the events of the night before.
Morning did not help me see things in any sort of different light. I slept finally, from 5 until 9. I vaguely heard an early morning knock on the door, but I distinctly remember rolling over and putting my pillow over my head. I woke up hungry. Outside the door there was a bottle of fresh milk, which my new level of prosperity occasionally allowed me to indulge in. I sliced some bread and cheese, and munched my breakfast thoughtfully.
Well, I had done it. Surprisingly quickly too, for all my high ideals. I had fallen in love with someone I barely new. I had always expected a long courtship laden with flowers, long walks, all that. What I hadn’t expected was to meet my equal and know it right away. Edmond made me feel complete. Of course, I really didn’t know him yet, but his credentials were good enough to make me excited by the prospect of getting to know him better. I was also feeling confident about that he was feeling the same way about me.
That was the part that left me flabbergasted. I had set my standards for a mate pretty high, but I hadn’t expected that someone would find me the measure of their standards either. What had he said? I had a generous nature and a warm heart. Not what I would have expected someone to say about me. Usually men went for the eyes, the lips, the figure, not the good heart and the regal bearing. A princess, he had said. A princess.
I brushed the crumbs off my skirt and I washed. I hummed and sang joyful songs this morning and grinned like an idiot. Then I began to plan my day. Of course I had more spinning to do for the Pharaon order, and I had to pick up a table cloth to mend at M. Morrel’s. I needed to drop by my aunt and uncle’s, and arrange when to bring Edmond to dinner, and to tell them what had happened. I wanted to see Edmond and wasn’t sure of the best way to arrange that, since we hadn’t firmed up a time last night. I remembered last night with a renewed appetite of a different kind. We’d definitely had other things on our mind last night, yes indeed.
I had another glass of milk, shaking the crème throughout the bottle so it would be rich and decadent. The first trip of the day would be the market. I might see him there, and if I didn’t, I would pick up more flax, and I would buy food, and I would offer to fix him and his father dinner. Then I would go to M. Morrel’s, maybe with him, if he had the time, and then I would, well, I didn’t know. I knew what I wanted. I wanted to spend all day with him. It didn’t matter what I did. It just mattered who I was with.
No wonder my mother could smile when she was doing something as simple as making my father’s breakfast, or he could be happy when he was coming up the path towards home at the end of the day. No wonder.
I almost dropped my cup. Edmond was leaving me in a mere three weeks to sail to (fill in the blank). Three weeks. Only three weeks. Suddenly, there was a piece of responsibility stabbing me in the chest, and I didn’t like it much. I could never feel as blasé about that fact as I could the day before yesterday. Not at all.
