and ducked into the opening. Her breath caught as she realized the tree branches sweeping the ground around them formed a large hidden room.
“Oh, Louisa, this is wonderful,” Lucy said, turning in a wide circle as her sister beamed. The girls sank onto the carpet of green that grew in the shady den. As one, they began to pluck the purple flowers that bloomed among the thick ground cover. Fingers nimbly twisted delicate stems as the twins worked to chain the flowers together, something they had often done as small girls. After a few minutes, Louisa spoke.
“Are you ever going to tell me, what happened with your professor?” she asked. Lucy flushed, causing Louisa to smile. “Did he kiss you?”
Lucy looked at her sister in shock. “Of course not!” she said. “He… he wouldn’t take such liberties, Louisa!”
Louisa feigned remorse at asking such a personal question and then giggled. “Well, how will you know if you like him if he is too proper?” she said.
Lucy smiled and shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t even know if he’ll ever escort me again,” Lucy confessed.
“Why? What happened?” Louisa asked, the flower chain in her hands momentarily forgotten.
“He spanked me,” Lucy confessed.
“He what!” Louisa said loudly and then she lowered her voice. “Spanked you? Why?”
Lucy added another flower to her chain before shrugging. “It wasn’t really a spanking. Nothing like when Edward… um, you know.” She gave a quick look to her twin as if afraid she’d offended her, but simply saw Louisa nodding.
“I do know, but we can talk about Edward in a minute. Tell me if your professor didn’t spank you, what exactly did he do?”
“He just swatted me when I ran out into the street without looking. There was a carriage coming, but I was so upset I never even saw it until he pulled me back. That’s when he swatted me,” she confessed and when her sister simply shook her head, added, “but it was rather embarrassing. Everybody around could see us!”
Louisa’s hair swung as she shook her head. “I’m surprised a swat is all you received, Lucy. If Papa saw me do that, I guarantee I wouldn’t be able to sit for a week. He hates it when people he loves put themselves into danger.” She then looked closely at her twin. “Tell me, how did you feel when he spanked you?” she asked.
Lucy was still trying to figure out how she felt about even confessing the act. “It really wasn’t like that, Louisa. He only struck me once and seemed embarrassed about it. It didn’t hurt, but I did cry because I was so ashamed of dressing like this and knowing all the other girls are able to dress in the best fashions to impress their suitors. And even though I’ve realized that the way I look shouldn’t matter to a man who loves me, I can’t help but bet that those other girls don’t have suitors who feel free to smack their bottoms!”
Louisa shook her head and smiled, reaching for another flower and passing it to her twin before plucking one for herself. As she worked to add it to her chain, she said, “You’d be surprised, Lucy. I’ve found that there are many, many women who live as I do. I’m glad you are becoming more—if not comfortable—at least more acceptable of the clothing we’re expected to wear.” She paused to press a hand against the pale violet colored skirt of her dress which Lucy had to admit was far younger appearing that the forest green skirt she had her legs tucked beneath. Looking up again, Louisa smiled. “Not that I’m allowed to wager, but I’m willing to bet that you’ll discover you are not the only eligible female who is being presented by a strict guardian. Your professor is quite the lucky man if Papa gave him permission to court you. Charles doesn’t strike me as a man who has ever given much thought to fashion… how many men truly do? He’ll be back before you know it,” Louisa said firmly.
“You think so?” Lucy asked remembering Charles had said he didn’t care about fashion. She relaxed and smiled as she added another flower to her chain.
“I’m sure of it,” Louisa assured her, reaching over to give her twin a hug.
As the two continued to pick and pass flowers back and forth as they worked, Lucy found herself telling her sister about her conversation with Edward. “Edward also said that he believes Charles