Read Online Blaze Wyndham by Bertrice Small - Free Book Online Page B

almost immediately after the ceremony. Her mother had taken her aside earlier when she had gone to show her the beautiful clothing that the earl had sent for her.
    “You must take the long way around to RiversEdge, for you will be passing through several villages belonging to the Langford earldom, and it is necessary that the villagers see you,” said Rosemary Morgan to her eldest child. “Therefore there can be no feasting following the marriage ceremony. A health will be drunk to you and your husband, you will change your clothes, and you will depart.” She put motherly arms about her daughter. “Oh, my dear, I am so sorry, for poor though we may be, I had intended that this most special of days in your life be more festive. Somehow it does not seem fair. Yet when I think of the fine marriage you are making, I realize that I must put my own concerns aside.”
    Well, thought Blaze sleepily, whatever I may feel about the matter, the die is cast, and it is out of my hands. I will be wed tomorrow in a proxy ceremony whether I like it or not, and I shall go off to meet my husband.
    Her husband! What was he like? Would he be kind to her? Would he ever love her? Would she learn to love him? Would it be as little Vana had said? Surely the earl would be gentle with her, taking into account her virginity. She wanted to imagine what it would be like to be loved by him, but it was so hard trying to picture it in her ignorance. Vana, of course, had shed some light on the mysteries between a man and a woman, but one could not be certain if the nobility did it the same way as the lower classes. I shall know soon enough, she considered, and with a great effort put her busy and nervous mind on the business of sleep.
    It seemed she slept not at all. Then suddenly she was being shaken awake by her sisters, even the tiny red-haired Glenna. With hugs and laughter they drew her into the land of the awakened, pelting her with asters, and Mary’s Gold, and purple-and-white Michaelmas daisies.
    “Wake up, sleepyhead!” they cried together. “It is your wedding day!”
    Blaze couldn’t help but weep a little, for once more she realized that this was the last time that they would all be together like this. To her surprise her sisters became weepy too, even Bliss, who muttered irritably, “All of our lives we have dreamed of wedding days. Now that the first of us is to go, we sob and carry on like babies. I do not understand it!”
    Lady Morgan and Old Ada arrived accompanied by several maidservants who carried a tub and the buckets and jars of hot water necessary to fill it. The bed that the three sisters shared was pushed into a corner of the small room so the tub might be set up.
    “Heartha will help you to bathe and dress,” said Rosemary Morgan to her eldest child when the others had been shooed from the chamber and they were alone. “There is something, however, that I must discuss with you beforehand. It is the way of a man with a woman. It is not necessary nor would it be appropriate for you to have too great a knowledge, but you should know what to expect, Blaze. As for the rest, the earl will instruct you as pleases him, which is as it should be. Do you understand?”
    “Yes, Mama,” Blaze said dutifully, hoping her mother’s explanations would clear up the several unanswered questions she had due to Vana’s discourse of yesterday. Lady Morgan, however, seemed disinclined to go into too great detail regarding the relationship between a husband and wife. One thing Blaze did learn to her relief was that all couples, no matter their social standing, performed the act in approximately the same fashion.
    “You need not be afraid,” said Lady Morgan, “although it will seem a bit awkward and strange to you in the beginning. Oh, yes! I must not forget to tell you that the first time your husband’s manhood penetrates into your body it will hurt you. It is only the first time, though, and it is due to the barrier to your