Chapter Text
~~ Kourtney ~~
Kourtney knew that balls and social events were deemed to be the sole arena for which one could find a suitable husband.
But they truly were abhorrent, and she was always so awkward when dancing with many of the suitors there and furthermore she felt quite like a prize pig being shown off to men 10, sometimes 20, years older than her. The fact that marriage was a political and economic endeavor for many did not slip her mind. But she wanted romance and chance encounters and the slow snowball effect of falling in love. The kind of love which pulls and pulls on your heartstrings as the object of your affection bares pieces of their soul for you and you alone; the kind of love which grows until one day the strings are plucked just so and suddenly something unexplainable resonates within you. She wanted the kind of love her parents had.
She’d been told the story many times before bedtime. Her parents were quite the Romeo and Juliet; both children of a Baron and Baroness and from families that absolutely despised each other. It had something to do with a supposed duel and besmirching of honor a few generations back. By extension, her parents hated each other at first, and the season Kourtney’s mom came out as a debutant she avoided Kourtney’s father like the plague at every social function.
However, one day they both attended a 3 day soirée at Addington Manor. During a particularly restless night for both of them, they each coincidently decided to take a stroll in different parts of the expansive gardens. Then, much to their dismay, a sudden violent thunderstorm forced them together in a shed on the outskirts of the property. They were miserable for the first hour after realizing that they were trapped, but when Kourtney’s father attempted to stand on a chair to see out the raised windows and accidentally slipped due to his wet feet, her mother immediately came to his aid (after an uncontrollable fit of giggles of course). This ice breaker was what they needed to finally talk to each other and realize that their families didn’t have to define them. When the rain finally stopped, neither one of them wanted to leave and they continued to talk for as long as the cover of night permitted. When they emerged from the shed, they were both smitten.
So you see, this was Kourtney’s dilemma. How could she, as a self-proclaimed hopeless romantic, grow up hearing of their magnificent love story and not seek the same for herself?
Kourtney didn’t want forced dances and housecalls for the sole purpose of sucking up to her parents, Lord and Lady Greene. She didn’t want a marriage of convenience. She wanted someone smart and ambitious, but also kind and respectful. She wanted someone who would allow her to be every bit the independent entity she had been her whole life, while also recognizing her need for love and romance. She wanted someone to see her; really see her for who she is. But Kourtney had a quite contradictory nature which made her endeavor of engagement rather difficult. She was confident and focused, but her complete and utter devotion to the ones she loved often stood in the way of her own goals. She could see everyone’s trifles so clearly but was rather blind when it came to her own. Her mind insisted on fairytale romance but she was positively abysmal at expressing her feelings and furthermore, her focus on grand gestures often made her too impatient for the small talk and formalities which went along with most courtships.
Kourtney sighed to herself and turned this over in her mind. She was completely doomed. Surely at this rate, she would have to enter her third season in a row as a debutant. This was already the beginning of her second season and while she maintained a glimmer of hope, a part of her wondered if her standards were too high to ever result in a suitable husband or a love match.
The carriage Kourtney was traveling in slowed to a stop in front of Dayton Palace and she could already see other debutants in bright, fussy dresses walking up the palace steps. She smoothed the folds of her own powder blue dress and took a deep breath. After her mother and father were let out of the carriage, the driver came to her side and opened the door. Kourtney took another deep breath and stepped out.
~~ EJ ~~
EJ mustered a forced smile as Lord Cromwell launched into his third story of the night about his business endeavors. The Viscount's daughter stood next to him, looking rather uncomfortable.
“Lord Cromwell” EJ began, “this story sounds so… riveting, but I would very much like to have a dance with your daughter. With your blessing of course!”
“Oh! Surely,” the older gentleman said, startling as though he had forgotten the sole purpose for this dreadful event.
His daughter (EJ couldn’t for the life of him remember her name- maybe Mary or Molly) gave him a relieved look and linked her arm with his.
The two hurried off to the middle of the dance floor and joined the other debutants and suitors.
“Is your father always so… fascinating?” EJ said with a small laugh and quirk of his eyebrows.
“I’m afraid so,” Mary or Molly (he really had to find out her name) replied.
They danced for a few more moments and EJ was just about to apologetically ask for her first name again when a flash of blue near the entrance caught his eye. There in the doorway was quite possibly one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Her skin was clear and radiant even from here, glistening with a smooth caramel color. Her lips and cheeks had a natural pink tint to them and her dark brown hair was placed in an updo which left a few coily strands framing her face. Looking slightly uneasy, she fidgeted nervously with the fabric of her lacy light blue dress. EJ’s breath caught in his throat and this momentary distraction caused him to nearly trip on his partner’s feet.
He snapped back to his senses and issued a mumbled apology for his clumsiness before continuing to dance. However, for the next several minutes he was unable to think of little else aside from the mystery woman in blue and whenever the dance required a spin or change of direction he found himself scanning the crowd for her. When the dance finally ended, EJ bit back a sigh of relief and bid farewell to Lady Cromwell in a way that was less proper than he’d like to admit.
He was on a mission to find the mystery woman and nothing was going to stand in his way.
“Except that,” EJ thought to himself as he spotted his fiancée, Regina Porter, entering the party with her mother. Her mother was quickly swept away by the other gossiping mamas and Gina stood at the doorway scanning the crowd for him.
So, there was a chance that EJ was already currently engaged. Not formally, and not in the eyes of the public, but by way of a highly official pinky promise made to his best friend (who was really more like a little sister to him) when they were 14 and 16 years old. Neither one wanted to marry and were perfectly content with getting an education and living out their days going wherever the spirit might take them. So they decided that during Gina’s first season as a debutant, they would stage a courtship, engagement, and eventual marriage. It was quite the win-win scenario--granted that neither of them actually fell in love with someone else and desired marriage in the future. In fact, the only reason EJ was even at this soiree was so that he and Gina could be seen dancing together a few times to make the engagement look more real.
EJ didn’t know what possessed him, but suddenly he turned the opposite direction and slipped through the crowd before Gina spotted him. He went into the main hallways of the Palace and pushed open a door with a circular window which surprisingly opened up to reveal a small inside plant conservatory. He stepped into the conservatory with awe. Walking along a narrow, circular path which enclosed the entire room, he felt the leaves of plants as he went. Suddenly, just when he thought he was safe, he spied movement at the window and heard the door open. EJ rushed to crouch behind a large plant before eventually hearing footsteps approach him.
“Why are you hiding behind a plant?” an unfamiliar voice said with a hint of amusement.
EJ looked up slowly and there was the girl in the light blue dress.