Web of Love

Chapter One WILL WE REACH BRUSSELS SOON, ELLEN? I must say, Belgium is a disappointment so far. It is so flat and uninteresting. Will Brussels be more exciting? I have dreamed about it all through the dreary winter at school. Is it as magical a place as they say?" Miss Jennifer Simpson sat with her nose almost touching the glass of the carriage in which she traveled with her stepmother. She was clearly not intent on waiting for answers to her questions. She had asked the same ones a dozen times since they had left Antwerp. "It is just an ordinary city," Ellen Simpson said, "made extraordinary by the presence of so many allied troops at present and so many different uniforms. We will be there soon enough. You will feel better once you have seen your papa again. I know he can scarce wait to see you." "Oh," Jennifer said, withdrawing her gaze for a moment from the passing scenery, "I still cannot quite believe that I am finished with school forever and ever, Ellen. I am eighteen years old, and this time I will stay with you and Papa, not be packed off back to school almost before I have started to enjoy myself."Ellen smiled. "I know your papa is rather concerned about bringing you here," she said. "It was really too bad that Bonaparte was allowed to escape from Elba and that the King of France has fled to Ghent. I had hoped that the wars were over. But it appears that they are not. You may not be here for long after all, Jennifer. But I know your papa wanted you with him for a while." "Oh, but the Duke of Wellington is here now," Jennifer said. "You told me so, and Helen West's sister wrote her that all would be safe once the duke arrived. And she also wrote that there are so many entertainments in Brussels that it is sometimes hard to choose among them. That is true, is it not, Ellen? And you helped me buy all those gorgeous clothes. And the city is full of officers and scarlet uniforms. It is a pity that Papa's uniform is green. It is not near as dashing as the Guards' uniforms." "I am quite sure you will be here quite long enough to enjoy yourself," Ellen said. "I hope so. I know your papa wants to spend some time with you before he has to go into battle again." "I suppose he thinks he might die," the girl said indignantly. "He should not be so gloomy. Papa has always come through safely." "But there is always a grave danger that he might not," Ellen said quietly. "You do not know, Jennifer. Your papa always kept you away from the army, which was as well. You were never in Spain and did not see the battlefields after battles." She shuddered. "If you had seen, you would have marveled that anyone survived at all. Your papa has lived through so many battles. It does not seem fair that he must face yet another." "I forgot." Jennifer laid a hand on her stepmother's arm, her pretty face contrite. "Your own papa was killed in one of those battles. And you were there with him. It must have been dreadful." "Yes." Ellen patted the girl's hand. "It was. But at least he was killed instantly. That is a blessing one learns to be thankful for when one has lived close to battle." Jennifer squeezed her stepmother's arm before removing her hand. "And you and Papa married," she said. "He is fond of you, is he not? I used to be jealous for a while. I think I even hated you until I met you. Do you think I will find a husband here, Ellen? Am I pretty enough, do you think?" Ellen smiled into the anxious face turned to her own. "You know you are," she said. "But I would not be in too much of a hurry to fix your choice if I were you, Jennifer. Not with the times so uncertain. There is no point in inviting heartache." They lapseBalogh, Mary is the author of 'Web of Love ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780440243052 and ISBN 044024305X.