Thread: Southern Girl [ Ariamella & Reydan ]

RE Southern Girl Ariamella Reydan Virgil let Eliza down from his arms as Harold and Sinead made their introductions to Lucille. She looked incredible. Unlike the tightly bound women he had grown used to in the north, with their tight metal corsets and pinned and piled hair, she was a vision in dark green fabric. Hello again Lucy he murmured, eyes on her own, and flushed a little when he realised his lapse into the familiar old nickname. Silently he cursed, turning slightly to allow Eliza to lead him through to the dinning room. He loved the child, as with her older brother and sister Adrian and Lillian, and lavished attention on the three children. Virgil knew that it aggravated Camilla, reminding her of their failures to have their own children, but he couldn't help it. Virgil had grown up around large families, both rich and slave, and really couldn't stop himself indulging the young things. The dinner was a stiff affair. Virgil frowned slightly as he sat, noticing the use of the best silver and the overly ornate table decorations. Was Camilla deliberately trying to show of to her sister? Or snub Sinead? Or was she just being difficult? None of this, not even the elaborate food was suitable for the little ones when it arrived and Virgil was tempted to send it back to the kitchen and have them just bring up desert. But he held his tongue, not wanting to maintain the frosty reception he had experienced that morning from his wife. The table was round, and with no head to sit at Virgil found himself flanked by Camilla and Lillian, a quiet girl of fourteen, and directly across from Lucille. He couldn't take his eyes off her, despite hating it, and kept watching her through the flickering haze of the candles between them on the table. The dress she was wearing was very daring, a plunging neckline with the sparkle of diamonds at the neck. Her slightly tanned skin taunted him with memories of their shared Virginian past. There was also an ostentatious diamond ring on her right hand. Virgil wasn't certain but, potentially, this was the gift of the fiancee she had lost. Camilla had mentioned something about that... His attention was caught up by Adrian who, after fidgeting for a few minutes, finally blurted out a question that he had clearly been holding in ever since he had first been introduced to Lucille. Miss Rayne, uh, was your family on the right side of the war or the wrong side? he said, hurriedly, before his mother could hush him. Awh Addy his sister hissed from Virgil's side, but the young man wouldn't be dissuaded, clear blue eyes fixed on Lucille. I was wondering Mr Rayne had drawled, across a fantastic outdoor dinner table, a hot Virginia night beating down on the group, How you boys will prove your metal these days? His eyes had scanned his own children and also the Abernathy boys, the two families arranged around the table, late into the June evening of 1859. You've missed your chance with Mexico, its done now, he'd drawled on But you'll have to find something. Ladies love a woman in uniform. Virgil had looked over to where Lucy sat, preening a little under his attention, and was struck by the thought of how wonderful it would be to be dressed in uniform with Miss Lucille Rayne hanging off his arm. Or maybe Mrs Virgil Abernathy... He snapped back to the present, unsure if he had missed Lucille's reply or not. Come now, Lucille, Camilla was urging its a plain question. Enough Camilla he murmured, but she was too fixed on Lucille to hear him. This was the firebrand element of Camilla's abolitionist upbringing that Virgil could never bear. He hated slavery, but hated the intolerance of the Northern radicals almost as much. Enough Camil... he stood, suddenly, angry with her for not nipping this in the bud. Pain, sharp and stabbing, shot through his side like white lightening and he stumbled against the table suddenly, shaking the settings. His face lined in pain. Harold was on his feet, face creased with concern. Wound again? he asked in a serious low voice.