The Stowaway

XLI

"All you need is love, Love. Love is all you need." The Beatles (Lennon-McCartney)

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XLI.              

"You did what?"

Eliza awoke with a start to the sound of her sister's voice in a tone that she had never heard before.

Katy was irate.

This Eliza had to see.

She had never risen so quickly from bed in her life then as she did in that moment, and, stupidly, it was not out of excitement for her own wedding day.

Barely throwing on her robe, she sprinted out of her own bedroom, and into her sister's next door, not bothering to knock out of pure excited curiosity.

Katy was still in her night things as well, her hair still fixed in rags. Harry stood opposite her, wearing only a nightshirt. They both turned to look at Eliza.

Katy was an expression of utter fury. It was so strange to see such an emotion on Katy's face. Eliza did not think she had ever heard Katy raise her voice before, let alone scream. It was a miracle that baby Harrison had not awoken in his basinet which lay at the foot of the bed.

Harry, on the other hand, looked incredibly guilty, and very sick, after a night of drinking. Eliza could smell the alcohol permeating from him and felt the need to order a bath post haste.

What on earth could Harry be feeling guilty about? Katy had already known that he would be drinking with Tom's crew. What on earth could he have done to ... oh, no. Eliza's jaw dropped. Harry could not have broken Katy's trust, could he? Surely he would not be so cruel. He loved Katy!

"What on earth is the matter?" Eliza demanded to know, her anxiety only growing.

Katy folded her arms across her chest in displeasure as she pursed her lips. "Go on then," she urged, in a tone that most definitely meant that, for his own health, Harry ought not to go on.

Fortunately for Eliza's curiosity, Harry was too foolish to sense that in his wife.

"I know it is not ideal, but I was most seriously inebriated," Harry said apologetically.

Eliza's heart thumped. If she was to learn that he had stepped out on Katy, then she would throttle him.

"Everyone else was doing it!" Harry continued defensively.

What? Eliza frowned. Everyone? What was everyone doing? Did everyone include Tom? Ought Eliza to be anxious? Surely Tom would not do anything stupid on the night before their wedding. Eliza trusted him.

"And that make it alright, does it?" Katy challenged. "This is the sort of news I am certain every wife wanted to wake up hearing." Katy marched over to the dresser and sat down, getting to work on removing the rags from her hair, letting the curls drop one by one.

"Katy," protested Harry, following her, and forgetting that Eliza was standing there, fretting over the dozens of stupid things that men could get up to while drunk. "I honestly thought it was romantic."

Eliza's thoughts stopped dead. Romantic? Had she heard that right?

"Let me give you a hint, darling husband," Katy said sweetly, looking at him in the mirror reflection. "Flowers, just because, is a romantic idea. A note, a compliment, anything other than this."

"What on earth did he do?" Eliza exclaimed impatiently.

Katy turned around on the dresser bench and looked at Eliza. "One of the sailors brought out ink and a needle last night," she informed Eliza. "And in my husband's drunken stupor, he thought it a romantic idea to have my name tattooed on his rear!"