Free Before the Storm by Melanie Clegg

dressed in a bright blue velvet redingote gown with a matching hat placed jauntily on her crimson ringlets stepped down from her father’s carriage then looked up and gaily waved to them all before disappearing into the house.
    They grinned at each other as they heard the usual commotion and fuss that accompanied Venetia’s arrival anywhere floating up from the entrance hall. ‘How does she do it?’ Phoebe whispered to Eliza, who shrugged. ‘She likes to make a good entrance.’
    ‘Girls! I am so pleased to see you all!’ Venetia erupted into the room with her arms outstretched to hug them all. ‘I thought that I would never get here! Can you believe that we almost lost a wheel coming through Islington? My dears, I have never been so afraid!’
    ‘I don’t believe that,’ Eliza said drily as she kissed her friend on the cheek. ‘You aren’t afraid of anything, Venetia.’
    ‘No?’ Venetia tossed back her long bright hair and put her lovely head to one side to consider this. ‘Perhaps you are right, Beautiful Miss Garland. That’s what Jules always calls you - isn’t he droll?’ She looked at them all to make sure that she had their attention then with a flourish pulled off one of her black leather gloves, revealing an enormous diamond ring on her left hand, which she waved in front of their astonished eyes. ‘And what do you think of this, girls?’
    ‘Oh my goodness, Venetia!’ Almost squeaking with excitement, Clementine ran forward and took her friend’s hand to take a closer look at the ring, which gleamed and sparkled in the sunlight from the tall windows. ‘Is it real? Is it what I think it is?’
    Venetia laughed with delight and gave Clementine a swift hug. ‘Of course it is real, you impudent girl and it is indeed what you think it is! Jules and I are to be married.’
    ‘Married!’ Phoebe was open mouthed with surprise. ‘You and Jules? Well.’ She and Eliza exchanged a swift look, which Venetia did not miss.
    ‘Come now, please be happy for me!’ she admonished with a pout. ‘You know how much I have wanted this.’ She opened her arms to her friends who both ran forward to hug her, feeling ashamed not to have been instantly able to share her happiness. ‘There now, isn’t that better?’
    ‘I’m sorry, Venetia,’ Eliza said a trifle stiffly. ‘It’s just a shock, that’s all. I had no idea how serious you were about him.’ She looked to Phoebe, who still had her arm around Venetia’s waist. ‘To be honest, my dear, we just thought that it was a flirtation and kept expecting to hear that he was going back to France again.’
    Venetia laughed. ‘But he is going back to France!’ she said with a smile. ‘Only, he is taking me with him!’ She did a little pirouette on the spot, her blue skirts whirling around her. ‘Imagine me in Paris and Versailles! His family have an immense chateau in the Loire valley too! Oh, darlings, it’s going to be wonderful.’  
    ‘You’re so lucky!’ Clementine exclaimed, her eyes shining like stars as she thought of Paris. Sidonie had told her so much about it and she was desperate to see it for herself. ‘Will you live in the chateau with them?’ She imagined a huge castle with massive turrets and then, irresistibly, herself standing on top of one of the turrets in what she hazily imagined to be a cloth of gold Medieval dress and tall wimple.
    ‘No, Jules has his own little house in Neuilly, which is near Paris,’ Venetia said with an airy shrug of her shoulders. ‘His father, the Duc, gave it to him. He says that we will live there until his family give us something bigger.’
    ‘Jules’ father is a duke?’ Eliza stammered, looking again to Phoebe, who looked equally astonished and somewhat put out. ‘You never said so!’
    Venetia gave a mischievous smile. ‘Did I not, my dear?’ She sauntered to the fireplace and checked her appearance carefully in the huge mirror that hung over the mantlepiece. ‘I suppose that I also