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K is for — Knight in shining armour.  A surprising twist in a simple rescue

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To tell my mother that a large orchestra was not a necessity for a ‘ball’ thrown in my honour was the same as telling her I didn’t want one.  Missives that she totally ignored.

I knew my father agreed with me, a man who didn’t like the idea of showing extravagance for the sake of it in the face of the current economic climate.  We were going to feature not only in the society pages, but also near page one as a hot news item. Some of it was going to be for all the wrong reasons.

I’d seen several roving reporters, scribbling in their notebooks.

When Madeleine and I returned, the orchestra had fired up and was regaling the attendees with a waltz, though not that many had taken to the floor.  Perhaps the art of ballroom dancing at balls was no longer a thing.

“Perhaps we should set an example,” she said.

“You dance?”

“I’ve been around the floor once or twice.  I’m assuming your boarding school taught you the finer points?”

“Mademoiselle Garmin.  You learned, or it was twenty lashes.  I learned.”

Odd, too, that I found by the time we reached the dance floor, we were holding hands.  She was subtle and sneaky.

“I’m willing if you are.”

And, yes, after a few hesitant first steps and getting closer to her than I had ever been since the first day I met her, I found she was very competent.  Perhaps she was equally surprised I was quite good and could actually lead.

Our demonstration pulled others out of their seats and into the vortex.  It got a round of applause at the end, and then the orchestra slipped into something less challenging for those without formal training.

She still had my hand, and I don’t think she was giving it back.  Did this mean I had to take her home with me?  It was an interesting thought, given the Madeleine/Oscar dynamic.  Or was that why she sent him away, so she could advance this relationship?

Even more interesting.  I found myself almost as intrigued as a member of the public would be when reading about us.

We reached the edge of the dance floor when I heard my mother advancing, “There you are.”  She was very quick when she wanted to be, perhaps thinking I was about to disappear again.

“Where have you been?”

“On the dance floor, demonstrating that you didn’t waste your money sending me to that awful school.”

She smiled at Madeleine.  “You dance beautifully.”

And I didn’t?  Sometimes, my mother could be aggravating.  I glared at her.

“So did you,” she said to me.  Then back to Madeleine, “Come, there’s some people I’d like you meet.”

She gave me a baleful look then the link was severed, and she reluctantly left with my mother.  Rather her than me, meeting all that ‘old money’ and then unattractive daughters.  It was a compelling reason to stay with Madeleine if only to keep the others at bay.

A hand on my shoulder and words in my ear.  “You two make an attractive couple out there,” he waved his hand towards the dance floor, “but it didn’t seem you were ‘together’ if you know what I mean.”

Howard was both a keen judge of character and could spot a phony a mile off.  I’d have to work hard to convince him we were ‘together’.

“Early days, Howie.  I’m not like you. A sideways glance from a girl and you are taking her to a cheap motel.”

“You should try it?”

“A cheap motel?  Sorry.  It has, at the very least, five stars before I walk in the door.”

“Snob.”

“Expensive boarding schools will do that to you.”

He punched me in the arm, playfully but hard enough.  “So, seriously, do you like her?”

“Do you?”

He shook his head.  “When you start answering questions with questions, I know there’s trouble in paradise.  What is it?”

“Nobody is that perfect, Howie.”

Before I overheard a conversation that suggested an ulterior motive, it was one of the foremost items on my mind.  She was almost perfect, which meant there had to be something.  And the timing.  Girls like her do not come out of left field like she did; they are noticed and talked about.  No one I knew had any idea who she was or anything about their family.  And internet searchers found very little.  It was interesting that she did not have a digital footprint or social media presence.

Even I had one of those, albeit tended by a personal assistant.

“Then grab her while you can, before there’s a line of eligible bachelors beating a path to her door.”

I was about to tell him they could but decided not to.

“I’m working on it.”

“Work harder.”

Another pat on the back, and he was gone.

The whole time Howard was with me, I’d seen her glancing in my direction, in between being attentive to the women in the group, giving me the ‘come hither’ look, suggesting she wanted to be rescued.

I gave it a few more minutes and then wandered slowly over to the group.  My mother’s cronies, the morning tea reading group, I think.

“Have you finished torturing my partner in crime?” I asked Mother when she looked condescendingly in my direction.

“You make it sound like you’re bank robbers.”

“We’re working on it.  I don’t know yet if she’s going to be the safecracker or the getaway driver.”

It got the required response for the elderly group: a look of disdain from all of them.

“And with that, ladies, I must whisk her away.  I hear the orchestra is working towards a tango, and that is one of my criteria in a girlfriend.”

“Tango,” she said, almost in disbelief.

Was that mantle of perfection starting to slip?

“What’s a ball without a tango, and the honourees not being able to lead from the front?”  I made the bold move of taking her hand and gently extracting her from the group.

“Oh, do so if you must, Sam.”

She smiled as I led her away.  “You are my gallant knight in shining armour.”

“Overly expensive tuxedo, perhaps.  Not one for shining armour, though.  But I can handle a sword if necessary.”

“Another boarding school class?”

“Senor Rafael, Olympic champion no less.  Until that first lesson, I idolised Zorro and wanted to be just like him.”

“Anything you haven’t done?”

“Sweep a girl off her feet.”

“Then let the sweeping begin.”

If there was a moment that I could say I fell in love with Madeleine, it was during the tango.  I would never admit it, but there it was.

Such a line, ‘you had me at the tango’.

This was going to be painful if it didn’t work out.

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©  Charles Heath  2025