Excerpt: Miss Moonlight's Marriage

Meg's hands caressed the ivory and ebony keys, slow notes dripping from her fingers in a lyrical stream as she floated on a river of music. Behind closed eyes she could all but see the sparkling drops of water spinning from her right hand as her left hand stirred slow deep currents. Sound was color, sound was movement, sound was breath and life…
The B-flat melody began, a deep, rich blue, an unfathomable pool. Meg felt herself sliding into it, going deeper. Summoned by the the romantic music, the Earl of Marling’s image rose in her mind.
Who was he, really? She danced with him, walked with him, talked with him; surely she should know him, but somehow he remained illusive. Was it that which fascinated her? His pale gray eyes were both keen and kind, yet they seemed a mirror behind which his true self hid. The real Richard Ellicott seemed as mysterious and unfathomable as the deep pool of music immersing her. With every meeting she became more intrigued. With every parting she missed him more.
The second movement opened with a dancing melody, pink and shining as Meg’s favorite ballgown. What did the earl think of her? Did he see only the acknowledged beauty? The demure debutante? The silvery Miss Moonlight, pale counterpart to her cousin Susannah’s sparkling Miss Sunshine?
She hoped he suspected the other Meg, the one who played the emotional chords now rolling from her fingers, the Meg whose heart turned over at their beauty. This woman, who played these achingly beautiful notes and thought of him, whose fingers spoke feelings her lips could never say.
The chords grew louder, fuller, faster. She poured her frustration into them, the wish that she could express the passion within her. She rode the torrent. She became it, roiling fiercely down the channel carved by harmony, by dissonance, by fiery arpeggios. And when the chords came to their crashing conclusion, she knew what she was going to do.