Chapter 40

CHAPTER 40

T he staff at Hayward Estate watched with startled and curious stares as Marina Hayward's basket of gooseberries went sailing through the air in an arc, finally crashing against the far wall of the garden room, exploding into a spray of stray berries that found their way into every corner and crevice of the enclosed space.

The Duchess pulled herself up off the ground, giggling wildly over her fall as her staff began to clean up the mess. Her husband, having heard her crash, came running into the room to help her up. She giggled all the while, and her joy was infectious, turning every face in the room into a smiling one. Most of all, Phillip, who was beaming at her.

"Your gooseberry bushes are full of fruit at last," he noted.

"Yes!" she exclaimed happily, holding his arm as he pulled her up to her feet. Phillip carefully inspected her dress for any tears, and she brushed the dirt off the front of it. A group of boys marched past them to the stairs with furniture in their arms to take to the second floor. "I was so worried about them the entire time we were at the winter house, but they're absolutely full of berries!"

"You are a wonder," Phillip laughed. "But you were wrong."

Marina's expression fell, and she turned to look at the Duke with an inquisitive stare. "I was wrong? I said it would not take three years for them to fruit."

"No," he corrected her. "You believed that they would only take one. This is our third summer in the estate."

Marina held her hand up to her mouth as she gasped. "So it is!" She looked at her husband with wide, playful eyes. "I suppose that I was only half right, and the gardener only half wrong."

"That is certainly one perspective," Phillip chuckled. "Are we to expect your family this evening? I shall let the cook know."

"Yes, and Miss Kathrin and her brother."

"What of Olivia?"

Marina's smile widened. "I expect not, dear husband. I have not received any letters from her since she was wed. It would appear that the new couple has not returned from their honeymoon trip."

"A long trip for a honeymoon. What a modern notion. Shall we plan one to Paris, perhaps? After our anniversary?"

"In the peak of the season?" Marina raised an eyebrow. "You gave me your word that we would attend more balls this year. Are you going back on what you said?"

"Not at all. I just think that we could do with a break between dancing and being gossiped about."

"We are an old married couple who are adept at avoiding scandal. We are seldom gossiped about these days. It is only the single and unmarried or the married and unhappy who are spoken of these days. We are no longer exciting news."

"I find news about you to be quite thrilling, actually," Phillip murmured, pulling Marina close to him for a gentle embrace as she giggled. They stuck to each other for the rest of the afternoon making preparations for their homecoming dinner. The season was set to start that evening, and the start of the summer brought Marina's mind back to the night that she and Phillip first met, as if the same melody of intrigue and chance floated through the air, played just for them by the muses.

The Earl arrived before dinner with Emily, Nicholas, and their governess. Marina took them out to her garden, and she walked with her Papa while her brother and sister picked berries from her bushes and ate them directly.

"You look more like your mother each day that passes," the Earl sighed.

"Thank you, Papa."

"Every so often I forget that she is not still here with me when you are near, Marina. Your energy is every bit of hers. Your persistence. Your steadfastness. Even this garden—she would be quite proud of you, my love."

"I know, Papa."

They smiled together and watched Emily and Nicholas from a distance. "I was thinking, Marina..."

"Yes, Papa?"

"Emily will be coming out next year."

"Yes, Papa."

"I think it might be wise if she spent some time with you this year. I feel you might be better qualified to prepare her than I am." Marina's green eyes followed her sister's movements as she played with her brother. She was every bit still a child, and Marina did not see in her what she had seen in Olivia at the same age.

"I would be happy to have her stay for a few weeks, Papa, but perhaps you should entertain the idea of letting her wait another year until she's eighteen."

"Do you really think?"

"I do. Olivia spent five seasons clinging to my every word when I arrived home from the balls before she entered court. She was eager and ready at seventeen, and she had no issues at all catching precisely the husband she wanted. Emily does not yet seem interested in men or marriage. Nicholas is her best friend, after all, and he does not seem inclined toward the same yet. He will start to show more of an interest, soon, and she will be more inclined to grow up then."

"I shall ask her what she would like to do."

"A sound plan," Marina laughed. "And what of you, Papa? What will become of you when all of your grown children have gone?"

"Ah, just as you can see in your sister something that I cannot, allow me to tell you about my boy."

"Please do."

"Nicholas will wait many years before he marries—much like your duke here. He will go off to school, but he will return. While he is away, I will merely make it a habit to visit you and your lovely gardens. I came to stay, as you know, while you were in the winter home. I was caught more times than I would like to admit napping under that three there." The Earl pointed to a tree in the distance that Marina herself was rather fond of, and she gave him a bright smile.

"So I have heard," she chuckled.

"Not one shred of loyalty these days," he muttered. "Marina? Before we go inside, there is one more thing I would like to tell you."

"Of course, Papa."

"I am incredibly proud of you, my girl."

"Whatever for?"

"For the way you stuck with this marriage even in its darkest days. I have never told you before, but your mother and I?—"

"Marina!"

Marina whirled around at the sound of the familiar voice and was delighted to see her sister, skirts hiked up, running across the garden toward her. Phillip walked behind her side-by-side with Olivia's new husband, the Viscount Thomas Baker. Despite his impressive title, Marina found him to be reserved and quiet, a trait which complimented Olivia quite well. The girls wrapped each other in a strong embrace, laughing breathlessly over their excitement to see one another.

"I could not be happier to see you, Olivia," Marina admitted. "I assumed that you were still away."

"I was! I woke early one morning with the strangest feeling that I could not really miss my sister's return to the Hayward Estate, so I woke Thomas and had him prepare to bring us back. I think that he will be quite happy to be home. Paris was wonderful, but he is really much happier at home than…anywhere else."

"I can understand," Marina laughed, her eyes flickering over to Phillip, who was much the same. "Have you a dress with you suitable to wear to this evening's ball?"

"I do," Olivia smiled. "I did a great deal of shopping on my honeymoon," she sighed dreamily.

"You must tell me in great detail how everything has been since the wedding, but I believe it is nearly time to eat."

The Linfields, Harringtons, and Haywards came together in the dining room at the Hayward Estate. Marina sat at the head of the table on one side and her husband on the other, as usual, but she could not help but marvel at how lively their dining room became when their loved ones were seated all around them. Emily and Nicholas argued quietly in between courses and stuffed their faces as soon as a plate was presented to them. Kathrin and her brother chattered excitedly to Thomas about the new opera house that had become popular in London. And Olivia had not paused to breathe in her retelling of her adventures in Paris. Phillip, from across the table, caught his wife's eye, and they shared a meaningful smile. Theirs may not have been the most traditional family, but it was theirs, and they would not have had it any other way.

After their early dinner, the ladies retired upstairs to dress for the ball, Emily and Nicholas were taken to the nursery, which for now was made up just for them, by their governess to retire for the evening. And Phillip recruited the Earl, Thomas, and Mr. Harrington to come with him to open the Estate for the festivities. The first ball of the season would never again be hosted at Glastonbury. Phillip and Marina had taken up the mantle, and tonight would be the first ever ball hosted at Hayward Estate in more than two decades.

Marina was the last to arrive at her own party, hastily coming downstairs to find Phillip. She looked as though she were in distress, so he took her hand and pulled her away to a corner where they could neither be found nor heard.

"What is it? What has you so troubled?"

"Phillip, it's awful."

"What is?"

"The window on my balcony."

"Yes, what of it?"

"It was opened. I do not know when or who opened it, but there is—come and see." She tugged at his hand, trying to lead him up the stairs, but he held steady, the corners of his mouth curving upward in his amusement.

"Is it particularly urgent? You are missing your own ball."

Marina narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice, leaning closer so she could whisper to him. "There is a grasshopper in my rooms," she hissed.

Phillip's head fell back with the force of his laughter, turning his wife's face sour as though she had been betrayed by him. "Please, Phillip, before it has the chance to hide."

"You think that the grasshopper is right now looking for a hiding place in your room so that it can jump out and terrify you in your sleep?"

"I have heard less sane things before."

"Go, Marina. The guests are arriving. I will tend to your grasshopper and come and find you." Marina gave him a swift, appreciative kiss on the cheek, then disappeared. Phillip watched her leave, admiring the simple elegance of her dress and hair. She had wound her hair up in a loose bun, an occasional stray curl decorating her face like a frame. The gown itself was a cream color with pale blue trimmings and embroidered, beaded flowers.

He thought that she looked just as beautiful as the night he first saw her in the garden at his uncle's home. They had come a long way since then, and he was eager to one day, years from then, look back on this moment and think of how much his marriage had grown since.

When he returned from his task, he found Marina where she always was—next to Kathrin, away from the crowd, talking about their guests.

"Your Grace," he greeted, bowing his head to Marina. "Miss Harrington."

"Good evening, Mr. Hayward," Marina said with a wink. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your interruption?"

Phillip saw Kathrin hide her smile behind her fan and chuckled, extending his arm to Marina. "I have come to collect my wife for our first dance of the evening." Marina giggled, excused herself from Kathrin, and allowed Phillip to lead her to the dance floor where other couples were also gathering for the next dance—a lively quartet. The music swelled, and Marina and Phillip danced and laughed together. They danced again and again until they were both spent and at last retired to the garden.

The music from inside floated out the door with them, painting the bright, clear night with more fancy than usual. They found their way to Marina's favorite hiding spot, and Phillip pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and resting his chin on the top of her head.

"Have you been enjoying your night so far, my love?"

"More than I could have ever hoped," she sighed happily. "It is everything to me, Phillip, to have everyone I love so dearly this close to me. I know that you were hesitant to do this after your uncle's announcement."

"Yes, well, someone had to replace his spot in the schedule, and who better than us? You make a wonderful hostess."

Marina turned to face him, and Phillip bent down to close the gap between them, pressing his lips to hers in a sweet, tender kiss.

"Will we have breakfast out here in the gardens with everyone?"

"Whatever you like, my love."

"Oh? Then I shall have a puppy and a horse as well."

Phillip chuckled, bending down again for a second kiss. "Whatever you like," he repeated when they broke away.

"Now that is enough," she giggled. "We cannot hide in the gardens all night. Let us go, enjoy our party, Duke Hayward."

"As you wish, Duchess Hayward."