Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Eugh," Caroline gagged from her perch atop the garden wall.

She looked like some blonde fairy, clothed in a rose-coloured dress with her hair half-down in waves around her shoulders. Or rather, she might have, had her face not been screwed up into such an obvious look of disgust.

Josephine snorted from where she kneeled in the dirt in the middle of the flowerbed just beneath the wall.

"How can you stand it?" Caroline asked plaintively, her eyes trained on where Josephine's fingers were immersed in the dirt, pulling weeds out by the root gleefully and tossing them into the half-full basket sat off to one side. "Dirt smells, Josie. Don't you hate it getting under your nails? Surely any one of those new servants that the duke sent over could be doing this for you now."

Josephine's lips twitched at her friend's disdain, her eyes darting over to the house at the mention of the new servants.

"I'm sure they could," she murmured, "but I quite enjoy taking care of the garden you know."

Caroline made another face, her lips curling down as she stared still at Josephine digging in the dirt.

There was no doubt that if their roles had been reversed, Caroline would still be sitting just where she was supervising one of the new servants as they did the work Josephine took such joy in doing herself.

New servants.

Josephine hadn't expected Henry to send them. He had only promised her the money he had already given her father. It was all that Josephine had expected. A boon that had left them all overjoyed when the funds had come through, and her mother and father had rejoiced over breakfast about it.

Three new maids, two kitchen maids, a groom, and a footman had been sent the same day, making the daily tasks in their house just that much easier to bear.

Josephine hadn't even thought to worry about the tasks that she took care of falling into disrepair upon her leaving. But Henry had. And the fact that he had touched her in a way she didn't quite know how to describe.

"I just know that you aren't smiling like that about dirt, Josie," Caroline accused suddenly, jerking Josephine from her musing.

"No, not the dirt," Josephine acknowledged with a half-laugh.

"As I said, I'm well aware." Caroline sniffed playfully, rearranging her skirts as she crossed her legs at the ankle and peered pointedly down at Josephine. "Are you ever going to tell me about the duke, or are you intentionally leaving me in the dark here?"

"I've told you about the duke," Josephine countered, fighting the heat in her cheeks just at the mention of him.

"Josie!"

"Well, I have!"

She just hadn't told her all of the sordid details. Like how he made her insides feel as if they were afire. Or how he had kissed her the last time they had been with one another.

"Yes, yes. You've told me about your arranged marriage and the practicality of it. You've told me about how it will suit your family and how kind he is. But a girl doesn't smile at dirt like you just were over arrangements."

Josephine bit back a grin at how peeved her friend sounded, her weeding slowing down as she tried to think how best to phrase the thoughts she hadn't quite detangled yet.

"He is very kind," she stalled, ignoring her friend's huff. "And you are right. There is more than just pleasure at the arrangement being made and suiting the both of us there."

"More pleasure?" Caroline trilled, giggling as she leaned forward with even more avid interest.

"More than just that appreciation," Josephine corrected with a laugh. "I enjoy his company. We have much more in common than I would have imagined. We enjoy the same literature and seem to align in many of our values …"

"Only you could make attraction sound so staid," Caroline complained. "Come now, Josie. When first we spoke of it, you made it seem like you expected a marriage of convenience alone. Two statues sharing a home and a last name. Has that changed?"

Lord, yes. It had changed.

Josephine couldn't even pinpoint the exact moment that it had. Rather, it was a string of small instances she had missed along the way.

"I do wonder if our marriage might possibly be more than just an agreement between one another," Josephine admitted slowly. She chewed over each word, choosing them carefully so she didn't get swept away in her friend's romanticism.

"More than just an agreement?" Caroline pressed when Josephine didn't automatically continue.

Josephine chewed the inside of her cheek, pushing back to sit on her calves as she gave up weeding for a moment to really consider her words even more fully.

"It is easy enough to say that we might be friends." Josephine didn't actually have any doubt about that being the case.

"Friends …" Caroline repeated, disappointment lacing the word.

Josephine didn't let her friend's reaction stop her, though.

She stared past Caroline to the green hills beyond, her brow furrowing.

"There is an attraction there," she admitted.

"An attraction?" Caroline's voice rose in pitch. "I know you said he was attractive; is that what you are referring to, or …?"

"Yes and no," Josephine's lips twitched. "An attraction … on both sides." She ignored Caroline's squeal just as she had everything else, shooting her a half-chastising look before sighing. "There was from the very first night, but since he kissed me–"

"Since he WHAT?"

Caroline's voice echoed around the garden, bouncing off the wall she sat on as she became a flurry of pink skirts and all but toppled off the perch she'd been holding for the last half hour. "Kissed you?" she screeched, the dirt and her hate for it forgotten as she fell to her knees in front of Josephine.

Her cheeks were pink with intrigue, her eyes wide as she leaned forward and waved as if to encourage Josephine to continue.

"Lord, Caroline, don't announce it to the entire countryside!" Josephine laughed through the heat that suffused her face at Caroline's reaction. Her smile was unsteady, her stomach twisting in knots as Caroline scooted forward, expecting Josephine to start whispering.

Josephine almost thought that she ought to.

"He kissed me last night after dinner," Josephine said casually. Or as casually as she was able to.

"Where? How? On your hand? On your cheek?" Caroline's questions were rapid as she tripped over some of the syllables, her lips pressing into a giddy line as she all but bounced in place with obvious difficulty, waiting for Josephine to answer even just one.

"No, not on my cheek," Josephine bit out. "On the lips."

Caroline barely restrained her squeal.

"We were given a modicum of privacy after dinner, and he kissed me." Josephine wasn't quite willing to go into more detail than that. It was silly, she was sure, but it felt personal, private. That moment and the ones that had come before it.

"And!" Caroline prompted impatiently.

"And I enjoyed it," Josephine said primly.

"Of all the times to be so concise!" Caroline sat back on her calves with a huff. "You enjoyed it! I don't suppose I have to ask if he did. He is a man."

Josephine's cheeks coloured even further as she remembered his look as he pulled back. That barely restrained desire. She didn't know how she knew, but she was certain that if her mother and father hadn't been present, he would have gone even further.

And a very large part of her wished that he had.

"We are well suited in many respects," Josephine muttered to Caroline's quick laughter.

"I understand what is expected of me, Caroline. And what I expect of him. We will be companions, surely. And he expects an heir, of that I am sure. And after last night," she cut off, swallowing thickly and throwing herself back into weeding to keep from seeing Caroline's expression. "After last night, I'm more than ready to fulfill my wifely duties."

Caroline's giggle was high-pitched, her hands clapping as she grinned widely at Josephine.

"Why must you say that as if it is a problem?" Caroline demanded after a moment, her gaze and tone both sobering as she looked suddenly worried.

"It isn't a problem!" Josephine paused, digging her fingers with fervour into the dirt as she gripped a particularly stubborn weed. "I expected to do as much anyway. Enjoying it is just an added bonus."

"So what has you so hesitant?"

That was the question, was it not?

Josephine grunted as she pulled the large weed from its place, tossing it aggravatedly over into the basket and rubbing the back of her hand against her forehead as she sighed.

"I'm beginning to question if it might be possible that I end up having feelings for H – the duke," she muttered.

After a too-long moment of Caroline's silence, she dared to glance up.

Caroline was staring at her as if she had grown a second head.

"And that would be a problem?" Caroline finally asked, disbelief colouring her tone.

"Well, it wasn't part of the plan!"

"Oh, Josie, emotions have nothing to do with plans."

Josephine huffed, leaning forward once more to dig more weeds out.

"Isn't falling in love with your husband a good thing?"

"No one said anything about love," Josephine said quickly. "And yes, actually. When your husband is still in love with his late wife and has no room to fall in love with anyone else."

Her throat closed over the words, her eyes suddenly gritty feeling as she clenched her jaw to keep from saying anything else.

"Oh, Josie," Caroline breathed, her voice dropping.

"It's a silly thing, really." And it was. It wasn't as if she were actually in love with Henry. They were only talking about the possibility of it happening. But to fall in love with a man who would never love her back? That, to her, was far sadder than the picture she had imagined of their life before.

"It isn't silly in the slightest. There's no telling how things might shift, Josie. You had no intention of developing feelings for him. Who is to say–"

"Don't do that." Josephine was quick to cut her friend off, her head shake quick and certain. "We are well suited," she repeated brightly. She didn't know who she was trying to convince more, herself or Caroline. "I'm borrowing trouble, I think."

"You do that when something good happens to you, you know."

Josephine glanced up quickly. "What?"

"When unexpected good fortune befalls you," Caroline explained patiently. "Like that summer when your family was gifted that extra harvest. You worried endlessly that there were strings attached or that Mr Briar would come looking for payment after. You do, quite literally, look a gift horse in the mouth, Josie."

Josephine blinked slowly, frowning as she realized she couldn't argue that point. She had always considered it being practical.

They sat in companionable silence for several long moments, and Josephine realized the wisdom behind her friend pointing it out to her.

She was looking the gift horse in the mouth, searching for a potential pitfall instead of just enjoying the good news she knew was there.

"I enjoy his company," Josephine said suddenly. "I like spending time with him. I find him very attractive–"

"And look forward to performing your wifely duties," Caroline teased.

Josephine flicked dirt at her, her lips twitching. "And I think … if I really think about it? I could imagine myself happy with my life with Henry as my husband. A handful of children … living on his estate."

"Being duchess," Caroline tacked on with a grin.

Josephine rolled her eyes.

"And knowing that my parents will be taken care of as well?"

"That's why you were worrying," Caroline pointed out knowingly. "You started thinking that it was too good to be true."

Josephine exhaled heavily.

She was right.

"Not to be a storm cloud over this bright sunny future myself," Caroline murmured, pausing as Josephine looked up confusedly. "But, I take it then, that your worry concerning the late duchess has been assuaged?"

Josephine blinked.

And then she blinked again.

The murder.

How had she forgotten it so quickly when it had tied her up in knots only a day previous?

"I am certain that he didn't kill her," Josephine said emphatically.

And she was.

"But your mind has been put to rest concerning her murder otherwise?"

Josephine shifted, looking down sheepishly as the truth dawned on her.

"I'd forgotten to think about it," she admitted softly.

Caroline stared at her silently for a moment. And then she laughed. "You'd forgotten? Oh, Josephine. I think you've started worrying too often about too many things; you're forgetting one to start on the next now."

"I will put more dirt on your pretty pink skirts," Josephine threatened with no real heat. "Weren't you supposed to be finding more information out about that for me in the first place?"

Caroline dimpled, unbothered in the least by Josephine's half-accusatory look.

"The best gossip gathering takes time, dear friend."

Josephine snorted. "Or you forgot as well."

Caroline shot her a look of mock outrage. "I did no such thing! I can't just go around asking a bunch of questions about a murder out of the blue, Josie. I have to be careful about what I ask and when. And with your engagement, it's brought up naturally enough on its own. Finding the truth of matters is more often discovered just through listening, you know."

Josephine eyed Caroline with one raised brow.

"I think you have your finger on the pulse of all the gossip out here, Caroline. I can't decide whether I ought to be more appalled or impressed."

"Impressed, of course," Caroline assured her without any hesitation. "It's a delicate art form what I'm doing. Years of practice, you know."

Their back-and-forth teasing died out as Josephine pulled the last weed in sight and sat back once more.

"I want it to be nothing," she whispered, the truth easing out of her.

"I don't have to keep looking, Josie."

Josephine shook her head. "No, that isn't what I meant. I do want to know what happened to her. Not just to reassure myself of my own safety. But can you imagine how devastating it has been for Henry this whole time? Not knowing what happened to her. I imagine it would bring him a great deal of comfort to put it to rest."

Caroline's gaze sharpened, a speculative look overtaking her features as Josephine looked towards the Wallburshare estate.

Her future home.

"You really are coming to care for him, aren't you?"

Josephine could only nod.

God help her, but she was.