Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"I hope we have enough forks. Did someone check we had enough forks? Roberts, did you make sure there are enough forks?" the dowager exclaimed.

"Yes, Your Ladyship. There are enough forks, knives, spoons, and everything else that could possibly be needed," the butler replied.

There was a hint of frustration in his voice, one Johanna fully understood. Arrangements for the Beaumont Dinner that evening had reached a fever pitch, and the dowager had involved herself in every minutiae of the arrangements, allowing Johanna to do nothing.

"You don't need to help. It's easier if I do it myself," she had told Johanna when the question of who should see to the flower arrangements had arisen.

Johanna wanted to help, but she felt entirely helpless in the face of the dowager's insistence on seeing to everything herself.

"Yes...good, enough forks. And glasses...no, don't answer, Roberts. I'll go and see to the table setting myself. It's always better to have a woman's eye in these matters. Don't you think, Johanna?" the dowager asked.

Johanna had no chance to respond before her mother-in-law had swept out of the room, calling for the footmen to follow her to the dining room. The butler let out a deep sigh, though he said nothing as he now followed. Johanna was left alone, smiling to herself at the thought of the dowager fussing over the arrangements. She wanted the dinner to be a success, even as Johanna was now feeling increasingly nervous. Invitations—previously retracted—had been issued far and wide, and Johanna knew there was much expectation on the part of the ton as to what was to be. Lavinia and Wilhelmina had accepted their invitations, and the scene was now set for whatever Edmund intended.

Whatever that might be, Johanna thought to herself.

She could not imagine what announcing an annulment would do—other than cause further speculation and intrigue. But Johanna was willing to trust Edmund to make the right decision, and with the time for the dinner to begin now fast approaching, Johanna went to get herself ready to greet their guests.

***

"Lady Brixton, how lovely to see you...and Sir Robert, you never look a day older. Oh...I must go and greet the Potters. They've come from such a long way," the dowager said, steering Johanna through the crowd gathered in the drawing room for drinks.

Johanna had not realized just how many people would be attending the dinner that evening, and she was relieved to have the dowager to help her in greeting them—the names alone proving impossible to remember.

"I don't like half of them, and the others I only invite out of charity. But it has to be done," Johanna's mother-in-law whispered, though she did not elaborate as to who fitted into which category.

Edmund was talking to Roger, and Johanna now spotted Tabitha arriving. She made her excuses to the dowager and hurried across the room to greet her.

"I'm so glad you're here," Johanna whispered.

She knew the principal reason any of the people gathered for the dinner that evening had accepted was the fact of the unfolding scandal surrounding her and Edmund. Thanks to Lavinia, what had happened in the shrubbery was now common knowledge, and there was no doubt in Johanna's mind as to her being the center of attention.

"Are you all right? I still don't think this is a very good idea," Tabitha whispered.

"Edmund thinks it is. He says he wants to look after me...I just wish he'd tell me, and...oh, I wasn't expecting them to be here," Johanna exclaimed, and now she caught sight of her parents being ushered into the drawing room by one of the footmen.

"Oh, I thought you knew. It was Roger's idea, or so he told me. I thought you knew. I'm nervous about meeting them, too," Tabitha said as Johanna's mother now made a beeline for them.

Johanna had not seen her mother in several weeks, and not since the scandal of the masquerade had broken. But the look on her mother's face told her she had heard everything…

"I don't understand why we're here, Johanna. What a thing this is. A dinner in the midst of a scandal. Oh, what were you thinking? I know it's not what everyone thinks. But you were so foolish to allow yourself…" she began, without even greeting Johanna or Tabitha with any kind of courtesy.

Johanna interrupted her.

"Mother, I don't know what lies you've heard. But none of it is true. I'm sure the Parker sisters are delighting in spreading rumors about me, but nothing happened. Who do you believe? Your daughter or a pack of gossips with nothing better to do than spread lies?" Johanna said.

Her words were impassioned, and her mother now looked at her in surprise.

"Well...when you put it like that, Johanna...I'm sorry, it's just...well, I'm worried about your reputation. That's why we came. It was all so rushed. The wedding, I mean. We hardly knew the duke, did we? And then there was the question of what happened between the two of you in the woods…" she said.

Again, Johanna raised her eyebrows.

"Nothing happened, Mother. I give you my word. I've been the victim of circumstance. Cruel and unwarranted circumstances. I'll explain more later. But right now...oh, Lavinia's here," Johanna said, glancing at Tabitha who drew a sharp intake of breath at the sight of Lavinia and her mother, who had just been announced into the drawing room.

Heads were turning, and whispers circulated as Lavinia advanced toward Edmund, who had turned to greet her. Despite knowing the truth, Johanna could not help but feel threatened by the sight of her adversary, who had dressed, not so much for a dinner, but for a ball. She looked resplendent in red, the color of seduction, the trail of the dress swishing across the floor as she walked with the confident air of a woman who felt certain of her advantage, shoulders back and head held high.

"Look at her," Tabitha whispered, shaking her head in astonishment.

"She's certainly accepted the invitation," Johanna replied, watching as Lavinia held out her hand to Edmund and smiled.

"Lavinia, I'm so glad to see you," he said, taking Lavinia's hand and raising it to his lips.

Lavinia smiled, and had she not known better, Johanna might well have felt a sense of jealousy at seeing her husband apparently so charmed by the arrival of this red-clad seductress. It was clear Lavinia thought her time had come, and the smug look on Wilhelmina's face also said the same. She was standing behind Lavinia, and now she greeted Edmund with a curtsey.

"My lord," she said before offering Edmund her hand.

"What happens now?" Tabitha whispered, and Johanna took a deep breath.

"We let the evening unfold," she replied, even as she was still not entirely certain how it would do so.

***

"Look, there's Lord Frederick, too. What a gathering," Tabitha said, shaking her head.

It had been decided the first course of the dinner would be served outside in the garden, allowing the guests to mingle with one another on the lawn before sitting down at tables arranged below the terrace. The dowager had led the party outside, and now Johanna and Tabitha were standing on the terrace, looking down at the gathering below.

"Edmund told me to talk to him. I can't bear the thought of it. He scares me. I keep thinking about him in the mask, the way he took hold of me in the shrubbery. It makes me shudder," Johanna said, shaking her head as she watched Lord Frederick laughing with one of the guests.

"He's obviously here for a reason. Look, Roger's going to talk to him. Oh, I wish I knew what was going to happen," Tabitha said.

Johanna felt the same. She did not know what Edmund had planned, though she was willing to trust his judgment. He had trusted her on the day they had first met, and now she wanted to do the same, even as she feared the possibility of Lavinia still gaining the upper hand. She was a cunning, devious woman, and to see her now, flirting with Edmund, was to be reminded of how close Johanna had come to disaster. But it was also a reminder of how Johanna's own feelings had changed. No longer did she have any doubts as to what she had done—as to what she had chosen in marrying Edmund. She had made the right choice, and with every passing day, she was falling more in love with him.