Chapter Fifteen

F elix returned home two hours later. He was relieved. He didn't know how much longer he could have spent reading the papers. He'd gotten so bored that he even resorted to reading the Tittletattle . If he'd had any foresight, he would have taken one of his books to Marco's. Then he could have stayed there the entire afternoon without getting bored. But being gone for a full three hours had given Elizabeth plenty of time to search through his library, so he was confident they wouldn't have to see each other until dinner. With any luck, it wouldn't be as awkward between them this evening.

When he stepped through the entryway, the footman notified him that his sister was there. He wasn't surprised. Lydia probably felt like she had to convince him to overlook all of Guy's faults while Guy wasn't obligated to do the same for him. He didn't know if he was in the mood for this. Guy had really upset him this time by refusing to talk to him. They'd had their arguments in the past, but Guy had never resorted to not talking to him.

He had a mind to not talk to Lydia so she would know what it felt like. Then she might not be so quick to run to Guy's defense. However, after a momentary debate, Felix relented and headed for the drawing room. To his surprise, Lydia and Elizabeth were talking, and they were both laughing. Felix halted just outside the room. Perhaps he ought to leave the two alone. He could talk to Lydia another time.

"That's the way things were while we grew up," Lydia told Elizabeth. "Felix always liked to plan out the day. He had a ledger where he kept track of when we would do our studies and when we would play games. He even specified which games we would play. If we changed our minds when the day came, we still had to play the game he wrote down. He would say, ‘It's only proper to stick to your word. When you promise to do something, you do it.' So Oscar and I had no choice but to stick to his schedule."

Felix didn't like this. If Lydia was revealing this about him to Elizabeth, then what was to stop her from telling Elizabeth about the time he ran through the townhouse in his undergarments because he'd been so drunk he thought he needed to chase a dragon? He'd never survive that humiliation.

He stepped into the room, an action which, thankfully, made Lydia stop talking. He offered both ladies a polite smile then directed his gaze to his sister. "Forgive me for interrupting, but the footman told me you wished to speak with me."

"Oh, yes, I did." Lydia set down her cup of tea, glanced at the clock, and then jumped to her feet. "I can't believe how late it is. I arrived here two hours ago."

Felix's gut tightened in dread. Lydia had been here that long talking to Elizabeth? Lydia could have told her anything in that time!

"I will make another attempt to talk to Guy about what happened between you two earlier today," she said. "I know Guy will speak with you again. He's not unreasonable." Felix must have rolled his eyes without realizing it since she hurried to amend, "He doesn't try to be unreasonable. I think he's just spooked when it comes to owls because of what happened at our country estate. But Elizabeth showed me the owl, and I agree it is handsomely crafted." Her gaze went to the mantle. "A lot of love and care went into making it. It should be displayed where your visitors can see it."

Well, at least she could admit that. "Yes, it is a beautiful work of art."

"And it looks nothing like the statues our ancestor put around the estate. I will explain that to Guy. The differences might make him feel better about visiting you in the future."

"Do you really believe he will step into this room with that statue in here?"

He could tell by the expression on her face that she wanted to say yes, but she couldn't lie to him. Finally, she admitted, "No. The best we can hope for is that he'll agree to go to a room that doesn't have an owl in it."

"Or any other symbol of bad luck. Lydia, I am tired of this. It's impossible to predict what will upset him. If he can't come into a room in my own home because there's something he believes is bad luck, then it would be better if he never came here at all."

She frowned in uncertainty then asked, "But you will come to our townhouse, won't you?"

"Why should I? If he esteems his superstitions more than he esteems me, why have a relationship at all?"

He could tell Lydia was struggling to counter his logic but was unable to.

"I've had enough of this, Lydia," he replied. "I can't take this anymore. If Guy can't handle the things my wife brings into this house, then there's no point in my speaking with him. I apologize for being blunt, but that's just the way it's going to be." Before things got even more awkward for poor Elizabeth who'd been forced to endure their conversation, he added, "I'll leave you two to your visit." Then he hurried out of the room.

***

F ELIX DIDN'T KNOW WHAT he expected from dinner that evening. A part of him was hopeful that things would be better, but another part feared he had made things worse by refusing to speak to his own brother-in-law right in front of Elizabeth. If this had been a normal marriage, he could have explained the past to her and why things had come to this very moment. As it was, she was probably left thinking he was irrational.

He and Oscar went into the dining room first. That wasn't unusual. Elizabeth had made it a habit of showing up about five to ten minutes after the meal started. She also typically left before they were done. He supposed it was easier to avoid talking to him and Oscar by eating as quickly as possible. So it wasn't a surprise when she came into the dining room ten minutes into the meal. She did, however, greet both of them and sat only one chair away from him.

Oscar was so shocked that he dropped the biscuit he'd been eating.

Felix cleared his throat before she noticed. Glad she directed her gaze to him, Felix offered her a tentative smile and said, "Good evening, Elizabeth. You look lovely in that gown." Which she did. Even in black, she looked spectacular.

She smiled. "Thank you for the compliment. And thank you for allowing me the freedom to decorate this place as I see fit."

"Well, it's not only your home now, but you also have fine taste."

Her smile widened then she turned her attention to the soup in front of her.

Oscar, finally managing to overcome his shock, picked up the biscuit. "So, did everyone have a good day?" He bit into it.

Sensing that his brother was fishing for information about the sudden change in the atmosphere in the dining room, Felix decided to satisfy his curiosity. "Good enough, even though the Tittletattle still doesn't have anything useful to say." When things fell into silence, Felix added, "Have you seen the statue of the owl Elizabeth put in the drawing room?"

Oscar swallowed. "No, not yet."

"It's between Mother's candlesticks on the mantle in the drawing room."

"Those candlesticks belonged to your mother?" Elizabeth asked.

Felix nodded as he dipped his spoon into the soup, hoping no one would notice the way his fingers trembled. Ironically, now that Elizabeth was willing to engage in a conversation with him during the meal, he was even more nervous than he'd been before. "She fell in love with them as soon as she saw them. They are real silver."

"My owl is real silver, too," Elizabeth commented. "I bought the thing because of the design. The owl and the candlesticks could have come together in a set. They match each other so well."

"It does seem like that, doesn't it?"

Oscar, who had finished his biscuit and was working on his soup, looked up from his bowl and said, "I'm going to have to see this owl after dinner since you two have had so many good things to say about it."

Felix waited for Oscar to say something about Guy since he had mentioned Guy's aversion to owls at Marco's, but to his relief, Oscar didn't say anything about that in front of Elizabeth. He released his breath then took a sip of his soup.

"I had a wonderful day," Oscar spoke up. "Adam and I made some progress with the love potion. I can't wait for it to be ready. Once it does, Adam and I will be famous. This will go all over the world. Imagine being able to control who falls in love with you."

"Don't get your hopes up," Felix advised. "You can't make people feel something they don't."

"This could very well work." Oscar's gaze went to Elizabeth. "Anything is possible when you use science to solve a problem. All you need to do is change the way someone's brain interprets another person. Once you do that, you can make even the strongest of enemies like each other."

Felix put his spoon down and focused on his brother. "Let's dismiss the fact that you can't make people fall in love with someone else. There's another problem with this plan you and Adam have."

"Oh?"

"Ethics. Is it moral to compel someone to fall in love with another person?"

"If the person is in love, why would they care if it's moral or not?"

Felix stared at him in disbelief. There really was no reasoning with him. He gave a tentative glance at Elizabeth to see what she thought of this whole thing and was relieved when he noted her disapproval. Thank goodness someone else agreed with him. After finding out someone as sensible as Grant was going to finance the venture, he was beginning to fear that everyone on the planet had lost their wits.

In an attempt to change the topic, Felix asked Elizabeth, "Did you and Lydia have a pleasant afternoon?"

Elizabeth, seeming to be relieved Oscar's love potion was no longer the subject of the conversation, nodded. "We did. I had no idea someone could talk as much as she does, but I enjoyed it. She has a way of making a person feel comfortable."

Oscar smiled. "That's how Lydia is. Ever since we were children, she would talk to anyone who was nearby. She didn't care who it was."

"That's true," Felix agreed. "One time, Mother caught her talking to the maid while the maid was supposed to be doing the laundry. Mother was so upset that she sent Lydia out to do the laundry with her to teach her a lesson about leaving the servants alone so they could do their jobs in peace."

Oscar grinned. "It didn't work. Lydia just joined the servants in all of their tasks until Mother put a stop to that, too."

The three chuckled, but it was Elizabeth who said, "I wondered how well she knew the servants when she asked Cook about his son's missing toy today."

Oscar's eyes grew wide. "Cook hasn't even been working here that long. When did she have time to talk to him?"

That was a good question, but he doubted Elizabeth knew the answer.

"Felix," Oscar began as he dipped his spoon into his soup, "why don't you tell her about the time Lydia convinced the butler's daughter to go to the market with her because she didn't want to go alone?" He glanced at Elizabeth. "Lydia was only ten at the time. That ordeal made our parents' hair go white."

"That Lydia is quite the imp, isn't she?" Elizabeth asked, her face a mixture of humor and horror.

"‘Imp' is putting it lightly," Felix replied. "Fortunately, she learned to restrain herself. She doesn't do that anymore."

"Now that she's an adult, I should hope not," Oscar added with a chuckle. "She certainly made things interesting around here. Though, as I think on it, Felix and I have had our share of excitement in other ways."

A flicker of panic swept over Felix. His brother wasn't going to tell Elizabeth about the times he'd been drunk, was he? Before Oscar could say anything, he hurried to insert, "We don't need to bore Elizabeth with all of the things that have happened around here."

Oscar's eyes grew wide. "Come now. What happened at the country estate wasn't boring. Guy spent hours searching for four-leaf clovers for everyone to put in their pockets. He wouldn't even step into the attic until I made sure all of the rats were dead. There were days I had to hunt down rodents instead of patching the roof, and during one of those days, I got soaked up there." He glanced at Elizabeth. "If you think him panicking over the owl in the drawing room is bad, you haven't been forced to spend a month in the country with him."

Felix was so relieved Oscar hadn't been thinking of the times he'd been drunk that he didn't care that Oscar was referring to the time in the country, even if the reference to their country estate might make Elizabeth think of her brother. They had only been out there because her brother had threatened to kill him.

"There are some people who can't be reasoned with, and Guy is one of them," Felix said after an agonizing minute of silence passed. He cleared his throat. "I think it's best to focus on the future and what we can do to make it better."

"I agree," Elizabeth said, her voice almost a whisper. "We can't do anything about the past."

Her words surprised him. Was she choosing to forgive him for what he'd done to her? He wished he could ask. If he wasn't so timid when it came to her, he would. But given everything, how could he not be worried he might say or do the wrong thing?

"If no one objects, I'd like to discuss the love potion in greater detail," Oscar said after another uncomfortable moment passed between them.

As ridiculous as the love potion was, Felix supposed it was the safest topic they could choose. He glanced at Elizabeth, and since she seemed willing to listen to Oscar's spiel, he offered Oscar a nod to let him know he could ramble on about the silly potion, and to his shock, Oscar proceeded to do that in surprising detail.