Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

“ A t last!” Alexandra was the first to bustle in through the open doorway, flinging herself at Margaret. Louisa and Penelope were next, hugging Margaret each in turn.

She was so delighted to see them, she gripped tight to them all, barely noticing her father walk in behind them until they all stepped back.

“How are you?” Louisa asked in a low and pertinent voice, so only Margaret could hear her.

“I’m well,” Margaret assured her. “How are you all? I’ve been wanting to see you all for days!”

“Yes, well…” Penelope offered a sideways glance in their father’s direction. “Father was quite insistent we didn’t come yet.”

“Shh,” Louisa urged with a wave of her hand.

Yet James wasn’t paying attention to their conversation. He was circling the entrance hall, taking in everything before him as if he were a hungry dog and the view was a great slab of meat.

He gawped at the fine furnishings that Margaret had had installed. He even stared somewhat in awe at the reverent way in which Mrs. Lancaster and Yates stood nearby, ready to be called if needed.

“How are you all?” Margaret asked, taking advantage of her father’s hungry stare to check on her sisters.

“Louisa has not come up from air from her books,” Alexandra said with a smile, earning a tut from Louisa.

“Alexandra is trying to find out more about Father’s finances,” Louisa turned the tables. “Though every discovery just seems to make things worse.” Clearly, Alexandra could not argue this point and just nodded sadly.

“And Penelope has tucked Father under a blanket more than once this week when he has returned from the gambling halls and fallen down into a chair.” Alexandra looked at Penelope with a frown. “She’s enabling him.”

“I’m doing no such thing.” Penelope laid her hands on her hips, agitated. “Enough about us. How is married life treating you?”

“Well.”

“Well?” Louisa and Alexandra repeated in unison as Penelope curled her nose.

“I’m not sure Evelina has ever described marriage in such plain terms.” Penelope shook her head in dismay.

“Some things must be going well.” Alexandra laid a hand on the skirt of the formal sage green gown Margaret was wearing. “This is very beautiful. It must be new.”

“Well, maybe my new husband has kindness in him. Even if it is bestowed in a rather stoic and distant sort of manner,” Margaret explained slowly. “Come, let us have dinner.”

She turned with her sisters to find James was now admiring a fine vase nearby. He even picked it up off the side, turning it back and forth to admire it. When he staggered a little, Margaret gulped.

“He has been drinking already tonight?” Margaret whispered in panic.

“Only a little,” Penelope murmured.

“Or a lot,” Louisa added with a sigh as James staggered back the other way.

Out of the nearest doorway, appeared Theodore.

Embarrassed by her father, Margaret felt her cheeks heat. She was sure eggs could have been cooked on her cheeks, they were so hot as Theodore took the vase swiftly out of her father’s grasp. He handed it with ease to Yates, who rather than returning it to its spot, hurried off to find a safer place for it.

“Good evening, Lord Edlerglen.”

“Ah, good evening, Your Grace.” As James bowed, nearly falling over, Margaret and her sisters all panicked.

Margaret and Louisa breathed deeply as Alexandra and Penelope clutched one another’s hands. Fortunately, James stood straight again, managing to avoid falling flat on his nose.

“Dinner?” Theodore gestured through the doorway.

“Ah, thank you.” James led the way then Margaret urged her sisters to follow. She was the last to pass her husband, though Theodore’s light touch to her arm made her halt.

That touch seemed to pass through her, like a bolt of electricity. Whether Theodore felt it or not, she had no idea, for he gave no sign of it.

“Has your father always been like this?” he whispered, nodding at James who struggled to sit down straight in his chair. He only managed to find it in the end as together, Alexandra and Penelope thrust him into it.

“For too long,” she mouthed back, not wishing to go into further explanations.

As dinner began, Margaret felt her embarrassment grow much worse. More than once did she attempt normal conversation with her sisters, but at every step of the way, their conversation was dominated by her father. James showed no tact in trying to find out exactly how much money Theodore had, and if any of it could be used to James’ own advantage.

By the end of the evening, Theodore could not have looked colder or angrier. He sat very still, not partaking of his food or wine.

“If looks could murder,” Louisa whispered in Margaret’s ear.

“Oh, I know.” Margaret nodded. They both knew Theodore’s glare could have killed their father by now with that look. “Well,” Margaret cleared her throat, talking over James before he could ask any more about Theodore’s business affairs. “Louisa, what are you reading at the moment?”

“You do not need to hear about that.” James waved his hand in the air dismissively.

“Oh, I really wish to hear,” Margaret insisted.

“No indeed. The news must come from you.” James gestured to her so sharply that Margaret flinched. “Quite a gown you are wearing this evening. It is new, eh?” He looked at Theodore, expecting him to be the one to confirm.

“That hardly matters, Father,” Margaret pleaded, trying to force a smile.

“Of course it matters. What money! What fortune! Surely you will now share with your family, Margaret?”

So embarrassed, Margaret could say nothing. Tears of fury burned in her eyes as she glowered at her father, then something happened that made any words she wished to say die in her throat.

A hand closed over hers on her lap beneath the table. Shocked, she realized it was Theodore’s hand. He had reached to his side and placed calming fingers on her own.

“We will not talk of anything so vulgar as money at this table.” Theodore’s curt voice put an end to the matter. “I think dinner is now finished, don’t you?”

Margaret had never felt so humiliated. Furious at her father, she missed Theodore’s hand as it slipped away from her grasp. She both wished to know exactly what Theodore was thinking and was very glad she didn’t know.

He must despair of having me for a wife and James for a father-in-law.

“Oh, Evelina, you should have been there. It was so humiliating!” Margaret gushed as she and Evelina walked through the garden. Dressed in her new fur pelisse and green gloves, Margaret didn’t feel the cold so much for a change.

It probably helped that in her fury at the dinner two nights before, she marched up and down the formal borders, with poor Evelina racing to catch up with her.

“I have despaired of our father many times, but oh, this was awful! Goodness knows what Theodore thinks of me now. Thinks of us all.”

“You care for his good opinion, do you?” Evelina caught Margaret’s arm. She immediately halted Margaret’s fast pace, urging her to walk at a much slower pace around the garden.

“It is not that, it is just…” Unable to put into words what she was feeling, she fell silent. How could she tell Evelina that the thought of Theodore thinking ill of her truly hurt? That she feared Theodore pulling back from her even more?

“What?” Evelina whispered.

“I spend just a few short minutes with Theodore every day. We share breakfast, and that is all. If he thinks truly ill of me, he might rescind that promise as well.”

“Some companion,” Evelina huffed. “What a husband he’ll make just giving you a breakfast each day!”

“The breakfast is not unpleasant, sister.”

“It is just a few short minutes each day!” Evelina was the one revealing anger now. She laid a hand over Margaret’s protectively. “I am so sorry things have come to this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know how you wished for a love match,” Evelina whispered, bending her head near so that her clouded breath misted the cool morning air. “How many days of our lives have I seen you cling to romance books and poetry? To wish for such devotion yourself.”

Margaret rather felt as if that idealistic young girl vanished a long time ago. She pulled Evelina further on through the garden, no longer looking her sister in the eye.

Distracted, she wondered where Theodore and Gabriel now were, for Gabriel had come to visit with Evelina. Perhaps they were sharing a drink in his much-loved library?

I wish Theodore would share a drink with me in that room.

“I wanted you to be happy, Margaret. To marry for love!” Evelina gushed.

“Do not worry about that.” Margaret forced a smile. “I have more than I could have asked for. I have a very comfortable home indeed, a beautiful garden to walk in, new gowns too. Look.” She gestured down at the pelisse and dress. “Things I never would have even asked for in a match.”

“The money brings you comfort, does it?”

“It is better than things were before,” Margaret reminded her. “And with the money, I hope to be useful to our sisters.”

“It is not the same.” Evelina broke off from their walk. She stood a little distance from Margaret, reminding her of when they were children together. It had hardly been unusual when they were very little for Evelina to stomp her feet in a tantrum, but that was many years ago now.

That was before Evelina had had to grow up fast and be mother to them all.

“Money cannot buy love. It cannot buy happiness, sister,” Evelina insisted, waving a hand at the beautiful garden. She nearly struck a state of a cherub in her distraction, waving at is absentmindedly. “All the beauties money can buy… what is it worth? If you have no one to share the smiles with.”

“We cannot all be so fortunate,” Margaret said placidly. “You must know, Evelina, I can’t complain, can I? A month ago, I was facing spinsterhood because of scandal. Now at least, I have a safe and secure future ahead of me. I should be grateful.”

“Grateful!?” Evelina spluttered, racing toward her. “Why did you not ask for help? I could have got you out of this marriage.”

“How could you have done that?”

“Oh, I don’t know!” She flung her hands up with impatience. “But I would have found a way. It is my job to protect you –”

“It is not.” Margaret stepped back. “Evelina, it is high time you stopped being mother to me. You have your own child to think of now.” She nodded toward the small baby bump that was growing by the day.

“What do you mean?” Evelina laid her hands on her stomach.

“I mean that our sisters and I are not going to be a burden on you anymore.” The guilt swelled inside her. “We have weighed too heavily on you for too long now.”

Evelina blinked rather rapidly.

“That is not how I see our world.”

“It is how I see it.” Margaret stepped forward. “Too much was asked of you at too young an age. I am grateful for everything you have done for me, for all of us, Evelina, but I will not ask anymore of you. You have given up so much for us. Pray, do not now torture yourself with thinking you could have done more when it was not your place to save me from this marriage.”

Evelina sniffed. Tears began to leak out of her eyes, then she threw herself at Margaret with so much effort that she nearly knocked the two of them over as she embraced her tightly.

Margaret giggled softly as she held her sister.

“I love you dearly, Evelina. I just want to protect you.”

“As I do you.”

“Theodore? Are you even concentrating on what I am saying?”

“Of course,” Theodore answered distractedly. He held tightly onto his cup of coffee as he looked out of the window and into the garden.

Margaret and Evelina were embracing rather tightly. Desperately, he wished to know what they were talking about.

“So?”

“So what?” Theodore said.

“I knew you weren’t concentrating. You haven’t even heard what question I was asking you.” Gabriel sighed.

Theodore tore his gaze from Margaret and Evelina and looked back at his friend. Gabriel sat in a chat nearby with his own cup of coffee, staring fixedly back.

“Has Evelina spoken much to you of their father?” Theodore asked.

“Ah, very well, let us change the subject.” Gabriel nodded. “Of course. We have talked extensively of her family.” He paused, taking a breath just to sigh. “I have also seen enough myself to know that the Viscount is driving the whole family into the ground with his gambling. And his drinking.”

“Hmm.” Theodore nodded. “I gave him money the night I proposed. I told him to buy a new wedding gown for her. Do you think he did it?”

“Ah. No, I do not.”

“Then you would be right.” Theodore glowered. “That man sat here for dinner, and rather than asking his daughter about married life. Rather than talking to any of his daughters at all about their lives, he asked me about money. Repeatedly.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised.” Gabriel shook his head. “He must have viewed you as quite the prize when you offered to marry Margaret. I was prize enough, but you? With your businesses?”

“My reputation didn’t put him off?” Theodore needed no other reminder to Gabriel that his father’s poor name in business had left him with rumors of foul play and dodgy businesses.

“Maybe there are men who think you deserve to be in Newgate.”

“Pff!” Theodore snorted, thinking it rather an understatement.

“Yet the Viscount is not the man to care about that sort of thing. He cares about money. Not how it’s obtained.”

Theodore sighed and looked away. Every business deal he had ever made was completely legitimate. It was just that the memory of his father’s business dealings had cast a very long shadow indeed over his life.

“Enough of her father. How are you and Margaret?” Gabriel said, putting down his coffee cup. “How has the first few weeks of marriage been treating you?”

“Fine.”

“Fine!?” Gabriel repeated. “Of all the ways I could describe marriage, fine is hardly the first word I’d be reaching for.” He shook his head.

“How would you describe it?”

“Exciting, fun, warming. At times, infuriating.” He chuckled. “Evelina and I get under each other’s skin, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Hmm.” Theodore shook his head. “Maggie does annoy me.”

“Maggie?” Gabriel leaned forward sharply. “You call her Maggie now?”

“Margaret feels far too formal. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“If you say so.”

Though Theodore could see Gabriel didn’t quite believe him.

“She annoys you then?” Gabriel asked.

“Hmm.” Theodore turned away and looked back out of the window. Once more, Margaret and Evelina were walking arm in arm, talking deeply. He suspected they were talking about Evelina’s pregnancy, as Evelina was holding onto her stomach as they talked. “She’s infuriating sometimes.”

“Now that sounds more like a marriage,” Gabriel said with a chuckle. “What do you two do together?”

“We have breakfast.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I told you, Gabriel.” Theodore glanced over his shoulder. “We are married but in name.”

Gabriel’s look saddened. He said nothing, though the shake of his head spoke volumes to Theodore. He had greatly disappointed his older friend by insisting repeatedly on this matter.

“Well, then you shall have to start attending events together, even if it is just in name.”

“What? Why?” Theodore asked.

“Because for one thing, if you do wish people to think you a respectably married man with no hint of your father’s foul business dealings following you, then you must, at least, give people the chance to see you together. See you for the respectable couple you wish to portray yourselves as.” Gabriel touched a nerve with these words.

Theodore looked back out of the window, thinking of the night he and Margaret had met.

Even now, her frayed gown still annoyed him from that night. It was an imperfection that had rankled him. Since he had purchased a new gown, everything was always in place with her. The sleeves sat perfectly on her shoulders, even now, the gloves sat right on her wrists, no hint of an adjustment needed.

“She will be the wife you want in public, Theodore.”

“I know she will be. That is not what concerns me.”

“Then what is it that concerns you?” Gabriel asked, his frustrated tone plain.

Theodore turned to face his friend.

“What happened to the last married couple of my blood who spent so much time together?” It was as if he had shot a gun across the room.

Gabriel colored and looked down. They had been friends for so long that even though Theodore had told Gabriel very little, his friend had still seen for himself plenty of times as they had grown up what the relationship of Theodore’s parents had been.

“That was your parents. That isn’t you.”

“Their blood is my blood,” Theodore reminded him. “I have made a plan for the way this marriage will be, and I shall stick to his Gabriel.”

“Very well, have your way.” Gabriel stood from his seat. “To make the marriage what you wish it to be, what you wish it to achieve, you will still have to be seen in public together. In four days, Evelina and I are holding a ball. Say you and Margaret will come?”

Before Theodore knew what he was doing, he was nodding in agreement.

One ball with Maggie cannot be so bad. Can it?