Chapter Twenty-Five

Penelope was walking on air. She'd trekked to Yorkshire hoping to convince a stranger to go through with their wedding. The gentleman she'd come to know was proving everything she hadn't realized she'd been longing for. It was more than his love of horses and athletic endeavors, more than his enjoyment of nature and friendly interactions. He was kind and considerate, intelligent and thoughtful. His sense of humor so perfectly complemented her own. He knew of her difficulties with her family and her struggles to claim her future, and he not only understood, but he also wasn't condemning her for her missteps.

And he'd kissed her in a way that she would thoroughly enjoy experiencing every day for the rest of her life. And she'd not complain about the occasional boxing lesson either. Just the memory of his thumb brushing the length of hers sent shivers all through her.

She was smitten; there was no denying it.

Every time her eyes met his across the supper table that night, Niles smiled and even colored a little. That set her heart fluttering and hope shining ever brighter in her mind.

No sooner had she and the other two ladies settled into the drawing room than that very topic was taken up.

"Based on the looks passing between you and Niles," Violet said, "I am beginning to suspect we will be forgoing the fair next week and holding a wedding instead."

Though entirely pleased with the idea, Penelope shook her head. "You are seeing more in this than there is." At the moment , she silently added.

"You don't think Niles's thoughts have turned in that direction?" Nicolette seemed to think Penelope rather foolish to be as cautious as she was being, which only added to the hope Penelope felt.

"He kissed me."

Both ladies' eyes widened.

"Am I wrong to believe he wouldn't have done that on a whim?" Penelope pressed.

"You are not wrong," Violet declared at the same time Nicolette said, " Il ne ferait pas ca ," which Penelope assumed also meant that there was every reason for her to see depth in Niles's show of affection.

A sudden commotion sounded in the corridor.

"That does not sound like the gentlemen abandoning their port," Violet said.

"I would say it sounds like an arrival at the house." Penelope rose and moved toward the door of the drawing room. She peeked out, curious.

It was someone only just arrived at Pledwick Manor: a lady, an infant, a child who appeared to be perhaps a year old, and a woman who appeared to be the nursemaid.

Penelope looked back into the drawing room. "Does Mr. Layton have a sister, by chance?"

"I honestly don't know," Violet said. "He doesn't speak of his family."

Then, this was not a relation of his.

She looked toward the entryway once more and realized the newcomers were headed toward her. The mystery would be solved soon enough.

Penelope stepped away from the doorway just as the lady, now holding the infant in one arm and, with her other, holding the hand of the older of the children, who toddled beside her, swept inside.

"Julia!" Violet and Nicolette exclaimed in unison.

Ah. The much-spoken-of Lady Jonquil. Though Penelope's curiosity had grown by leaps and bounds at having heard the lady mentioned so often and so glowingly, her nervousness at actually being faced with her quickly surpassed that curiosity. Whether or not the Gents or the ladies realized as much, Julia's approval and disapproval held tremendous sway among them. Suppose she decided Penelope was not to her liking?

Rather than face the possible answer to that question, Penelope slipped from the drawing room, giving herself a moment's respite in the corridor. But a moment was all she was afforded. The sound of the Gents' voices preceded their appearance by mere seconds.

"Let us hazard a guess which of your ladies has found herself missing you so desperately that she simply had to put an end to our post-dinner port." Lord Jonquil laughed. When he saw Penelope, he grinned. "It appears our culprit is Miss Seymour."

"'Twas not I," she said.

Mr. Layton took up the teasing. "Tell me, then, the one requesting our precipitous arrival, does she have a French manner of speaking?"

Mr. Fortier received a few elbow nudges.

"No," Penelope said, "but she did have something I was not expecting."

"What is that?" Lord Aldric asked.

Penelope let her gaze shift to Lord Jonquil. "An undeniable hint of red in her hair."

All the laughter left his face, replaced by a hesitant longing. In what was little more than a whisper, he asked, "My Julia?"

Penelope nodded. "And two absolutely beautiful children."

Mr. Layton dropped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Your family is here, Lucas."

Lord Jonquil pushed out a shaky breath. "I've missed them."

"We know." Mr. Layton gave him a friendly shove. "Go hug them. You've been apart long enough."

Penelope watched through the door as Lord Jonquil stepped inside. No one seeing his face could ever doubt the all-consuming love he felt for his wife. And the tender way he'd said her name solidified that truth all the more.

Lady Jonquil turned at the sound of his voice. She smiled. "I grew tired of waiting."

As the family reunion played out in the drawing room, Penelope remained just outside the door. The Gents passed through the threshold, offering their greetings to "Our Julia" and her boys. Niles, though, stopped at Penelope's side.

He took her hand. "You look nervous."

She quit trying to hide it. "One thing has been clear since my arrival: Julia is extremely important to all of you. What if she doesn't approve of me?"

He pressed their hands to his heart. "She will."

"My neighbors never have. My brother currently doesn't. She might very well declare that I don't deserve to be part of your group."

"In that case, there would be but one thing to do." He closed most of the gap between them.

"What's that?" She managed a calm response despite the sudden fluttering of her heart.

He shrugged. "Hit something."

Oh, how she adored him.

"It is good to see you smile, Penelope." He raised her hand to his lips. "Now, screw your courage to the sticking place. It is time to go meet a lady who, I predict, will become a dear and lifelong friend."

"But what if she doesn't?"

He set his other arm around her, and she breathed again. "What happened to my bold Penelope who sniffed out her runaway bridegroom and arrived here demanding an explanation and a chance?"

"Bold as brass, I was." She leaned her head against his shoulder, the one that didn't boast a sprig of white snapdragons on the lapel. "But as Liam pointed out, it wasn't very thoughtful of me. I've caused a great many people far more inconvenience than I ought."

He held her close. "His censure has undermined you and left you questioning your own worth. I hate seeing it."

"I'm trying to be a good person." She brushed a finger along one tiny blossom.

"You already are a good person, Penelope Seymour. You need to find a way to trust that."

She looked up at him. "And you are a person worthy of having what you want in life, not merely accepting what is foisted on you. I hope you trust that."

"And the both of you need to realize that when a door is open, the threshold is entirely transparent." Lord Aldric stood just on the other side of that threshold, watching the both of them with a hint of a smile in his characteristically solemn expression.

Beyond him, the others in the drawing room were doing a poor job of disguising the fact that they had been watching the exchange prior to Lord Aldric's interruption.

Penelope's eyes darted to Niles, worried she had embarrassed him.

But though a hint of color stole over his face, he laughed. "Have I mentioned the Gents are troublemakers?" he asked out of the side of his mouth.

"I assure you, I sorted that out on my own."

Niles's arms dropped away. He motioned her into the room. That she saw levity on all their faces helped quell her own embarrassment. But Lady Jonquil watched her with unmistakable curiosity, which kept Penelope's uncertainty firmly in the forefront.

Lord Jonquil motioned her over with his head, both his arms being used to hold his infant son. "Julia, this is Miss Penelope Seymour. Miss Seymour, this is my wife, Julia, Lady Jonquil."

"A pleasure to finally meet you, Lady Jonquil."

"And I you. Nearly every person in this room has written to me about you, and that has made me very anxious to meet you."

They'd all written about her?

"I've made you nervous." Lady Jonquil reached out and set her hand on Penelope's arm. "Don't be. If I'd come intending to toss you out of the house, I'd have done so already." She sounded perfectly serious, yet if Penelope was not mistaken, there was laughter in her eyes.

"You're teasing me," Penelope said.

Lady Jonquil smiled broadly. "A specialty of everyone here. But I suspect you've discovered that already."

"I have."

Lady Jonquil hooked her arm through Penelope's. "Though Puppy will certainly object, I mean to kidnap you for the remainder of the evening."

"For the record," Niles said from just behind her, "I do object."

"And also for the record," Lady Jonquil tossed back, "I'm doing it anyway." She led Penelope away from Niles and toward the sitting area, where Nicolette and Violet were sitting.

"Now I'm confused," Penelope said.

"About what?"

"About why it is that you aren't the one they call the General."

"Because the name was already taken." Lady Jonquil sat. "But everyone knows who is really in charge in this group." She looked at Lord Jonquil once more, her gaze flirtatious and her smile besotted. "Isn't that right, my dear?"

"Sweetheart, I would agree to anything in the world you chose to say right now simply because I am so desperately happy that you are here." He passed behind the sofa on which she and Penelope sat, pausing directly behind his wife, then bent and kissed her. "Though I do hope you will allow yourself to rest tomorrow. That was a very long journey to undertake so soon after your confinement."

The tiny baby in his arms fussed a little at the change in position. Lord Jonquil adjusted the little one, who quickly stopped squirming. Across the room, Mr. Layton was pointing to various accoutrements, listing their names for the older of the two children. "Philip, this is a cravat," he said slowly and clearly. "Brass button. Emerald cravat pin." He spoke precisely the way one did when trying to teach a child a new word.

Lord Jonquil continued walking past the sofa, gently rocking his baby in his arms.

Niles and Mr. Fortier stopped Lord Jonquil when he approached them to have a better look at the baby.

"I hope it will soon be my turn to hold little Layton," Mr. Fortier said.

"Only after I have my turn," Niles countered.

Lord Aldric sat near Mr. Layton, giving the undeniable impression of hoping to have the older boy's attention at some point.

This was a different side of the Gents than she'd yet seen. While she'd always assumed there were gentlemen who weren't annoyed by children, she'd not personally had any experience with them. Her father had been an involved and interested parent but only after Liam had reached school age and Penelope had been approaching young womanhood. None of Liam's friends had ever shown any paternal or avuncular inclinations. And children were never present during society gatherings in Dublin, so she'd not ever seen her male acquaintances in that city interact with children.

"Now, ladies." Lady Jonquil glanced at them with a conspiratorial expression. "Please tell me the three of you are not still Miss and Mrs.-ing each other."

Violet waved that off. "Certainly not."

"Perfect." Lady Jonquil turned to Penelope. "I am Julia, and I hope I have leave to call you Penelope."

"I would like that very much." Another friend. She had another friend.

"And though it will feel odd to you, you ought to be on the same friendly terms with the Gents," Julia said. "Anyone who is welcomed into this group remains one of us forever."