Chapter 16

Grace was about to enter her chamber when the door opened to Fanny's. "I did not think you were in the house," Grace said in some surprise. "Did you not go with the rest of the party to deliver the parcels?"

Fanny looked guilty and stuttered before being able to answer. "I am leaving, I left you a note."

"Leaving? Why? It is Christmas Eve!" Grace realised that Fanny was carrying a bandbox. "Fanny, what is going on? Is it because I have neglected you? I am sincerely sorry if that is the case."

"No." Fanny's eyes would not meet Grace's. "It is best if I go. Read my note, Grace."

Julian interrupted the two women by coming along the landing, faltering when he saw Grace. "Is everything well?"

Grace looked between the two of them. "What on earth is going on?"

"You have not told her?" Julian asked, looking warily at Grace though his words were aimed at Fanny.

"After what happened to William, I—"

"You are the ‘we' that Mr Betez referred to," Grace said quietly. Later, she would curse herself for being surprised, but for now she was trying to control the feeling of bile in her throat. Fanny. It had been Fanny who had plotted with Julian.

"I…"

"You owe me an explanation, Fanny. I will not accept a note. Mr Betez will excuse us for a moment." Grace almost pushed Fanny back into her chamber and closed the door on a surprised Julian. "Tell me what is going on. You are my cousin; why could you not speak to me directly?"

"You will hate me!" Fanny said before starting to wail.

"Oh, for goodness' sake, Fanny! Just tell me what it is. It cannot be that bad."

"Mr Betez asked me to marry him the day we went to Mrs Follett's house," the words rushed out of Fanny as she rummaged for her handkerchief, but Grace noticed that there were no tears to mop up.

"The day that… But that was before he asked me…" Grace said, trying to make sense of what her cousin was saying.

"I know. He wanted to speak to me first to make sure that I knew his feelings towards me before he spoke to you. He said it would be fine, that William would swoop in like some romantic knight, and there would be no issue. People would think I felt sorry for him being rebuffed and accepted a proposal from him afterwards. He even thought it would be a good joke when everything came out."

Grace had not felt such betrayal in her life. "You had accepted his proposal and were questioning me about my considerations and whether or not I was going to accept him. You knew all the time that it was not real, yet you were quizzing me regularly. Did none of your actions seem wrong to you?"

Fanny flushed. "When I knew that you were seriously considering his proposal, I went into a blind panic and told Julian that I thought you were going to accept him. I realised at that point that we had not considered that scenario."

"And what if I had, Fanny? What would you have done then? He said that he would have honoured my acceptance."

"I know, and he would have done whether or not he wanted to go through with the marriage. He promised me that we would find some way of being together, for your marriage would not be one in the truest sense."

Grace choked on the bile rising in her throat, but she forced herself to remain in control. "You were going to have an affair with my husband."

"It would not have been considered as such if you were not intimate, and with the three of us travelling together, it would have made the whole situation easier. That way, we would all have been content, and it would have been perfectly respectable." Fanny had calmed once she started speaking, not seeming aware of the horror on Grace's face.

Grace could not believe what Fanny had uttered, so matter of fact, almost as if they were speaking about something as bland as what was for dinner. She thought she had known raging anger when Julian had confessed all, but it was nothing to her fury at what Fanny had revealed. Struggling to maintain control, she gripped the fabric of her dress, trying to settle the feelings inside.

She took a breath, but it did not make her feel any better. She suddenly felt lightheaded at the realisation of her situation. Why did she always try to behave respectably? It had not done her any good. Of all the people who should have had her best interests at heart, Fanny should have been supportive of her; they were blood relations. Instead, Fanny had betrayed her, and was willing to have her as a laughing stock for the remainder of her days. Grace realised in that moment that she had come to the end of accepting everything at face value and was done blindly supporting those around her.

It came as a complete surprise to both of them when Grace slapped Fanny hard across the face. Fanny cried out in shock and pain, and Julian started to knock on the door.

"What is going on in there?"

Grace flung open the door. "Your real betrothed is explaining how our sordid situation was going to play out if I had agreed to your proposal."

Fanny was crying and holding her cheek. Julian crossed to her, taking her into his arms, shushing her and stroking her back. "There was no need for violence."

"Was there not?" Grace had never felt anger like it because it was anger without constraint. "You made a false offer of marriage whilst being betrothed to someone else. You proposed a sordid affair, which I would have found out about, and if you do not realise that, you are bird-witted as well as utterly loose in the haft!"

"Grace! Language!" Fanny said, still sniffing.

Grace laughed. "I cannot believe, after what you have done, that you have the gall to criticise my use of language. I am astounded that you both came up with the scheme you did. Although I do not know you well, Mr Betez, I know my cousin, and she would never have been able to keep up the pretence."

"I just wanted to be happy!" Fanny wailed, but there were still no tears.

"And you achieved that by putting me at risk of becoming a laughing stock wherever we settled, or even heartbroken if I had been foolish enough to become attached to him. How could you have contemplated that, Fanny? After you had just come from a cold, unhappy marriage, you were willing to put me in the exact same position."

"It would not have been as bad as you think."

"I thought we were friends as well as cousins," Grace snapped at Fanny. "I am coming to the conclusion that you really must dislike me. I have been ignoring the signs these last weeks, but there is something going on in that head of yours and whatever it is, it is vile."

"We thought we were acting in your and Mr Marsh's best interests," Julian said.

"He has lost his leg because of your interference!"

"We intended no harm, and what happened had no reflection on Fanny. She is an innocent in all of this."

"I beg to differ." Grace felt her anger beginning to subside but knew that she would never allow the two who stood before her to know how much they had upset her. "I presume you have your carriage waiting?"

Julian nodded.

"Good. Get out of this house now. I never want to see either of you again. You both deserve each other for being arrogant and selfish to the detriment of those around you. How do you think Arabella will cope with knowing what you both planned? How could you think it would be considered acceptable by anyone of sense?"

"Arabella does not need to know. You will not inflict pain on her. You think too much of her to see her hurt after what she has been through," Julian said.

"Yes, something you did not consider with regards to your machinations, but you know me enough that I could not act in such a callous way, therefore protecting your loathsome actions," Grace almost snarled at him. "One thing I can promise you is that I will not lie to Arabella about what has happened. There have been enough lies and falsehoods to last a lifetime, and at the end of the day, it is you who have behaved despicably. Why should I feel any remorse at telling her the truth?" Grace did not want to hurt Arabella; Julian had guessed correctly in that regard, but the look of uncertainty he now wore gave her a modicum of satisfaction.

"Grace, why can you not say that we have just left?" Fanny asked. "Surely there is no need for further upset. I am sorry about William, but he needs you now, so all will be well."

Laughing bitterly, Grace shook her head at Fanny. "You are going to convince yourselves that you have done us both a favour, and that will ease the tiny bit of conscience you are struggling with. Do not worry. You will soon get over the fraction of guilt you might be feeling. I am sure of it."

"There is no need to be nasty," Fanny said.

"Do you know, Fanny, I am beginning to think that the picture you painted of Stewart might not have been fully truthful. Tell me, was he as bad as you made him out to be?"

Fanny looked uncomfortable. "He was difficult to live with."

"That answer and the expression on your face tell me that my suspicions are correct. That poor man, and yet again, you had everyone fooled that you were the injured party. Why was he difficult to live with?"

"You have no idea about me or my marriage. You, with the perfect life, a hit of the season. Yet the one man who loved you, you turned away from because, according to you, he was not good enough," Fanny sneered, moving slightly from Julian's embrace. "You are just jealous that I have secured the better man this time, and it is not all about you. Those weeks you were with us when you split from William, I wanted to slap you. All this, oh woe is me , not accepting your part in separating yourself from the man you supposedly loved while my wedding to a man I disliked was being arranged."

"Why have you never said any of this before now?" Grace demanded.

"Because you would not have listened. Even now, it is about you and William, not considering for a moment what would happen to me if your plans changed. You would throw me aside just like Stewart did when he found someone else to warm his bed."

"I would never have cast you aside; I would have worked something out with you. I am far from perfect, Fanny, but I had the excuse of youth when I made my decisions concerning William."

"Not for these last years you have not," Fanny sneered. "Try living in a marriage where you are untouched, unloved and ignored because your husband was in love with someone else. At least you were always sure of William's love while I had to watch the man I loved from afar, separated because I was married to another. More than once, it nearly broke me, and I hated Stewart for it more as the years passed."

Grace was not convinced about Fanny's accusation. She had not been sure of William's love, but only when she had acknowledged the part she had played in separating them did she realise that it would have been a troubled marriage if they had gone ahead. Their parents would have done all that they could to make sure William and Grace's marriage was not a smooth one and it would have caused division between the newly married couple. "I disagree some of what you have levelled at me, but it does not change the fact that you did not deserve that treatment, or marriage, but who was the man you loved? Why did he not step up when you needed him?"

Fanny laughed at her. "Are you really too stupid to guess?"

"Mr Betez? You loved him?"

"Yes, with all my heart and still do. I could not believe when we arrived and he was here; it made the last years seem like a bad dream."

"I was constrained just as Fanny was," Julian interjected. "Second sons do as they are bid."

"William did not," she said quietly, for the first time feeling pride that William had stuck to his belief and made a success of his life.

"We are back to the perfect man, you are too quick to forget how you have raged about him over the years," Fanny sneered. "Quick to forget that part of your life when it suits you are you not? But as always it is not long before the conversation turns back to you. For once, try and understand someone else's pain."

"I am sorry Stewart did not love you, and no one should be put through the embarrassment of having a ladybird paraded before you, yet you were prepared to be one of those women," Grace said with derision.

"Only if you made the situation about you. But instead, I have the man I want, and you can spend your days caring for your invalid and be happy that he cannot run anywhere this time."

Grace took a step towards Fanny, but Julian put his hand up. "I will not allow you to strike her again. Once was too much."

"Just leave," Grace ground out. They both moved towards the door, and Grace stepped to the side. "Oh, Mr Betez," Grace started.

"Yes?" Julian asked.

"If you ever become ill and your wife-to-be employs a nurse, know that she will choose the worst nurse she can find and will never respond to your cries for her. I say that with authority because she confessed to me that she had done that with her husband not six months ago."

Fanny launched herself at Grace, but Julian pulled her back. "Enough of this," he said. "Do not lower yourself, Miss Holmes, to trying to sully Fanny's reputation to me. It will not work."

"Please be assured that I am classing it as a friendly warning, more because I do not wish Arabella to mourn for you when Fanny tires of you than for any other reason. I am doing it for her, not you, and I am being perfectly honest."

Julian led Fanny out of the room, shooting Grace a look of indecision and confusion before they disappeared out of sight.

Grace slumped to the floor, her head in her hands, and let her mind go over and over what had just happened. She was not ready to face anyone, but one thing was certain, she had escaped an unhappy future that would have been infinitely worse than the decades she had been without William.

It would be a long time before her legs felt strong enough to support her and leave Fanny's chamber. All she could hope for was that she was not discovered until she had regained her composure.