Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

“ A ll in all, I’d say it was a successful day,” Lavinia’s father said.

Lavinia didn’t look up from her cup of tea. She was sure her father’s praise wasn’t for her. It would be for her sister, as it usually was.

Sure enough, her father spoke to Edwina first. “Darling, did you meet any gentlemen you liked?”

“Not particularly.” Edwina was dismissive. “Plenty of them were friendly, but none were special.”

“That’s all right,” their father assured her. “You have plenty of time. Your goal for this weekend is to create a good reputation for yourself, so that when people think of you in the future, they will remember what fun you were at this party. I’d say you’ve gotten off to a good start.”

Then he turned to Lavinia. She expected criticism and braced herself to receive it.

“How was your morning with Lord Ocherton?” he asked.

“Oh—fine.” She hadn’t expected that. “I didn’t see him again after that, though.”

“No, I didn’t expect you would,” her father agreed. “And that’s all right.”

“It is?”

“I saw you this evening. I saw that you spoke to the Duke of Loxburgh and the Earl of Rickenbock. Much more socializing than I would have expected from you, I must say.

“Thank you, Father.” It felt good to know that he was proud of her. “But I don’t think I’m going to marry any of those men.”

“One never knows—but I agree, you probably won’t,” her father said.

“You knew that I probably wouldn’t marry Lord Ocherton when you made the arrangement for me to spend the morning with him?”

“The point wasn’t to have you spend time with someone I thought you would marry, necessarily,” her father said. “What I want is for everyone at this party to see you as desirable. And because of the way you behaved today, and the way other gentlemen seem to see you, I think the perception of you will begin to change. People will stop thinking of you as odd and begin to think of you as elusive . That’s what we want to see happen. And then I’ll be able to marry you to someone very easily.”

“Someone?” Lavinia asked, picking up on how vague her father was being.

“Well, I do have someone in mind, of course,” he said. “How could I not?”

“Are you going to tell me who it is?”

“You’ll be introduced to him soon enough. In the meantime, I want you to keep doing exactly what you’ve been doing, Lavinia. The way you’ve handled yourself so far at this party has pleased me enormously—more than I would have thought possible.” He smiled. “I must admit, I thought I was going to have more trouble with you, but it seems that you finally understand and are ready to comply with the requirements I’ve set down for you. You’ll be married by the end of this season with no trouble at all if you keep it up.”

Though she’d been happy to have her father’s approval, Lavinia couldn’t help feeling uneasy. She’d known that he meant to marry her off to someone if she didn’t manage it herself during this party, and she had known—if she was honest with herself—that he had assumed she wouldn’t be successful. But she hadn’t realized he had such a well thought out plan ready to go. For all she knew, the gentleman he had in mind for her had already been informed of his plan and was eagerly awaiting his chance to meet her.

For all she knew, she had met him already.

Her father got to his feet. “You ladies ought to head to your beds for the evening,” he said. “Tomorrow will be another big day, and you want to be well rested, I’m sure.”

Lavinia recognized her dismissal and knew that she wouldn’t be welcome to ask any more questions about her future tonight. She got to her feet as well. “Good evening, Father,” she said.

“Make sure you come down early for breakfast tomorrow,” he told her. “I don’t want you lingering up in your room and missing out on the party.”

Lavinia wanted to protest that she wouldn’t do any such thing, that it was unfair of him even to suggest it. But the truth was that, if she had believed she could get away with it, she was sure she absolutely would have lingered in her room. She nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll come down early.”

“So will I.” Edwina said, sounding much more eager about the prospect than Lavinia felt. “I can hardly wait to see what tomorrow brings.”

I wish I had your confidence , Lavinia thought as she and her sister made their way down the hall to their respective bedrooms. When they’d arrived at Edwina’s, she opened the door and waved Lavinia in. Curious, Lavinia followed her sister.

Edwina shut the door and locked it behind her. “What do you think?” she asked eagerly, sitting down at the foot of her bed.

“What do I think about what?”

“About what Father was talking about,” Edwina said. “It sounds as if he already has a plan for your marriage.”

“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Lavinia said.

“And he hasn’t told you anything about it? You don’t know who he has in mind for you?”

“No, I don’t have the slightest idea,” Lavinia said.

“It hardly seems fair,” Edwina objected. “After all, you were supposed to have the length of this party to figure it out, weren’t you? You were supposed to have all this time to make your decision. It wasn’t much time, to be sure, but Father promised you this last chance. Now he says he’s had another plan all along, and you don’t even know what it is. Aren’t you angry?”

“I should be, I think,” Lavinia said. “But it’s hard to feel any anger toward Father about this.”

“Well, I don’t see why. I think I would be furious with him if it was me! He’s hardly given you any time as it is.”

“I don’t know,” Lavinia said. “It’s just hard to imagine it actually happening. I know he’s making a plan, and I know that eventually I’ll find out what it is, but until that happens, what can I do? What power do I have over any of this?”

“You were promised twelve days,” Edwina reminded her. “That means you have ten days left. Don’t forget that. Just because Father has another plan, that doesn’t mean that your ten days are gone.”

“I think it does mean that,” Lavinia said. “I think that if this is what Father really wants, there won’t be anything I can do about it. I could go to him tomorrow with the name of the gentleman I wished to marry and I don’t think it would make any difference.”

“Perhaps not,” Edwina said slowly. “But perhaps it would, Lavinia. I don’t think you ought to give up so easily. If you found a really good man, someone he couldn’t possibly say no to, then he would have to consider your choice.”

“So now I have ten days not only to find a gentleman I wish to marry and who wishes to marry me, but who is in possession of qualities that will impress Father more than those of whatever gentleman he has already selected? Surely you see how this is beginning to be an impossible task, Edwina.”

“And yet you’re not angry with him!”

“Resigned, I think,” Lavinia said. “But also…Edwina, Father was right. There was something different about today.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” Lavinia admitted. She hesitated, on the verge of telling her sister everything—but she couldn’t do it. She wasn’t sure how to explain the attention the duke had paid her so far.

If Edwina were to hear about it, she would probably think the duke had some sort of romantic interest in Lavinia, and nothing could be further from the truth. Lavinia didn’t think he even liked her much. She didn’t want to spend the next ten days with her sister nagging her to see whether anything had developed between herself and a gentleman for whom she knew she was nothing more than a passing interest.

She didn’t want the marriage her father was trying to arrange for her, it was true—but she did want his approval, and that was something she could get. She didn’t want to find herself locked into a marriage she hated and with the disapproval of her father. At least she had the chance to get something she wanted out of all this.

Edwina was still waiting for an answer. “I found today easier,” she said. “I found myself able to talk to gentlemen. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel awkward, exactly, because I did—but I also felt as if I could handle my feelings of awkwardness. It doesn’t exactly surprise me to know that Father felt I did a better job today than I have in the past. I could feel that too.”

“Well, whatever you did to make today different, you’ll have to make sure to do it again,” Edwina said encouragingly. “And if you do, Lavinia—you never know. It might not be too late at all. You might be able to find someone you want to marry, rather than giving in to our father’s plans for you.”

“You seem as if you don’t want me to do what he wishes.”

“You’re my sister, Lavinia,” Edwina told her earnestly. “You know I love you more than anything. I want you to be happy, that’s all. And I don’t think Father’s wishes are quite the same. Not that he wants you to be unhappy, of course—it’s just that I think he’ll be satisfied as long as you have a husband, and I think you want something more.”

“I’d like to fall in love,” Lavinia admitted quietly. “If I’m going to go through with all this, I’d like it to be with someone I love. That’s the only way I would ever choose it for myself.”

“Well, why can’t that happen?” Edwina asked her.

“You’re very optimistic,” Lavinia smiled. “I’ve always liked that about you, Edwina. But in only ten days? It doesn’t seem possible to me.”

“I think you’re giving up because you’ve discovered that Father has other plans,” Edwina said. “And I don’t think you should, Lavinia. I think you should keep fighting for the future you dream of. I’d hate to see you lose it. I know it seems unlikely, but you do still have those ten days. Don’t give up. Not until those days are gone.”

Lavinia drew a deep breath and released it slowly. She would have liked very much to believe that her sister was right, and that there was still a chance for her to find love.

Her father wanted her to keep doing what she had done today. What she had done today was listen to the duke’s advice.

But there wasn’t much to that advice. Wear green and be confident . It wasn’t the kind of thing a person could do all the time. And eventually, society would grow accustomed to seeing both her newfound confidence—such as it was—and the color green, and both would cease to make any sort of impression on anyone. Today had been a good day—it was true—but she couldn’t count on that experience carrying forward into the future.

For the first time, it occurred to her that it would be a good thing to get more advice from the duke. He clearly knew a lot about how people ought to conduct themselves in society to have the effect they desired. He was someone who would be able to help her.

But their score was settled. She couldn’t ask him for anything more than he’d already done. Or could she?