Chapter 29

The Runaway Bride

Hayward Castle, London

Beatrice could not return to Honeyfield House. She could not tell her parents what she had done until she came to terms with it. There was only one place where it was safe to go, and that was Charlotte’s house.

“It is a pleasure to have you here, Duchess,” Henry Elkins, the Duke of Hayward, said.

“Thank you, Duke,” Beatrice returned. “I have been meaning to visit for a while.”

“Charlotte tells me you might stay for a few days?” Henry asked.

“Yes, perhaps,” Beatrice replied. “That is if we do not start arguing,” she added politely.

“Yes, sisters can often have disagreements,” Henry acknowledged.

No one mentioned the very big elephant in the room. Beatrice had once been promised to the Duke of Hayward, and when she had run away, Charlotte had stepped in to marry him. Beatrice had not known if Henry would mention it or not, and she was glad there was no talk of it. If things had been different, she would not have run to Charlotte’s house, but Charlotte and Henry had fallen in love.

“I will leave both of you,” Henry said. “I have a lot of business to attend to. I might be back for supper, Charlotte.”

Charlotte nodded.

The Duke left the two sisters alone, and Charlotte motioned for the maids to bring the trolley in. She had prepared a mid-afternoon tea to welcome her sister to her home. There was Earl Grey tea, pastries, tarts, breads, preserves, and more.

When the refreshments had been brought in, Charlotte thanked the maids and sent them off so that she and Beatrice could be alone.

“Beatrice, is it really that bad?” Charlotte asked. “You can’t go home?”

“I think I have ruined it all,” Beatrice admitted. “Oh, my goodness! They call me the Runaway Bride, and I have done it again. This time, I waited until I was married before I ran away. Is there any hope for me?”

“Yes,” Charlotte stated calmly. “You have no idea what I went through with Henry to get to where we are today. I am thankful to you for running away, or else I might never have fallen in love like this, but I am still a little angry with you, Beatrice. You threw me into something I was not ready for, and I had to become ready. That is all by the by. I love you truly, and I always will, but I know a little something about messy marriages.”

Beatrice sighed and took one of the pastries from the tiered plates. She bit into it, and even though she knew it was sweet, it did not taste so.

“I ruin everything,” she moaned.

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Charlotte huffed. “You are married, and you had an argument, and you have run away and come here. It could have been a lot worse. If your marriage was truly over, you would have done something a lot more drastic. Can we at least agree on that?”

“I don’t know,” Beatrice replied.

“And you are supposed to be the older sister.” Charlotte tutted. “I always looked up to you, Beatrice, even when you were getting up to no good—and I still look up to you.”

“You shouldn’t,” Beatrice said. “I should be the one looking up to you. You took something bad and made it good. I took something bad and only made it worse.”

“No, I will not have this pity in my home. I mean, look at us! Who would have thought we would both be duchesses? Is that not quite incredible?”

Beatrice took another bite of her pastry, and it tasted a little sweeter this time. She was supposed to be the older sister who helped her younger sisters, but that had been flipped on its head.

“It is quite incredible,” she relented. “I don’t think of myself as a duchess.”

“Nor do I,” Charlotte admitted. “I have been a duchess for a while, but I still don’t feel like one. I like being one, of course, but whenever I attend a formal event with Henry and I am announced as a duchess, I always think they are announcing someone else.”

“I shall feel like that for a while,” Beatrice said.

Perhaps not for long if Edwin does not want anything to do with me after what I did.

“How are you feeling with the pregnancy?” Beatrice asked.

Charlotte was heavily pregnant now, and Beatrice would soon be an aunt. She could not think about starting a family now that she and her husband were angry with each other.

“There are good days and bad days,” Charlotte admitted. “I am only glad I will give birth soon, as I am uncomfortable all the time. And, my goodness! I don’t know what has happened to my appetite. I have never eaten so much in my life. I am glad for the baby because I have quite enjoyed stuffing my face without putting on any weight. Except for the baby, of course.”

Beatrice laughed. Charlotte had always been so proper that it was amusing to imagine her stuffing her face with cakes and other treats.

“I am very excited to meet my niece or nephew,” Beatrice offered. “I’m so sorry for what I did to you, and I am so happy that it worked out well in the end. You deserve all the happiness in the world.”

“I appreciate that,” Charlotte said. “It did work out rather well, didn’t it?”

Beatrice nodded.

“Have you tried that with your husband?” Charlotte asked.

“What?” Beatrice frowned.

“Apologizing?” Charlotte clarified. “Have you apologized for what you did?”

“No, not formally,” Beatrice replied. “But I don’t believe I was in the wrong. Even if I made a proper apology, I don’t think it would make any difference.”

“That sort of thinking is going to get you nowhere,” Charlotte warned.

“I know,” Beatrice moaned. “Yet, it’s all I can think. I know it was wrong to sneak out, but that was only because I was trying to do the right thing for once, and I understand why Edwin was annoyed, but he should not have been that annoyed. He is a duke, but he did not act like it.”

“And you are a duchess,” Charlotte reminded her. “It does not matter who’s right or wrong in this situation. It matters how you compromise. The two of you are husband and wife. That means something, whether you like it or not. Do you feel nothing for him?”

Beatrice was quiet while she thought about it. “I do feel something for him. I think that is a part of the problem. I have begun to develop feelings for him, and I thought he might be doing the same, but I know he does not return my feelings.”

“You can’t know that,” Charlotte argued.

“I did not think I could, but I saw it on his face, and I heard it in his voice. He was so angry at me, Charlotte. If he is willing to compromise, I might compromise, too. But he won’t. I know he won’t.”

“He might surprise you,” Charlotte said. “I know my husband did.”

“And I am overjoyed for you, Charlotte. Especially after you had to deal with the mess I left. You were strong enough to make it right, but I don’t know if I can be like you. I have made another mess for myself, and I tried to make it better, but I made even more of a mess. I’m scared that if I try again, it will end my marriage before it has truly begun. I am the Runaway Bride! What will they call me when my marriage fails after only a few weeks?”

“It has not come to that,” Charlotte pointed out. “I have been in a dire situation. My marriage has been entirely different, but there have been problems, too. We overcame them when I thought we would not, and we came out stronger on the other side. I know you can do the same.”

Beatrice sighed. She did not know if she had the strength to do the same. Or if she could without putting her foot in it.

She was angry at how angry he had been with her, but she missed him too. She had spent a lot of time running away from her problems, but this was the first time she wanted to run back toward them and face them head-on.

Still, she was sure she would make more of a mess of it, and she had seen how angry her husband had been. It might be best to give him some time to calm down.

If he ever calms down.

“You can’t tell Mother and Father about this,” Beatrice warned. “I came to you because there was nowhere else I could go. If they find out I have run away from my husband, it will kill them. It took me a long time to get Father to speak to me again, and if he finds out about this, he might never speak to me ever again.”

“I shan’t tell them,” Charlotte promised. “But you can only stay here for so long before it begins to look suspicious. I am about ready to give birth, and it is all fine and well to have you here, but the longer you stay, the more people will start to talk. And if what you say is right, then they are already talking about you.”

“It is only one person pulling all the strings,” Beatrice noted. “If I can get proof that Miss Jennings is behind all of this, I can put a stop to it. Then I might be able to fix my marriage.”

“Oh, she never liked us, did she?” Charlotte shook her head. “I remember we debuted the same year, and she took an instant dislike to me. She thought everyone should bow down to her because her family had a little money and power.”

“She was jealous of you,” Beatrice agreed. “You were so beautiful when you debuted. I would have been jealous if I had debuted in the same Season.”

“I remember she was jealous of you too, after meeting you,” Charlotte noted. “You have a way with people, and you can charm them easily. Miss Jennings was never able to emulate that.”

“My tongue also gets me into trouble,” Beatrice added.

“I wonder if she ever plotted to ruin me,” Charlotte mused. “She has obviously set out to ruin you. I presume that is why you snuck out.”

“Yes,” Beatrice admitted. “I know someone who might know someone who might know something.”

Charlotte giggled.

“Please don’t laugh at my misfortune,” Beatrice moaned.

“I can’t help it sometimes,” Charlotte replied. “You have so many problems of your own making, and don’t forget that you made some problems for me, too.”

Beatrice sulked and drank some more tea.

“So, when will you see your husband next?” Charlotte asked.

“I am hoping he will come knocking,” Beatrice admitted. “I made sure that he knows I am here. Failing that, I shall see him in a week. We are supposed to attend a charity gala. I have no clue how that will go. We are supposed to attend together, but if he does not come knocking, we will see each other there for the first time in a week.”

“We shall have you ready,” Charlotte said. “If it is a day or a week, you must be ready to see him again, and that means doing all you can to make a great first impression for the second time.”

“My second first impression can hardly be worse than my first one,” Beatrice drawled.