Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

T he next morning, Emily took her time. She did not go down for breakfast, and instead took the meal in her room. Her husband had made his disdain for her clear, leaving her with no doubt he would not seek out her company, so she lazed about before her maid helped her in getting dressed. It was not a simple morning dress, but something fine, something to be seen in. She would still have her weekly afternoon tea with her friends, whether she was a married woman or not. Even if they could not be present for her wedding, now more than ever, she needed their support for how to proceed with such an unpleasant husband.

Emily wore a floral dress with a red spencer jacket, and one of her most dramatically decorated bonnets for emphasis. This would be her first visible outing since her wedding, and she would not let the world think this man had gotten the better of her. No, she would go make social calls as she pleased.

It was nearing midday when she finally stepped out of her room and made her way downstairs. Mrs. Jansen approached her with a smile. "Good morning, madam. Lovely to see you out and about. "

"Good morning. Where is…" Emily tripped over her words, for she had not quite yet decided on what to call the man who was her husband. She could not very well call him by his given name, it was far too intimate and personal for someone she desired less intimacy from. But calling him Mr. Westcott as his wife sounded perhaps pretentious, or even romantic. That would never do.

"Mr. Westcott has gone out on business, madam."

She raised an eyebrow. This could be easier than she had anticipated. "Very well. I will be going out as well."

Taking an umbrella from the servant at the door, Emily let herself out without a word. They could no longer meet in the duke's home, and Emily was not about to invite her friends for tea where her new husband might overhear them. So they had agreed to meet at Gunter's in Berkley Square, the spring weather turning warm enough for eating ices. But Emily only then realized her error, for while the duke's home was a short walk to Grosvenor Square, it was a much greater walk to Berkley Square. Emily normally would have had pin money for a hackney from the duke, but now she had to acquire such things from her husband. How she dreaded that conversation.

But she would not let him get the better of her even in his absence, so she faced the distance under the protection of her parasol. Not that she needed to hide from the sun, as it currently hid itself behind gray clouds. But she would have to keep an eye on the sky, in order to not return to her new home in absolute shambles.

After she arrived, it was easy to spot Daphne and Georgiana who were waiting anxiously. With great exultation, they wrapped Emily in hugs, both sets of eyes focused on her alone. "How are you? Tell us everything."

She could imagine their curiosities, for she had only written to them briefly to explain the whole ordeal, but she had no lovely stories of post-marital bliss. After they acquired their ices, they walked around the park as Emily recounted her experience from the entirety of her wedding day.

"I still can't believe it," Daphne whispered, her gaze somewhere off in the distance. "That the duke would force you to marry such a man."

"The duchess assured me he had his reasons, but of course, she could not tell me a single one." Emily sighed. "I'm not certain I would have accepted them as sufficient anyway."

"Perhaps there is a way out of it," Georgiana offered, folding her arms and chewing on her thumbnail. "Some way to have the marriage broken."

Emily shook her head. "The duke would never agree to a divorce. It would cause more scandal than the kiss he tried to hide."

"But what of an annulment?" Georgiana turned toward them. "There are certain legalities around what allows it, but what if it was an option?"

A flicker of hope burned in Emily's chest. "I suppose I could inquire." Was an annulment any better than divorce? Was there a chance this could all be undone?

"But you must be discreet," Daphne whispered earnestly. "For if your husband or even the duke found out, they might foil your plans."

Georgiana sighed. "That you have such a husband at all is still astonishing."

"Indeed. I hardly see myself as his wife, the Mrs. Westcott he insists on calling me. And there will not be any wifely duties to perform, considering he told me my presence was not needed or wanted." Emily recalled his words with a sneer as bile rose in her throat. She had wept bitter tears of anger that night, feeling trapped by this terrible man. She doubted it was how a wife was supposed to feel, how the duke and duchess had hoped her relationship would start.

"But it is at least a fine house?" Georgiana asked.

Emily nodded. "It is. Comparable to Mrs. Pembroke's, to be sure." She had married into wealth and stability, so she should have been grateful, but those things alone could not promise a happy life.

"And you have met the staff?" Daphne asked. "Are they agreeable?"

"No different from any other, I suppose. Though they do not seem to bear his same disdain for me."

Emily pressed her lips together, stifling anything further she might say. She had anticipated being happily married to Mr. Evans, never even considering she would need to know what an annulment would entail. It had not occurred to her even a week prior that she might have to put up walls around her heart to protect herself from the man she would marry.

Instead, she was stuck with a man she hated. She wondered if her words of spite had urged him on, pushing him to say such things, but it was not her fault alone. She had kissed him, yes, though thinking of those moments on the balcony made her face burn. But she had assumed the entire time it was someone else. How could she be to blame? And the duke said that this Mr. Westcott was a good man who had made great sacrifices for his family, but he surely would do no such thing for his new wife. Their life together was doomed.

Unless she could find some loophole, some way out of her current situation. An annulment would be her last attempt at breaking from her husband, and she would not rest until she had an answer.

The skies above turned dark, bringing their visit to an early end. Emily hurried away into the blustery day walking down the sidewalks with a frown. To all of London, she was a married woman, returning to the place that was now her home. But it was not a home to her; the last place she would ever want to be.

She opened the door to Mr. Westcott's townhouse where the servants stood waiting to assist her. They greeted her with smiles, helping her with her umbrella and her spencer.

"Did you have a pleasant outing, madam?" one footman asked.

"Yes, most pleasant." Emily gave him a forced smile.

She was halfway up the staircase when the sound of footsteps filled the front corridor.

"If you would be so kind," Mr. Westcott boomed, "to inform me next time you go out, so that I might know where my wife is going and when she will return."

Emily stiffened. She had hoped to avoid him for the rest of the evening. "Did you provide me this same courtesy?"

"I went out on a social call to try and secure a suitor for my sister, and I presumed you did not wish to be bothered, all of which I informed the staff. You did not."

She pursed her lips at him. "Am I a prisoner then?"

He huffed. "Of course not. You may come and go as you please. I only ask that you inform me or the house so that I'll know where you are if something should happen. That way, I will not worry."

"Do not worry over a wife you do not want," she mumbled as she fidgeted with her gloves.

"Where have you been?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"Visiting friends."

"Of the male variety?"

Her head shot up in shock, then she narrowed her eyes at him. "Of the poor variety. In order to avoid besmirching your name, I went to visit them instead. And since I do not feel comfortable here, I sought comfort elsewhere."

He visibly flinched. Good. Let him be affected by her barbed words.

"Very well. I will inform you when dinner is ready."

"Do not bother. I will take the meal in my room." Then she turned from him and continued up the stairs, encasing herself in the safety of her bedchambers.

Emily let out a sigh of frustration. Between hiking across London and discussing the details of her marriage and her future, she was beyond exhausted, both physically and emotionally. She could not face him at dinner as well. She would keep him at a distance until she could find a way out of this, their ridiculous sham of a marriage.