Chapter 1 #2
“I told you, did I not?” their father said proudly. “She takes just after her mother like that. Let us hope that she makes as good a wife for you as her mother did for me.”
Marianne gasped and looked on the verge of saying something, but she caught Rose’s eye; a warning to keep her mouth shut.
“Father…” Rose laughed softly and stepped between them. “That is a tad preemptive, is it not? I thought that you were still deciding if –”
“This is not something to be decided, Rosalind,” her father spoke over her. “It is done, and that is the end of the matter.” He then scowled at Rose, in his eyes a warning to keep her mouth shut. “Is that not right, Your Grace?”
The Duke looked at her father strangely. For a moment, it appeared as if he was furious with her father, and Rose braced herself for his anger. But he recovered quickly, and a forced smile reached his lips; it did not reach his eyes.
“Yes,” the Duke said. “It is done.”
“Wonderful!” Rose’s father clapped his hands together, seemingly unaware of the change in the Duke’s mood. “Just wonderful.”
The suddenness of this declaration should not have surprised Rose as it did. Nor should it have surprised Marianne. They knew that the Duke of Thornwall was coming to see them for this very reason, just as they knew their father was likely to accept the offer without hesitation.
And does he care at all about Marianne’s feelings? Why would he? He never has before, and he certainly wasn’t going to start now when marrying her to a Duke was on the line.
It was last week when their father called them into his office with good news, as he had framed it.
Delighted, he was to announce a marriage contract that he’d organized years earlier.
He would not tell them how he managed such a thing.
Nor would he tell them why it was agreed to in the first place.
That it was happening was what mattered.
The girls had argued. They had pleaded. They had questioned the validity of such a contract. And their father, likely just wanting to stop Rose’s constant arguing, agreed to consider it before coming to a decision.
“Perhaps the Duke will try and break the contract?” he had offered them as an olive branch. “Stranger things have happened.”
Rose had known that to be unlikely. Just as she had known that if the Duke tried such a thing, their father would fight it. He was an ambitious social climber, and there was nothing that he would not do to advance himself.
Hope was all Rose had to hold onto.
“Father…” Marianne’s chin trembled. “Might we talk about…”
“As I told your sister, it is done,” their father spoke over her. “Nothing will change it. And please, Marianne, remember that we are in company. Try and control yourself.”
“Father, you promised that you would not sign anything without first speaking to me,” Rose said to their father, caring not for the presence of the Duke. “You promised me.”
Her father narrowed his eyes. “You forget yourself, Rosalind. You are my daughter, not my business partner.”
“I think you know that I am a little more than that.”
Rose’s father was not a savvy businessman, though that was how he thought of himself. The truth was that if Rose had not guided her father in his investments and business ventures from a young age, he would have lost everything they owned.
She had kept this family afloat; she believed that she had as much a right as anyone to decide who Marianne should marry as he did, and it was time that her father remembered it.
“Rosalind…” Her father cleared his throat and glanced quickly at the Duke. “We can talk about this later.”
Rose turned to face the Duke, making sure not to meet his eyes because she did not want a repeat of the last time. “I am sorry, Your Grace, but my father has gotten ahead of himself. We will need time to determine whether this marriage is in our best interests.”
“Rosalind!” her father barked.
The Duke’s expression filtered between amusement and confusion. “And you think it is that simple?”
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“I can appreciate the concern one has for their siblings. And in ordinary circumstances, I might even agree with you. However, this is not a matter up for debate or decision making.”
“Of course it is.”
“No.” His voice was somehow both quiet and demanding of attention.
And while she still refused to look at him, Rose could feel his eyes boring into her.
“As I am certain you are aware, your father and I have a contract.” He clenched his jaw as if frustrated.
“A legally binding agreement. I did not come here today to decide whether the marriage would go ahead or not. Rather, I came here to discuss when it is happening.”
“As soon as is possible!” Rose’s father hurried, making sure to glare another warning at his daughter. “I will need to call in a few favors, but the next two weeks –”
“Father!” Rose cried. “There is no need –”
“That is enough, Rosalind!” Her father was not a particularly intimidating man, but he was the head of the household, and even Rose knew better than to argue with him when he had the bit between his teeth.
“I brought you here as a courtesy, but if you cannot control yourself—” He widened his eyes at her. “Behave.”
“Father, please…” It was Marianne now, chin still trembling and looking as miserable as Rose had ever seen her.
Oh, how it broke her heart to see it.
“Your Grace, perhaps if we adjourn to my office to finalize the details?” Their father cleared his throat and stepped around the Duke.
The Duke looked at Marianne, no doubt noticing how upset she was. Rose held her breath, praying that the man had a heart and a soul and would not force a woman to marry him who was clearly so against such a thing.
His expression was stern. His eyes were unblinking. He studied Marianne… bit into his lip… looked like he might just change his mind… “As you say,” he said finally, tearing his eyes free. “Let us be about it.”
Marianne gasped and stumbled back, her eyes welling with tears. Rose went to her, an arm around her shoulder, whispering words of conciliation that had no effect.
“It was lovely meeting you, Miss Marianne,” the Duke said with a short nod. He looked at Rose next, the slightest hint of a smirk tugging at his lips, before smothering it and turning serious. “As it was you, Miss Rosalind.”
“Shall we?” Their father was quick to usher the Duke from the room.
The moment they were alone, Marianne burst into tears. And while Rose tried her best to comfort her, to tell her that it wouldn’t be nearly as bad as she imagined, she knew the words to be hollow.
Rose had made a promise to her younger sister; she had broken that promise, and that was a type of pain that would never leave her.
“Father.” Rose presented herself at her father’s office later that same evening. “Might we talk?”
Her father looked up from his work, and he sighed before putting his head back down. “I would rather that we do not.”
“It will only take a moment.”
“If you are here to try and change my mind, Rosalind, I would not waste the time. It is done, and nothing you say will change that.”
Rose knew her father’s words to be true, just as she knew what she had to do to try to change them. She could not sit back and watch her sister marry a man she did not love, not if there was anything she could do to stop it from happening.
There is one thing I can do. Not what I wish to do, but what I have no choice in. So long as my father agrees.
“I understand why you think that,” Rose said as she crossed into the room. “Just as I know why you are doing this.”
He snorted. “It is not such a complex thing, Rosalind. And you, as well as anyone, should understand how important this match is.”
“I do.”
“He is a duke!” her father cried suddenly, the anger taking him.
“A man who would not even look at Marianne as a potential mate, let alone commit to her. But he is doing so. He has no choice…” Hunger of the greedy sort flashed behind his eyes.
“We have been blessed, Rosalind, and I do not need you ruining that.”
“I am aware of the contract,” Rose said when she reached the desk. “Just as I am aware that there is no getting out of it. However, what if…” Her stomach squirmed. “What if the Duke were to marry another?”
Her father leaned back in surprise. “Rosalind, you do not mean…” He exhaled and shook his head with disappointment. “This is the act of a desperate woman.”
“Marry me to the Duke,” she said. “I will be his wife, not Marianne.”
“No,” he said.
“Please, Father,” she begged. “Go to him, tell him that you have changed your mind. That you think I will be better suited. Tell him anything that you must!”
“How about I tell him the truth?” he said simply. “Do not be mistaken, Rosalind, if it were an option, I would have happily married you to the Duke. It is not as if another suitor is going to come calling on you any time soon. And Marianne, at least, will have her pick.”
“Then let her have her pick!”
“You are the problem,” he said sharply. “You always have been. Were you a different type of daughter, then we would not be in this situation in the first place. You wish to blame someone for today? Start by blaming yourself.”
The words stung worse than they should have done.
Rose was not a bad daughter. Nor was she a cautionary tale for other young ladies to be warned from. She was a victim of circumstance. After her mother died, Rose abandoned all notions that she might one day meet the man of her dreams and live a happily ever after, as so many seemed blessed to do.
She committed herself instead to her family. She turned her nose up at the idea of marrying young because if she did not, then Marianne would have been left alone. And she happily ignored the whispers and rumors spread about her because, at the end of the day, she knew it was the right thing to do.
“I am sorry, Father, if I have not been the perfect daughter,” she said bitterly. “Just as I am sorry to have disappointed you.”
“That is not what I am saying.”
“Just as I am sorry that I have had to put my life on hold to ensure that this family survives,” she hissed.
“Yes, that is something I am guilty of.” She looked down at him, and he looked away with shame.
“But do not pretend that it is my fault. That I am responsible for any of this. When you…” Her voice was shaking.
“I am sorry, Rosalind,” he said, and Rose believed him. “You know how grateful I am for you and all you have done. Since your mother died…” His expression tightened for a moment. “It does not matter. The Duke does not want to marry you, and it is that simple.”
“I am not a spinster,” she said. “I am not… wicked or evil! Tell him that!”
“It will make no difference,” he said. “That is how you are viewed, and unless you can convince him to view you in a different way, that you can convince the ton to do so as well, it is done. Marianne will marry the Duke, not you. I suggest you make your peace with it.”
Rose would not make her peace with it.
She left her father to his work, her mind already coming up with a plan to save her sister from this marriage. It might not work. It might make things worse. But she had to try! She loved her sister too much not to do anything and everything that she could do.