Chapter Six
Mother flew into the informal sitting room with all the excitement of a child who had just learned she was to have her very own pony. Dread settled heavy in Odette’s chest.
“It is working,” Mother declared, eying Odette and Mrs. Northrop in turn. “I know I should not have doubted, considering your success in the past.” This last was directed at the matchmaker. “Yet, how very exciting to see progress is already being made.”
“Would you be so good as to elaborate?” Mrs. Northrop’s question did not emerge as anything short of a gentle demand.
Mother took a seat nearby, though she did not hold still in the least. “I have been speaking with my dear friend Mrs. Hewitt.”
Jack’s mother. Odette held her breath.
“She spoke at length about the difference everyone is seeing in Odette these past days, that she is softer and less pompous.” Mother turned an apologetic gaze on Odette. “You have given the impression of unpleasant arrogance, dear.”
“I am well aware.” Her dry comment inspired the usual consternation in Mother and utter lack of response from Mrs. Northrop.
Mother pressed onward. “I do not know what has led to this recently improved opinion, but it is quite real, I assure you. Mrs. Hewitt was beyond pleased that you were more the Odette she has known all these years.”
Jack’s mother thought well of her, it seemed. That was encouraging. It wasn’t enough, but it was encouraging.
“And she could not stop speaking of you and a certain young gentleman we all know and her belief that he has developed a keen interest in you.”
Odette hoped she kept her expression adequately unconcerned even as her lungs froze.
Had Mrs. Hewitt realized the affection between her and Jack?
Had they been unable to fully hide their feelings?
At least Mother’s recounting didn’t indicate the realization was an unwelcome one on Mrs. Hewitt’s part.
Mrs. Northrop was as utterly detached from the topic as ever. It was decidedly odd that a lady who spent her life making matches never seemed overly concerned about the subject of her efforts.
“How do you feel about this young gentleman?” Mother asked the marriage broker.
“I would happily offer my opinion if I knew to whom Mrs. Hewitt referred.”
Mrs. Northrop, then, had not noticed any particular shows of affection between her and Jack. That set Odette’s mind a little at ease.
“Why, young Mr. Lexington, of course.”
Odette made a very unladylike sound, something between a snort and a choke.
“He is quite eligible,” Mother insisted. “He is near to you in age—you specifically objected early in the Season to gentlemen more than fifteen years your senior.”
“A reasonable objection,” Mrs. Northrop said. “One of my rules, in fact.” She looked at Odette. “Rule two: both halves of any potential couple must be fully comfortable with each other’s age, life experiences, and character.”
Odette knew young ladies who had been married off to gentlemen of an age with their grandfathers and others joined to rakes of such profligate appetites that no hope existed of them being faithful or conscientious husbands.
“Surely,” Mother replied, “if the young lady’s parents do not object to a suitor’s age or habits—”
“The parents do not have to build a life with their daughter’s husband. She does.” Mrs. Northrop met Odette’s eye once more. “Her wishes will not be ignored.”
To Odette’s horror, she felt emotion building in her throat and behind her eyes. Both her sisters’ wishes had been so easily brushed aside. To have Mrs. Northrop advocating for her was greater reassurance than Odette had felt in months.
Mother seemed to realize the matchmaker would not be easily swayed to support any particular suitor.
She addressed Odette instead. “Mr. Lexington has a tidy income from his father’s estate and will inherit.
The two of you get along. He was not put off by the horrid display you’ve been making this Season.
” Mother counted off on her fingers the points she was making.
“He has asked you to stand up with him at every ball you’ve both attended these past months.
He’s taken you for a drive. He has spoken with you at musicales, and he even once visited us in our box at the opera. ”
Mrs. Northrop hmmed. She assumed an expression of pondering that washed away some of the relief Odette had felt only a moment ago. “I had not realized he was so attentive.”
“He really isn’t,” Odette insisted. “He is a friend of Jack’s, is all. He was, no doubt, wrangled into being kind out of pity for his friend’s childhood acquaintance.”
“Odette.” Mother spoke her name through tight teeth. “You were permitted to call him by his Christian name when you were tiny, but you mustn’t do so now. It is simply not acceptable.”
“It is merely a habit,” she lied.
Another of Mrs. Northrop’s hmms. This was devolving quickly.
Odette rose, her chin at a proud and defiant angle. “I will leave the two of you to discuss your fondness for Mr. Lexington. I mean to go for a walk around the back garden.”
She made her dignified exit, Mother’s “I do not know what to make of her any longer” following her into the corridor.
Only upon reaching the quiet, tall-shrubberied garden did Odette let her shoulders sag.
She was absolutely certain Terrance had no interest in her.
She didn’t know if Jack had ever told him of their situation.
Whether he had or not, Odette did not detect in him the signs of affection her mother and Jack’s seemed determined to see.
Yet, she knew her mother would never contradict Mrs. Hewitt.
Father would not, either. They practically worshipped them, idolized them.
They coveted the standing Jack’s family so easily claimed.
If Mrs. Hewitt promoted a match between Odette and Terrance, that match would be pursued with all the tenacity of a terrier hunting a fox, and it would end just as badly for her as it always did for the pitiable prey.
I need to talk with Jack. This is far more tenuous than we realized. But how? Even their long-standing acquaintance was not enough to permit her to visit him or send him a note. There had to be a way.
“This does not appear to be a pleasant walk.” Mrs. Northrop really needed to begin making more noise when she walked about.
“Is Princess Pompous not entitled to be in a sour mood?” She hoped her pretentious tone proved enough to send Mrs. Northrop back inside.
It didn’t.
“Mr. Lexington is an admirable young gentleman,” Mrs. Northrop said.
“He does seem to be.” Odette thought that noncommittal enough.
“And your mother appears eager to pursue that possibility.”
She could not help a tense sigh of frustration. “She is eager for nothing more or less than precisely what Mrs. Hewitt deems worthy of eagerness. Nothing motivates her as thoroughly as the chance to meet with our neighbor’s approval.”
“She would go so far as to agree with or disagree with a match simply because Mrs. Hewitt felt one way or the other about it?”
Odette nodded even as the weight on her heart grew.
“They are a family of great influence in our corner of the kingdom, and my parents are—” She did not wish to speak truly ill of her parents, but neither could she think of an innocuous way of phrasing the truth.
“They find comfort in the reassurance of a seemingly risk-free path.”
Mrs. Northrop’s gaze narrowed on her. “And bowing to the dictates of the powerful and influential feels less risky than having an opinion of their own?”
“Unfortunately.”
“And none of them realizes you and young Mr. Hewitt are in love with each other?”
Shock. There was no other word to describe the visceral reaction she had to Mrs. Northrop’s unanticipated question.
The matchmaker actually laughed, not a shoulder-shaking guffaw, but a laugh of pure enjoyment. “You didn’t realize I had sorted that out, did you?”
Odette clutched her hands together, nervous, wary. “We thought we hid it very well.”
“Oh, you have hidden it exceptionally well. I am simply very, very familiar with the symptoms of love, especially love unacknowledged.”
Mrs. Northrop did not appear to disapprove. If Odette could convince her to champion their cause, there might be some hope.
“Jack is a wonderful, upstanding, good-hearted gentleman. I have known him all my life, so I know he is not pretending to be good in order to advance his suit. He would simply have approached my father and made his case if not for his parents’ preference for Miss Summerfield and my parents’ inability to contradict anything the Hewitts believe or embrace, coupled with their history of forcing their daughters into marriages they felt most likely to meet with the approval of important people. ”
“Your mother hinted at interfering in your sisters’ decisions,” Mrs. Northrop said, “but you feel your sisters were forced?”
“Heavily coerced,” Odette said. “Jack and I know my parents would do so again. It is a frustratingly impossible situation.”
A gentle smile answered. “I have yet to encounter a truly impossible situation. This one will be difficult, though.”
Odette hardly dared believe what she thought she was hearing. “You do not mean to object? My parents might be upset.”
Mrs. Northrop slipped her arm through Odette’s and began walking with her along the garden path. “I did not become a matchmaker in order to make certain that the whims of the parents of the ton ruled supreme. I did just tell you of my second rule.”
Odette shook her head. “But I cannot object to Mr. Lexington’s age or life or character.”
“That is not the principle beneath the rule, Odette. Rule number two is my requirement that any match for which I advocate must be one both people feel will contribute to their happiness, a match they both choose freely and fully.”
“And if I told you that a match with Mr. Lexington would not secure my happiness?”
“I would be so shaken by surprise as to be incapacitated for weeks on end.” Mrs. Northrop delivered the declaration with too stony an expression and too dry a tone to be truly serious.
For the first time since coming to London, Odette drew a nearly serene breath.
“Jack and I don’t know what to do. The closest thing to a plan we could concoct was to do our utmost to avoid a match while in Town and then spend the autumn and winter bringing our parents around to the idea of a connection between us. ”
“His parents in particular, no doubt.” Mrs. Northrop’s brow puckered in a look of thoughtfulness devoid of true worry. “But they, you said, have their hearts set on Miss Summerfield.”
Odette nodded.
“How does Miss Summerfield feel about this?”
“I cannot say.”
They walked a few minutes more. Mrs. Northrop did not speak.
Odette embraced the rare moment of companionship.
She had been quite alone the past weeks with no one to easily share her burdens.
Jack would have, if he’d been permitted.
Odette might have had any number of friends to lean upon if she’d not been forced to keep all the world at a distance.
“I have the beginnings of an idea,” Mrs. Northrop said, “one I think may just prove ingenious.”
The lady did not lack for confidence.
“It will require a few things, however.”
Odette could not imagine anything that would not be worth enduring if it meant securing the future she and Jack were so desperate to claim.
“I will need to speak with Mr. Hewitt,” Mrs. Northrop said. “He, you must understand, has been going about this entirely wrong.”
Had they undermined their own chances? “What do you mean to require of him?”
Mrs. Northrop shook her head. “You need not worry about that. You have a couple of tasks of your own.”
She waited in silence, knowing Mrs. Northrop would press forward.
“First, you will diligently work at shedding your Princess Pompous moniker. I understand your reason for it now, but Mrs. Hewitt’s good opinion is paramount in this endeavor. You will never secure it if you continue as you have been.”
That made sense, and yet . . . “If the other mothers of the ton or any gentlemen who have not entirely lost interest begin to see me as agreeable—”
“I have full control over the remainder of your Season. You will not be browbeaten into an unwanted match. I swear to you.”
She wanted so desperately to believe it. “You said there were multiple things you required of me.”
“Only one other.” She met Odette’s eye with her firm and unwavering gaze. “You are to befriend Miss Summerfield. Not with ulterior motives or insincerity, but truly befriend her.”
Befriend the lady who might very well steal away all her hopes? “What would that accomplish?”
Mrs. Northrop patted her hand in a very maternal way. “This is not negotiable, nor is it something I mean to debate with you. Repair Society’s perception of you. Honestly befriend Miss Summerfield. Those are my requirements.”
Odette hesitated. “You will help Jack and me if I agree to those two things.”
“And if Mr. Hewitt agrees to what I will ask of him.”
“What—?”
But Mrs. Northrop shook her head firmly. There would be no questions on that score. Odette was meant to simply trust her.
What choice did she have, really? Her future depended upon this.
“I agree.”
“Very good.” Mrs. Northrop patted her hand, then slipped her arm free. “I have a great deal of work to do. You set your mind to the best means of accomplishing what has been asked of you. I will do the same.”
***
Adelaide might eventually grow accustomed to the self-defeating stubbornness of the young people she worked with, but somehow she doubted it.
They had, generally speaking, seen too little of the world to fully understand it but held too high an opinion of their own ability to navigate the shoals they could not even anticipate.
To Odette and Mr. Hewitt’s credit, they had found themselves in a particularly difficult situation. Resigning Odette to the task of keeping everyone at bay in order to avoid suitors had proven effective, but anyone who paid even minimal attention could see the toll that loneliness was taking.
Before she would fully commit to helping make this match, she first needed to discover if young Mr. Hewitt had resigned his lady love to months of misery out of a misguided desperation or out of indifference to her suffering. The former could be rectified. The latter would not be tolerated.