Chapter 17
Seventeen
Jane arrived back at the house barely thirty minutes after she’d left, Annabelle at her side.
“Oh!” Hannah gave a little cry of surprise as she embraced her friend. “Eli showed me the story. Are you all right?”
“As well as can be expected.” Annabelle’s eyes were red, though her voice held steady.
“Della’s decided to leave England until the story blows over.
I don’t know how she’ll manage without me.
You see what sort of trouble she got herself into when I was there to keep an eye on her, so you can just imagine how much worse it will be when she’s free to run amok. ” She shook her head gravely.
“Well, she won’t be alone.” Jane sounded as worried as Annabelle, though she seemed to be trying to put on a brave face.
“What do you mean?” Hannah asked.
“Now that Viscount Ashton has his divorce, she intends to ask him to accompany her.”
“But he’s the reason that she’s in this mess,” Hannah protested, searching first Jane, then Annabelle for any sign of understanding. Was she the only person who could see sense? “Hasn’t she learned her lesson?”
It was Annabelle who answered. “I warned her something like this might happen.” Her voice softened as she continued.
“But the truth is, I really think he loves her. And he’s good for her, in his way.
They do seem to bring out the best in each other.
If it weren’t for the inconvenient fact of his prior marriage, they would have been a good match. ”
“That’s a very important fact!”
“Yes.” Annabelle sighed. “But he’d been separated from Lady Ashton for something like eight or nine years before he met Della, so it isn’t as though she had anything to do with their rupture.
If they’ve been unhappy for that long, I don’t see why everyone makes such a fuss over divorce when there aren’t any children to make inheritance a problem. ”
Annabelle said it so indifferently, as though the end of a marriage was no great tragedy simply because the couple in question had grown a little tired of one another.
“But what’s the point of a marriage if the vows don’t mean anything?” Hannah asked indignantly. It was a question she might have liked to ask Mama, if she dared. But it was far easier to say it to Annabelle.
“Are their vows so important that Lord and Lady Ashton should be miserable together for the rest of their lives instead of finding happiness with other people?” her friend retorted.
“Plenty of couples make mistakes. I’m certainly not going to judge him if he’ll be the one keeping Della safe.
I’d rather they were off to the continent together than have her face the scandal alone. ”
Jane was nodding along silently.
Hannah wasn’t sure what to say. She couldn’t think of any persuasive argument why Lord Ashton should stay with his wife when she didn’t know anything about either party, except that it made her feel very worried to think that every source of security she’d been told to aspire to in life was nothing but a piece of theater: a painted backdrop that could be torn down to reveal the emptiness behind.
But she wasn’t sure quite how to express this sort of existential dread without sounding hysterical.
“I’m glad to hear Della has a plan.” Eli spoke up. “Is there anything else we can do for her?”
“Not at present.” A deepening crease marred Jane’s brow. “I gather she’ll be leaving quite soon. We’ve agreed that Annabelle will exercise control over her share of the club while she’s away. And we may need to buy her investment out.” She exchanged a regretful look with Eli.
“Unless you like me so much that you decide to keep me on forever as a partner,” Annabelle said, her voice bright despite the gravity of the subject. “Then I can buy Della out for you. I imagine she’ll probably need the money once she spends all hers on something silly like new gowns in Paris.”
“That’s why we came back here.” Jane turned to Hannah. “We need to plan out our next steps for Bishop’s now that Della is retreating entirely from the business.”
“I can still join you?” This was a bright spot in the morning, though she would have preferred it to come under better circumstances. “I wasn’t sure what the scandal would mean for you.”
“We’ll have to inform our members that Della has withdrawn from her role in the club, effective immediately, but we won’t give up.
” Jane’s chin wavered, and Eli reached out to give her shoulder a comforting squeeze.
“If you need an income to support yourself without a husband, we may as well help each other.”
“Wait, you broke your engagement?” Annabelle whirled on Hannah. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“It was a busy morning!” Jane protested.
“Do you need me to be sad with you?” Annabelle looked her over apprehensively. “Or may I confess that I think spinsterhood is the only sensible option for an intelligent woman?” With a belated wince, she addressed Jane, who was frowning at her. “Sorry.”
“I give you permission to be happy,” Hannah assured her. “It was my decision.”
This was perfectly true. If there was an odd little twinge in her heart when she thought of it, that only came from the abruptness of her rupture with Mr. Corbyn. Nothing more.
Jane was giving her a doubtful look, but thankfully didn’t press the matter when they had business to discuss.
“Cecily is already attending three nights a week, and we’ll try to keep her on if she’s still willing.
Hannah, if you’re interested in taking over the bookkeeping, it would leave me more time for other matters.
If your mother will agree to keep watching Gloria in the evenings, I can attend more often until the crisis subsides.
Annabelle, you can start coming in regularly on the evenings that Eli or I are there so that we can show you the ropes. How many days can you manage?”
They spent the next few minutes going over their schedules until they’d arrived at a plan for Della’s absence, although they hadn’t finished dividing all of the labor when a knock at the front door signaled that Hannah’s mother had returned from her morning calls.
Oh no.
“How are we going to persuade her to agree to this?” Hannah wasn’t sure whom she was asking. Herself, quite possibly, though she wouldn’t have objected if Eli wanted to shoulder the burden.
But no one volunteered a plan before her mother walked into the room a moment later.
“Mama, we were just—”
Hannah’s mouth stopped cooperating with her when she realized that Mr. Corbyn was with her, his lovely blue eyes somewhat guarded. Her heart lurched. What was he doing here?
Her mother looked equally surprised to find Annabelle in the room, though she recovered herself quicker. “Good morning, Miss Annabelle.”
“Good morning.” Annabelle eyed Mr. Corbyn with naked curiosity, but Jane nudged her gently toward the door.
“Why don’t we give you a moment alone?”
Annabelle looked as though she might protest, her large brown eyes darting from Hannah to Corbyn, but she followed Jane and Eli reluctantly from the room.
Mama started in immediately. “Now, I don’t know everything that was said last night after you left the dining room, nor do I need to know.
All that matters is that you put the quarrel behind you and move forward with the wedding as planned.
I shall talk to your father, so there’s no need to worry about what he’ll say. ”
“I beg your pardon?” How could Mama possibly still expect a wedding?
There had once been a time when she would have deemed Mr. Corbyn unsuitable for parting his hair on the wrong side.
An outburst such as the one last night should have damaged him beyond repair!
“Papa will never agree to it now, and I’m not going to marry without his permission,” Hannah insisted, seizing on the most obvious obstacle.
“I told you, I shall handle all that. Stop being so obstinate. Even when I agree to the man you picked, you still find reasons to quibble.”
“Mrs. Williams,” Corbyn interrupted gently. “Might Hannah and I have a moment to speak in private?”
“Of course you may, Mr. Corbyn.” Mama was far warmer when she replied to him than she had been when speaking to Hannah.
In fact, she was far warmer than she’d ever been in his presence.
Had he bewitched her somehow? That seemed the only explanation for such a drastic change.
“Is your father at home? I’ll deal with him directly. ”
Hannah didn’t dare to answer. She wasn’t entirely confident that “deal with him” wasn’t a euphemism for murder. But Mama didn’t seem to need her confirmation, and she slipped from the room with quiet determination. What on earth was happening?
Once she’d left, Hannah turned to Mr. Corbyn. “What did you say to her? Why does she suddenly like you so much?”
“She appreciated my defending her yesterday.”
“Of course she would.” Hannah buried her face in her hands. That brought the total up to three people in this house who were on Mr. Corbyn’s side—Jane, Eli, and her mother—while no one but Papa agreed with Hannah! She was rapidly being humbled for her actions.
“I’m sorry I lost my temper,” Corbyn murmured, once it became apparent that Hannah was too lost to know what to say next.
“I didn’t care for the way your father was speaking to everyone, but I shouldn’t have thrown fuel on the fire.
He reminded me of the way my own father used to talk to me, and I wasn’t thinking when I spoke. I should have known it would hurt you.”
“No. I’m sorry,” she confessed. “You’re…not entirely wrong about him. I wish I hadn’t been so unkind to you afterward.”
They stood in silence for a moment, before Corbyn broke it abruptly. “I think we should get married.”