Chapter 24
A few minutes earlier, on the second floor of the Pearler’s house…
Perhaps the second kiss in the attic hadn’t been all that chaste after all, but as long as nobody else noticed, Hermy told herself that they’d snuck away unnoticed.
She returned to the room where Lizzie, Hannah, and Rachel waited for her.
Well, waited was an understatement. They’d carefully spread out a display of sinful garments on Lizzie’s large double bed.
“I think you should go with black,” Hannah said. “It’s always flattering, and you can wear it under many colors.”
“My preference is for rose or light blue,” Rachel said, “but this time of the year, and especially after a wedding, I’d prefer champagne, ivory, or shades of white.” She came to Hermy’s side and held a few sheer fabrics in shades of creamy whites to her face. “You have a perfect complexion for a cool white.”
“Yes, start with white and save black for later. You’re not in a rush,” Lizzie agreed.
“I’m sorry but what is all this?” Hermy should have been scandalized by the lingerie on the bed, but the three women were all married with children, and they seemed to be genuinely trying to find something for her.
“Why would any of this be for me?”
“Because you don’t have a trousseau, do you?” Lizzie said.
“At dinner, Greg mentioned you had to leave without your things,” Rachel added.
“I know how you must feel, so I suggested that we help you out a little,” Hannah said.
“With your undergarments?”
“None of these are ours yet. Madame Giselle, my modiste, brought them here and told me that you still needed to complete your wardrobe for the end of the season. I will return whatever I don’t need,” Lizzie said. “I thought you might like some of these. You can pay her tomorrow when she comes to take your measurements with her seamstress.”
“Who’s coming?” Hermy couldn’t follow.
“You need a wardrobe suitable for a future Countess.” Rachel unfurled a roll of lace. “I have some Brugge lace that we can add to this one, don’t you think it’s pretty?”
“You’re all trying to help me make a trousseau and dress?”
Lizzie held her head high. “Dress to make an impression. The Ton would love to see you in rags crawling to their feet. Let’s reverse the roles, shall we?”
Hermy’s chest hurt from the gratitude that washed over her. How could she have found three so fiercely intelligent friends in the matter of hours? Or were they Greg’s friends merely trying to be nice to her?
“Why are you doing this for me?”
“Because you’ve been wronged and we know how it feels to be on the receiving end,” Rachel said.
“A strong person is stronger when the people behind her give her a little push,” Hannah said. “That’s what family is for.”
“But you’re not Greg’s family.”
“True, but we’re as close as it gets, and I’m not saying he’s always had my approval,” Hannah said. “You, however, do.”
That meant more coming from Hannah than Hermy could say. “You epitomize everything I’m striving for.”
Hannah furrowed her dark brows and eyed Hermy as if she expected an explanation and Hermy sank onto the edge of the bed needing to sit.
“Well, I was cast aside in the name of religion. Shamed. But in all this time, for years, I couldn’t see a fault in loving Greg with all my heart and body. It’s not chaste, and it’s scandalous, I know that.” She swallowed a ball in her throat willing herself to maintain her composure. “Yet, my brother had killed men during the war and was touted a hero in society. I loved Greg before I was allowed, but it was real and wonderful and I was ruined and locked away in the country for that?”
“It is wrong to punish you for love and it wasn’t the religious motive. They were jealous. Few Ton marriages are for love,” Lizzie said.
“Society misconstrues large concepts to foster panic. Sometimes, it works and gives people who seek power the chance to seize it,” Hannah explained. “That’s when we have a window of opportunity as women to make a difference where life and not law gives us a say.”
“I don’t understand how that applies to me,” Hermy said.
“It’s simple.” Rachel clapped her hands together as if she’d found the easiest way to formulate it. “You disturbed the balance of what a debutante ought to do. And with the abeyance, you could potentially make a mere baron with a Jewish bloodline an earl. You’d skew the current preconceptions and—” she beamed at Hannah and Lizzie, “We’ll do everything to help you.”
“What you’ve done, Hermy, is nothing short of amazing. You’re a queen in deed, even if not in title,” Lizzie said with such awe that Hermy blinked away tears.
“They wanted to keep you quiet, lock you up—” Rachel started.
“And strip you of your voice,” Hannah said. “It shan’t be allowed.”
“And we’re here now to help restore your voice, if you’ll have us. Consider us your first line of defense,” Hannah said.
Hermy wiped a tear from her cheek and nodded. She should defend them, the daughter of an earl should have the power in society to help the Jews integrate in society. The reverse was true and yet, it felt larger than any of the four women in this bedchamber.
“Why are you so nice to me?” Hermy blinked more tears away.
Rachel came to her side and put a gentle hand on her arm. “Why wouldn’t we be?”
Lizzie handed her an embroidered handkerchief, and Hannah frowned.
Hermy found Lizzie’s eyes. “Because you know who I am.”
“I’ve known you for so long Hermy, I know exactly who you are.”
“And surely they do?” Hermy felt her face crinkle in a grimace as the tears built up toward a torrential downpour. “I’m the fallen girl. The one that brought such shame to my family that I have a guardian at the age of two-and twenty. I could shame you and risk everything your family has earned and accomplished.” She heaved, a squeal escaped her, and the dreaded tears came. “I’m the … the stupid girl who serves as a lesson to … t?—”
Hannah plopped on the bed next to Hermy. “You certainly have a reputation, dear.”
Hermy shuddered as the shame washed over her. “Don’t pity me.”
“Oh, I certainly do not.” Hannah patted her knee. “I’m in awe of you.”
“So am I. You had the courage as a girl that most of us don’t have until much later, if at all.” Rachel spoke softly as if she meant every word.
“I’m a warning for girls not to be stupid,” Hermy said into her handkerchief.
Lizzie inclined her head and shot Hannah and Rachel a look. “That’s as open to interpretation as anything in life.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hermy asked, her mind buzzing from the heady conversation.
Rachel scratched her chin.
Hannah hugged herself and looked away.
Lizzie smirked.
“Alright, I’ll say it if no-one else ventures.” She gave a friendly slap on Hermy’s knee. “You were truer to yourself than any girl I know.”
Hannah nodded. “And she knows everyone in London.”
“Plus, we all nearly became warning stories.” Rachel twirled a strand of hair around her index finger and bit her cheek. “It’s a slippery slope, isn’t it?”
“A downhill slope.” Hannah picked her cuticles.
“Covered in marbles that roll down to doom,” Lizzie chuckled.
“Unless…” Rachel let go of her hair and took Hermy’s hand.
“Unless your courage and bravery to show your true feelings are geared at a deserving man who loves you right back,” Lizzie said.
“And who forgives the transgression because he wants you so much more than any rules of society,” Hannah said in a dreamy voice, as though recalling a memory of forbidden pleasure in her past.
Hermy patted the tears on her cheeks. “You can’t mean it.”
“Look at it this way,” Rachel said, “the rules of society are meant to maintain a certain level of order.”
“A hierarchy,” Lizzie said.
“Social norms give stability,” Hannah added.
“Except when they don’t and cease to be useful.” Rachel crossed her arms and locked eyes with Hannah. “We all know these rules can hinder progress.”
“They are roadblocks we need to kick away,” Lizzie said.
“And you did that, Hermy. The daughter of an Earl who followed her heart, it’s brilliant!” Rachel said.
“I was compromised by my brother’s classmate.”
“Oh, weren’t we all?” Lizzie blushed and waved as if an invisible fly were buzzing around her head.
Hermy’s eyes widened. “Do tell!”
“Another time.” Lizzie rose and winked at Hermy. “I have to go find my husband, it’s time to read a bedtime story for the children.”
“So, you don’t think I bring shame to your home?”
“How could the woman who’s captured the heart of one of our closest and dearest friends do such a thing?”
“I’m here because you respect Greg, then?” Hermy felt her face burn, she’d probably grown blotchy with self-pity-tears.
“No, that’s not quite right,” Rachel pursed her lips. “May I?” she asked Lizzie, who
nodded and left. Hannah folded her hands in her lap.
“Hermy, neither of us grew up here. We married into this family and if there’s one thing you ought to know when you do, it’s an irrevocable commitment of loyalty.”
Hannah nodded. “We bring everything we have and everything we are and somehow, the family grows.”
“Lizzie knows best of all, she’s married to one of the Klonimus brothers. It’s like a merger of two countries, the Pearlers and the Klonimuses, but mind you, us Solomons, we’re not to be trifled with.”
“B-but Greg isn’t a Pearler,” Hermy ventured, yet Rachel and Hannah met her with incredulous glances.
“He’s an honorary one, and that counts. Believe us.”
Hermy swallowed hard. It felt as though the rules of society were rewritten in this family to suit a greater goal. “And I?” She set down the handkerchief and waved grandly at the room as if she connected it to the Pearlers overall.
“Hermy, don’t you know how much he loves you?”
Hermy didn’t dare move.
“Greg is like a knight in shining armor, not just a chess piece jumping around the board, he’s navigating the social rules in their shades of grey with such mastery, he’s going in and out of Prinny’s closest entourage, he has a seat in parliament, a fleet connected to America, India, and he has connections in all the wealthiest and most powerful families in Europe.” Rachel’s eyes rolled. “He’s everywhere!”
“You mean I’d drag him down?”
“You’d lift him up, Hermy. Stop thinking of yourself like a fallen girl and consider yourself one who’s risen from the ashes. You’ll be the Countess who makes him an earl, not vice versa, and you can help him.”
“You mean help him to protect you?”
“No, we don’t need his protection. He’ll see that one day, but it’s sweet that he considers himself our speaker in parliament. It’s been too long for him to play savior, he needs to save himself now.” Hannah gave Hermy a piercing glance. “Help him to help himself.”