Chapter 24
Violet had intended to wear something old to the dinner party.
There was simply no more time to go shopping for new clothes, and besides, she had spent so much money on the gowns that had been ruined.
It made her a little sad—though Noah had apologized, and she had hugged him and assured him that he had her forgiveness—but it wasn’t that big a concern, really.
This was dinner at her friend’s house. She didn’t need to impress anyone with her clothing tonight.
She was surprised, then, when she went up to her room and found a gown lying on her bed.
Not one of the ruined ones, and not one she had already owned, either.
This one was new to her. But it was familiar, too, for it had been made of the same lavender fabric as the one she had tried on and found destroyed.
She ran her fingers over the green stitching, wondering what could have happened…
and at the same time, knowing the answer.
There was only one possible answer.
Jonathan must have done this.
He must have contacted the modiste and asked for another gown. It was not a copy of the one she had lost—it was finer, a more modern style than she had dared to select for herself. She shivered as she touched it. It was such an extravagant thing to do for her.
Why would he buy me this? What does he think it means?
Was it possible that this was his way of trying to soften her up, wear down her resistance so that he could get the house from her?
Violet closed her eyes.
She needed to stop thinking about everything in those terms, and she knew it.
Accepting this gown would not mean giving up the house.
There was no such caveat here. She was worrying over nothing, and it would be best to put that from her mind—for tonight, at least. They were supposed to be enjoying themselves, going out to spend time with friends, and she had been given something lovely to wear for the occasion.
She could accept a gift without looking for unnamed strings that might be attached. She could take this at face value.
So when Georgina came in, she allowed her lady’s maid to help her into the new gown.
It fit perfectly—but of course it did. The modiste had measured her for the other gowns, the ones that had been destroyed, so her measurements had already been available.
The bodice hugged her without pinching, and the fabric had been cut so that the embroidery was all on that part of the gown.
The skirt was unembroidered, but it was full and lovely and made her smile just to look at it and feel it beneath her fingertips.
“Did you bring this in, Georgina?” she asked.
Georgina nodded. “His Grace asked me to.”
“Yes, I thought he must have,” Violet murmured. “It really is lovely. I’ll have to thank him.”
“After those first ones were ruined, I think he felt badly for you. He wanted to do something to help.” Georgina hesitated, and Violet could tell that she was thinking of saying more.
“Speak your mind,” she urged.
“It’s just that I know you have struggled to trust him,” Georgina said. “And I think—I’d hope you realize that he is a good man. I believe he really wants the best for you, my lady. I think he did this out of kindness and nothing else.”
“I think he did too,” Violet said. “Don’t worry, Georgina—it’s my intention to accept this gift, and to thank him for it.”
And she made her way down the stairs, once she was dressed and ready, to do just that. She found Jonathan waiting for her in the foyer at the foot of the stairs, and he smiled as he saw her coming.
“Ah,” he said. “I knew that it was going to look good on you, Violet.”
“Thank you,” she said, feeling shy. “It was kind of you to arrange for me to have something after what happened to my last dresses.”
“Well, I knew that you wanted to wear something new tonight,” he said. “It seemed unfair that you should be robbed of that chance because of Noah’s prank.”
“Perhaps, but it wasn’t your duty to fix that situation,” she pointed out.
“No,” he agreed. “Not my duty—but something I was able to do, and something I wanted to do. It means a lot to me to be able to lend a hand where I can.” He smiled. “Perhaps you see me differently. Maybe you don’t think I’m the kind of man to want to help someone.”
“I never thought that.” Her face felt hot. She turned away from him, but she was sure that he must have already realized she was blushing. “I never thought of you as someone who wouldn’t want to help. You’ve been so good with Noah, after all.”
“I’m glad you think so.” His voice carried weight. “That means more to me than I think you’re aware, Violet. I do care for Noah.”
“I know you do.” She swallowed. “Thank you for talking to him about his behavior. I hope it means that we’re going to see a change now.”
Jonathan nodded. “I believe we will,” he agreed.
There was a long moment during which neither of them spoke. Violet stole a few glances in his direction, but every time she looked at him, he was watching her, and she couldn’t bear the tension. Every time, she looked away from him quickly.
At last, Jonathan cleared his throat. “Had we better go?” he suggested. “I have the carriage waiting.”
She wished there was some way to decline this.
Although she had known the two of them would be riding to the party together, now that the moment had come, the thought of getting into a carriage with him was fraught with peril.
How could she spend the next half an hour in such close quarters with this man?
There would be no one else to break up the tension and the silences, nobody to talk when Violet couldn’t think what she ought to say.
It troubled her. A part of her wanted to speak up, as odd as she knew it was, and to tell him she would rather take a carriage of her own, travel separately from him.
But of course that would sound foolish, and would draw far more attention to her discomfort than simply forcing herself to sit in the carriage with him could possibly do.
She followed him outside and allowed herself to be handed up and into the carriage.
Sitting there, with her hands tucked into her lap, she stared out the window and tried to divert her thoughts from what was happening.
She tried to pretend that she was sitting in the carriage by herself, that she was going over to Agnes’ house for a normal meeting of their book club instead of a dinner with a gentleman who had uprooted every facet of her life and left her feeling as though nothing would ever be normal again.
He joined her in the carriage, and it began to move, pulling away toward its destination.
Violet kept her focus on the window, but she was aware of every movement Jonathan made.
He shifted in his seat, and he cleared his throat—she noticed all of it.
It was as if everything he did was a performance specifically for her benefit, meant to make her notice him.
Finally, he spoke, breaking the silence between them. “The gown really is lovely,” he told her. “It brings out your eyes.”
She recalled thinking the same thing about the first one when she had tried it on. “I’m grateful to you,” she said. “Not just for the gown itself, but for choosing the same fabric. That was thoughtful.”
“Well.” She glanced at him and saw that he was smiling. “I know nothing about the design of ladies’ gowns. I thought it best to just let go and trust someone else’s expertise when it came to that.”
“Well, I’m thankful that you did.” She managed a smile in return. “I was intentional about this choice.”
“Yes, I thought you might have been.”
“You did change the design, though,” she noted.
“I hoped you wouldn’t mind that,” he told her.
“I didn’t know what the original design was, and I told the modiste to create the finest thing she could, and that cost was no object.
She said it wouldn’t match what you had originally chosen, and I said that if you didn’t like it we would just have something else made.
But this looks so good on you. I hope you’re happy with it. ”
“I’m very happy,” she assured him. “I might have chosen something like this myself, but I didn’t feel as though I ought to…well.”
“What? Why not?”
“It was just a more expensive choice than I would have made,” she confessed. “I chose a more affordable style.”
“Well…it’s good that Noah picked the less pricey one to destroy,” Jonathan said.
Violet laughed. “I suppose you’re right about that,” she allowed.
“I hope you’ll keep this one, because I really do think it looks wonderful on you,” he said. “And the cost is nothing to concern yourself with, Violet, truly. I had the money to spare.”
“I will keep it,” she assured him. “I love it. It’s a very extravagant gift, but…I do like it very much. Thank you. I’m sure my friends will admire it greatly when we see one another tonight.”
He smiled at her. “I’m looking forward to getting to know your friends a bit better.”
“Well, you already know Agnes, don’t you? That was my understanding.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “And she’s lovely. But I really only know her as Gabriel’s wife. I don’t know that much about her outside of that. And I’m excited to do so.”
“I think you’ll like her a great deal once you get to know her better,” Violet said, and the awkwardness that had sprung up between the two of them dissipated a bit.
She told him about her friends, their characteristics, and the book club the three of them had formed.
She shared how long she had known them. She held back some of the more interesting details, such as Agnes’ wild personality—she wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea for him to know all of those things just yet.
Maybe it would be better for him to meet everyone slowly and grow to like them before he heard the details of who they were.
But on the other hand…
Was Agnes’ story any wilder than Violet’s own?
She had always seen Agnes as her carefree friend, the one who was willing to get into messes and cause chaos.
But wasn’t Violet in her own share of chaos now?
Fighting a battle to inherit a house? Living with a gentleman? Trying to become a mother to a child?
It all seemed more wild and reckless than anything Agnes had ever done when she thought about it in those terms. Perhaps Agnes was no longer the renegade of their little group of friends.
Maybe there had been a shift, and maybe now Violet would need to accept that she herself was the one doing things the group would talk about, things the others would be taken aback by.
The very thought of it would once have horrified her.
Now, though, she had to admit that she found the whole thing rather intoxicating.
Her life was full of excitement these days, and she had no idea where it was all going to take her. But the one thing she did know, she reflected to herself as they rolled along, was that life had altogether ceased to be predictable.