Chapter Four #2
“Already off running?” Cassandra sighed. “Aunt Valentine still isn’t giving you a break from the marriage mart?”
“She’s only gotten worse,” Jasmine grumbled.
“If you need a husband, I’ll happily volunteer for the job!” Trevor burst forth with a hopeful gleam in his eyes. “I’m a grown man now, Lady Jasmine, and more than capable of providing. I have an income of my own. While not as impressive as Father’s, I am growing facial hair. If you look here—”
“Trevor.” Matthew lowered his paper and shot his nephew a raised brow.
Trevor pouted and looked at his plate. “I’m only joking, Uncle.”
“I’m not looking for a husband, and I don’t need to.
” Jasmine’s heart filled with the rage she had been suppressing for days.
Holding her hands in fists under the table, she took an unsteady breath.
“My mother is writing a final list of gentlemen for me to choose from as we speak. I’ll select one, and I’ll be married by the end of the month. ”
The room fell silent.
Cassandra’s eyes widened. “Has it truly reached that point?”
Matthew dropped his paper and set it to the side. His entire attention focused on her, as if dissecting her.
“Who is on the list?”
Jasmine narrowed her eyes at him. “She hasn’t told me.”
“Who are you considering?” he asked.
Jasmine glanced around the table. All eyes were on her now, even the children under the table had quieted as she considered her response.
“Whoever is the best match.”
Matthew’s face hardened. “What about love?”
“What about it? Not everyone gets to marry for love.”
“The woman who boarded that ship for Spain wanted love,” he accused. “You searched the world for it, and now you’re settling without a fight? What happened to the Jasmine who demanded perfection?”
“She didn’t find it!” she snapped. He flinched. She didn’t care. “And now, I am left to choose the least objectionable gentleman on my mother’s list.”
“Least objectionable?” Matthew scoffed. “Do you hear yourself?”
“Matthew!” Cassandra scolded.
“No, let him say what he needs to, Cassandra.” Jasmine met his eyes. Steaming, she focused all of her pent-up frustration on him. “Do you have a problem with me being at this table, Matthew?”
“I have several problems with what you’re saying,” he parried. “Has anyone proposed?”
“Not yet, but Mother believes many could be convinced.”
“If a man has to be convinced to marry you, it means he doesn’t love you—”
“Oh, is that what that means?!” Her words were sharp as a whip, aiming to hurt.
“You are one to talk! Where is your wife, Matthew? Where is your great love? You at least have choices. What I do with the few I am afforded are my concern. So yes, I will choose the least objectionable man and be done with it.”
Matthew’s eyes widened, but not with the hurt she was expecting. Instead, he seemed to ponder. He kept his eyes firm on hers, and his voice lowered.
“Unbelievable.” He enunciated each word slowly. “You’ll marry someone you don’t love.”
“I’ll do what I have to,” Jasmine spat.
His tone sharpened. “What has your father said about the matter?”
Jasmine frowned, taken aback at the change in him.
“He hasn’t said anything to me.” But then, he rarely left his study. “My father doesn’t have strong opinions about anything.”
“I’ve heard his strong opinions before,” he said. “He’s an excellent conversationalist. Perhaps I’ll call upon him this afternoon.”
Matthew lifted the paper to his face once more. Jasmine huffed. There he was, hiding.
Again.
You’re a coward, Matthew Cooper.
Caroline clapped her hands together. “Well, this is uncomfortable!”
Cassandra pursed her lips, her eyes darting between Jasmine and Matthew.
Those seated wore similar expressions of unease, as if someone had dropped a snake on the table.
Mortified, Jasmine slumped in her chair.
She fought the dual instincts of running from the room and hiding her face in her hands. Not only had she intruded…
She ruined breakfast.
“Now, now. No need to be upset.” Caroline shot her eyes to Matthew, still obscured by his newspaper. A quick smirk crossed her face before she returned her gaze to Jasmine and beamed. “Whenever you marry, we will happily be your bridesmaids. Isn’t that right, Cassandra?”
Cassandra smiled and reached for her hand to give it a squeeze. “If that’s what you wish.”
Soothed by Cassandra’s tone and her soft gaze, Jasmine’s sharp edges eased.
Cassandra’s gentle strength always had that effect on her.
Any other woman might have crumbled under the weight of Cassandra’s life, but she was happily in love.
She had loved Seth for most of her life.
Love was right in front of her the entire time.
Lucky. Even years after their wedding day, whenever Cassandra looked at Seth, she glowed.
Jasmine’s jaw dropped. Her next thought slipped out of her. “Cassandra, you’re expecting?”
Cassandra flushed scarlet, and another hush came over the room. Seth sheepishly put his hand on the back of his neck and rubbed slightly. With a shy grin, he said, “We were planning on making an announcement—”
An eruption of noise interrupted his words, and everyone rushed forward to offer their congratulations.
Caroline embraced her sister, and Matthew got out of his chair to wrap his arms around both of his sisters.
He gave Cassandra a peck on the top of her head, then shook Seth’s hand.
Seth looked at his wife, proud, and Cassandra beamed at him with pure happiness in her eyes.
And Jasmine was… jealous.
She was hideously jealous of Cassandra with her growing family.
Jasmine was thrilled for her—of course she was—but it stung, and it felt wrong.
Cassandra was about to have her second baby…
and Jasmine had only found one man to be perfectly tolerable.
He stood like an island on the other side of the room, staring at her with amber-brown eyes that didn’t want her.
“Seth thinks it’s a girl,” Cassandra said, glancing down at her daughter. “He was right about Rose, so we’ll see.”
Matthew rolled his eyes and chided, “It’s not clairvoyance, Cassandra. It’s a fifty percent chance.”
“It’s a girl,” Seth assured him.
“You don’t want a son?” Jasmine asked.
Seth frowned. “I have a son.”
“Of course!” Jasmine tripped over her tongue again. “I didn’t mean to say that you weren’t Trevor’s father.”
“I take no offense. He may not be blood, but Trevor’s mine.” Seth looked at the boy. “Isn’t that right?”
Trevor smiled in response. “That’s right!”
At the head of the table, tension eased from Matthew’s shoulders. Softer around the eyes, he took in the family he had created from scraps.
Uncle Matthew.
It suited him.
In Jasmine’s absence, he had grown into the title of Viscount. The wildness in him had been tamed to the point that he must be suffocating underneath. His eyes met hers. A controlled focus in his eyes flashed like steel, and it was gone again.
She used to be able to read him so easily.
He may as well be a stranger now.
The clock struck eleven in echoing chimes, interrupting her thoughts and the flow of conversation.
Lady Worthing stood. “We should be going, Caroline. We have a busy day.” Speaking to Cassandra, she said, “She has an appointment at Madame Fournier’s. Then, she’ll be promenading with M—”
“My sister today!” Caroline interrupted. Her eyes darted to her sister, pleading. “After Madame Fournier’s, Cassandra and I will promenade through Hyde Park.”
“Very well.” Cassandra smiled knowingly. Turning to the head of the table, she asked, “What are you doing today, Matthew?”
Matthew set his paper down next to his untouched breakfast.
“Seth and I are boxing.”
“We are?” Seth squeaked. His gaze pivoted from Matthew to a frowning Cassandra and back to a glowering Matthew. “What I mean to say is, yes, we are!” Cassandra’s eyes narrowed at her husband. Seth’s lips curved up in a sideways, apologetic grin. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, I must have forgotten.”
Jasmine knew that was untrue—Seth never forgot anything.
“Well, best get to it,” Matthew said, standing from the table. Then, he strode out of the room.
“Oh, you mean right now.” Seth stood. He bent to kiss Cassandra on her cheek and pointed at Trevor. “Mind your mother. Don’t be late for work.”
One by one, everyone left the room, except for Cassandra and Trevor, who was halfway through eating a muffin. The only sound in the room was his chewing.
Jasmine worried her bottom lip. After a moment, she turned to Cassandra and asked, “Is there a reason Matthew is cross with me?”
As if to herself, Cassandra whispered, “I wouldn’t call it cross. I believe it’s more complicated than that.”
She gave Jasmine a soft smile.
“Nevermind him. You and I will have the afternoon to ourselves, it seems. What do you say, would you like to promenade through the park later?” Cassandra’s eyes misted over, and she groaned. “Perhaps first we could get an ice? I would kill for a lemon ice.”
“Yes.” Jasmine returned her smile. “All of that sounds lovely.”
A knock on the doorframe signaled Mr. Davis’ presence. He entered the room and presented Cassandra with an off-white card. She took it from him, and her eyes roamed the card. She sighed. “The ice will have to wait. Lord Bolderwood has summoned my husband.”
“Would you like me to run it down to the docks for you?” Trevor asked through his full mouth. He took two big gulps of his tea and then said, “I’m headed there anyway.”
“How about we all go? I haven’t seen it since the last expansion.” Cassandra turned back to Jasmine. “Would you like to see the factory?”