Chapter Twenty-Two
Eve pinned a few loose bits of hair back in place, hoping she looked mostly presentable. She was tired and half-tempted to insist that she should remain in her bedchamber looking after Nia. But as her sister was sleeping and was likely, according to Dr. Wilstead, to continue doing so for the remainder of the night, that excuse would not hold water.
There was a light rap on the door. Eve crossed and opened it, finding Lisette standing on the other side.
“Lisette.” Eve gave her friend a hug. She’d not had the opportunity to greet Lisette in the hours since her arrival, having been fully occupied in the sickroom. “’Tis a grand thing seeing you again.”
“I am so happy to be with the Huntresses again. And the Pack, as I am told the gentlemen have named themselves.” Lisette had always been soft-spoken. People who didn’t know her well might think she was shy, though she wasn’t. “I am told Nia is ill. Is she equal to having a brief visit?”
Eve shook her head. “She is sleeping. The doctor believes she will sleep all night.”
“Well, we must not wake her.” Lisette looked a bit disappointed.
The Huntresses were all so dear to each other, and they missed each other terribly when they were apart. Eve didn’t know if that offered her more comfort or more heartache as she faced a lifetime away from them.
“May I walk with you to the drawing room?” Lisette requested.
“Certainly.” Eve closed the door, careful not to make noise. Mrs. Greenberry had assured her that her own abigail would look in on Nia periodically throughout the evening. “It appeared, from our vantage point by the windows, that M. Fortier sent Mme Dupuis away. Did he truly beard the dragon so handily?”
Lisette nodded. “He is quiet and reserved, so most people do not realize that he has... What is the phrase used here?” How Eve wished she spoke French so her friend needn’t search about for the English word. “He has a backbone of steel. My aunt even more so.”
“Are they to serve as your chaperones during the house party?” Eve asked.
“Yes, and they will be une grande ... improvement. Everyone will like them very much.” Lisette looked more than merely relieved or pleased; she looked ecstatic. Mme Dupuis had been a gloomy cloud over the last house party, but Lisette had been subject to that gloom without escape for years. “I have every hope that they can fill that same role in the coming Season during those gatherings or outings my parents will not be participating in.”
“You will be in London for the Season?” Though it was a question, Eve could hear in her own voice that she’d stated it more as a declaration. She couldn’t help it. Lisette had been denied a London Season the past two years in a row, and ’twas horribly unfair.
“ Oui, and I am so very happy.”
Eve hooked her arm through Lisette’s. “We will have the most wonderful Season.” Only as the words spilled from her lips did Eve realize her mistake. The Huntresses would, indeed, have a glorious time in London. But Eve wouldn’t be there. They would have the most wonderful Season. She would be left behind.
Unwilling to dampen Lisette’s much-deserved excitement, Eve pushed all thoughts of loneliness from the forefront of her mind. She felt she was doing an admirable job of not showing her distress as they stepped into the drawing room to await the announcement of supper.
All the other guests and their hosts were inside, mingling and gabbing. The elder Mrs. Seymour stopped Eve and Lisette. The sniff ought to have warned Eve that nothing good was to come of this encounter.
Still, she was caught off guard when Duke’s grandmother said, “That is the same blue gown you wore for supper last night. Do you not consider being a guest at Fairfield to be honor enough to make it worth your while to put in a bit of effort?”
Mrs. Seymour had been quite a complainer during their journey, but she hadn’t, until that day, truly become insulting.
Eve didn’t know entirely what to make of the change. “I fear,” she said, “this is the only gown I have that would be appropriate for supper. All my others are day dresses.”
“You have only one?” Mrs. Seymour gave every indication of shock. “It seems I was correct, then.”
“Correct about what, Mrs. Seymour?” Eve hated to ask, but she suspected the lady would be upset if she didn’t inquire.
“Dubhán told me that you and your sister paid the cook at that empty inn. It was hardly fair that he and his father were funding the entirety of that trip, and I told him as much. But he insisted you two had seen to that bit.” Another sniff— heavens , Eve had come to severely dislike the sound. “I do not know why he would lie to me about that, but he obviously did.”
“Nia and I did make certain the cook was compensated.” Eve knew it was a bit of a misleading explanation, but she was also perfectly aware of the reason Duke had offered it in the first place. It was a good tactic, and she would continue on with it.
“You couldn’t have,” Mrs. Seymour insisted. She snatched hold of Mrs. Greenberry’s arm as she happened past and pulled her into their conversation. “How much, Penelope, is a cook at an inn likely to be paid for two days’ worth of meals?”
“I really haven’t the first idea, Mother.”
With a huff, Mrs. Seymour said, “It needn’t be an exact answer, merely an estimate.”
“I couldn’t even provide you with that,” Mrs. Greenberry said. “I have no experience with such a thing.”
“How much do you pay your cook?” Mrs. Seymour asked.
With a look of patience wearing thin, Mrs. Greenberry said, “That is a rather gauche topic to discuss in a drawing room.”
Eve whispered to Lisette, “We’d best make our escape while we can.”
Lisette did not require being told twice. She slipped away. Eve, however, wasn’t fast enough.
Mrs. Seymour took hold of her arm the same way she had with her daughter moments earlier. “I told you during our journey that my daughter was difficult, did I not? And now you see it for yourself. I am attempting to sort the answer to a very simple question, and she not only will not offer basic information, but she also accuses me of lacking manners. Do you not now agree that I am very poorly treated by my children?”
“I do not know either of them well enough to answer definitively.” How she hoped that elusive answer would suffice. She would rather not be made part of a squabble.
“Liam.” Mrs. Seymour called her son over, and he obeyed with all possible haste. “Your sister is being difficult again. And she has, in some way, used her influence as hostess of this gathering to convince Miss O’Doyle to make light of the misery it is causing me.”
“That is unfair of you, Penelope,” Mr. Seymour said.
“It is also untrue,” Mrs. Greenberry answered tightly. “And it is inexcusable of you, Mother, to put Miss O’Doyle in such an impossible situation.”
Mr. Seymour’s expression turned a bit thunderous. “Where is Dubhán? He will settle this.”
While they searched the faces around them for their designated negotiator, Eve slipped away, hoping her lack of height would help render her difficult to spot. She stopped across the room, next to Artemis and Charlie.
“They are exhausting, aren’t they?” Artemis subtly nodded toward Duke’s family.
“Like trying to run through ankle-deep mud.” Eve was beginning to appreciate Duke’s eagerness to gain some distance from his family.
“How is Nia feeling?” Charlie asked.
“She’s sleeping, which Dr. Wilstead says is expected and important for her recovery. Of course, if Mrs. Seymour, the elder, is to be believed, Nia’s best chance of avoiding future illness is for me to stop being so selfish and lazy.”
“She said that to you?” Charlie didn’t look shocked at the possibility.
“She says a lot of things,” Eve answered. “They all do.”
“It is rather surprising, isn’t it, that Duke and Colm are such lovely people?” Artemis shook her head in amazement.
“I’ve spent time with Mr. Greenberry away from the rest of his family,” Charlie said, “and he is far more like Duke and Colm than the others are. He was a good friend of my father’s, actually. So was M. Fortier.”
“Truly?” Eve hadn’t heard that. “And yet you didn’t seem to know the Fortiers’ connection to Lisette.”
“I learned about it at the same time everyone else did: earlier today.”
Artemis’s expression turned to one of confusion and contemplation. “It’s almost as if their connection were intentionally kept a secret, yet Lisette spoke of it openly when she arrived. There is a mystery in all this that I am determined to sort out.” To Eve specifically, she said, “Lisette has indicated that she will be in London for the Season. Is that not wonderful? We will have a Season with all of us present for the first time in years.”
“A wonderful prospect indeed.” But not destined to actually happen. Lisette, at last, would be with them. But Eve wouldn’t be.
The butler arrived at the door to the drawing room. He gave a quick nod, Eve assumed to Mr. and Mrs. Greenberry.
Their host addressed the gathering. “Let us all proceed to the dining room.”
Duke’s grandmother moved with chin held high to stand near her son-in-law. To the room in general, she said, “Last evening, we took a very careless approach to our evening meal. I believe true decorum is actually called for. As such, I will walk in on the arm of our host.”
“If we intend to undertake this meal on the most formal footing,” Mrs. Greenberry said, “then Mrs. Jonquil will walk in with her host, and Mr. Jonquil with myself.”
“I will not be supplanted by children simply because they are the leaders of a ragamuffin band of mischief makers.”
Fortunately for the older lady, that “ragamuffin band of mischief makers” found the descriptor funny rather than offensive. Enough smiles popped up around the room to put to rest any concerns that the Pack and Huntresses would be up in arms over the slight.
Duke moved to his grandmother’s side. He patiently explained, “Mr. Jonquil is the son of an earl. As such, he outranks everyone in this room. By rights, he and his wife would have the distinction of walking to supper with their host and hostess. Propriety dictates that.”
“I do not need a lecture on propriety.” She tipped her chin at a defiant angle and sniffed. “We will, of course, do things properly. Penelope will most certainly take great pleasure in seeing me relegated to a lowered standing.”
Behind her, Eve heard Tobias mutter, “I’d wager a pony that your mother will murder your grandmother before the week is out.”
Colm replied, “I’d double the amount on a wager that Mother would find ample people willing to help.”
Mrs. Greenberry had warned her brother and mother that if they did not find a way to coexist peacefully, they ran the risk of eventually losing Duke. As Eve followed the procession into the dining room, she couldn’t help thinking Colm was hanging in the balance as well.
She wasn’t in a position to offer any real reassurance to the elder of the Seymour grandchildren. And Duke seemed to not enjoy her company as much now as he had during their journey. He was with the Pack and had their loyalty and companionship; he hadn’t as much need of hers.
All the Pack and the Huntresses would be in London for the coming Season and might very well learn the same lesson: that Eve wasn’t overly necessary to any of their happiness.