Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
“Celestine, I have some exciting news!” Celestine’s mother swept into her bedroom. “Oh, what is this? You’re still in bed?”
Celestine groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. The room was dark, but not for long as her mother hurried towards the window and threw back the curtains.
“Argh!” Celestine threw a hand over her face to shield it from the onslaught of morning light. “Mother, what are you doing?”
“I should ask you the same question!” Her mother turned on her, hands on her hips. “You ought to have been out of bed an hour ago. Come now, no need to waste the day.”
“Waste it how?” Celestine rolled over. “It is not as if I have anything to do.”
“Now, that is not true.” Her mother was at her bed where she took the covers and threw them back.
“Mother!”
“Did you not hear me, Celestine? I have some exciting news!”
It had been this way all week. Ever since the news of Celestine and Edward’s broken engagement, her mother had been all over her like a bad cold.
She knew the reason, of course, because it was the same reason that her two sisters were hardly able to leave her alone for even a second.
Everywhere she went, everything she did, they were there.
I do not want to blame them or turn to anger… but I might have to soon.
They were worried about her, was why. In their mind, Celestine’s heart had been broken, and it was up to them to keep her busy and help turn her mind toward other things. Anything at all!
Never mind that Celestine had told them time and again that she felt perfectly fine. As she had calmly explained, Edward and she simply were not a good fit and the end of their engagement was a blessing. In fact, she wished him well, and she knew he did the same for her.
Of course, it might have helped if Celestine was able to act in any manner that suggested her words were even close to being true.
Sadly, and as she should have expected, this last week had been hard…
worse than hard. It had been a travesty of such hardship that there was a good reason she was still in bed when she ought to have been awake.
Only once in her life before had Celestine felt this way, and that had been enough to see her turn into the ‘Mad Hargrave Sister,’ as she was known. It had been enough to see her change her ways, denounce love, and wish for a life of living alone because she never wanted to feel that way again.
“Oh, pray do tell, Mother…” Celestine groaned as she sat up. “What is this exciting news?”
“I was just speaking with my friend, Madeline. You know the one? With the two daughters who are a little slow, for want of a nicer way of saying it.”
“Yes, I know who you mean.”
“Anyway, as she has heard it, Lord Ironvale has recently returned to London…” She looked pointedly down at Celestine. “What is more, rumors are that he is searching for a bride.”
Celestine’s face dropped. “Please, Mother, do not let the door hit you on the way out.”
“Oh, do not be that way.”
“I am not that way,” she said in a huff. “I am merely trying to find a nicer way of telling you that I do not care about Lord Ironvale, or the fact that he is looking for a bride. Why would I care?”
“Why not? He is wealthy, respected –”
“Nor do I care about Lord Westmere, Lord Strathmore, or Lord Grundon. As I have told you already, I am not interested in being courted. Not today. Not tomorrow. Never.”
“Celestine…” Her mother sighed as she sat down on the bed and started to stroke Celestine’s back. “I know that you are hurting.”
“I am not,” she lied.
“Just as I know that this is the last thing you want. Truly…” She looked at Celestine with a mix of pity and regret. “But you must be reasonable about this. Now that you are available again, it is only right that you marry. It was always expected of you.”
“What of Isolde or Marigold?”
That Celestine was trying to subvert her mother’s attention onto her sisters made Celestine feel sick. Ordinarily, her charge in this life was to try and protect them from their mother’s antics.
But that she was, and that she did not care, told to how far Celestine had fallen.
“They are young,” she said. “They have time. And, quite frankly, we must act quickly where you are concerned. As things stand, you are pitied, and most agree that His Grace is to blame. But if we allow rumor to fester for too much longer, and if you remain without a mate, people will ask why. They will then assume that there is more to the story than they have been told.”
“I do not care,” she snapped.
“You will,” her mother said assuredly. “And by the time you realize it, it will be too late. That is why I am here, dear. To help you. Just let me help.”
Oh yes, word had spread quickly about Celestine and Edward. What was more, as Edward had predicted, his shoulders took the weight of blame for the end of their engagement. Most knew already who he was and what he was said to have done, so it made sense that Celestine was seen as a victim.
What neither Celestine nor Edward had counted on, however, was her mother’s response.
Even before Edward had proposed a fake engagement, Celestine’s mother had begun to suggest and hint at her desire to see Celestine wed. And now that Celestine was available, the suggestions had become demands, and the hints had turned into decrees.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Celestine was supposed to have been viewed as damaged goods. It was supposed to be known that no man would want her. And maybe they would not? Maybe those men who her mother suggested would hear her name and run for the hills? But try telling her mother that!
And finally, to make matters even worse, it made little difference what Celestine wanted as the one thing she did want was the one thing that she could not have. There would be no happy ending for her, and that was a reality that she was very slowly coming to terms with in the most painful of ways.
“It will make no difference,” Celestine said as she fell back in bed. “No matter who you force upon me, they will not want me. Why waste the time?”
“Oh, let me deal with that,” her mother said with a wicked grin.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that you need not be so pessimistic, Celestine. I mean, you were engaged to a duke! You have no idea what that has done to your reputation.”
“Duke or no, I am still the Mad Hargrave sister.”
Her mother winced. “You are not. Nor were you ever.”
There was nothing that Celestine could do to change her mother’s mind, and the harder that she pushed, the more her mother fought against it.
In fact, Celestine realized that her life had returned to normal in ways that she had not counted on, much as things had been before Edward came into her life.
Her mother would push, Celestine would push back, and in the end these men would come to realize that Celestine was a bad bet not worth taking.
A most sad state of affairs, but the best I can hope for.
“Fine,” she sighed. “Just tell me what I need to do.”
“Tomorrow night.” Her mother sat up. “There is a masquerade ball at Lord Amberhall’s estate. Half the ton will be there, as will you, I might add. I am not saying that you must find courtship immediately, Celestine. But please, for me, attend and be seen so the ton knows that you are not broken.”
Celestine had stopped listening.
A masquerade ball? Half the ton? But that meant…
“N – no,” she stammered and sat up. “I cannot go to that, Mother.”
“And why not?”
Celestine looked pleadingly at her. “Because Ed –” She grimaced. “His Grace will be there. His niece is sure to attend, and he will not let her go without him.”
Her body started to tremble with fear. Alone in her room all week, she had worked so hard to convince herself that what had happened was for the best. And while she did not believe it, she believed that a few more weeks of this might just see her through to the other side in one piece.
But if she was to see Edward in the flesh… if their eyes were to meet… if she saw how well he was getting on without her, and how easy it was for him… it would break her such that she might never recover.
“Oh…” Her mother blinked and then waved her away. “Good, I hope he is there.”
“Mother –”
“You did nothing wrong, Celestine,” she cut her off. “And the ton knows it. Let him see you. Let everyone see how he has no power over you. And let him see other men fall to their knees for your attention.” She laughed. “Yes, let him know what he is missing.”
If only it was that easy.
There was nothing Celestine could do, as her mother had the bit between her teeth and would not be letting go any time soon. She would attend this ball tomorrow evening, she would see the duke, and then… I truly have no idea.
What Celestine did know, and this was without question, was that it was sure to be a painful, long evening. Just as it was sure to make her feel worse than she already did. No easy feat, but nothing about this had been easy so far.