Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The cheerful warmth that had filled the breakfast room only moments earlier seemed to evaporate the instant Lady Provie sat down.
The Countess wore a gown of deep plum silk and her posture suggested she expected the room to rise in applause.
Conversation ceased almost immediately, and even the servants appeared to move more quietly.
Lady Provie possesses the remarkable ability to intimidate furniture if she puts her mind to it.
The thought nearly made Amelia smile though she wisely kept such dangerous amusement to herself.
“Good day to you all,” Lady Provie announced as she removed her gloves and handed them to a waiting footman.
She inclined her head with regal precision before allowing her gaze to sweep slowly around the table. Amelia offered a small nod, refusing to reveal the unease twisting inside her. Valerie occupied herself with her tea as though it required her complete concentration.
Only David looked delighted to see his great-aunt.
“Good day, Aunt!” he exclaimed, waving his spoon with enough enthusiasm to alarm the maid standing behind him.
Lady Provie’s stern features softened by the smallest degree as she nodded gracefully into her chair while a servant poured fresh tea into delicate porcelain.
“Good morning, David,” she replied, lifting the cup with elegant fingers before taking a measured sip.
David leaned eagerly across the table, resting his elbows beside his porridge despite earlier instructions to do no such thing.
“Did you dance at the ball last night?” he asked, his eyes shining with curiosity. “I wish I could have danced.”
Amelia smiled into her teacup, grateful that his greatest concern remained ballroom dancing rather than the dreadful events of the previous evening.
“I did not dance,” Lady Provie replied, stirring her tea with slow, deliberate circles before setting the spoon neatly upon the saucer. “I fear I am rather too advanced in age for such energetic pursuits.”
David frowned at her with touching sympathy, as though she had confessed to a terrible illness.
“That is unfortunate,” he said earnestly, tilting his head. “I would still dance if I were old.”
Valerie promptly pressed her napkin to her mouth to hide a laugh while Amelia suddenly found the butter on her bread utterly fascinating.
Even one of the footmen coughed suspiciously into his sleeve, though whether from dust or suppressed laughter, Amelia could not say.
Lady Provie merely lifted one elegant brow and regarded David with admirable composure. “I shall remember your encouragement,” she replied, inclining her head towards him with surprising dignity. “Though I suspect society might not share your enthusiasm.”
David accepted that explanation with all childlike seriousness. Amelia privately decided the world would be a happier place if more people viewed dancing through the eyes of a six-year-old.
Lady Provie lifted her teacup once more before glancing deliberately towards Amelia. “Besides,” she began, pausing just long enough to command everyone’s attention, “there was rather a great deal occurring last night with…”
Amelia’s heart lurched so violently that she nearly dropped her own cup.
No. Absolutely not. David must never hear about Helen in such a careless manner, not while Gabriel is absent and unable to decide how the truth should be revealed.
“Indeed, there was much going on with all the guests to speak with,” Amelia interrupted Lady Provie smoothly as she set her teacup onto its saucer with careful precision.
She smiled pleasantly at Lady Provie, though the firmness in her eyes left little room for misunderstanding. “And an astonishing quantity of food to be enjoyed,” she added lightly, folding her hands upon the table. “But that was all. Nothing significant occurred.”
She held Lady Provie’s gaze, silently pleading with the older woman to leave the matter untouched.
The breakfast room became noticeably quieter as Lady Provie studied Amelia across the polished mahogany table.
Neither woman blinked nor looked away for several long moments.
Amelia’s pulse hammered beneath her calm expression, but she refused to yield.
Whatever quarrels existed between the adults, David deserved another morning filled with nothing more frightening than porridge and talk of dancing.
To Amelia’s immense relief, Lady Provie finally lowered her eyes to her tea without another word.
Valerie immediately seized the opportunity to steer the conversation elsewhere.
“Quite right,” she said brightly as she reached for another piece of bread and spread it generously with butter. “Nothing significant happened whatsoever.” She looked towards David with an encouraging smile. “However, my dance card was full the entire evening.”
David’s mouth fell open in astonishment. “The entire evening?” he repeated, sounding as though she had survived a military campaign.
“I fear so,” Valerie replied with exaggerated solemnity as she placed one hand dramatically against her forehead. “I scarcely sat down once.”
David regarded her with genuine horror before shaking his head. “You must be very tired.”
Valerie laughed softly and nodded. “Indeed, I am,” she admitted, tearing off a small piece of toast. “I have therefore devised a most sensible plan for today.”
“What sort of plan?” David asked eagerly, abandoning his porridge altogether in favor of the far more pressing matter.
Valerie smiled, “I thought I might take one of my books into the gardens,” she said, glancing towards the windows where bright sunshine spilled across the lawn.
“Perhaps the servants could spread a few rugs beneath the old oak tree.” She looked back at her brother.
“Would you and Grover care to join me as I take leisure?”
David brightened immediately. “For reading?” he asked hopefully, though Amelia suspected he intended to do considerably less reading than Valerie imagined.
“For reading,” Valerie confirmed with an amused nod. “And perhaps a little sleeping if the sunshine proves too pleasant.”
David considered the proposal very seriously before another thought occurred to him. “And Grover and Shadow?” he asked hopefully.
Valerie pretended to ponder the matter for several seconds before smiling. “Yes, I suppose the cat and dog may attend as well.”
“I knew you would say yes,” David declared triumphantly, clapping his hands together with delight. “Shadow follows everyone anyway.”
Valerie laughed as she shook her head. “Particularly Uncle Gabriel,” she replied, exchanging a knowing glance with Amelia. “I believe Shadow has decided Uncle Gabriel belongs entirely to him.”
David giggled. “The cat is probably right.”
Amelia hid another smile behind her teacup, imagining Gabriel pretending to object while secretly ensuring the tiny creature was thoroughly spoiled.
The image warmed Amelia’s heart far more than it should have.
Gabriel would deny possessing a soft heart until his final breath, yet his actions betrayed him time and again.
He rescued frightened kittens, comforted wounded children, and brewed tea for restless governesses in the middle of the night while insisting it was nothing more than practical necessity.
The contradiction remains utterly infuriating.
It was also impossibly endearing. Amelia silently scolded herself for noticing such things quite so often.
Across the table, Lady Provie remained unusually quiet as she continued eating her breakfast with measured elegance.
Every now and then, Amelia caught the older woman’s thoughtful gaze resting upon Valerie, though there seemed to be less criticism there than before.
It was almost as though she were reassessing something she had previously taken for granted.
Amelia found that possibility strangely unsettling.
David finished first, scraping the last spoonful of honey from his porridge bowl before setting the spoon down with obvious satisfaction.
“I am entirely finished with my porridge,” he announced proudly as he looked expectantly towards Valerie. “May we go outside now?”
Valerie dabbed her lips with her napkin before rising gracefully from her chair. “Of course,” she replied with a smile. “The sunshine has surely been waiting very patiently for us.”
David jumped down from his chair and hurried around the table to take Valerie’s hand.
“Come along,” he urged, tugging gently at her fingers. “The sunshine might disappear if we wait too long.”
Valerie laughed as she allowed him to pull her towards the door. “I believe the sun shall remain exactly where it is for at least another hour,” she said, smiling fondly at him.
“One cannot be too careful,” David replied with complete seriousness.
Amelia watched the siblings disappear into the corridor together, their laughter echoing faintly through the hall as the breakfast room grew quiet once more.
Pride and heartache settled together inside her chest, impossible to separate from one another.
Only a few weeks earlier, neither child had smiled so freely, and now, they looked exactly as children ought to look—safe, hopeful, and loved.
She prayed Gabriel would return soon with good news and spare them all from the problems Helen had cast over their lives.
As Amelia lifted her eyes, she found Lady Provie already watching her in thoughtful silence, and she suspected breakfast might be finished, but the morning’s true battle had only just begun.
Amelia had survived runaway scandals, impossible dukes, and collapsing carriages, yet sharing breakfast alone with Gabriel’s aunt somehow ranked among the more difficult challenges.
She resisted the urge to fidget beneath the scrutiny.
Instead, she sat with the quiet dignity she had fought so hard to discover during her month at Anderton Manor.
Lady Provie carefully folded her napkin before resting it beside her untouched second slice of toast.