Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Not much longer now, Edward. A few more of these and it will be done.
The mantra was one that Edward had repeated to himself often this past week, much needed because he felt his patience starting to wilt, just as this not-so-perfect plan of his became harder to justify.
“Is that her?” Celestine said quietly so that only he could hear her. “She is beautiful.”
Edward pulled himself from his spiraling thoughts and forced his focus on that which mattered. He stood with Celestine in the foyer of Harrowell Manor, close enough that they were clearly together, but not so close that they were touching. That was by choice.
With them were another dozen lords and ladies, and they all had their attention fixed on the staircase; the very reason that they were there.
At the base of the staircase stood six young ladies, each were eighteen years of age, and each were debuting into society for the first time.
The young ladies stood in a line, trembling with nerves, none able to look ahead and stand tall as they ought to have done.
With all those eyes on them, all the judgment and praise overwhelming them, it was a wonder they were able to stand still at all.
But Edward cared little about those ladies. His gaze rose up the staircase, and his smile grew proudly so that he felt it in his heart.
“Yes,” he said, smiling so all the world could see it. “That’s her.”
Millicent stood at the top of the staircase, one hand rested on the banister, the other folded in front of her.
She wore her pink gown, her hair was curled in tight ringlets, and her make-up was done so the rosy color of her cheeks matched the shade of her dress.
She trembled with nervous energy, her eyes were wide and eager, and Edward knew her well enough to know that she held back her laughter and joy because she needed to act poised and in control of her emotions.
Slowly, Millicent started down the staircase. One step at a time. Not rushed. She seemed to float as she made her way toward the other young ladies who stood waiting.
Tonight was her debut, done before the ball started in earnest, a private show of sorts hosted by the parents of the young ladies and a few other lords who wished to see which women were entering society for the first time.
“She is beautiful, isn’t she?” Edward said as he watched her. “She looks just like…” His chest tightened. “Like her mother.”
Her mother was who he was doing this for.
While Edward tried not to think about her when possible, he had loved her as a brother ought to do.
And when she had died, he’d promised himself that he would not only protect Millicent but provide her the same life that her mother would have done, was she still alive.
“Oh?” Celestine eyed him, and Edward grimaced because he worried that she might ask the obvious question. Thankfully, she chose to say nothing and went back to watching as Millicent reached the base of the staircase.
There, Millicent found Edward and she grinned. Edward chuckled and shook his head at her, then he widened his eyes to warn her from doing anything silly. She held her smile, she kept her back straight, and she stood still as another young lady appeared at the top of the staircase.
“I remember my own debut,” Celestine said quietly, an edge to her voice that suggested such a memory was not a happy one. “It is… well, let us just say I am glad we only debut once.”
Edward very nearly asked her to explain, but he caught his tongue and said nothing.
It was almost two weeks ago when he last saw Celestine. That was the night that he kissed her on the balcony, a moment that should never have happened, and one that Edward had spent two weeks trying to come to terms with as well as justify.
He liked to pretend that he had done so for a good reason.
Since this false engagement had started, he had enjoyed teasing and testing the limits of Celestine’s patience.
She thought she knew him so well, and he took pleasure in upending her presumptions so that she never truly knew what he might say or do next.
Just as she might never truly know me.
But such excuses were lies. The truth was that Edward had lost control of himself at that moment.
They’d had their first honest conversation, and Edward had opened himself to her just enough that he’d dropped the facade and shown her a side of himself that few had ever seen.
And when she accepted this side, even embraced it, he had felt… something.
While Edward was playing a role, Celestine had not bothered to change who she was. She might not have known him, but he knew her, and try as he might to say otherwise, he rather liked what he had seen. Far more than he wanted to.
He needed this false engagement to be over with. He needed to get through this Season so things could return to how they were. Most of all, he needed to control himself around his fiancé!
“She is doing well,” Celestine said as the final young lady started down the staircase.
“How do you mean?”
Celestine indicated with her head toward Millicent. “See how the others shy away and look so awkward. Millicent stands out because she isn’t nearly so nervous. It almost looks natural.”
Edward smiled. “Yes, she is rather…” He chuckled. “She has a way about her. Far too confident by half.”
“I wonder where she gets that from,” Celestine said with a wry smile.
Edward very nearly made a joke, but he stopped himself once again. He and Celestine stood toward the back of the foyer, for once they were not the center of attention, so there was no need to feign flirtation or put on a show for the ton.
All that was needed for tonight was to make certain that Millicent’s debut went well. No drama. No chaos. And no unwanted rumors about himself and Celestine. And, most of all, no more mistakes.
“It is done…” Edward cleared his throat as the last of the young ladies took her place. As she did, Lady Harrowell stepped forward and presented them, reciting each name, and announcing their arrival onto the scene. “Let us congratulate her before tonight begins in earnest.”
“Yes,” Celestine agreed. “I am also looking forward to meeting her, seeing as she will soon be my niece-in-law.”
Edward frowned at her. “She won’t be…”
“I know it,” Celestine said with an eyeroll. “I am just playing my part.” She gestured to the room and its occupants. “Just in case.”
“Ah, yes.” Edward cleared his throat. “Of course.”
Celestine hadn’t mentioned their kiss. Nor had she given any indication at all that it happened. But that did not mean that things were back to how they had been. Edward had noticed already that she was not quite so distant as before, and not nearly so antagonistic and argumentative.
In fact, it appeared that finally she was willing to play her role properly. Ironic, really, as Edward was now the one who acted aloof.
“Come, let us…” He went to link their arms but stopped short. She noticed and raised an eyebrow at him, and he smiled sharply before dropping his arm and indicating for her to follow him.
Walking together, but not touching, Edward moved through the crowd. Already, the young ladies had started to peel off as their parents collected them and heaped on them praise. Millicent stood alone in wait… or she had been, until someone approached her.
Edward stopped short and his hackles rose.
“Edward, what are you…” Celestine trailed off when she saw the reason.
Lord Grundon cornered Millicent by the base of the stairs.
Not that it looked aggressive or anything worth worrying about.
The conniving lord spoke to Millicent with a charming smile and laughter on his lips, while Millicent chuckled at whatever he said.
In fact, she looked somewhat infatuated with the man, as if she could not believe that he was speaking to her at all.
“What is he…” Edward growled as he glared at Lord Grundon. He then started forward, his intention to sweep into Lord Grundon and pummel the man into submission.
“Careful.” Celestine’s hand took his arm and pulled him back.
“What are you doing?” he snapped at her.
“What is your plan, exactly?” she said calmly. “To cause a scene? To humiliate Millicent in front of her peers?”
“I will not have Lord Grundon worming his way into her affections. She does not know the type of man that he is.”
“If she is as smart as you say she is, she will learn quickly,” Celestine told him. “And if I know young women, which I do…” She scoffed. “Any efforts you make to denounce Lord Grundon will only drive her into his arms. Young women are rather stubborn like that.”
“I cannot do nothing!”
“You can,” she said. “At least for now. Trust me, Edward.” She looked at him with soft eyes, not aggressive, simply pleading that he listen to her. “Let Lord Grundon make his introductions and later warn Millicent about him. Causing a scene here will only make matters worse.”
He growled as he turned back to find Millicent and Lord Grundon still speaking. Whatever the man was saying, Millicent was eating it up with a spoon.
Worse still, Lord Grundon was not being obvious or too assertive. He appeared a perfect gentleman and was it anybody else, Edward might have felt glad that they had taken a liking to his niece.
But he is not anyone else…
“You asked that I trust you,” Celestine said, still holding his arm. “Such trust needs to go both ways.”
Oh, how he wanted to intercede and put a stop to whatever Lord Grundon was trying to do, but Celestine’s words struck a chord, and their truth could not be denied. Not just what she said about avoiding a scene, but her comments about trusting one another.
He had asked that of her, hadn’t he? So why should he not do the same.
“Fine…” He peeled his arm free. “I will…” He exhaled sharply. “I will control myself.”
“I did not know you had it in you,” she joked.
Thankfully, Lord Grundon left Millicent shortly after, and Edward swept toward her the moment she was alone. If she noticed him watching her with Lord Grundon, she gave no indication. When Edward approached, her eyes lit up and she beamed as if the sun shone from her body.
“Edward!” she cried out. “Did you see? Was I…” Her smile was all teeth. “How did I do?”
“You did wonderfully, Millicent,” he said to her as he took her hands. “Truly, there might have been eight other ladies tonight, but I doubt anyone noticed them.”
Millicent rolled her eyes. “I doubt that…”
“He speaks the truth.” Celestine stepped beside him. “I’ve been to my fair share of debuts, and I must say that you, Millicent, made it look far easier than it is. You were wonderful.”
“Really?”
“Millicent…” Edward turned to face Celestine. “Perhaps it is overdue, but I think it is time that you met my fiancé, Miss Celestine Hargrave.”
“I know who she is,” Millicent said sharply, only to beam as she addressed Celestine. She let go of Edward’s hands and took Celestine’s. “I have been trying to convince Edward to let me meet you for weeks now. But he is so frustrating!”
“He is that,” Celestine laughed. “Although, I prefer to think of him as being protective.”
“Of who?”
“Of you,” Celestine said with more laughter. “Or maybe he is just worried that you will like me more than you do him.”
Millicent laughed. “That won’t be very hard.”
“When did this become about me?” Edward grumbled.
“This is a big night for you, Millicent,” Celestine continued. “And I want you to know that if you have any questions at all, please feel free to ask them. I have three sisters who have been through the same, not to mention myself. I know a thing or two.”
“I will,” Millicent said excitedly. “Oh, I have so many questions.”
“Should we save them for inside?” Edward indicated to the foyer where the other lords and ladies were starting to make their way toward the ballroom. “There is no rush.”
“Yes, yes,” Millicent said. “Oh! I need to find Sandra…” She looked about the foyer. “I promised I would see her before we went inside.”
“Go on then,” Edward said to her. “I’ll find you shortly.”
Millicent hugged Edward in thanks, and then she took Celestine’s hands again. “Thank you, Celestine. Oh, it is so good to have someone other than Edward to speak to about these things.”
“Us ladies need to stick together,” Celestine said. “In fact, I insist that we do.”
Edward could see how much her words meant to Millicent. Although Millicent liked to act brave and in control, she was still a young girl, and she was nowhere near as confident as she pretended. But she had warmed to Celestine immediately, and he saw too that Celestine had done the same to her.
He watched Millicent rush into the crowd, a smile on his face. But that smile faded when he caught Lord Grundon eyeing his niece with a coy smile that told well enough what the man’s intentions were.
I will need to keep an eye on him tonight… and for a while after that.
“Shall we?” Celestine asked, this time not bothering to try and link his arm.
“Yes, I think we should.” Edward paused for a moment as he studied Celestine in a different way to how he had done all evening. “Thank you, by the way, for just now.”
She looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“What you said to Millicent. It might not have sounded like much, but I know it meant the world to her. I have tried to…” He looked away. “I do my best by her, but I am not her mother, and there is only so much I can help her with.”
“Oh.” She blinked. “I meant it, Edward. I know what it is like to be in her position, the weight of the world on her shoulders, worried about every wrong step taken as if it might be the end of me.” She laughed and shook her head. “Truly, if there is anything she or you need, do not hesitate.”
“I will remember that.”
They looked at one another for a moment, perhaps the first time all evening that their eyes had met fully. It felt similar to when they had spoken on the balcony, no lies, no falsity or games. Just honesty and understanding.
It was a little too comfortable, too real, and Edward felt that urge to take her arm as if to prove to her that he wasn’t nearly what she must have thought of him; that he trusted her, and that he was glad that she was doing this with him.
“Shall we…” He did not take her arm, however, refraining from such a gesture as it was dangerous to do.
“Yes, let us head inside,” she said as she turned and started ahead.
This was supposed to be easy. It was supposed to be little more than a cover story, almost a game really. A month of two of lies told, playing a role, and Edward would be able to move on.
Now, he worried that things were not nearly that simple.