CHAPTER NINETEEN
“How do you fare today?” asked Friedman, as he sauntered into Amelia’s room just before noon.
“Where have you been all morning?” she asked, as she put aside the broadsheet she’d been reading. “Leave,” she said to her maid Sophie, who’d been sitting in the corner. As soon as they were alone, Amelia turned to Friedman. “Have you figured out a solution to our problem?”
He shrugged. “I wasn’t aware I had one.”
“Nitwit. If the new countess spends too much money, there won’t be any left over for me, which means there will be less for you.”
Friedman sat on the far end of the bed, then leaned against one of the posts. “Don’t you have an allowance?”
“A wholly inadequate one.”
“Why not just ask for more? I’ve seen it done often enough.”
Amelia raised a brow. “I’m certain you have. But it won’t work in this case. My son has a Puritanical streak to him. Now, what do you propose as a solution?”
“I’m surprised you need my help with this. You’ve never had a shortage of ideas of how to get your way in the past.”
“This time it’s different. Audsley married the chit and he’s obviously besotted. It’s not like I can get rid of her.”
“Can you not?” He put one of his booted legs on the bed.
Amelia raised a brow. “I’m not a murderer, Friedman.”
“That comes as somewhat of a relief. One can never tell just how far you’ll go to get your way. What about sending her away?”
“How do you presume I do that? Audsley has been infatuated with the chit for years. I’m fortunate he didn’t succumb before this point.”
“Why not throw someone else into his path?”
“He’d never go for it. I know my son. He has a moral streak to him which is simply revolting for someone of our class.”
Friedman swung his other leg up onto the bed as he leaned back. “Ah, yes, that Puritanical tendency you mentioned. Why not throw someone into her path?”
Amelia snorted. “She doesn’t have enough imagination to take a lover. But that does give me an idea. Bring me my writing desk.” When he did nothing, she snapped her fingers. “Do you want to benefit from this or not?”
He sighed, then did as she bade. “To whom are you writing?”
“An old friend of my son’s. Emma might not take a lover, but I have to think she might leave if she believed her husband had done so.”
“You are sly and manipulative, my lady,” said Friedman as he put the writing desk across her lap. “And those are two of your most attractive qualities,” he said as he kissed her.
She waved him away. She had more important matters to attend to now than her lover.
* * *
Emma realized her mornings were beginning to start the same way. She awoke to an empty bed, later than she thought she would rise, then almost immediately ran to the basin to be sick. This morning, as she sat on the floor without the strength to get up, she thought about her morning task – asking the dowager for help with her wardrobe. Since the lady’s temperament had hardly improved, though she appeared to grow healthier every day, this reminder of her task at hand almost made Emma sick again.
But she rallied.
After breaking her fast and learning that Audsley had left the house an hour earlier, she went to the dowager’s bedchamber, took a deep breath and knocked.
“Enter!” came the command from within. Emma walked in to find the dowager wearing yet another beautiful silk dressing gown. She wondered just how many her maid had packed. Then she wondered just how long Amelia intended on staying. It had already been too long.
“You look terrible,” said Amelia, who gave her an appraising glance, before dropping her eyes to Emma’s stomach. “You are with child,” she said, without any of the warmth one might expect from a future grandmother.
That made Emma miss her own mother and father. But she couldn’t think of that now
Emma could feel the light sheen of perspiration on her which seemed like it never quite went away, thanks to her bouts of being sick. There was little she could do about it, other than think of how happy she’d be when the babe arrived. “Yes, I am, though these are still early days.”
“That is yet another reason for you not to go to fat. If there’s one thing a man dislikes more than an unattractive wife, it’s an unattractive wife with a mewling infant.”
“I shall keep that in mind,” Emma gritted out through clenched teeth. “How do you feel this morning, my lady?”
“How do you think I feel, being at death’s door as I am?”
Emma could have told Amelia that she looked remarkably hale for someone supposedly so ill. But, she bit her tongue because it must be hard to live alone when one was unwell, with no one in the house but servants. And, judging from how scared Amelia’s maid seemed to be of her, Emma had a feeling most of her mother-in-law’s servants would not be of much comfort.
“You have an appointment today,” said Amelia.
“I do?”
“Yes, two of them in fact. I have written to Lady Embry, who has been kind enough to offer to escort you to my modiste to see about a new wardrobe. You’re to call on her at one of the clock. I suggest you get ready now.”
“But I will not have to leave for two hours.”
“And I suggest you use every bit of it to make yourself presentable.”
Emma ignored the dowager’s latest insult. Practice was making it much easier to do so. “I feel a bit odd shopping for clothing with a complete stranger.”
“She is an especial friend of the family and one of the most fashionably dressed matrons of the ton. She will not steer you wrong and you cannot keep bringing this family low with your clothes.”
“I haven’t even left the house.”
“Servants talk. I’m sure the word is all about Mayfair that you’re dressed in rags.”
Emma doubted Audsley’s servants would gossip, but she did need clothes and she might as well get this over with. “Thank you for arranging this with Lady Embry. I will leave you now, so you can get some rest.”
“Don’t embarrass us!” Amelia cried out to her as she left.
Emma wondered what the penalty was for throwing a dowager countess out onto the street on her arse.
She was tempted to find out.
* * *
Emma knew it was foolish to have such trepidation as she stood outside Lady Embry’s home. She wasn’t someone who scared easily, but she wasn’t looking forward to spending the day with one of the dowager’s friends. Audsley hadn’t returned, so she didn’t know anything about this woman other than she was a friend of the family. Emma was wearing one of the gowns Carter had given her, so she was presentable, but if Lady Embry was anything like the dowager – and she wasn’t sure how there could be two such disagreeable women within six blocks of each other – then she had best be prepared for the worst.
The door was opened by a stiff-necked butler, who took one look at her and frowned.
Emma could only imagine the man’s reactions if she’d been wearing one of her old gowns. “I am Lady Audsley here to see Lady Embry. I believe she is expecting me.”
He allowed her entrance, but only just inside the foyer. “Wait here,” he said, before glancing at a footman in such a way which probably meant he was to guard the silver. But a moment later the butler returned and bowed shallowly. “Her ladyship will see you now.”
Emma followed the man through the house, hoping Lady Embry would be more polite than her butler, but thinking there was a very good possibility she wouldn’t be, if she were anything like the dowager. She entered the sitting room to find, to her very great surprise, a beautiful fair-haired woman only slightly older than Emma. She was dressed in an elegant light green gown which was tailored to perfection and the smile she gave Emma was warm and welcoming. “I am so glad you have come, Lady Audsley. I’ve looked forward to making your acquaintance.”
Emma smiled as she curtsied. “Thank you for receiving me, Lady Embry.”
“Please, call me Penelope. I have known your husband’s family for so long, I feel as if we are already friends.”
Emma felt the knot in her stomach loosen at this warm welcome. Perhaps, life in the ton wouldn’t be quite so bad after all.
“Amelia said in her letter that you would like to order an entire wardrobe.”
“I have lived in the country my whole life and never had the need for a town wardrobe. But now that I have married, I know that must change.”
Lady Embry – Penelope – smiled. “And knowing Audsley as I do, I’m certain he’s anxious for you to begin your life in London with everything you need. In that case, we mustn’t delay.”
Half an hour later, after making their way through town in Lady Embry’s luxurious carriage, they arrived at a modiste’s shopon Bond Street. They were quickly ushered through the main showroom to a back salon, where a well-dressed woman with perfectly coifed hair curtsied low to them. “Welcome back, Lady Embry. It is so good to see you again,” Madame Renault said with a French accent.
Lady Embry nodded to the woman with the practiced air of the countess she was. “I must tell you how very pleased I am with the gowns you sent over. They have been much admired. But now I hope you can help my friend, Lady Audsley.”
“At once, my lady,” said Madame Renault, as she snapped her fingers at her assistants, who rushed to do her bidding.
From that moment onward, Emma was measured and re-measured over every part of her. The only person who’d ever seen this much of her was her husband. And he’d had to marry her to see some of it. Now, an entire roomful of young women had seen Emma in various states of undress. It was a relief to finally put her clothes back on. But then the work truly began as she sat with Lady Embry and they began poring over designs and fabrics. Emma was both relieved and amused by how Lady Embry was ordering gowns without asking her opinion. She was grateful for her assistance since she’d never given much thought to fashion, but it was a bit odd to be an onlooker as one’s wardrobe was assembled.
“I hope I’m not being too presumptuous,” said Lady Embry, as the two ladies were sipping tea. “But you have such a lovely shape and I wanted to ensure your new gowns show that.”
“They won’t be too revealing, will they?”
Lady Embry laughed, and it sounded remarkably like a songbird, though Emma couldn’t identify the exact species. “Please have more faith in me than that. I would never have you make a cake of yourself. But I know a little something about what appeals to Audsley, and I am certain he won’t be able to take his eyes off you when you wear these gowns.”
Emma liked the sound of that, but there was one thing she needed to tell both Lady Audsley and Madame Renault. “I am increasing and fear these gowns will not fit me for very long.”
The modiste clapped her hands together. “C’est magnifique! I am certain the babe will be quite beautiful. I will send a blanket for the petit enfant, with no charge. And fear not about your own gowns. I will ensure the seams can be let out as much as possible.” Then she left to instruct her staff, calling out in rapid French as she did so
Emma turned to find Penelope studying her. Then she smiled. “Congratulations, Emma. I’m sure Audsley is looking forward to having a son.”
“He is pleased with this development, though he hasn’t said if he wants a boy or a girl.”
“They all want boys, my dear,” said Penelope in a conspiratorial manner. “But there’s nothing to say that if it’s a girl this time, you can’t give him a son the next.”
Emma wasn’t sure if she was ready for a second child when she hadn’t even met this baby, but she could think about that later. “Do you have children?”
Penelope nodded. “I have both the requisite heir and the spare, so I am well aware of what it can do to some women’s bodies.”
Penelope’s body was quite trim, so she must be speaking from the observation of others. “I would love the chance to meet your sons.”
“They aren’t in London, of course, they’re at one of the estates. Children are much happier in the clean country air.”
Emma felt a pang of sadness for Lady Embry, for she couldn’t imagine being parted from her children. It was going to be bad enough when she had to send them off to school. She certainly wanted to spend as much time with them as she could in the meantime. “Penelope, I have a rather delicate question to ask.”
“Is it about payment? Madame already knows to send the invoice to your husband’s man of business.”
“No, it is about undergarments.”
“Don’t worry about that. Madame can make all the arrangements for chemises and your everyday needs.”
“My question isn’t about my everyday needs,” said Emma, as she felt a blush flood her face. “I would like to order some more…intimate undergarments. The type a husband might like.” Lady Embry’s face shuttered for a moment and Emma wished she hadn’t brought it up. Well-mannered ladies probably never spoke of such things and she had embarrassed her new friend. “I am so sorry to have raised such a delicate subject.” She’d just have to ask Grace where she’d bought hers.
“Don’t be silly. Of course, you’d be interested in such things. I do not have a recommendation right now, but as soon as I come up with a name, I shall get it to you straightaway.”
“Thank you.” Emma suddenly felt much better. She had ordered a new wardrobe and possibly made a new friend. Life in London was definitely looking up.