Surprisingly, it was Lady Genevieve who was the first to offer consolation. “Sometimes these things take time.”
“Yes, look at me!” Isabella said. “It’s been two years since my wedding, and I’m with child only now, despite all the trying we did,” she added, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively, which made Charlotte frown.
Upon seeing her face, Isabella decided to soften her approach. “Look, Charlotte, I know you cannot wait to have a child of your own…”
“It’s not that,” Charlotte shook her head impatiently. “I just want toenjoymarried life.”
No one said anything for a while.
“And you don’t enjoy it now?” Elinor was the only one brave enough to ask.
“I do, parts of it. The hosting and the travel, and the events during the Season. But other parts… I’m sure you all know very well what I’m talking about,” she indicated Isabella, Elizabeth, and Amelia with her hand.
The women exchanged confused glances.
“Charlotte, dear, is there some problem you’re having that you want to share with us?” Amelia asked, looking anxious and concerned for the young woman.
“I just… how much longer will I have to…endure,” she said with special emphasis and a lift of her eyebrows.
Suddenly, Elizabeth understood.
“Charlotte, are you talking about… the marital bed?” She asked carefully, praying that she was wrong.
“Yes!” Charlotte said and buried her face in her hands. “I just want to give him an heir and be done with it!”
Louisa and Elinor looked horrified, Amelia was red as a beet, and Lady Genevieve looked like she was trying not to laugh. Isabella and Elizabeth were merely… confused.
Charlotte quickly deciphered the other women’s emotions when she looked up.
“What?” She asked quite coldly. “You don’t mean to tell me I’m the only one who feels this way?”
Isabella glanced at the mortified faces of the unmarried girls and straightened her shoulders. But before she could say anything, Lady Genevieve said, “Well, if you’re not enjoying yourself, one of you is doing something wrong. I was married to Ian’s father and, well, let’s just say some things are perhaps a family trait.”
The door of the small parlour flew open, and an enraged Ian Sinclair rushed out of the room. One by one, all the other men (who were supposed to be in the stables!) slowly came out and passed the women by without looking at any of them. All the women had their heads down and were staring at their hands or skirts or feet, or the floor.
In Elizabeth’s entire life, she’d never felt so embarrassed, and let’s not forget that she’d been caughtin flagrantewith a man during a ball.
Poor Charlotte,she thought.Poor Ian,she added.What a mess.
Once all the men had left, Charlotte stood up and ran after her husband, and that is when all the other women looked up.
“Why were the men in there?” Lady Genevieve was the first to speak.
“Let’s go find out,” Isabella said, and they all dispersed.
Lizzie immediately went to Colin’s room, but he wasn’t there, so she returned to her own.
“I’m in here,” he called out as soon as she started opening the door. “I didn’t want to give you a fright,” he explained once he laid eyes on her.
“What happened down there?” Lizzie sat down on her bed, and Colin joined her.
“When Sinclair and I left you in the dining room, he informed me that the men were retaliating against the Secret Lady Society, and that we were going to steal your embroidery things,” he said, and the expression on his face made it very clear what he’d thought of the idea. “So I reluctantly followed him into the small parlour, and right as we were gathering the things, all the ladies unexpectedly came into the Blue Room. We decided to wait until they left. No one could have predicted how well sound carries into that room, nor the topic of conversation that we would overhear.”
“I know first-hand about overhearing things,” Lizzie said pensively. “Poor Ian.”
“I say poor Charlotte, she’s the one not enjoying herself.”
“I don’t know. I get the feeling that he only enjoys himself when he’s off hunting.”
