“I am. What do you think?” Aaron asked. “I know it is fast, but I feel it is so right.”
“Oh, Aaron.” Joyce hurried round the table, leaving the maids to fluster even more to try and take the vase from her, but they eventually did, leaving her free to throw her arms around Aaron’s waist. He laughed as he embraced his mother, holding the rose behind her back to keep the bloom out of harm’s way.
“May I guess you think it a good thing then?” he teased her, receiving a warm laugh somewhere in the middle of his chest.
“I am thrilled,” she gushed as she stepped back again, crying tears of happiness. She lifted her fingers to dry those tears, talking very fast. “Now your father will have two betrothed sons to toast tonight.”
“Wait, mother, I have not asked Emily yet. Let us see if she says yes first.” Yet the memory of the way Emily had kissed him gave him good reason to hope. She had kissed him so sweetly with such barely restrained passion that he struggled to keep his imagination at bay these days. He knew what he wanted.I want to spend my life with her.
“I am sure she will say yes,” Joyce said as she dried more tears. Then her eyes flicked behind Aaron, as if noticing someone for the first time. “Hugh! Hugh, have you heard the good news?”
Aaron stiffened and slowly turned round, startled to see that they were not alone with the maids as he had thought. Hugh was standing behind him, with Jane at his side, both wearing such astonished looks that they did not utter any words at all. Hugh’s jaw had dropped nearly as far as the floor and his posture was somewhat slumped. Jane’s eyes unblinkingly stared at Aaron, with her lips opening and closing, clearly searching for words that would not come.
“You have come to help me with the preparations for the ball? Hugh?” Joyce stepped forward, practically elbowing Hugh in the waist to make him speak.
“Did I hear that right?” he asked, his voice strained, looking squarely at Aaron, and practically ignoring their mother’s latest words. “You are going to ask Lady Emily to marry you?”
“I am.” Aaron turned away, making a pretense of helping the maids with the vases of flowers.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” Joyce was speaking to Hugh and Jane alone. “You will all be wed, all ready to start families of your own.”
“Wait, mother, it is not cause for cheer yet.” Hugh’s voice made Aaron stiffen, though he purposely busied himself with rearranging some of the crystalware, needing to focus on anything other than Hugh’s voice.
“Yes, I agree.” Jane was the next to speak. She hurried forward, moving to Aaron’s side and pulling on his arm to get her attention.
“Yes?” he said, trying to tear his arm out of her grasp but she would not let it happen.
“Aaron, I must speak to you openly,” she said quietly. It was the last thing he wanted. He could remember a time when he thought he would tell Jane anything, indulge in his most private thoughts with her, but that time was long past. Looking at her now, he was startled to feel that whatever she had to say, he had little interest in hearing.
“If it is to object to my intentions, then I have no wish to hear it.” This time Aaron managed to tear his arm out of her grasp, as he walked around the table, trying to put distance between them.
Joyce hurried off, called to attention by some of the footmen, but neither Hugh nor Jane was so distracted. Hugh joined Jane by the table, staring across the flowers and crystalware straight at Aaron.
“Are you certain of this?” Hugh asked, his scowl so deep that thick lines formed in his brow.
“Perfectly certain.” Aaron returned the red rose to the bunch. He would gather one later to give to Emily.
“Please, Aaron, let us discuss this openly,” Jane murmured softly. She held a sweet tone as she looked up to him, almost batting her eyelashes in his direction.
There was a time I would have fallen at her feet with that look. Not now.
“What do you wish to discuss?” Aaron asked, looking between the two of them.
“It is not wise to rush into a decision like this,” Jane said, shaking her head. “Is it, Hugh?”
“No, Jane is right.” Hugh seconded her opinion, leaning on the table that separated Aaron from the two of them.
“I am not rushing into anything. I am doing this because it feels right. I do not wish to discuss the topic any further with the two of you.” Aaron turned to walk away, but he only managed two steps before his brother was speaking again.
“How can you say such a thing?” His sudden loud voice made Aaron freeze and look around the staff. He would not allow his mother to be embarrassed by the two of them arguing so loudly in front of others, so he was forced to turn back and walk to the table again, urging Hugh to lower his voice with a wave of his hand. “I am your family. Who else can discuss this with you?”
“You do not act like my family, so why should I treat you as such? Emily told me what you said to her the day she came for tea with our mother. You couldn’t even remember her name,” Aaron practically spat with the words he was so mad. “You have not taken an interest in my life for months, Hugh. Do not pretend to do so now.”
“You are not rushing into marriage then in the hope to make us feel guilty?” Hugh’s words made a deadening silence drop between the three of them. Aaron stood straight, feeling his spine go rigid.
“Hugh,” Jane murmured after the silence stretched out for what felt like a full minute. “We should not say such things.”
“It is true though, isn’t it?” Hugh asked, addressing her alone. “He is still so angry at the two of us, all he is doing this for is to make us feel guilty.”
