“Will you?” she whispered.
“I’m thinking,” Helena murmured.
The door opened before any more discussion could happen between them. Benjamin walked in with Anna.
“The preparations for the wedding are coming alone, slowly.”
“Lowly?” Benjamin asked, angling one side of his head closer toward her.
“Slowly!” she practically barked.
Helena and Julia exchanged a pained look, discomforted their mother did not have more patience with her husband.
“Mama?” Julia said, moving to her feet. “Helena has something she wishes to say to you.”
Helena glared at her sister, feeling cajoled into doing this. She had little wish to let her sister risk scandal again, but there was also curiosity in her mind. If Lord Robert intended to be at the masked ball in disguise, then the Duke of Bridstone would undoubtedly go too.
If they were masked, would the Duke consider asking her to dance again?
“Well, Helena? What is it?” Anna encouraged her on.
“It is a matter of the masquerade ball at the Countess of Wessex’s house,” Helena began slowly, crossing the room toward her parents.
“That event,” Benjamin laughed. “She holds such a thing every year. Never have you seen anything so preening and ostentatious.”
“I’m in agreement with you, Father,” Helena said, walking toward him as he picked up a book from a side table and flicked through the pages, evidently trying to distract his mind. “Yet on this occasion, I think it wise that Julia and I attend.” Benjamin nearly dropped the book.
“Attend?” He laughed and nodded at his daughter. “Helena, you may go, but I think it a wiser thing if Julia stays here. We need no more events where she and her betrothed stand together with people whispering at a distance.”
“They do not bother keeping their distance,” Anna huffed and folded her arms, turning her chin up in Julia’s direction. Helena was pained by the haughty look their mother gave them. She supposed their mother did love them, but that feeling was often masked by her pride and her need to be liked by theton. “They will happily whisper in our own ears, or talk within earshot, just to show how much they despair of us.”
“How much they repair us?” Benjamin asked, his eyebrows furrowing. Anna looked sharply at him, returning that glower.
“I am not even going to dignify that one with an answer.”
“Despair of us, Father, despair,” Helena explained in a much kinder tone than her mother had used. Benjamin nodded his thanks at her.
“Despite your mother’s cool manner, she is right,” Benjamin said slowly, laying the book down on the table. “It’s better if Julia stays here.”
Helena looked toward her sister to see her sitting down on the chaise lounge Helena had not long before vacated. Her spine was slumped, and her hands fidgeted in her lap. Helena hated seeing her sister so sad. If there was a way to persuade her parents to accept the ball, then she had to do it. There may have been another motivation for Helena to attend the ball though she tried to deny it to herself.
Images crossed her mind of the night when she had danced with the Duke of Bridstone. His hand upon her waist, gently steering her around the room, and then the firm grasp to avoid a collision. Even then he had made her heartrate skip when she had least expected it.
Would it be so awful to have another chance to see him? Another chance to dance with him?
“Well, poor Julia indeed,” Helena changed tact and turned away, crossing the room toward her sister. She was careful to lift her voice, so her father would have every chance of hearing her. “Soon to be married to a Moore and not even let out for one night of fun and amusement before the event. If one were the kind to disparage the Moores, then I’d say you are condemned to a life of dullness, sister!”
“Helena!” Julia complained, leaping to her feet. Helena quickly took her sister’s shoulder and pushed her back down again, winking. Only Julia saw that wink, and she stiffened in her seat, plainly uncertain what it meant. Helena sat beside her sister and took her hand.
“Imagine it,” she said with drama, looking between her mother and father. “One last night of freedom for Julia.”
“A life married to a Moore; well, I do not envy you that,” Anna observed, chuckling to herself. “I hope you know what sort of decision you have made with your life, Julia.”
Realizing they were getting off topic, Helena shifted her focus to her father. Benjamin had picked up the book again, but he was not looking at the pages. He was staring at her across the room instead. She smiled at her father.
“Do you not wish for Julia to enjoy herself?” Helena asked, pushing the matter a little more.
“If she were seen out… people would talk. Some events are acceptable, but most, it is not a good thing,” Benjamin muttered, more to himself than anyone else. “An event such as this with dancing, courtships announced, all of it! Putting Julia in the middle of all those gossipers —”
