“Do come in,” Lord Haddington urged. “We’ve been looking forward to seeing all of you tonight. Lord Hunter, Lady Hunter, welcome to our home.”
“Thank you so much for including us,” Colin said. “It’s always a delight to get out of the house with Nancy, and I’m ever so happy to spend time with Lydia’s family. We’ve come to treasure her, as I’m sure you can imagine.”
“Well, come into the dining room.” Lady Haddington beamed. “We’re having pheasant tonight, Lydia. I know how much you like pheasant.”
It was a peace offering, Lydia thought. But she was ready to accept it. “That sounds lovely,” she said. “Thank you for arranging for that, Mother.”
“Of course, of course,” Lady Haddington agreed. “You know we only want you to be happy.”
Lydia noticed that Edward hadn’t said much. No doubt the memory of their last dinner together was still fresh in his mind, but she’d warned him that she wanted this to be a clean start for all of them. She wanted to feel as if things were good between herself and her parents, and there was no way that could happen if there was unresolved tension between her parents and Edward. Tonight should be a perfect opportunity to set things right.
At the same time, however, she no longer felt as ill at ease as she knew she once would have, knowing that she didn’t have their full approval. It hadn’t been clear to her until very recently how uncomfortable that knowledge had always made her. For years, she would have said she didn’t care what they thought. It was only now that she had truly been released from her worries about their opinions that she understood how much she had once cared, and how freeing it was to have that burden lifted.
They sat down at the dinner table, and the wine was poured.
“Well, Lydia,” Lord Haddington said, “now that you’ve recovered from your illness, I suppose the time may be ripe to discuss the future.”
“The future?” Lydia repeated.
“We said we wouldn’t do this until after dinner,” Lady Haddington hissed.
“Do what?” Lydia asked.
“I was ill as well, for a time, when you were going to be born,” her mother said. “Your father and I would like you to know that if that’s what’s behind your illness—”
“Are you asking meagainif I’m going to have a child?” Lydia could hardly believe what she was hearing. “Mother, don’t you realize that’s what we just finished arguing over?”
“But you must have seen sense,” her mother reasoned. “We left you to your own devices long enough that you must have reached the correct conclusion about the whole affair by this time.”
“What conclusion should I have reached?”
“Your role in the Duke’s household is to produce an heir for him,” Lord Haddington explained. “Of course, your husband knows that, and it’s unwise of you to keep him waiting.”
“Do you know—I think Nancy and I ought to step out and see the garden,” Colin said, his voice rather loud.
“You don’t need to go anywhere,” Lydia replied. She was embarrassed, but she was also angry. “We aren’t going to be having this discussion. Edward and I are not having a child yet, Father. We have no plans to do so—not for a while.”
“You can’t keep putting your duties on hold like this, Lydia,” her mother scolded her.
“That’s enough,” Edward said. “I thought I made this very clear last time. If you can’t manage to avoid this topic, Lord and Lady Haddington, I will take my family and go home right now. Nobody wants to have this conversation apart from you, and it’s not going to happen.”
“Your Grace, please,” Lady Haddington said. “You can’t understand the way I feel about this because you don’t have a child yourself. I promise you, it isn’t about social climbing. I’m not just worried about her reputation. I want my daughter to have every happiness in the world. You can understand that, can’t you? I want her to know the joy that comes with being a mother, and I look forward to hearing that that day is on its way. I’m sorry. I know you don’t like me to ask these questions. I know you’d prefer that we stopped. It’s just that—if there is good news, I want to be told.”
Lydia felt sympathy for her mother. She no longer seemed as if she was prying for information. It felt as if she genuinely cared.
“I understand,” Lydia relented. “You must trust us, Mother. You must trust that everything will happen when it’s meant to happen. Edward and I had no courtship. We had no chance to get to know one another, to spend time together and grow our relationship. It’s hard, knowing we missed out on something so important. We’re going to take this first part of our marriage to replace the courtship we never had.”
“That’s right,” Edward agreed. “In fact, I was going to save this for later, Lydia, but I may as well tell you now. I’m planning on taking you to Italy next month.”
“Italy! Really?”
“If you’d like to go,” he said. “I’d like to make up for the trip to Bath that we never took together. I don’t know if Rome is an acceptable substitute.”
“I wouldloveto go,” Lydia said eagerly. “That sounds wonderful.”
And, of course, they couldn’t have made the journey if they’d had a newborn baby to look after. Lydia would have wanted to be at home with the child, and she couldn’t have expected to bring a child on a trip like that. It was validation that she had done the right thing by asking to postpone parenthood a little longer.
Dinner was served, and after some initial awkwardness, the family managed to settle into an easy and pleasant conversation. Colin, always a jovial presence, was particularly helpful in putting everyone at ease. But being at the table with Colin was harder than Lydia had anticipated. Of everyone here, she knew that he was the only one who had been close with Margaret, and it was difficult not to feel pangs of sympathy.
