CHAPTERTWELVE
By early afternoon, most of the crates and boxes of decorations had been cleared away, their contents adorning the ballroom and the hallways and the various other rooms that would be open to guests.
“I thought this was to be a humble party, not an extravagant society event?” Olivia whispered to Caroline as the two women stood on the threshold of the grand ballroom, which looked ready for a royal ball.
Caroline chuckled. “Mama claimed thiswasgoing to be a humble party. She said there were only thirty guests or so.”
“All of this for thirty guests?” Olivia blinked, feeling a little nervous about the evening to come.
Caroline looked guilty all of a sudden. “I think she is… making preparations for something else, so she does not have to do it twice.”
“Such as?”
Caroline chewed her lower lip and answered shyly, “Your wedding celebrations. She hopes to have a ball soon afterwards, before you begin your honeymoon.”
“But a wedding would be three months away, to ensure the banns are announced properly and suchlike,” Olivia rasped, struggling to breathe. She had promised to endure the fortnight she would spend at Evan’s residence, but after that, she would not return under any circumstances. “Caro? What do you know that you are not saying?”
Caroline stared down at her shoes. “If there is an agreement, I think the idea is to have you and my cousin marry sooner, with a special license.”
Olivia felt sick, her stomach churning and twisting, all the butterflies lying dead in the pit of her belly. Sweating slightly at the mere sight of that ostentatious ballroom, she excused herself and headed for the familiarity of fresh air, doing her best not to break into a run… and keep running until she was a world away from her situation.
She hurtled onto the front porch and made her way to the bottom step, where she promptly sat down, leaning against one of the pillars for support. She closed her eyes and sucked in breath after breath, praying everything was just a terrible dream, and when she opened her eyes, she would awaken in her bedchamber with no betrothal whatsoever. Yet, as she considered it, her heart whispered thatthatwould be a far worse nightmare. But marriage, so soon? The fact that it did not appall her scared her.
The crunch of carriage wheels on gravel opened her eyes, and though she was still at Westyork Manor, curiosity replaced her fear as a large landau carriage drew nearer.
The carriage had not even come to a complete standstill before four raucous women tumbled out, racing toward Olivia in a flood of outstretched arms that pulled her up from her miserable lament and released her heart from the vise constricting around it.
“Your reinforcements have arrived!” Matilda cheered.
“Phoebe brought boiled eggs—can you fathom it? I thought I would die from the stench before we arrived,” Leah remarked, laughing as she pressed a kiss to Olivia’s cheek.
Phoebe scoffed. “Are you hungry? No, becauseIhad the sense to bring us all something to eat.” She rubbed the spot between Olivia’s shoulder blades. “How have you been, darling Olivia? Are you well? Are you exhausted? Would you care for an egg; there is one left?”
“I have eaten, and the rest… I will explain in due course,” Olivia replied, pulling Anna into the fold, for she stood rather awkwardly on the periphery. “My temper is much improved, seeing all of you. You do not know the relief I feel, having you here.”
The five women embraced for a while, shrouding Olivia in the safety of their arms and their affection. And though Olivia dearly wished to introduce her friends to Caroline, her strategy could not wait. She was losing hope and that needed bolstering before anything else.
But before Olivia could even suggest sneaking away to the Dowager House— which would now be empty of everyone, as Amelia and Olivia’s mother were deep in the last preparations for the party at Westyork Manor—another carriage came trundling down the long, splendid drive.
All five women stared at the carriage’s approach until the two horses pulled to a halt, and a familiar footman rushed to open the door for the person within.
Olivia’s lip curled as her father stepped down, shielding his eyes from the sunlight. “Ah, I see I am not the first to arrive,” he said drily, offering a cursory dip of his head to the gathered ladies. He had never liked Olivia’s friends, and they had never liked him. “I did not expect any of you to be here so soon. Are you not rather early?”
“We hoped to explore before dinner,” Matilda said politely.
Olivia nodded. “I was just going to show them the gardens. Mama is inside with the Dowager. I am certain they will be glad of your presence, for you might make yourself useful by hanging garlands and such.”
As that is the only use you will ever be to my mother,she wanted to add but held the jibe back. Like a proud duck, her contempt always rolled off his back.
“I see,” he said stiffly. “Have you been given permission to wander?”
Olivia bristled. “The Dowager has informed me that I may go where I please.”
“Very well.” Her father wrinkled his nose, while Olivia wished he had stayed in London, tending to his “business” matters. “Where did you say your mother was?”
“Inside somewhere. The drawing room, perhaps,” Olivia replied, grabbing Matilda’s hand to make their escape. Matilda, in turn, grabbed Phoebe, who grabbed Leah, who grabbed Anna, until a chain of five absconders were hurrying across the lawns toward the path that joined the manor house to the Dowager House. It was a short walk of no more than half a mile, sheltered by dense forest on either side, providing ample opportunity and privacy for Olivia to begin her tale of woe.
The ladies slowed their pace as Olivia spoke, regaling them with the events that had taken place since her arrival at the Dowager House. “It appears that he is determined to continue with our engagement, though I have done my best to dissuade him,” she concluded with a weary sigh. “Alas, my best has not been nearly good enough. I have been lost without you all.”
