Olivia nodded. “He has shown his interest.”
A curious sting pinched Anna’s stomach as she looked upon the faces of those two friends, hearing the desperation in their words. With a sinking sadness, she understood their real meaning—if not Simon, then who? At six-and-twenty, who else was there likely to be?
“Because he likes me, that means I must settle without knowing my own feelings?” she asked, a note more coldly than she had intended. They meant well.
Phoebe came over to perch on the armrest of Anna’s chair, and put her arm around her shoulders, hugging her. “Of course not, sweetling. If he is not for you, then he is not for you.”
“Goodness, I am sorry,” Olivia blurted out. “I got carried away, that is all.”
Matilda nodded and headed over to pour more champagne for Anna. “If it is to be no man at all, then I shall champion you always. There is such power in not being what society expects you to be. All you need do is look at your good friend, the Countess, to know that.” She sat down at Anna’s feet. “If it were not for Albion, it would still be no man at all for me, too.”
“Might we not speak of Simon for a while?” Anna asked, feeling more loved than she had done in an age as her friends all crowded around her. “I have missed this. I have missed all of you.”
Phoebe chewed her lower lip. “And the rest of us, I fear, have been remiss in our friendship with you. I promise, I will endeavor to be better, to see you more.” She smiled. “For I have missed this, too.”
“It feels as if we are younger again, does it not?” Leah said wistfully.
Olivia nodded. “I have missed this, very much.”
“What about Percival?” Matilda said suddenly, his name prompting Anna to jump in her seat.
“Percival?” Phoebe scoffed. “Matilda, I think you have had too much champagne already. We were all saying how much we miss this time together, and you go and mentionhim, of all people. You know she does not like him very much, and shedidjust put a croquet ball through his head, so there is likely even less affability between them.”
Matilda tilted her head back, peering up at Anna. “Love has grown from worse. And you have known him almost your entire life. Has he never intimated any interest in you? Did he not bring you orchids once?”
“They were for his chambers, to make them smell sweeter. Hestoleorchids from my mother’s flower beds,” Anna insisted, that feverish rush beginning to rise up her throat once more. “And I ripped them out of his hand so he could not have them.”
Four-and-ten years later, she could still remember her horror, seeing him standing there at the ornamental garden gate, mocking her with those precious things in his clutches. How furious she had been when she had run at him, tearing them from him. Hemusthave known who they belonged to, and he had picked them anyway.
ButIgave him an orchid once…She could not believe she had forgotten that, and her heart sank to think of what that gift had cost him. Both of them.
Matilda frowned. “Are you certain? I could have sworn you said he brought them to you to apologize.”
“I have heard Percival apologize to me once in the entire time I have known him, and there were no flowers. So, yes, I am certain.” Anna’s mind drifted once more to that awful night, the petals falling around her.
But there were things I mistook before,she mused, his tragic story playing through her thoughts. She would have to ask him about the bunch of orchids, to be sure, though she was fairly certain they had not been intended as an apology.
Matilda refilled her glass. “So, not Percival then?”
“Percival and I are…” Anna’s mind faltered, unable to pluck out the right word. “We are… friends. Just friends. Not even friends, the majority of the time, though we are learning to be more civil with one another. Friends by circumstance, I suppose you could call it. If it were not for my brother, I likely would not have any reason to speak to Percival again.”
A funny look appeared on Phoebe’s face. “But did you not say you were helping him find a match? Why would you do that if you dislike the man?”
“And you were an awfully long time in the drawing room after you smacked that croquet ball into his head,” Leah remarked, their intensity causing Anna to sweat afresh.
Olivia squinted. “You ran to him rather swiftly, too. I doubt I have ever seen such tender worry upon someone’s face, especially not someone who does not like the person they accidentally injured.”
It was all too much, combined with the champagne and the sweltering heat of the study, and the friends crowded around her. Anna pushed up off the armchair and walked to the door, offering a feeble excuse of, “I shall fetch us another bottle of champagne from Beatrice’s cellar,” before she slipped out.
She waited to hear footsteps in the hallway behind her, but, graciously, no one followed.
Was I like that with them?She could not remember, though she was aware that she had always championed the possibility of love. They had teased her for it often enough, only to eventually admit that she had been right when they finally fell in love with their respective husbands.
Still, she did not know if she liked being at the center of such an intense inquisition. It just served to make her feel like her time for romance was running out, as if she did not already know that.
* * *
“Is that a little mouse I hear, sniffing around for a piece of expensive cheese?” Dickie’s voice called down the cellar steps as Anna was making her ascent with a slightly dusty bottle of champagne.
