“Oh, I know.” Margaret nodded. They both knew Theodore’s glare could have killed their father by now with that look. “Well,” Margaret cleared her throat, talking over James before he could ask any more about Theodore’s business affairs. “Louisa, what are you reading at the moment?”
“You do not need to hear about that.” James waved his hand in the air dismissively.
“Oh, I really wish to hear,” Margaret insisted.
“No indeed. The news must come fromyou.”James gestured to her so sharply that Margaret flinched. “Quite a gown you arewearing this evening. It is new, eh?” He looked at Theodore, expecting him to be the one to confirm.
“That hardly matters, Father,” Margaret pleaded, trying to force a smile.
“Of course it matters. What money! What fortune! Surely you will now share with your family, Margaret?”
So embarrassed, Margaret could say nothing. Tears of fury burned in her eyes as she glowered at her father, then something happened that made any words she wished to say die in her throat.
A hand closed over hers on her lap beneath the table. Shocked, she realized it was Theodore’s hand. He had reached to his side and placed calming fingers on her own.
“We will not talk of anything so vulgar as money at this table.” Theodore’s curt voice put an end to the matter. “I think dinner is now finished, don’t you?”
Margaret had never felt so humiliated. Furious at her father, she missed Theodore’s hand as it slipped away from her grasp. She both wished to know exactly what Theodore was thinking and was very glad she didn’t know.
He must despair of having me for a wife and James for a father-in-law.
“Oh, Evelina, you should have been there. It was so humiliating!” Margaret gushed as she and Evelina walked through the garden. Dressed in her new fur pelisse and green gloves, Margaret didn’t feel the cold so much for a change.
It probably helped that in her fury at the dinner two nights before, she marched up and down the formal borders, with poor Evelina racing to catch up with her.
“I have despaired of our father many times, but oh, this was awful! Goodness knows what Theodore thinks of me now. Thinks of us all.”
“You care for his good opinion, do you?” Evelina caught Margaret’s arm. She immediately halted Margaret’s fast pace, urging her to walk at a much slower pace around the garden.
“It is not that, it is just…” Unable to put into words what she was feeling, she fell silent. How could she tell Evelina that the thought of Theodore thinking ill of her truly hurt? That she feared Theodore pulling back from her even more?
“What?” Evelina whispered.
“I spend just a few short minutes with Theodore every day. We share breakfast, and that is all. If he thinks truly ill of me, he might rescind that promise as well.”
“Some companion,” Evelina huffed. “What a husband he’ll make just giving you a breakfast each day!”
“The breakfast is not unpleasant, sister.”
“It is just a few short minutes each day!” Evelina was the one revealing anger now. She laid a hand over Margaret’s protectively. “I am so sorry things have come to this.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know how you wished for a love match,” Evelina whispered, bending her head near so that her clouded breath misted the cool morning air. “How many days of our lives have I seen you cling to romance books and poetry? To wish for such devotion yourself.”
Margaret rather felt as if that idealistic young girl vanished a long time ago. She pulled Evelina further on through the garden, no longer looking her sister in the eye.
Distracted, she wondered where Theodore and Gabriel now were, for Gabriel had come to visit with Evelina. Perhaps they were sharing a drink in his much-loved library?
I wish Theodore would share a drink with me in that room.
“I wanted you to be happy, Margaret. To marry for love!” Evelina gushed.
“Do not worry about that.” Margaret forced a smile. “I have more than I could have asked for. I have a very comfortable home indeed, a beautiful garden to walk in, new gowns too. Look.” She gestured down at the pelisse and dress. “Things I never would have even asked for in a match.”
“The money brings you comfort, does it?”
“It is better than things were before,” Margaret reminded her. “And with the money, I hope to be useful to our sisters.”
