A smile crept across Frederica’s face.
“Judging by that expression, tea will be fine then, My Lady?” Mrs. Long offered.
“Yes, please.” Frederica couldn’t stop smiling as she stared at the letter. There were two words in particular that kept leaping out at her.
‘…make amends…’
It was possible that Allan’s words when her parents were last here had shaken them up after all. Maybe they intended to apologize for all that had passed and begin again. Such hope rippled through Frederica that she could not sit still, and she soon found herself standing, waving the letter in front of her to try and cool down in the heat.
“Has Allan yet returned?” she asked Mrs. Long, wishing to speak with him and talk about the letter.
“I believe he has, My Lady,” Mrs. Long nodded. “He is in his study.”
Frederica thanked her and hurried off through the house. In her excitement, she practically ran, gripping the skirt of her gown. When she reached the study, she knocked as quickly as she could.
“Come,” Allan’s voice came from inside. As she entered the room, she stumbled in surprise.
Allan was not wearing his tailcoat because of the heat, and a couple of his waistcoat buttons were undone too. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to his elbows. The whole appearance of the man made her mouth feel suddenly dry rather unbidden.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked in sudden panic. Whatever paper he had been looking at, was put down and he hurried toward her.
Trying to ignore the joy she felt at him wanting to protect her, she pushed the letter forward for him to read.
“Maybe they want to apologize,” she whispered to him. “What do you think?”
“Maybe.” He smiled with her. “Would you like to go alone to this dinner? Or should I come with you?”
“Alone, please.” She nodded. “If this is an apology, my mother might feel better about it if it is just us.”
“Then I wish you luck.”
It did not escape her notice that he didn’t smile quite as much as she did as he read the letter.
* * *
Frederica stood on the front step of her old home, fidgeting constantly as she waited for the door to be answered.
Such excitement rippled through her that her cheeks continuously pulled upward into a smile.
This is it. It is a chance for me and my parents to begin again. We’ll be as we should have been. It’s a new beginning!
The door opened, and the old butler smiled widely to see her.
“Come in,” he said pleasantly, beckoning her inside.
“How are you?” Frederica asked, but before she could talk much with the butler, a door nearby was thrust open, and her mother appeared.
Her mother had dressed finely for their dinner, so affluently in fact that it actually made Frederica think twice about the gown she had chosen. She had opted for the rich blue gown Allan had gifted to her. She loved it, and though it was an evening gown, it was hardly in the realms of her mother’s dress.
Margaret looked as if she was about to attend a ball. She was wearing an excessively pink and ruffled dress with a white feather thrust into her elaborate updo.
“Frederica!” Margaret declared, already gripping a glass of bubbling champagne in her hand. As she moved toward Frederica and wrapped her other arm around her, it was not difficult to tell from Margaret’s unsteadiness that it was not her first glass of champagne that evening. “I am so glad to see you,” Margaret whispered in her ear. “Come, come, there is much to talk about.”
She gripped Frederica’s hand and dragged her through the doorway and into the sitting room. Frederica followed, smiling at her mother’s happiness, when suddenly, she stopped dead in the doorway.
She knew that smell. How would she ever be able to forget the stench of that cologne?
It cannot be him. It can’t be.
