“And he is soon to be your brother-in-law. We may need to give him a raise.” George said, only partially joking.
“But only if he wins,” Thomas said with a wry smile.
* * *
Augusta had enlisted Helena to help prepare Jenny to be a duchess, and she was more than willing to help.
“How is Sally coming along with the pastries?” Helena asked Jenny, as they sorted through Jenny’s wardrobe looking to see what she might be able to take with her to Pemberton.
“She is doing very well. But she still has a way to go,” Jenny replied.
“Just like you do to become a duchess,” Helena teased.
Jenny sat on her bed and sighed. “Oh, please, do not remind me. Grandmamma Augusta has been stuffing my head with all sorts of facts about the family, about the peerage, about customs and traditions—and my head is just spinning.”
Helena turned from the wardrobe and pulling out the gown Thomas had given her all that time ago, said, “This is all you have you can take with you. I am sorry to have to say this, my dear, but as a duchess, you are going to need an entirely new wardrobe. There is no way you can wear these other dresses at Pemberton.”
“Not even if I am baking?”
Helena was aghast, “You intend to bake at Pemberton?”
“Of course, why not? Did I not say I always wanted to bake in a grand house one day? Now I can.”
“And he will allow you to do that?”
“He promised I could—on special occasions. But we shall see—I am certain he will do as I tell him.”
Helena laughed. “Wrapping him around your little finger already, are you?”
“But I would never do anything we did not both agree upon.”
Helena sighed. “But this does not solve the problem of your clothing. Something must be done.”
Jenny was still sitting on the edge of her bed, and she pointed to her dresser. “Over there… there should be an envelope.”
Helena went over, found it, picked it up, and asked, “This?”
“Yes. Give it to me.”
Helena handed it to her. Jenny opened it up and took out a large amount of cash.
“Grandmamma Augusta gave me this and told me to have you help me select a new wardrobe. Can you do that for me?”
Helena took the money and counted it. “You and I need to take a trip to London, Your Grace. We have some shopping to do.”
* * *
It was one week before the wedding. And it was the last day that Jenny would be with her family before she was to be picked up and taken to Pemberton. Grandmother Augusta insisted the final preparations take place where she could oversee all the details of preparing Jenny to become Thomas’s bride.
It was a very quiet and somber family breakfast.
“Cheer up everyone. It is a wedding not a funeral,” Claudia insisted, clapping her hands and trying to instill some liveliness in the morose family gathering.
Mama began crying and got up from the table and retreated to the kitchen to have a good cry.
Papa lamented, “Robert gone, now Jenny, and Claudia you are likely to be next when your Jeremiah finally graduates.”
“Papa, I have already told you, that is still some time away.”
