“She says she needs to finish packing,” Eugenia explained when Esther’s mother asked her about it.
That’s a joke. Packing? Packing what? She got here last night, and she had no luggage with her!
Esther considered, for a moment, going up to her aunt’s room and imploring her to come down to breakfast. It would be the kind thing to do, she knew. And just because her aunt had never been very kind to her, that didn’t mean Esther couldn’t show her kindness.
It might even be fun. It would certainly make her wonder what I might be up to!
In the end, though, she decided to stay out of her aunt’s affairs. She had had more than enough of Aunt Tabitha and her meddlesome ways. Aunt Tabitha was probably hoping for someone to come upstairs and beg for her presence, and Esther would not give her the satisfaction.
She spread jam on her toast instead and tried to ignore the fact that her aunt’s absence was making things uncomfortable.
And that was not the only factor making breakfast difficult. No one else could seem to find a way to talk to each other.
Esther was grateful for the easy understanding between herself, Hugh, and Eugenia. Every now and then, they looked up and made eye contact with one another, or smiled slightly, and Esther was reassured that everything between them was still all right.
But it wasn’t as if they could talk about the conversation they had last night. Esther longed to ask her cousin more about her feelings for Lord Lockwood, but she didn’t dare mention him in front of her parents.
She could see, too, that her parents were anxious to know more about what had transpired between herself and Hugh. She wondered whether she was simply being petty by keeping that information to herself. Was it just that she didn’t want them to know because of the way they had treated her?
I don’t think so. They’ve ruined everything. I don’t trust them with knowledge of my happiness, because every time I’ve been happy, they’ve found a way to ruin it.
No one had explained anything to poor Caroline. Esther could see her sister trying to piece things together, trying to understand what her cousin was doing here and who the extra gentleman at the table was, trying to connect what she saw with an explanation for why Esther might have been allowed out of her room at last. But she could see that her sister didn’t dare ask questions.
Growing up with our parents will be as difficult for her as it was for me.
If things went the way Esther hoped they would, Caroline’s future would be provided for. She would be able to attend her own Season one day, and eventually marry. But before that, she would spend years being manipulated and controlled.
I’ll have to make sure I keep an eye on the situation. I’d hate to see her suffer the way I have.
She was determined to make sure that Caroline had a happier childhood, from this point on, than she herself had.
When breakfast was over, Eugenia went upstairs and brought her mother down. Aunt Tabitha marched down the stairs and strode through the foyer with her head held high, not stopping for so much as a goodbye from Esther or her parents.
She must be ashamed of how she acted last night.
Esther couldn’t blame her.
Eugenia watched her mother make her way down to the waiting carriage. Then she looked back at Esther’s parents.
“Well,” she said. “Thank you very much for allowing us to stay the night.”
Esther’s father nodded coldly, saying nothing.
For heaven’s sake.
“Father,” Esther said. “It isn’t Eugenia’s fault that my courtship with the Duke went awry. It was Aunt Tabitha who orchestrated that. Eugenia was just a victim.”
Her father nodded again, still saying nothing.
But Esther’s mother stepped forward.
“Thank you, Eugenia,” she said. Her voice wasn’t exactly warm, but at least she was reaching out. “If you hadn’t made the effort to right things between Esther and His Grace, she would have been married to Lord Walton. That would have been wrong.”
“There was nothing wrong with Lord Walton,” Esther’s father said in a low voice.
Esther’s eyes widened. For the first time, she realized that this was a point of conflict between her parents. Her mother hadn’t wanted to see her married to the old Earl.
I suppose it was a bridge too far for her.
