“It’s important business,” her father affirmed with a nod.
Georgiana smiled until her cheeks hurt. She wondered yet again why her father preferred to keep his distance. Though he was being polite, she could tell how he aimed to be unapproachable even to his own daughter. His posture was stiff, and he didn’t turn to face her entirely.
“I’m glad to hear you are keeping busy.” She swallowed, hoping he would be at least polite enough to ask about her. But nothing more was said. “But I suppose I should not keep you two––”
“Oh, don’t mind me,” Lord Hoggart interjected. “I see my wife at the refreshments table again. Pardon my departure. Lord Lincoln, I only need a moment. Don’t go anywhere.”
As the Baron hurried off, her father shifted slightly to face the room. She shifted to stand in his line of sight. Looking up at him, she managed to smile wider.
It wasn’t really for herself that Georgiana even talked with him. They would never understand each other fully—this was something she was learning to accept. However, she would not let her sister have an upbringing like her own. Emma deserved better.
“Is there something you need from me?” her father asked. “I can see you are quite happy. If there is nothing more you need from me, you should be with your husband.”
“My husband doesn’t need me at the moment. Do you know who does, though? Need me, I mean. Or need you?”
That garnered a reaction at last.
A small sigh of resignation escaped his lips. He fumbled with the glass of whiskey in his hand before shifting his gaze to her again. “Emma is alive and safe, Your Grace.”
Strange. I had hoped to feel some sort of satisfaction upon hearing that title. But there is nothing. I don’t care what he calls me. I only wish he would listen.
Clinging to her patience, Georgiana stated her case. “You don’t need to do anything for me ever again. I agree to that. I have my own money now, and I do have a husband. I’ll even stop writing letters to you if that is what you would prefer.” She waited for him to argue. When he didn’t, she ignored the way her heart was breaking and summoned her courage. “All I want is to make sure that Emma is happy.”
“Happiness is not a requirement. It’s subjective,” he stated.
But her father quieted when she gave a slight shake of her head.
Keeping her voice down, since she knew neither of them wanted an audience, Georgiana said, “Happiness is something that every child deserves. Emma deserves happiness, Father. You have removed the one family member who talked to her and played with her and loved her. A nurse or governess will never fill that hole you created. She needs someone. She needs you.”
“I don’t play. And she’s getting older,” her father said warningly.
“And yet I still like to play as well.” Georgiana lifted her chin. “She likes stories and riding ponies and picking flowers. Emma is a bright girl who can make you very proud. She’s going to be wonderful. She already is. But at the heart of the matter, she is just a little girl who needs someone at her side. She doesn’t have her mother, and she no longer has her sister. So, I am kindly asking you , begging you without falling to my knees to attract unwanted attention, to please be there at her side. You cannot be so distant toward her. She deserves better.”
As she gave her impassioned argument, the words tumbling right from her heart, Georgiana studied her father’s expression. He looked ready to argue twice more but said nothing.
He sucked in his teeth and looked down at his glass for a long minute when she was done.
Please, Father. Do the right thing.
“Perhaps two governesses would do,” he relented.
“One governess, one playmate, and one father,” Georgiana corrected him. “You can afford that, and she deserves it.”
He sighed. “This is why I do not respond to your letters. You make unreasonable demands. I don’t have time for such matters.”
“You have to make time for things you don’t want all the time. I know you do that in politics. And Emma knows, too, how you avoid her,” Georgiana pointed out. She started to point her finger at him before hastily dropping her hand. She clenched it into a fist at her side. “Father, you cannot just put her on a shelf and expect her to do and be everything you want.”
“I did that with you, and see how you turned out,” he said with a slight smirk.
But she shook her head. “I became who I am in spite of your stubborn and distant ways, Father. I know you love us, I do. But you cannot win in this way. Find a way to be there for Emma, or else I shall make trouble.”
Her father’s face went blank. “Trouble? Georgiana, be serious.”
She straightened up and stared at him coolly. “I am serious, Father. If you knew me better, you would understand I have never been more serious than I am at this moment. Do not forget who you married me off to. I am a duchess. I have resources at my disposal.”
Huffing, he shook his head. “I can’t believe you would do this.”
Nor could she. Georgiana couldn’t imagine what she was actually saying. Trouble? She didn’t like upsetting people most of the time. She didn’t want to think about hurting anyone. But with Emma on her mind and in her heart, it was difficult to stand there and do nothing.