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“About what?”

“Men finding Mother attractive. She is beautiful and elegant. A man would have to not have eyes to not notice her.”

“Especially compared to the other women in town.” Comfort said.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, of course, you haven’t seen them,” Comfort rolled her eyes. “Truly. Believe me when I tell you—all the women in this town don’t know anything about fashion or etiquette or anything. The tailor in town is just horrendous. I am surprised the girls don’t run away screaming when he shows them the dresses he made.”

“Makes you glad you can sew, right?” I giggled.

“More than you know,” Comfort agreed fervently.

“What about your friend, Cynthia?”

“Cynthia is different. She isn’t just some country bumpkin. She goes with Algernon on business trips and gets her clothes tailor-made from people with actual talent. And I am teaching her how to sew too.”

“That is wonderful.” I was glad for Comfort. She hadn’t tutored girls for very long before Father had died, but I knew she had loved it. She had so many talents—dancing, singing, playing the harp, sewing. But I couldn’t see any way she could put that knowledge to use here, in this tiny rural town. She must feel out of place, just as Mother and I did.

“Do you miss before?” I asked her.

“Before?”

“Before Father died,” I clarified. Comfort gave an impression of constant strength. As if nothing would bother her. Almost as though she thought having feelings was weakness.

“Of course I do,” she said. She traced the stitching on the pillow she was still clutching. “But what good does it do to think about it? It just makes me sad.”

I wanted her to talk about it with me. I wanted to have someone to confide in about my struggles. But Comfort had blinders on. She didn’t want to think about anything except the present and future. She refused to look back.

I felt partially responsible for her behavior. Mother and I had been broken, and Comfort felt she needed to carry all of the burdens on her own. Even now, she managed all the finances, all of the marketing and managing of housekeeper. It was a lot to put on any one person.

“Thank you for always being there, for us,” I told her, smiling for what felt like the first time in months. Perhaps it was. “You really stepped up and took on the lion’s share of all the work and let me and Mother just recover in our own time. So I wanted to tell you thank you. I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Sis,” She reached over and hugged me. “You just focus on getting better, and we will have you back to translating in no time.”

CHAPTER 21

Recovery was slow, but steady. Not just my physical improvement, but emotional as well. I still missed Father terribly, but it had been reduced from an overwhelming, all-encompassing pain to a dull throb. I began going on short walks around the property surrounding our manor. I still didn’t venture out into public; I wasn’t prepared for that yet. But I would seek the tranquility of the outdoors again, reveling in wind blowing on my face, the soft carpet of pine needles beneath my feet, the chatter of birds and squirrels. It felt healing. Peaceful. Exactly what I needed.

Instead of staying closeted in my room, I began staying in the sitting room after dinner, talking to Mother and Comfort beside a crackling fire. Comfort would tell us about the freshest batch of gossip from town. She would occasionally even bring me new books in various languages as a gift, something to help me pass the time. I rejoiced each time I received one.

Mother would sit in her rocker, calmly knitting lace doylies and listening to us. Every once in a while, Comfort would press her for details about the increasing amounts of time she was spending with Algernon. Mother would blush that delicate shade of pink and tell us about how Algernon had taken her for a carriage ride to see the mountainside, or to visit a waterfall.

Then one evening, she made an announcement. “Algernon asked me to marry him.” She always was so soft-spoken and mild-mannered that this declaration didn’t seem to register at first.

Comfort squealed and jumped up. “Oh, Mother! I knew it, I just knew it!” She hugged Mother.

I sat stunned. How was it that I was so grossly out of the loop that I hadn’t foreseen this? I had only supposed that he and Mother would be friends. Good friends, but just friends.

“What did you say?” I asked, still dumbfounded.

“I said that I would talk with you girls first.” Mother smiled at us. “We are a family…a package deal.”

“Say yes, Mother! Say yes!” Comfort was beside herself with glee. “Oh, this will be so much fun. We can plan a huge wedding. Truly, Cynthia, and I will be your bridesmaids, and we can have it right here in the garden. Truly! We get another sister!”

Comfort kept talking, discussing plans for who to invite, which house we would live at, how much fun it would be to have more people join our family, if we should release birds at the ceremony, and about a thousand more things, but none of it registered with me.

Mother was going to marry someone I hadn’t even met. Was I the only one still thinking about Father? Who missed him at all? Did my opinion count for nothing? If we were a package deal as Mother claimed, why hadn’t a word of this been breathed to me before now?