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Sarah’s hair had finally dried, but the heat in her cheeks remained.

She did not think she’d contracted a cold from her swim.

Rather, she’d been grinning and blushing since spending time with her husband.

Christopher had listened to her like no one in her life had before.

He was sweet. Kind. Funny. Handsome. And she may be ever so slightly in love with him.

Having never been in love before, Sarah could not be certain.

But if the heat in her cheeks and the inability to stop smiling were any indications, she was entirely smitten.

Tracing her lips, she remembered his warm kisses.

The scratchy sensation of his beard and the softness of his mouth.

His arms wrapped around her waist. For the first time in years, she’d felt whole.

Since her mother’s disappearance, Sarah had felt something was missing inside of her, as if she were a puzzle that was put together but lacked the final two pieces.

Or, rather, three pieces: Christopher, Margaret, and Deborah.

She’d needed a family of her own to love and to care for.

And hopefully, in time, she and Christopher would add to their family.

Being an only child, she’d always wished for siblings to play with.

Ralph had made a wonderful substitute, but he lived a carriage ride away.

She huffed as she thought of Ralph. He’d come across Sarah and Christopher when her husband was staking out the lake and had joined their ride back to Manderfield Hall assuming that he would be welcome.

And he was. For the most part. However, Sarah had been enjoying a private tête-à-tête with her husband.

Christopher had been talking to her about his canals and the ports where he had businesses.

They sounded nothing like London Society, which was the only other place she’d visited besides her school in Bath and the village of Eden.

His words had made her wish to travel—to leave Manderfield Hall for just a little while.

Not forever. A couple weeks, perhaps. Certainly shorter than the two months of the London Season.

It would be nice to have a wedding trip without Ralph, Margaret, or Deborah interrupting their time alone.

Indeed, her cousin had even invited himself to dinner that night.

Ralph had always been welcome before and assumed Sarah would be delighted by his company.

She hoped Margaret and Deborah would be the delighted ones this evening so that she could spend more time with her husband.

Alas, he would be at the opposite end of the table.

“No need to pinch them cheeks,” Nelly said. “They’re as pink as a piglet’s and twice as rosy.”

Touching her chest, Sarah explained, “While swimming, we bared ourselves.”

Her friend winked. “I’m not sure what’s so shocking about that. You are married to each other, after all.”

Blushing hotly, Sarah pushed her maid’s hand playfully.

“Not that sort of bare—I meant that I shared the deepest feelings of my soul, and I believe he did too. I used to think love was like an obsession, like how my father treated my mother. He hovered, hindered, and hounded her. But it is not. Love does not trap; it sets one free.”

“Free to leave Manderfield Hall?” Nelly asked with one hand on her hip.

“Free to let go of the past,” Sarah said. “Christopher told me it wasn’t my fault that my mother disappeared, and I needed to hear those words so badly.”

Her maid shook her head. “None of us ever thought that it was your fault. Your father may have loved your mother obsessively, but the only person she loved was you. We all knew it as we all know now that if she could have come back, she would have, Sarah. Your mother loved you, and what she wanted for you more than anything else in the world was a husband and home of your own. She would be so happy for you now.”

“Truly?”

One side of Nelly’s mouth quirked up. “Almost as happy as she would have been for Guy and me.”

Smiling, Sarah shuffled to her feet and patted down her lace overlay. “And how many days until your wedding, Nelly? Is it eleven? Have you started to count down the hours yet?”

A blush entered her maid’s cheeks. “I’ve never been very good at mathematics.”

“I’ve already had Cook begin to plan the menu for the wedding breakfast. Your sister-in-law intends to bring her famous apple tarts.”

“That’s mighty kind of her,” Nelly said, biting her lower lip. “Will you be my attendant, Sarah? You’re my oldest friend, even if you are my employer and a lady.”

Sarah hugged her friend tightly. “I thought you would never ask. I have already planned which gown to wear—it’s pretty but a muted blue, so as not to outshine the bride.”

Nelly tugged on one of Sarah’s curls. “You couldn’t outshine me if you tried. I’ll be wearing your wedding dress. Now, off with you, and don’t forget to flirt with your husband. But try not to bare yourself in public. It’s frowned upon in company.”

Raising her eyebrows, Sarah said, “I shan’t.”

She felt as if she were floating instead of walking down the main staircase.

Her green silk gown shimmered and moved like the waves of a river.

She would need to sew bathing gowns for Margaret and Deborah.

Or she could give them her mother’s. For seven years, her mother’s clothes had been in four trunks.

One by one, Sarah had taken the dresses and remade them to expand her own wardrobe as her pocket money diminished to farthings.

The last trunk held her mother’s favorite gowns.

Perhaps it was time to put them to use. Even if her mother returned, Sarah doubted she’d wish for outdated clothes.

Bathing suits were a simple affair and didn’t change much over time, but the fashion for evening gowns had completely changed.

All she could do was make her mother’s gowns over or reuse the material and lace.

She would ask Nelly to have the last trunk brought to her bedchamber.

Following the sounds of music, she entered the sitting room.

Margaret was playing the pianoforte while Ralph and Deborah sang loudly—and, in her cousin’s case, a bit off-key.

Ralph waved for her to join them, and Sarah, whose voice was nothing special, added her whispery soprano to the song.

Christopher came in a few minutes later and joined in with a deep baritone.

Their singing set a jolly mood for dinner, and Sarah didn’t think Ralph stopped talking once through all twelve courses.

Everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves.

Christopher, who had been so select in his smiles, was grinning freely.

The only thing that could have made the dinner more enjoyable would have been to be at his side instead of at the opposite end of the table.

Still, her chair was not without certain advantages.

She got to watch his handsome face all throughout dinner.

After the dessert courses, Ralph suggested a game of jackstraws. “I should warn you all,” he said in a conspiratorial whisper. “My cousin Sarah is impossible to beat. She has the steadiest hands I’ve ever seen.”

Deborah stuck out her chin in defiance. “Well, she hasn’t played me.”

It was only a silly game, and Sarah should have let her sister-in-law win, except that she wished to impress Christopher.

Ralph set up the game, and everyone took a turn.

Christopher bumped another straw on his first turn and was out.

Margaret managed to remove three pieces successfully before she bumped another.

Ralph, Deborah, and Sarah had five straws each when Ralph got out.

It was only Deborah and herself now. With a steady hand, Sarah removed a straw that was partially on top of another.

Happily, it did not move at all. Deborah attempted to take a piece that was touching two others and managed to pull it off, but Sarah thought the bottom straw shifted a little.

Margaret pointed. “It moved. Deborah, you’re out and Sarah wins.”

Her little sister set down the straw. “It did not. You’re just saying that because you want Sarah to beat me.”

“Christopher,” Margaret said, appealing to him. “You saw Deborah’s straw move the one beneath it, didn’t you?”

The look of contentment that had been on his face the entire evening was gone. In its place was the old mask of indifference. “It is only a game, girls. One that is rather stupid. Let us do something else.”

“It’s only stupid because you lost,” Ralph teased.

Sarah smirked but wished that her cousin had let the conversation and the game die.

“It is not a stupid game, and I did not move a piece,” Deborah said, standing up and stomping her foot as if throwing a childish tantrum. “Margaret was just lying for Sarah. She always has to be the favorite. The teacher’s pet. The Goody-Goody-Two-shoes.”

What little color was in Margaret’s face drained from it. “That is not true.”

Deborah stomped her foot again. “You’re nothing but an ingratiating toadeater!”

“It is not my fault that you refuse to follow even the most basic of rules,” Margaret said, anger spilling out of her voice like bubbling champagne. “At least I didn’t kiss the dancing master, which disgraced us both.”

Sarah had suspected there was a reason Deborah had left finishing school before she was at least seventeen years of age. She felt a surge of sympathy for Margaret, who had not made any mistakes but had been shamed and punished as well.

Ralph barked a laugh, which might have cleared the tension in the air if he had not added, “I daresay it was a handsome Frenchman with a mustache. Hard to resist that. Sarah had a tendre for her own dancing teacher, didn’t you, Cousin?”

Nodding, Sarah tried to hold in her mirth at her own youthful ridiculousness. She needed to soothe the situation and not add sticks to the fire.

Deborah’s hands clenched into fists. “Headmistress Mason would never have known if you hadn’t told her!”

Red blotches formed on Margaret’s face, and Sarah wondered if there was any truth in her sister’s accusation. “Mr. Woodeford was preying upon innocent girls. He should not have been anywhere near the school.”

“Yet we had to leave, and he did not.”

“Because the lecher was the headmistress’s nephew, and any fool could see that he was only after Christopher’s money. He made up to all the young students with large dowries.”

Deborah’s eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. “How dare you say such a thing! Mr. Woodeford was not using me. How dare you!” She spun on her heel and ran from the room.

Christopher got to his feet, but Sarah grabbed his wrist. “Let her cool off before you try to speak with her.”

“How glad I am that I invited myself to dinner,” Ralph said urbanely. “I had no notion that amateur dramatics would be included. I should have brought my costume.”

Sarah cast him a dirty look. “Flames, you’re being insufferably rude and making everything worse.”

Her cousin appeared entirely unrepentant as he got to his feet. “In that case, Freckles, I shall leave you. I confess I would love to see how the rest of this drama plays out, but it is getting dark and I have a long ride home.”

“Good riddance.”

Ralph blew her a kiss. “Good night.”

He bowed theatrically to Christopher and Margaret before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Sarah exhaled slowly. “Oh dear.”

Margaret grabbed the sides of her face. “It is all my fault, Sarah. Please forgive me. It was just as you said; it bubbled right out of me. For so long Deborah has blamed me for what happened, but I was only trying to protect her. And now I have created just the sort of scene you said not to and besmirched my sister’s good name as well as my own. ”

Christopher moved and put a hand on Margaret’s shoulder. “No. You did right looking after your little sister. I should have visited the school more. Written more letters. I should have watched over you better. I failed you both.”

“No, Chris. I am to blame. The more I tried to help Deborah, the more she resented me. I was hoping Manderfield would be a fresh start for both of us, but we have fallen into the same silly squabbles.”

“No one’s name has been ruined,” Sarah said reassuringly.

“I am certain that Ralph will not breathe a word about your sister’s indiscretion with the dancing master.

My cousin loves to tease, but he isn’t cruel.

He would never hurt me or Deborah in that way.

We need not speak of it again after tonight. ”

Margaret nodded, her eyes full of tears.

Sarah stood and pulled her sister-in-law into a tight hug. “I told you to stand up for yourself, and I cannot help but be a little proud that you finally did.”

“Hear, hear!” Christopher echoed.

Margaret let out a watery chuckle.

“You protected your sister,” Sarah said, “and someday Deborah will realize that. In the future, you must protect her with your silence regarding her mistake.”

Her sister-in-law nodded again, and more tears fell from her eyes as she left the room.

Sarah knew the argument had been so much larger than over a game of jackstraws.

It was years of harsh words from Deborah and silent resentment from Margaret.

She only wished it hadn’t come to a culmination in front of Ralph.

She turned to meet Christopher’s gaze. “I will send a letter to Ralph tomorrow and threaten him with bodily harm if he doesn’t keep his mouth shut.”

“I thought that my sisters were making progress.”

Sarah swallowed. “Maybe they both needed to say how they felt before they can move on and move forward.”

“Is there anything you need to say before we can move forward?” he asked, his tone gentle.

She blushed as she remembered baring herself to him earlier that day.

“I think sharing our secret scars this afternoon was cathartic for me, and if you are still interested, I should like to go on a short wedding trip with you after my aunt’s party.

We can go and see all the canals you helped build.

Because of you, I will no longer be tethered to my past.”

“What are we to do with my sisters?” her husband asked. “Please say that they are not going to accompany us on our wedding trip.”

A gurgle of laughter bubbled out of her. “They can stay with Aunt Venetia. She has a great deal of experience with girls. She had three daughters before Ralph was born.”

Christopher leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “Just the two of us.”

Sarah wrapped her arms around her husband’s torso. “And hopefully we will add many more to that number.”

He raised his eyebrows but grinned underneath his beard. “Do you wish for a dozen children like your aunt Beatrice?”

“At least a half dozen,” she said, then lifted her face up to Christopher to be kissed.