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It did not surprise Sarah that her father came to her mother’s funeral.

He had loved Mama in his obsessive way. Papa had been surprised to learn that the memorial service was for both the Countess of Manders and the late Mrs. Moulton and her children.

When Sarah had spoken with Mr. Robinson to prepare for the meeting, she’d felt a prompting to include her husband’s late family members.

The service, she knew, would help give her closure with her mother’s death, and she thought that perhaps Christopher needed that too.

Unlike his father, Christopher’s mother and little brothers had loved and accepted him as he was.

Many tears had fallen down Sarah’s face, but she didn’t mind them.

Christopher held her left hand throughout the service and Aunt Venetia her right.

Smiling through her tears, Sarah wondered which person had cried more—herself or her aunt.

Cousin Ralph continually supplied them with fresh handkerchiefs; clearly he had prepared for how they would both behave.

Deborah and Margaret sat on the other side of Christopher.

Margaret, per usual, was a pattern card of perfection.

Deborah looked surly, but perhaps it was her best attempt at being somber.

Christopher had asked Mrs. Harmony to give him a list of every person who worked at Manderfield Hall and requested Deborah write them all a separate note of thanks for their part in her rescue. Sarah’s own note had been short, but she’d felt it was sincere.

After the services, Aunt Venetia hugged Sarah at least a half dozen times. “I am so, so sorry my dearest niece. I know that you have hoped for so long, and I prayed that my sister was still alive for your sake.”

Sarah squeezed her aunt back. “As did I. But I find comfort in discovering the truth. Knowing is better than hoping, even if the result was not what we wished for.”

Aunt Venetia cupped Sarah’s cheek with her hand. “You have always been wise beyond your years. If there is anything I can do for you, let me know. It will be done.”

The corners of Sarah’s lips curled up. “What if I asked you to chaperone two delightful young ladies for a couple months? Christopher and I wish to go on a wedding trip.”

“But what about my wedding party?” Aunt Venetia asked. “I’ve already sent out all the invitations, and everyone is coming. Even your ornery great-aunt Eunice.”

One person Sarah wouldn’t have minded refusing. “We plan to leave directly after the wedding party, Aunt. Indeed, Christopher and I are looking forward to celebrating our marriage properly.”

“With cake. All proper weddings must have cake.”

Despite the circumstances, Sarah grinned. “Of course. And I do believe you mentioned a most interesting tradition regarding the crumbling of the cake.”

Her aunt smiled back at her and dabbed once again at her wet, red eyes. “Is it a good marriage, Sarah?”

Glancing over her shoulder, Sarah looked at Christopher standing with one arm around each of his sister’s shoulders. Her heart felt full. She had a family of her own. “The best marriage.”

“Excellent. I always liked his broad shoulders and his wealth. Your uncle says your husband’s fortune is over half a million pounds in total.”

Suppressing a giggle, Sarah solemnly agreed that both were very fine features of her dear husband. Aunt Venetia gave her one last embrace.

Then Uncle Oscar hugged her and kissed the top of her head. “The workers began digging the canal yesterday. In a matter of weeks, I shall have my lake.”

A memorial service was hardly the time to discuss the creation of a canal with the sole purpose of forming a manmade lake. But people were messy, imperfect creatures, and Sarah loved her eccentric uncle just as he was. “I am delighted for you.”

She turned to say goodbye to Ralph and was swept up into his arms and spun around the church. Her lips were smiling when he set her feet on the ground. “Christopher told me all about your trip. If it weren’t a wedding journey, I would invite myself to join you.”

Sarah loved hearing her husband’s name on her cousin’s lips. Ralph finally saw Christopher’s worth. “That might be a tad awkward.”

“Only a tad,” Ralph said with a wink. “You and I were once an adventurous pair, but life happened, and you have been a kind and dutiful cousin. But I have missed the old you, and I see glimpses of her when you are with Christopher. Go and see the world like we always planned. Manderfield Hall and I will be here when you get back.”

“You think you mean more to me than Manderfield?” she teased.

Not rising to her bait, Ralph shook his head. “I know I do. And that pair of sisters-in-law. Do not fear that I will say anything to hurt their chances in Society. Family squabbles should be kept in the family.”

Sarah touched his arm. “Thank you, Ralph.”

“Aunt Louisa loved you more than anyone else in the world, Freckles, to the very end.”

Touching her mother’s locket, which Nelly had polished back to perfection, tears filled Sarah’s eyes as she nodded. “I know, Flames. I know.”

Still holding the necklace, she thanked everyone in the neighborhood who had come to support her and Christopher.

None of them had known her mother well, for Mama hadn’t socialized with the gentry, but that didn’t matter.

Funerals were more for the living than for the dead.

Sarah was grateful to have so many friends.

One by one they left. Her mother’s bones were properly interred in the cemetery.

It would be several months before her monument would be completed.

Next to her mother’s grave, Sarah had commissioned a second stonemason to create a statue in honor of Mrs. Moulton, John, Fred, and Francis.

She wished Christopher knew where they were buried, but at least there would always be a place close to their home to remember them.

Her father was the last person to speak to Mr. Robinson and then to her. Up close he looked older and grayer. Wrinkles surrounded his eyes and mouth, and there was a sallow color to his skin, as if he’d been drinking too much.

He offered his arm, and Sarah couldn’t remember ever taking it before.

She had always been an afterthought to him.

An unwelcome intrusion to his all-consuming relationship with his wife.

Her mother had once said that children look like their father so that he will care for them.

Despite having the same hair and eye color as Papa, however, he had never taken care of her.

But perhaps that was best left in the past.

“Thank you for coming, Papa.”

Her father patted her hand on his arm. “Dreadful business. But I knew your mother must have been dead. Nothing else could have kept her from me—from us. Your stepmother is also relieved, as you might guess. We were married by special license three days ago.”

Sarah tried to smile. At least her father’s relationship was legal now. Perhaps the new Countess of Manders would be a grandmother to Sarah’s children. Sarah would try harder now; Mrs. Yardley was no longer the usurper. She was her father’s wife.

“I only wish that my new stepmother might have accompanied you.”

His response was a forced chuckle. “Ursula isn’t overfond of the country.”

“Maybe she can come the next time you visit,” Sarah said as they left the church together. “I should like to get to know her better.”

She saw that Mr. Robinson, Christopher, and the sisters were standing near a statue of the Virgin Mary just outside of the chapel. It reminded Sarah of both of their mothers.

Papa tugged at his collar with his free hand.

“The thing is ... Ursula isn’t interested in visiting your mother’s old home.

She’s still a bit jealous of Louisa’s memory, and she should be.

I will never love anyone like I loved your mother.

And I will never forgive myself for that last night—the night she d-died. ”

“Everyone in the house knew what the fight was about,” Sarah said quietly. “Neither you nor mother were particularly discreet that night.”

“Then, you know it was all my fault.”

Sarah took a deep, calming breath. “I know that you lost a great deal of money gambling and Mama was concerned that you were going to dice away my inheritance ... a concern that proved to be most correct.”

“I just had a run of bad luck is all.”

Dropping her hand from his arm, she turned to face her father, eye-to-eye.

“It has been more than a run of bad luck, Papa. You lost my dowry and then you lost my home. You left me with nothing, and you didn’t even have the decency to tell me yourself.

Your steward, Mr. Pryce, informed me that I had to leave Manderfield Hall and throw myself on the charity of my relatives. ”

“The Duke of Aylsham settled a little money on you.”

Frustration bubbled up her throat. “Because you left me penniless from your gambling. I was not Grandfather’s responsibility. I should have been yours.”

“I was mourning your mother. I couldn’t bear to be at Manderfield Hall when she was not there.”

“My mother was missing, and you abandoned me for London and the gaming tables when I needed you the most.”

Her father held up his gloved hands. “That is no way to speak to your sire and to an earl. Besides, it all worked out for the best. If I had taken you with me to London, you might not have landed Moulton. Rumor around Town is that he’s worth over a half a million pounds at the very least.”

Her heart sank deep inside of her chest. Papa hadn’t changed at all. “You didn’t come for me or for mother. You want money from my husband.”

Papa shook his head. “Stop acting like a martyr, Sarah. When a lower-class businessman marries into an aristocratic family, he is supposed to pay the family for the privilege of joining their esteemed bloodline. I should have received tens of thousands of guineas from your wedding settlements. However, I am prepared to take only five thousand pounds by way of compensation.”

Sarah could not believe what she was hearing. She leaned forward. “Why should Christopher pay you a farthing? You were not here to negotiate the wedding settlements. I was . And I received exactly what I wanted.”

Her father’s face grew red with an angry hauteur. “You would have your father ruined over a mere five thousand pounds?”

This was the man she remembered.

“I would not give you five pence, for it would be lost within a fortnight at the gaming tables. You must stop this madness. You have already squandered your inheritance and mine. Leave the dice and the cards alone.”

Papa touched his chest dramatically. “Unnatural daughter. Do you not care for me at all?”

“Do you care for me at all, Father?” Sarah asked coldly. “I’ve often wondered. You’ve certainly never shown me any consideration before.”

He shook his head dismissively. “I knew better than to talk to a woman about money. I shall speak directly to your husband. I am sure he will see the importance of meeting my needs. It would be bad for his business to have a father-in-law in debtors’ prison.”

Turning on his heel, her father walked away from her, as he had so many times before.

She waited for the pang of disappointment and disillusionment, but it did not come.

Thanks to Christopher, she knew what love was and what it wasn’t.

And she would no longer waste any time or energy trying for the affection of a person who was never going to love her back.

She allowed herself a moment of sorrow for what might have been—a father who cared for her and a stepmother she might have been able to confide in.

But she had waited for seven years, and she was finished waiting for what could never be.

Taking a deep breath, she followed her father to where he had confronted her husband, in front of her mother’s grave. “Please do not give him as much as one guinea, Christopher. Lord Manders didn’t come to see me or pay his respects to my mother. He came to bleed you for money.”

“Now, now, daughter,” Papa said in a falsely cheerful voice. “A woman knows almost nothing about finances. Allow me to speak privately with your husband. I am certain we can come to an arrangement that suits us both.”

“You would be wrong, Lord Manders,” Christopher said, moving to stand by Sarah.

“Your daughter knows more about finances than any other person I have ever met, man or woman. She has taken care of Manderfield estate for many years and has a keen mind for how to make it the most profitable. I feel fortunate to have such an accomplished and intelligent wife. I would be a fool if I did not include her in all conversations about our finances.”

Her father’s smile turned into a sneer. “If I do not leave with a bank draft, I will disown you, Sarah, and never speak your name again.”

At one time his words might have hurt her, but her heart was now an empty cavern as far as Papa was concerned.

Sarah had waited five and twenty years for her father’s love, and she had finally accepted that it was never coming.

Sarah placed her hand on her husband’s arm.

She felt his strength and support. “Your choices are your own, Papa. Give my stepmother our best, and we wish you a fine journey back to London.”

“Am I not to be welcome in the estate that was my birthright? In the halls of my ancestors?” her father said dramatically.

Deborah stuck out her chin defiantly. “Manderfield Hall belongs to Sarah and Chris now.”

“And it doesn’t matter if you disown Sarah,” Margaret said, her cheeks turning a pretty pink. “She’s a part of our family now, and we love her.”

Both of her sisters-in-law moved to stand by her and Christopher in a physical sign of support. And Sarah’s empty heart filled to the brim. She was a part of a family, and she felt loved.

Mr. Robinson stepped forward. “Lord Manders, shall I call for your carriage?”

“Insolent young man.” Her father scoffed. “How dare you speak to an earl without being spoken to?”

“Yes, please, Mr. Robinson,” Sarah said. “And thank you for your sermon today. I felt so much comfort from it.”

Christopher pulled away from Sarah and took her father’s arm. “Come, Lord Manders, you have outstayed your welcome.”

Papa tried to shrug off Christopher’s hold, but his arms were only used in dicing and cards, and Christopher dug canals.

One awful earl was hardly a challenge. He half-carried, half-dragged her father to his carriage, and Mr. Robinson opened the door.

Together they bundled the irate earl inside and told the driver to go.

Sarah sighed and felt two sets of arms wrap around her waist. Both Margaret and Deborah surrounded her in a hug. She held out her hand to Christopher, who joined their group embrace. They were a family.