Page 41 of A Lesson in Propriety (Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies #1)

Forty-One

Rhenick knew it was certainly safe to say that the two days that had passed since Sanford, Fenna, and Sneaky Pete had been taken into custody, had been on the exceptionally busy side.

After everyone had returned to Chicago, and then taken well-deserved naps as sleep had been in short supply ever since Sneaky Pete had been discovered strolling about in his suit of armor, there’d been absolutely no opportunity to speak with Drusilla in private.

In all honesty, Rhenick wasn’t exactly certain how to broach what he wanted to speak with her about as she had been rather adamant regarding her aversion to the topic of matrimony. However, given that they’d shared a kiss, and she hadn’t seemed opposed to his kiss, it seemed as if some sort of private talk needed to be held between them.

The question of the hour was how he was going to approach the talk because his sisters all had differing opinions on the subject.

Tilda believed he should just be direct and ask Drusilla if her opinion of matrimony had changed since they’d kissed, while Grace and Coraline thought he should completely start from scratch and take to properly courting Drusilla before even uttering the word marriage in her presence.

Eloise, on the other hand, believed he should simply drop to one knee at his earliest convenience, proclaim himself madly in love with Drusilla, and hope for the best, which, frankly, he thought was the suggestion that might have the most potential.

Blinking out of his thoughts when he realized Sweet Pea had stopped moving, undoubtedly because they’d reached their destination, Rhenick stepped from the two-person buggy he’d chosen to bring out today and handed the reins to a groom waiting outside the Palmer House.

After the groom assured him that Sweet Pea would be more than adequately attended to, Rhenick walked into the hotel, taking a second to appreciate the grand lobby that sported numerous crystal chandeliers and fresco paintings on the ceiling before he headed across the marble floor and toward the dining room.

A smile curved his lips as he walked into that room and his gaze immediately settled on Drusilla, who was sitting at a table with not only Irma, Annaliese, and Seraphina, but his mother and four sisters, as well.

He strode across the room, nodding to Mrs. Marshall Field and Mrs. Potter Palmer, before he set his sights on his mother, who was dressed almost exactly like Mrs. Palmer, which left him wondering if Irma had been helping his mother with her wardrobe selections of late.

After reaching his mother’s side, he bent over and kissed her cheek, sent his sisters a smile, nodded to Seraphina, Annaliese, and Irma, then moved to stand beside where Drusilla was sitting, his smile widening when she held out her hand to him, which he dutifully took hold of and kissed.

It was rather encouraging when her cheeks turned a little pink.

“We were thinking you might have decided not to join us,” she said as he sat down in the chair beside her, unable to help but wonder if Drusilla had been responsible for where he was sitting, and if so, if that might mean he really should consider Eloise’s option of simply declaring his intentions and seeing what happened. If she wasn’t opposed to sitting beside him, perhaps she wouldn’t be completely opposed to the idea of marriage to him, or at the very least, opposed to a formal courtship where they could really get down to becoming well-acquainted with each other.

“May I assume something troubling has happened again since your brow is furrowing in a rather telling fashion?” she asked.

He shoved all thoughts of matrimony and courtship aside and summoned up a smile. “Nothing troubling has happened. I was merely delayed because one of the water closets my men recently installed in the castle was malfunctioning, and no, you don’t want to know the details of that. I was then delayed again because Norbert tracked me down to tell me about a hidden staircase he’d never seen before and only found because Fidget ran past him with a mouse and disappeared behind a bookcase. Turns out that particular bookcase hides the entrance to another staircase, which suggests your castle still has numerous secrets to reveal.”

“How delightful,” Drusilla exclaimed right as numerous servers approached the table, setting bowls of soup on the charger plates already set in front of everyone. They then turned and headed back for the kitchen, Drusilla clearing her throat and nodding to Grace, Coraline, and Eloise after the servers disappeared.

“Not to make any of you nervous, but as I mentioned earlier, one of the points of this luncheon is to allow me an opportunity to study your proficiency with cutlery and general ease with maneuvering your way through lunch. You certainly won’t be graded, as this isn’t an official academy lesson, but it will help me know what to expect when we open our doors next week, as many of the students are direct friends of yours. I imagine most of you share similar familiarity with the rules of propriety.”

“Norma Jean McCormick,” Coraline began, “believes that complete adherence to proper etiquette might be somewhat overrated, and she’s hoping you won’t be a complete stickler for insisting everyone adheres to proper decorum all the time as that might dim her exuberance for life.”

“I’m afraid Norma Jean’s exuberance for life might dim ever so slightly, because yes, I will expect all students to behave themselves, and there will certainly not be any beating of anyone over the head with a fan, which I saw Norma Jean doing during church.

“With that said, though, I’m not an absolute stickler for every lesson in propriety that I’ve studied over the years. My decision to open an academy, even though high society frowns on ladies engaged in any type of business endeavors, wasn’t a decision most proper ladies would have made.”

“Norma Jean might bring up that deviation from the proprieties if she happens to feel another urge to use her fan as a weapon,” Coraline pointed out.

“I’m more than capable of dealing with Norma Jean, but I thank you for the advanced warning. And, with that settled, shall we enjoy our soup?”

“Should we assume no slurping is allowed?” Eloise asked.

Drusilla’s lips twitched. “I don’t think that’s a question that even needs to be asked.”

As his sisters began taking a marked interest in the many different spoons that were laid out on the right side of the charger plate, Grace finally picking up the largest one after shooting a glance to Seraphina, who might have ever so casually pointed to her large spoon. Rhenick picked up his soup spoon as well, unable to help but smile as he stuck it into the bowl.

“Do not say you’re smiling because you saw Seraphina being less than subtle as she tries to help your sisters out. Smiling will only encourage her to continue giving them assistance once they need a fork,” Drusilla whispered before she took a perfect spoonful of soup.

Rhenick watched her take another before he tried to emulate her, grimacing when a bit of soup dribbled from the spoon and marred the white linen of the tablecloth. “I’m not smiling because of Seraphina, although I would bet good money she’s going to become a favorite instructor. I’m smiling because we’ve not had an opportunity to discuss anything much of late since you’ve been busy getting your affairs in order, but you’ve evidently decided to stay in Chicago to run your academy instead of returning to New York.”

“Why would you have thought I’d return to New York? I already told you, right before we rescued my mother, that I was planning on staying in Chicago.”

“I thought you might have had a change of heart after you discovered you have a trust fund, and then learned that a good portion of the Merriweather fortune was going to be returned to your family. With money like that, it would be perfectly reasonable to expect you to change your mind about the academy since that’s going to be quite the challenge to get up and running, and besides that, you lived your entire life up until this point in New York.”

Drusilla set aside her spoon. “But I’m sure I also told you that I never felt as if I belonged in New York, undoubtedly because the few friends I thought I had there were evidently making a point to mock me behind my back.”

She nodded to Seraphina, who was in the process of taking a spoonful of soup, but she was doing it in almost slow motion as his sisters watched her every move. “Seraphina would never mock me behind my back.”

Rhenick fought a grin when Coraline suddenly reached out and pressed one of Seraphina’s moles back into place, one that seemed to be in the process of falling off Seraphina’s face. “Seraphina is definitely a lady you can count as a good friend, but I thought you might want to return to New York because of all the society events there.”

“I’m sure there are social events to be enjoyed in Chicago, and I freely admit I’m looking forward to exploring the city now that I’ve decided this is where I’m meant to make my home.”

“And it’s meant to be your home because ...?” he pressed.

Drusilla tilted her head. “There are numerous reasons. One of those, of course, would be proving to myself that I have what it takes to make a success of the academy, which will definitely be easier to accomplish now that Loughlin MacSherry is no longer in the picture.”

“What?”

She took another spoonful of soup and frowned. “Forgive me, Rhenick. I should have told you that straightaway, but I only just learned about an hour ago, when Elena Zambarello tracked me down in the lobby when I first arrived here, that MacSherry left town. He’s also apparently made the decision to stay out of Chicago for the foreseeable future in order to ‘lay low,’ as Elena put it.”

“Because?”

Drusilla leaned closer to him. “He learned that, after Fenna and Sneaky Pete realized they were facing some serious felony charges, they began singing like canaries, and their song of choice was exactly how MacSherry was responsible for almost every mystery tied to the castle.”

“He fled to avoid arrest?”

“That, and the fact that Elena threatened to tell MacSherry’s wife about the many mistresses her husband has stashed around the city.” Her eyes twinkled. “Turns out that Elena made it a habit over the years to collect information on their competition when Umberto was still involved with the underworld, information she didn’t hesitate to use against MacSherry since she’s determined to get her daughters enrolled in the academy. From what I understand, MacSherry skedaddled out of town not long after his meeting with Elena because MacSherry’s wife is rumored to be more terrifying than he is—or even Elena, for that matter.”

“No wonder MacSherry left town,” Rhenick said before he took another spoonful of soup, then sat back when the servers returned to whisk away everyone’s soup bowls. His lips began curving when Coraline promptly earned a discreet shake of her head from Drusilla when his sister tried to stop the server from removing her soup, obviously done so because there’d been a bit left at the bottom of her bowl and she evidently meant to finish it.

Once the server all but pried the bowl from Coraline’s hand, the other servers began setting down cheese plates that also contained bread and a fig spread.

His lips curved straight into a grin when all of his sisters took to considering the cheese as if they were afraid it might bite them, until Annaliese picked up a small pronged fork, used it to spear a slice of cheese, and promptly slid it into her mouth.

“Annaliese will be a favorite instructor, as well,” Drusilla murmured before she returned her attention to him. “However, I fear with trying to watch your sisters, I’ve lost track of our conversation. Did I tell you yet that Sneaky Pete has been more forthcoming with details since he’s been behind bars?”

“You did say he was singing like a canary.”

“Indeed he is, and he expanded on what part MacSherry played in Ottilie’s disappearance by telling Agent Pearson that MacSherry asked him to contact his old mates who still work for Captain Harvey and get them to agree—for a very large fee, of course—to get rid of Aunt Ottilie, along with the captain, since there couldn’t be any witnesses.”

Rhenick blinked. “MacSherry actually had Ottilie murdered?”

“Well, here’s the interesting part,” Drusilla said after she’d taken a dainty bite of cheese. “Sneaky Pete doesn’t think his old mates went through with it, even though MacSherry received a telegram from Captain Harvey’s first mate about seven months or so after Aunt Ottilie left on her trip, telling him the deed was done and Ottilie was now swimming with some Caribbean fishes.”

“She was in the Caribbean?”

“Perhaps, but Pete didn’t know for sure, and he doesn’t have any proof that Ottilie is still alive, but he told Agent Pearson he has a feeling. He also had a feeling about that treasure map Ottilie was using, which was why he and Fenna were determined to find a copy of the map because they believed—again, because of some feeling Sneaky Pete was getting—that Captain Harvey and Aunt Ottilie were on the trail of something big, although whether they’re still on that trail is up for debate.”

“So Sneaky Pete and Fenna really were on a double mission—one for MacSherry and one for themselves.”

“It does appear as if that’s the case, but that’s all the information I have about the matter so far, although know that Agent Pearson has already agreed to investigate Aunt Ottilie’s disappearance. He’s also sending some agents with William Baumgartner to retrieve the trunk of maps he stored for my aunt in a bank vault outside of Chicago.”

Rhenick smiled. “I suppose learning all of that did leave you feeling as if it would be safe to open your academy, but ... you said there were numerous reasons why you feel as if Chicago is meant to be your home.”

She returned his smile. “The academy isn’t the main reason Chicago feels like home, Rhenick. It’s the people I’ve met here that make it feel that way, especially your family. And, if I’m being perfectly honest, you make it feel as if this is truly where I belong.”