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E velyn tried to stay calm when the rest of Ollie’s family, as well as the Marchioness of Litchfield, appeared in the now-full dining room. Their appearance was unexpected, and she didn’t understand why they were there.

Mr. Victor McNab was the first one in and his attention immediately went to his grandparents. The duke choked on his wine upon setting eyes on his eldest grandson. Evelyn knew they were estranged. Was this the first time they had crossed paths in all that time?

Neither said a word to the other, and Mr. McNab slid into the first open chair he could find, which happened to be on the same side of the table as Evelyn’s family.

The duchess did greet Mr. Dantes McNab and Lady Vivian, though, and was introduced to Lady Litchfield. It appeared Ollie’s other brother had had some contact with their grandparents.

The room filled with hesitant conversation, but no one looked happy.

Ollie reappeared and Evelyn felt a bit of pity seeing the raw distress on his face. It was clear he hadn’t expected any of them to show up, either. As Ollie lowered into his seat beside her, he wordlessly handed over a piece of paper.

“What is this?” Evelyn asked, taking it.

“An invitation,” Ollie replied, holding her gaze with meaning. “To dinner. Here. Right now.”

“What?”

“Eamon.”

She looked over the apparent invitation, one neither of them had written, and it dawned on her. Ollie’s uncle had invited Ollie’s family and friend to the dinner where she would be telling her family they had married. By forging invitations!

Evelyn angrily balled up the paper but resisted throwing it across the room and causing a scene.

She lowered her voice to a dangerous level.

“How does Mr. Lydon know about this dinner, Ollie?” Though she had mentioned it to the thief, she hadn’t provided any details of when it would occur. And the invitation gave the right time.

Ollie scratched the side of his nose. “I, uh, might have told him about it.”

“During your disappearance?”

“You refused to talk to me earlier. If you had, I would have told you I went to my pub to confront Victor. Eamon followed me there.”

She quickly glanced at the elder Mr. McNab, who was now watching Lady Litchfield come around the table to the sit on the other side of Ollie. Her attention went back on Ollie. “You confronted your brother finally?”

Ollie shifted. “No. Anyway, that ’s what I did last night, not what you accused me of. I stood in the rain, pitiful, staring down my pub and not doing anything about it.”

Unfortunately, the relief this gave her only distressed her further. She was a ball of nerves, and feeling anything positive toward Ollie, when they had already begun to start severing their ties, made everything more confusing.

“Why did your uncle invite them?” she asked, trying to ignore her nerves stringing tight.

“Now, that is the big question, isn’t it?” Ollie replied. “To be a pain in the arse? I don’t know.”

Everyone settled into their seats and Mrs. Chapman, whose normally impeccable hair was beginning to frizz and loosen, began placing new table settings while mumbling she hoped there was enough food. Silence settled over the room.

Everyone eyed each other. Mr. Victor McNab sunk further into his chair and glared at Ollie. Ollie glared at the duke. Papa glared at Evelyn, and Evelyn looked to Cordelia for some kind of groundedness.

Lady Litchfield leaned behind Ollie’s chair and whispered to Evelyn, “A bit uncomfortable in here.” She had no idea.

Everyone began to eat in the awkward silence. Evelyn had hardly eaten all day yet couldn’t stomach the idea of food right now.

But she forced herself to eat because it gave her an excuse to not interact with anyone.

Papa was the first to speak. “So, Evelyn, the man you’ve been staying with is from this buffoon’s family?”

Evelyn closed her eyes at this, fighting back the rising bile.

“ Buffoon ?” His Grace slammed heavy, giant fists onto the table, rattling everything. “How dare you speak to a duke in such a way! And a man for the Tories on top of that. Ha!”

Papa and the duke started arguing over the heads between them. And when Papa made a dramatic hand gesture, he knocked over his red wine, spilling it straight onto Mama’s lap. Mama, in turn, let out a scream.

Lady Vivian and Cordelia rushed to aid Mama, calming her and dabbing at the stain.

“Your senseless daughter”—the duke pointed a meaty finger in Evelyn’s direction, his face crimson with anger—“has dragged my family’s name through the mud, thanks to your mess!”

As he said this, Evelyn caught the duchess glancing at Evelyn’s hair. Was she remembering the horrid words she had uttered? Evelyn felt a brief pang of triumph knowing the duchess was likely quite embarrassed now that she realized Evelyn was not, in fact, a low-class pub woman.

“That’s asinine!” Papa shouted back. “Everyone knows your family is made up of a bunch of brutes! At least my daughter didn’t go running off like your son did to basically join a circus!

Her mistake will be rectified once she becomes countess!

” Papa wiped his mouth with his napkin then shook his head with a laugh.

“The first and only son of some highlander duke running off to play with trains. What does that say about you? And how dare you judge my family? I may be a lowly baron to you, but at least I’m not a Scotsman! ”

The McNabs all gasped. Lady Litchfield let out a groaning noise. The duke sputtered, but in his ire could only get out, “You-You Englishman!”

The two men leapt from their chairs, the furniture flying down to the floor with loud crashes. They continued to hurl insults at each other while everyone else looked on with horror.

“I guess they do know each other,” Ollie said to Evelyn with a hint of humor.

She whipped her head in his direction, her eyes wide with anger. “Do you find this funny?”

He cleared his throat. “Of course not.” He shifted in his chair while the two men faced off with threatening stances and booming voices.

It was too much for Evelyn. She covered her ears and curled into herself as her heart raced faster and faster.

Lady Litchfield leaned behind Ollie’s chair again and placed a light hand on Evelyn’s shoulder, but Evelyn was too overwhelmed to react.

Through the muffled sound, shouting increased.

What they were shouting to each other, she didn’t know.

She didn’t care. Additional voices were added.

Men’s voices, women’s voices. Evelyn, with elbows sticking straight out, looked over to Ollie.

He was watching her with a clenched jaw.

This had to end now, or her nerves would literally shred and her body would simply explode.

“Stop it!” Evelyn unfurled herself and jumped up to her feet. “Stop it this instant!” she cried out.

Everyone froze in place.

His Grace held the front of Papa’s shirt while Mr. Dantes held the duke back. The duchess had scooted her chair back and held a wineglass to her mouth. Mr. Victor McNab, Lady Vivian, and even Lady Litchfield had moved to one end of the table to get as far away from everything as they could.

Evelyn’s side of the family did the same, but on the opposite end of the table.

The McNabs and the Sparrows were as divided, as at odds as two families in the modern era could be.

“Look at all of you!” Evelyn was still shouting. She dug her fingers into her scalp. “Is this really how you behave?”

The duke released Papa, who shrugged his shoulders to adjust his jacket. Everyone else seemed to ease just a bit. Maybe the worst of it was over.

Papa put his focus back on Evelyn and planted both palms on the tabletop. “Evelyn, you summoned us here. You cannot be surprised, after the shame and humiliation you brought upon our family, that we are a bit on edge.”

“That’s right.” The duke crossed his arms and gave a single nod as Papa looked at him with narrowed eyes. “You think we want to be tied to your insipid, embarrassing family? Och.”

Papa was angry again. “Why, you—”

Papa prepared to lunge at the duke again. This was going to turn into an actual fist fight if she didn’t intervene right this second. Desperate, Evelyn shouted the only thing she could think of in the moment. “Ollie and I got married!”

Numerous gasps rang out in the room. Every single pair of eyes and every single mouth gaped in her direction. Only Cordelia held a different expression from everyone, in that she covered her mouth with both hands, partially hiding her reaction.

“What. Did you. Just say.” Papa’s voice was calm.

Too calm. It had been a long time since this particular brand of ire of his had been directed at her.

Evelyn had often experienced it as a child, too wild and energetic for her own good, getting into mischief without realizing it.

Running in places she shouldn’t have been running, talking in places she shouldn’t have been talking, crying or causing any sort of fuss.

The forced calm in Papa’s voice would strike fear into her because she’d known once no one was around, she would get in so much trouble and would be sent to her room for the entire day, banned from talking to anyone.

“It’s true.” Ollie jumped into the middle of the chaos she had created. “Not the best delivery, Evelyn.” He looked at her with a what are you doing expression. “But yes, it’s true. We got married.”

As the news sunk in, the air in the room began to charge, that static before lightning struck.

Papa’s eyes became crazed, and without realizing it, Evelyn took a step back.

Never had she seen that look on him before.

Without breaking eye contact, he drained the rest of his wineglass then threw it against the wall, the glass shattering upon impact.

“You ruined the family,” Papa said with hatred.

“You ruined me! You have to marry the earl, Evelyn. It’s in a contract! It’s a legal obligation!”