Page 152 of Dawnlands

“My dear.” One powdered cheek was pressed against another.

“My dear.”

The two ladies settled in the high-backed chairs on either side of the fireplace, and the footman brought in a silver tray with a silver teapot and two tiny porcelain cups and saucers for tea.

“You’ll take tea? It is the queen’s own blend.”

“Delicious,” Julia said, silently noting everything—the taffeta curtains at the window the match of those in the queen’s drawing room, the extravagance of a carpet on the floor rather than on a table, the gilded portraits of Livia’s aristocratic Italian ancestors on the walls. Dozens of wax candles competed with the weak winter sun that filtered through the Venetian glass of the windows.

“And how is dear Hester?”

“She is very well. So looking forward to coming to a drawing room! And how is dear Matthew? He brings his cousins to visit Hester sometimes. I don’t see him—they like to walk so early in the morning before I am receiving!—but I know that Hester enjoys their company.”

“He is working hard at his pupilage. He will have his own briefs soon. I am so proud of him.”

“And shall he open a London house? I remember you saying…”

“Running a great house like Avery House is a burden for a young man, even with the best servants,” Livia declared. “While he is a single man, it is more convenient for him to keep his room at Lincoln’s Inn. When he marries is time enough to move.”

“Of course, of course.” Julia sipped her tea. “Hatton Garden is a much smaller establishment, but I have ensured that Hester knows how to run a big house.”

“I have no time for young ladies who think there is nothing to do in the world but read books,” Livia declared.

Julia caught the slighting reference to Mia and Gabrielle and smiled at her hostess. “Hester has been raised to manage any household.”

“Of course, she and Matteo are both very young…”

“Not so very young. Hester is nearly sixteen and Matthew must be…”

“Nearly nineteen. I would have no objection to an early marriage for him. And in Venice, my home, we believe in girls marrying young.”

“I thought that Matthew was taken with Mia?”

Livia put down her teacup. “Allora!I am looking for a better dowry for Matteo than that from a Venetian art dealer! And a better connection than a family in trade!”

“Oh, quite! Quite!” Julia was torn between boasting of her father’s wealth as a goldsmith and wanting to distance herself from vulgarwork. “I mean—Hester—for instance—has been raised as a lady! And she will have my fortune.”

Livia smiled. “Matteo will inherit anything that Her Majesty chooses to give me,” she said. “Fairmere Priory is just the beginning! I dare not tell you the value of the rents there, and it will be even more when the land is improved.”

Julia laughed lightly. “And you are forgetting Matthew’s inheritance from Sir James! Don’t forget Avery House!”

Livia laughed too. “I never forget Avery House!”

“I would wish for no other son-in-law,” Julia said, closing the deal as swiftly as her father would have done.

“It would be an excellent match,” Livia agreed. “As his mother and guardian, I have control over him until he is twenty-one. So better now than later. Is Dr. Reekie of the same opinion?”

Julia opened her fan and waved away Rob’s opinion. “Why should he not be as pleased as I? He thinks Hester is too young, and as a medical man, he has been anxious about her health. But now her foot is perfectly straight, and besides, it would have no effect on any children… If you and I are agreed, dear Lady Avery, then I will inform him.”

The two ladies extended their silken-gloved fingers and shook hands, like a pair of old market hucksters, each thinking they had got the best of the bargain.

BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS, WINTER 1687

Ned, packing seeds and leaves into barrels at the back of Johnnie’s warehouse to send to London, heard a commotion from the front of the building and went through the doorway and into the shop.

One of the planters was brandishing a newssheet, showing it to his wife and the other ladies who were gathering round. “Had it straight off the ship,” he said. “Brought it to you at once. Didn’t even stop to see my carpenter’s tools unloaded.”

“Oh, never mind the carpenter’s tools! Tell me at once! Show me!”