Page 40 of Miss Hawthorne’s Unlikely Husband (The Troublemakers Trilogy #3)

I t took two days for her father to arrive.

The first day she’d unpacked and waited with shaking hands for his arrival.

She knew he would be angry, and when he eventually came, she would need to be ready.

She’d written to Richard and informed him of her father’s actions and her response.

She’d half expected him to scold her, to suggest that she should have found a middle ground.

Instead, he had shown only concern for her emotional well-being.

She’d been coming in for tea when she heard his voice in the hallway.

Her first instinct was to hide herself. So she did.

She hid by the garden door until she heard him speaking to Aunt Theo.

Then she crept forward near the parlor door to listen to what was being said.

If Aunt Theo didn’t need her, she would stay where she was.

If he grew belligerent, she would face him down.

She just needed more time to steel herself for him.

“What are you doing?” she heard him say.

“I’m working with my great-great niece on her wedding.”

“She is not engaged,” he insisted.

“It would appear she is.”

“No. I have not given my permission.”

“My dear nephew, your permission is a formality at this point.”

“So I should just let her do what she wants?”

“Your mistake is thinking you can stop her. Oh, come now, as far as choices go, she could do much worse.”

“She could do better.”

“She could do better than a respectable, handsome gentleman—”

“—merchant,”

“—of good family and reputation with impeccable prospects who is clearly in love with her?”

“She’s been at you, has she? Now you are all ganging up on me as if I am the one being unreasonable.”

“You are.”

There was a long pause.

“You have finally gone senile.”

“It is a plain fact.”

“He is not her equal.”

“He is more her equal than any of the sons of the nobility you would have her marry. And, more to the point, she loves him.”

Elodia heard his heavy sigh, footsteps. The creak of a chair.

“Does he love her? Truly?”

“I believe he does. He treats her with such respect and tenderness.”

“That is hardly proof of anything. Of course he would,” he scoffed. “No doubt he wants her dowry.”

“That boy doesn’t need that dowry.”

“Merchants always need money.”

“Do you have any idea how wealthy he is?”

She had heard enough. “Father.” She stepped into the room.

He turned to her from his seat on the couch. “Are you still listening at doors at your age, Elodia?”

She would not back down or apologize. “When it concerns me.”

He turned to Aunt Theo. “I cannot believe you are encouraging this mutiny.”

She shrugged. “If I didn’t offer her shelter, she would have gone elsewhere.”

Elodia sat near her aunt on the chaise and clasped her hands in her lap. “I would have us be married now. I would have gone with him to Gretna Green, but he refused.”

“Did he?”

“What reason did he give for this sudden attack of conscience?” he asked.

“He said he wasn’t a thief.”

“I beg to differ.” One of his eyebrows lifted in arrogant disbelief.

Her temper spiked and her hand clenched in her lap.

“I am not property; I cannot be stolen. I don’t understand you.

I have no idea who you are or how you became this .

All your judgements are inaccurate. Richard wants you and I to be on good terms because he doesn’t want me to lose my last living parent due to stubbornness.

Because he lost both of his parents in an instant and he doesn’t want me to face the same pain. ”

“Whereas you can take or leave me, is that it?” he asked. There was something in his eyes, in his tone, that made her bite her tongue. Was he afraid? Was that what all this was? Did he truly believe that she was doing this to throw him aside?

“ You are the one deciding that, Father. Not I. And incidentally, I did not accept Richard because he was the only man who’d have me. I always wanted to marry him. I have wanted to marry him since I was a girl.”

“You were a na?ve child, and you developed a fixation on him, like a swan imprinting on a duck. It does not make them a match. You should be old enough now to see the folly of maintaining such a position. It would diminish you. How could you expect me to agree to that?”

“If you think I will give up what I have with him for the sake of social standing then you are only proving my point. You look at him and only see that he is not a nobleman. I look at him and see everything else. He is kind and loving, intelligent and honorable and beautiful. You could show me a hundred other men and none of them would compare.”

“You are very certain.”

“I am. Not because of any fixation when I was fifteen, but because he saw me even when everyone else thought I was nothing. When these weak hearted cowards were content to leave me behind, he never did. I could walk away from every one of them without a second thought and never regret it because he is worth it to me. Because I am worth it to him.”

“He said you would choose him over me. I didn’t want to believe such a thing could be possible. I see I was incorrect.”

Her eyes were burning. He did believe she was the faithless one, the one putting him aside.

“ You are the one making the choice, Father. You would choose the nobility over me and you want me to follow your lead no matter the cost to myself. Richard would never make me choose. If your love is so conditional, then I can and will do without it no matter how much it pains me.”

There was a long silence in which she feared he would truly disown her.

She was braced for it even as she forced herself to meet his eyes and not look away no matter how excruciating it was.

They were almost frightening, stark and bright and full of too much emotion.

Would he hate her forever? Was he really enough like his father to turn her away because she refused to do what he wanted?

In that moment, she realized how right Richard had been.

For all her anger, there was too much love there. She didn’t want to lose her father.

Eventually, he broke first, lowering his eyes and nodding slowly. “Very well,” he said.

“Very well what?”

“Never let it be said that a son of the nobility was less gracious than the son of a tradesman.” He looked up at her but he didn’t smile.

It sounded like a concession, but what did that mean? “So you consent to our match?”

“For what it’s worth. Which is apparently nothing.” He rose to his feet and tugged his waistcoat into place, letting out a short sigh.

Had he heard nothing she had said? Was blind obedience really all he cared about?

She wanted to build bridges but he was clearly determined to remain at odds.

She opened her mouth to demand an explanation, but Aunt Theo cleared her throat.

Elodia glanced at her and she shook her silver head in silent warning.

“I will leave you to your plans. Good day, Aunt. Good day, Elodia.” Without another word or a backwards glance, he left the room.

Tears of frustration burned Elodia’s eyes but in the end, she followed her aunt’s warning and said nothing. Perhaps in the end, this would be the best she could hope for from him. Perhaps she didn’t have the right to demand more.

“Congratulations,” Aunt Theo said, watching her with a small smile.

“Am I to be congratulated for that?” she asked quietly. If it was a victory then why did she feel hollowed out inside?

“It is more than you had before.”

Yes. But why did it feel like less? As if he had simply renounced her, rather than any right to dictate her choices. She nodded and sat down, folding her arms around her torso. “What now, then?”

“Now we plan your engagement party and continue planning your wedding.” She gave her cane a decisive thump on the ground. “Onward.”

*

Richard had to admit his sister threw one hell of a party.

He loved the touches of evergreen garlands and the flowers.

He didn’t know how she had managed to find a soprano to serenade the assembled guests with romantic arias, but listening to her voice reverberate off the walls with Elodia’s hand in his, he didn’t care.

She was perfect tonight, with tiger lilies in her dark curls and a dress of golden striped, lemon yellow organza silk.

He loved when he caught her mouthing along to the words, delighted tears glittering in her eyes.

He especially enjoyed when she stopped in the middle of their turn during a game of charades to clap enthusiastically after one song in particular.

Had he lost that round? Yes. Had it mattered?

Absolutely not. He wanted to keep her that happy every day for the rest of their lives.

He knew it was impossible, he knew that no one was so happy every day of their lives, but it couldn’t be a bad goal, could it?

In fact, the whole evening was perfect save for one aspect. Or perhaps two.

The guest list.

Somehow, despite all Ada’s efforts, their uncle had not only been invited, but he had also taken it upon himself to attend.

Perhaps he thought it better to be present than seen to reject the daughter of a viscount or her fiancé on the basis of her race.

It could have been a good sign. With so many members of the ton present, he couldn’t possibly think to cause trouble.

He’d smiled and greeted both Richard and Elodia with politeness.

Leo and Ada had watched him in visible surprise while Basil smirked behind his glass.

Richard wanted desperately to believe that this was a call for neutral ground.

He wanted to ignore the warning in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t manage it.

No matter what, he couldn’t believe that his uncle had given up just like that.

But he wasn’t about to make a scene and ruin the night for Elodia.