“Yes, I suppose,” Evelyn muttered, her eyes only fixed on her needlework. “He has sent flowers and gifts. We dance twice at every event.” Yet she noticed there was something missing in her tone. She had not talked in that wistful way that Hester had done, nor did her cheeks blush as Hester’s had.
Marrying for love, eh? It had once seemed like the perfect idea.
Evelyn had a stash of books under her bed that told romantic tales of women marrying for love. She knew her parents had been one such love match, though the older she got, the more she saw that it was not always possible.
“Mr. Windham is soboringthough.” Kitty knelt on Evelyn’s bed and puffed out her cheeks in emphasis. “Trust you, Evelyn, to find the dullest man in the ton.”
“Kitty!” Hester said sharply in reprimand, but Kitty gave no sign of having heard her.
“He is dull. Dull, dull, dull! A breeze has more to it than Mr. Windham does.”
“But he has been very attentive to our Evelyn.” Hester smiled as she sat forward on the edge of the window seat, nudging Evelyn once again, though in a softer manner this time. “Ignore Kitty. She is simply envious that you have attention and she does not.”
“I am not!” Kitty complained, the youth in her coming through in her voice. “I just do not understand why Evelyn would wish to marry a man like him.”
Well, neither do I…
Evelyn kept the thought to herself as she returned her focus to the hem of the gown. Mr. Windham was indeed attentive and kind. Over recent months, she had decided that would be enough. She could not have her head in the clouds all the time and expect love when it was not always possible. No, Mr. Windham would suit her well enough.
At the very least, if he did propose, it would be a way out of this life, far from being the one left in the corners of every room alone. Rather than being the wallflower in her own home, as a wife, she would have more independence.
That is what I long for these days.
“Will you say yes if he asks you to marry him tonight?” Hester said excitedly, leaning toward her.
“We are leaping to conclusions, are we not?” Evelyn glanced up briefly from the needle and thread.
“Oh come on, Evelyn. He has as good as asked for our father’s blessing.”
Shame he could not ask my own father for his blessing.
Evelyn pushed away the simmering feelings of grief. It had been so long ago now that she lost her parents, it was a feeling easier to contend with, even if sometimes it snuck up on her and crashed into her like a great wave.
“We shall see,” Evelyn said, brushing off the matter. Finishing with the hem, she cut the thread and held it up in front of her, examining it in the light from the midday sun.
“Quite beautiful.” Hester ran a finger down the material. “Your mother’s, was it not?”
“Yes,” Evelyn whispered.
“It is not very fashionable,” Kitty grimaced from her place on the bed.
“Perhaps not, but it has sentimental value, Kitty. You would do well to remember that,” Hester said sharply.
Evelyn smiled at her eldest cousin, comforted at least that even when she felt so alone, Hester would not turn her back completely.
“It suits me,” Evelyn said softly. “I wish to wear something special this evening.”
“Of course, you do.” Hester clasped her hands together. “For after this evening at the ball… you might come home betrothed!”
Kitty sighed dramatically and flung herself back on the bed.
“Imagine being betrothed to a man like him.”
“Katherine!” Hester hissed again.
Evelyn glared at Kitty but said nothing. She was used to the jibes, and over the years had come to ignore them. In the past, she used to have her own sharp retorts prepared, but that had only ever earned her harsher reprimands from her uncle. It was easier these days to just stay quiet.
“Let me see that gown.” Kitty was suddenly on her feet, crossing the room toward Evelyn.
