“I thought it prudent,” he said smoothly, “to arrange for a companion. A lady’s maid. She’ll accompany you for errands and such. It’s not quite fitting for you to be wandering about alone. And she’s already met with Mrs. Bainbridge and rescheduled your tea for tomorrow.”
Mary-Ann blinked, stunned not just by the assumption but by the timing. She had intended to review the latest bills oflading that morning. Cross-reference them against the weights from theRedwake’smanifest. Now, with a stranger installed in her shadow and her schedule upended, that plan dissolved like steam from the kettle.
Mary-Ann stood very still. Rodney didn’t seem to notice her stillness, or he chose not to. He forged ahead as if her silence were agreement.
“You arranged my schedule. Without asking.”
“It’s for your own ease, darling. Things will be different once we’re married. You won’t have to concern yourself with all these…details.”
It wasn’t kindness. It was dismissal, wrapped in lace.
She managed a smile, cool and distant. “How thoughtful.”
He didn’t notice the ice beneath it.
Mary-Ann didn’t remind him that she wasn’t his wife yet. But the thought struck, sharp and cold. Nor did she argue. Not yet. But something in her had shifted. It was subtle, like the first breath before a storm. Rodney thought he was protecting her. In truth, he was fencing her in, and she’d never taken kindly to cages.
Rodney, pleased with himself, left shortly after.
Mary-Ann did not watch him go. Instead, she sat alone in the quiet that followed, letting the day settle like dust around her. There was much she could not say. But more, so much more, that she would no longer allow to be taken from her. Not her judgment. Not her freedom. And certainly not the shape of her own life.
Mrs. Bainbridge arrived the next morning at Seaton House with a bouquet of crumpled correspondence and an air of high distress.
“We can’t possibly set a date until Lord Maythorne confirms his travel plans. And now Lady Pomeroy is threatening to host a musical on the second of next month!” She dropped one letteronto the sitting room table, then another, as if the very paper betrayed her. “If we wait too long, we’ll be buried under satin and scandal.”
Mary-Ann, watching from the doorway, smiled faintly. “Surely not a scandal.”
“Certainly a scandal,” Mrs. Bainbridge huffed. Then, as if remembering, she pulled a narrow envelope from her reticule. “Oh, this arrived at the school. A donation for the Lifeboat Trust Fund, I believe. I didn’t find any note inside.”
She handed the envelope to Mary-Ann without a second thought.
Mary-Ann’s fingers closed around the envelope. A curious mark pressed into the wax caught her eye, a bird with its wings spread on a diamond-shaped design.
Her smile faded. She’d seen it before. Not in any manifest, but in the margins of the cloth-bound booklet Hamish had hidden. This was the same symbol.
She ran her thumb across the seal, pulse ticking louder in her throat.
She drew a slow breath, heart steady now with purpose. If one had found its way to her, others would too. And this time, she would be watching.
Chapter Twenty-One
That same Tuesday,just after tea, the hush of the afternoon carried a promise of change.
“Good afternoon, Miss Seaton. Did you enjoy your tea with Mrs. Bainbridge?” asked the maid with a practiced curtsy.
“Yes, thank you. Very much so.”
“Shall I set out your day dress or something more suitable for a walk?” the maid waited for her reply.
Mary-Ann paused in the doorway, studying the young woman. She was neat and trim, with a sharp nose and an even sharper air of certainty, not at all what she expected from a proper lady’s maid.
“I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.”
“Apologies, miss. I’m Lydia Finch. Mr. Wilkinson arranged it all. I’m here to accompany you throughout the day, to appointments, errands, and whatever else you may need.”
Mary-Ann stepped fully into the hall and let the door click softly behind her. “And what exactly do you consider your duties, Miss Finch?”
The girl blinked, then smiled with a hint of condescension. “Why, to ensure you don’t tire yourself with the finer points of a busy household. To offer companionship, of course. And to keep you properly attended when you go about. It wouldn’t do to have you wandering alone, now would it?”
