“Grace!” Lillie said, shocked into laughter. She covered her mouth. “What do you mean?”
“She just is,” Grace continued. “I’m sorry you finally witnessed her true colors, but I’m afraid this is how she’s always been.”
“To you?” Lillie’s face fell. “Has she treated you badly, Grace, and I didn’t even notice?”
“You don’t notice anything but the good in people, Lillie, and I can hardly fault you for that.” Grace squeezed her cousin’s hand.
Lillie frowned. “I can forgive a slight to myself but not to you,” she said. “I hope you know I would heartily run someone through with a sword for you.”
“Oh, I count on it. And in Frannie’s case, I’d happily supply one for the job.”
Lillie laughed. “It’s her loss,” she said, shrugging, with a jutting chin. “You’re my favorite person in the world. Anyone who doesn’t see that is beyond my help or good graces.”
“Something you might find from this unfortunate incident with Oliver is that misfortunes come with one benefit. They’re like a lens, showing who the people in your life truly are.”
Lillie drained her tea to the dregs, and Grace paused, clearing her throat.
“But Earnest still treated you well today?” she asked carefully. She stole a glance at Lillie’s face.
Lillie flushed, and Grace’s stomach turned a little. With what? she asked herself. Jealousy?
“He was kind,” Lillie admitted.
Grace looked at Lillie’s face in the firelight. She was so lovely. Grace had always adored her, thought she was the most enchanting person she’d ever known. She could hardly blame Earnest for feeling the same way.
“It’s all right, Lillie,” she said gently. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
Lillie’s mouth twisted. “Grace, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” She buried her face in her hands. “I truly want him foryou. It would solve everything.”
Grace slowly set down her teacup. It was true. Earnest had been a dream she had hoped would resolve all her problems, and part of Grace wasn’t eager to let that go. After all, she liked Earnest. He was funny and clever and attractive. He had demonstrated good character. Her mother would be overjoyed. She could stay in Lillie and Oliver’s lives. And the petty part of her loved the way his attention toward her drove Frannie Allred mad.
It all worked so well on paper.
But perhaps, even given all of that, she liked the idea of him more than him.
“I would never stand between him and you,” Grace said. “Especially if you have feelings for each other.”
“But I don’twantto have feelings for him,” Lillie said, her voice muffled from where her face still lay in her hands. “So how can I?”
She lay her head down on Grace’s shoulder. “Perhaps it’s just because it’s all been so confusing this week.”
Yes, Grace thought. Perhaps that’s all it is, for both of them.
Her mind turned toward what Theodore Parker felt like, his heart beating strong and steady through his coat, his comforting arms wrapped around her—first that horrible night months ago at the winter ball, and then on the street corner only a few hours ago. Thememory of it set off a thousand glittering stars, erupting like fireworks in her night sky.
She rested her own head on top of Lillie’s. Why couldn’t she have fallen for Earnest?
And he for her?
It would all be so much easier.
She stifled a groan at the utter inconvenience of it.
That she might be developing feelings for the last person in the world she wanted to. That arrogant, irritating, and utterly bewildering Theodore Parker.
CHAPTER TWELVE
MAY 7, 1904
