But Grace was also well aware that Serendipity was not above feigning a bit of drama and hurt feelings to turn circumstances in the direction she wished them to go. However, since Grace was still in a generous mood, she would attempt to make amends. “We sisters have spoken, Seri. All you need do is have Merry’s jet bag repaired and refrain from any Marriage Mart machinations until after summer’s end. Then, once again, you will find yourself in our good graces.”
Serendipity lifted her head and turned to fully face her.
Grace recognized that familiar wariness lurking in her sibling’s sapphire eyes. “What have you done?”
“You do realize Chance intends to fill this summer with garden parties, outdoor dinners, and formal picnics?” Serendipity’s judgmental eyebrow that always gave her away slanted higher than the other. “Just because we do not find ourselves in the heart of London’s Polite Society, does not mean the search for suitable husbands can’t continue.”
“Oh, Seri.” With a long-suffering groan, Grace slouched against the side of the carriage and propped her elbow on the ledge of the open window.
“Posture,” Serendipity said in the same singsong way Mama had always done.
“Just stop, Seri. I am in no mood. You have successfully placed a dark blight upon my day. You should have been born a storm cloud. Happy?” Her elbow still propped in the window, Grace rested her chin in her hand and tried to console herself with the view of the lush green countryside. Blessing and Fortuity had both warned she would be the next little Abaroughgoose that Chance would hang in the window to attract suitors. Not that he wouldn’t just as happily marry off one of the others first, but for the moment, the blissful unions appeared to be happening in birth order. Except for Serendipity, who had sworn to remain unwed and look after everyone else until their fates were settled at the altar. Not even Chance would cross Serendipity. She had pushed him out of too many trees when they were children.
That memory made Grace smile. All of them truly had been blessed with the most wonderfully indulgent childhoods. She sent a silentthank youto her parents, positive they still watched over their lively brood.
As the carriage rattled through the land adjoining theirs, she noticed activity at the landowner’s manor house that had remained vacant last summer. “Wolfebourne Lodge is being opened. What do you know of it, Seri?”
“It is my understanding,” Serendipity said, her eyes narrowing with the effort to recall every last detail, “that the new duke thought the countryside might provide a much-needed change of scenery for his charges.” Serendipity always knew the lateston dit. When their mother had become bedridden, she had made it her duty to keep up with every last detail to keep Mama entertained.
“His charges?” Grace leaned farther out the window to keep Wolfebourne Lodge in her sights. “Whatcharges?”
“A much younger brother and sister from one of his father’s later marriages.”
“How many marriages did his father have?”
“From what I have gathered,” Serendipity said, “the old duke died on his way to the altar to marry number five.”
Grace pulled herself back inside the carriage and stared at Serendipity. “What happened to the first four?”
Her sibling wrinkled her nose. “The first died in childbirth after bringing forth the current duke, the next two from illnesses. And the last…”
“And the last?”
Uncomfortably shifting in place, Serendipity cleared her throat. “He had her legally severed from himself and the estate. Divorced.” After pursing her lips tightly together as if the words she was about to say tasted terrible, she whispered, “On the grounds of adultery.”
“Oh my.” Grace couldn’t fathom such a situation because their parents had been absolutely devoted to one another. “And was she the mother of the new duke’s charges?”
Serendipity nodded. “Ran off and left them when they were tiny little things, but at least they are still considered legitimate and are hopefully provided for financially, since they are the duke’s siblings.”
“Yet and still.” Grace couldn’t imagine the turmoil of being a child caught in the middle of such a mess. “I hope the new duke isn’t a heartless devil.”
“Gracie! Language!” Serendipity resettled herself again. “But I quite agree. I am unsure of the children’s ages, but their mother’s behavior is not their fault, and they should not be made to pay for her ways. Sins of the father and all that, you know?”
“Hopefully, the new duke has a kindhearted wife who will ensure the children have a proper home filled with happiness rather than worries from the past.”
The air of victory rolling off Serendipity made Grace realize her error too late. Her sister smiled a wickedly delighted smile. “A reliable source informs me the Duke of Wolfebourne is quite handsome as well as quite without a wife.”
Grace nodded at Merry sitting across from her. “Merry loves children. Sounds like a perfect match to me.”
Merry pointed at her. “You are next on the chopping block, remember?”
“I possess no recollection of reading a rule book regarding the order in which we are to be married off to the highest bidder,” Grace said.
“True love matches, and you know it,” Serendipity corrected her. “And who knows? Perhaps he and Merry will hit it off. She is eight and ten now. A little on the young side, but not overly so.”
The carriage lurched to a stop.
“Thank heavens,” Grace said. Without waiting for a footman, she threw open the door, gathered her skirts in her fists, and leapt out.
