“I’m not. You just need more practice. Would you like to do another one? You don’t have to of course, but if you enjoyed doing the first one you are welcome to.”
“No, if you don’t mind, I would like to try again.”
She handed the piece back over. “Then, please, continue.”
He took it from her hands and got back to work.
“Did it bother you that your parents wouldn’t let you explore what you love past what a proper lady ought to know?”
She sighed. “That in particular, I can understand, especially after the ton turned their backs on us. I can understand most of theirchoices in isolation, and if they hadn’t made so many of them, I might feel different, but when you put them all together…” she trailed off, shaking her head.
He looked over at her, questions rising in his throat.
She continued before he could give voice to any of them. “My mother and father always said they did what they did because they thought it was best for us, and if that were true, I could understand that, but it never felt like that was why they did it.”
“Then why?”
“It always felt like they wanted control, because it wassn’t just major things like who to marry or what to learn that they told us what to do, but even small things like what we wore around the house and how long we could go on walks in the garden.”
“That must have been difficult.”
“It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it wasn’t easy. I never had a choice in anything. It was like I was trapped in a story book, helpless to do anything but what the narrator said.”
“You don’t feel like that here, do you? Trapped like that?”
She shook her head. “Not any more. For the first time in my life, I feel free.”
He smiled. “That’s good. I want nothing more than for you to feel that way. You deserve it.”
Veronica hesitated. “On that note, I have a question.”
“Anything you would like to know, please ask it.”
“When you invested in my father’s endevors, did you give him any stipulations?”
A smile tugged at his lips. “I might have. It is business, after all. It is important to ensure I was getting what I needed from the arrangement.”
“And did any of those have anything to do with my sisters?”
He looked away. “It’s possible.”
Veronica’s grin grew. “Their marriage prospects perhaps?”
When he didn’t reply, she continued.
“I won’t make you admit it if you would rather not, but thank you. It means a lot to know you would do something like that for them.”
Christopher kept his eyes locked on the work in front of him. “It was nothing. As you have said, they are family now.”
Veronica smiled. “Still, it means a lot to know you are so willing to help my sisters.”
“We are married now. Your family is my family.”
“It means a lot to hear you say that.”
Christopher avoided her eyes. “It has been some time since I was close to anyone. I shut myself out from the rest of the world for so long after Alexander,” he cut himself off with a shaky breath. “But I don’t want to live that way forever. I am trying to to let you in. to build a life with you. To-”
His words were cut off by a when Teddy jumped up, pushing his body between them.
