“Perhaps she doesn’t yet,” he said stiffly, “but with time—”
“Phtt! There is no help for you. I tell you one more thing, and then I go. Mr. Wilmot is leaving this morning.” She gathered up the train of her skirts in her arm and turned to leave.“Au revoir,Monsieur Talverton. I must not keep the count waiting. I have a mind to be the Comtesse Baligny. It has a nice sound, no?”
Hugh laughed. “Enjoy your ride.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Me, I am not fond of horses, but one does what one must. Oh, I nearly forgot. Vanessa, Adeline, and Trevor are planning a picnic for the children. You might find it—umm, enlightening.” She giggled and turned to run down the path toward the stables, hand on her head to keep her hat in place.
“Enlightening?” Hugh echoed, but she was already out of earshot. He shook his head. Sometimes Paulette honestly had lamentably poor English. He wondered what word she had meant.
* * *
“Is this a private party, or may a father join?” Trevor Danielson asked, standing in the doorway to the bedroom allotted to Alex and Mary.
“Papa! Papa!” Mary yelled, twirling out of Adeline’s grasp and launching herself at her father.
He crouched down to catch her and hug her tight. When he looked up, he observed Alex coming closer in a properly reserved manner, though he could tell by the expression on his face that he longed to copy his sister’s spontaneous action. Trevor smiled and opened his arms, waving Alex to join in the embrace.
The little boy didn’t need further encouragement before he, too, launched himself into his father’s arms.
Vanessa, rocking back in her chair and folding her hands in her lap, smiled complacently at the familial scene. It was heartbreakingly tender. Trevor knelt on the floor without regard for his buckskin breeches or the tails of his coat brushing the floor. His arms encircled his children, their heads resting lovingly on his shoulder. Mary’s hair was a pattern card of his glossy sable-brown locks; her brother’s hair more closely resembled their mother’s. They were prettily behaved children and delightful company.
Vanessa looked over at her sister to see her reaction to the family tableau. She was surprised to note tears on her sister’s eyelashes while a gentle smile hovered on her lips. She opened her mouth to comment, only to be forestalled by the expression she noted on Trevor’s face. He was looking over his children’s heads at Adeline, the light of love evident in his eyes. Vanessa blinked and shut her mouth abruptly. She stared at Adeline and Trevor in silence. They were oblivious to her regard, so wrapped were they in their lovers’ roles.
They were perfect! Why couldn’t she see that before? Did they know? Yes, of course they did, though they tried hard not to show it, she thought, remembering their shared glances, long conversations, and time spent together. Why were they trying to deny their relationship? It was obvious they were in love. Or was it only obvious to her because she was now familiar with that heady, confusing emotion?
Vanessa compressed her lips in an amused smile as she studied them. She cleared her throat noisily and gently asked, “Am I the last to know?”
Guiltily, Adeline turned toward her sister, a pink blush surging over her features. “Oh, Vanessa, I’m sorry—”
“For what, you ninnyhammer?” asked Vanessa, sliding off her chair on to the floor beside her sister. She took Adeline’s hands in hers, squeezing them gently. Behind them, Trevor gently extricated himself from his children’s embrace, and taking their hands in his, led them from the room, closing the door with a soft click.
Copious tears now trailed down Adeline’s cheeks. “Oh, Vanessa,” she murmured.
Vanessa’s eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “Is that all you can say to me,Oh, Vanessa? And stop that crying! Here, take my handkerchief,” she said, removing a small square of embroidered linen from the neckline of her dress and handing it to her sister. “I swear, Adeline, you’re a watering pot. Now stop this lest you have me in tears as well.”
“Thank you,” Adeline murmured, sniffling slightly, though her eyes shone like jewels.
“Tell me all,” insisted her sister, an admonitory expression on her face.
Adeline gave a watery chuckle and did as requested, though mindful of her sister’s temper last evening when she discovered their attempts to protect her from Wilmot. She prudently skirted the subject of the reason for the continued deceptions.
“So, when is Mr. Danielson going to declare himself to Father?”
“Well,” Adeline hedged, “he feels Father has some weighty business matters plaguing his mind at the moment that need resolution first.”
“Stuff and nonsense! Tell him to speak to Father at once.”
“No! No, please, Vanessa, allow us to handle this in our way, after all, it wasn’t long ago Trevor was your suitor, and we don’t wish the transition to be a shock.”
“So, what may I do to help, marry Mr. Wilmot?” Vanessa tossed out whimsically.
Adeline blanched. “Don’t joke about that! Please, promise me you won’t agree to marry Mr. Wilmot out of some misguided notion of rescue.”
“Rescue?” Vanessa chuckled. She rose to her feet, extending her hand to help her sister to rise. “I believe, dear sister, you’re picking up Paulette’s melodramatic tendencies. Come, let’s find Mr. Danielson and the children and get this picnic organized. I can’t wait for the opportunity to twit that gentleman,” she teased.
“Oh, Vanessa,” sighed Adeline again, earning a raised eyebrow and twisted smile from her sister as they left the room in search of the Danielson family.
For the better part of an hour, Hugh Talverton wrestled with his desire to join the picnic party versus the advisability of doing so. He had made a mull of it last evening by kissing Vanessa, breaking all her strict unwritten rules for acceptable behavior. Perhaps it would be best to follow Mr. Wilmot’s example and make an early departure, not that that would be the easiest solution, for he was staying in Trevor’s lodgings above the offices of the Danielson and Hailey Company. It might raise more questions than he was currently willing to answer.
