“You need not be so dramatic,” Alexander told her. “Besides, she has never expressed a problem with it. You are making it sound worse than it is.”
“I am stating it exactly like it is. You should’ve seen the way the other people stared. She didn’t say it, but I know it embarrassed her.”
“I don’t care what other people think,” Alexander said sharply. “I care about whether she makes it home safe.”
They turned again, the dance forcing their bodies into graceful motion even as the conversation turned rigid.
“You can’t keep her untouched by the world, Alexander,” Penelope pressed.
“You want her to be a lady. You’ve told me so yourself. You want her to debut, to thrive in society. But how do you expect her to do that when you won’t even let her walk through a park?”
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
“That is your responsibility,” he said. “I made that clear at the start of our marriage.”
“What are you trying to say here?”
“You’re the one meant to prepare her for all that,” Alexander continued. “That is your domain, not mine.”
“What am I meant to do when I cannot even take her out without your permission?” Penelope said, still frustrated. “Am I meant to teach her how to dance in the drawing room while Fergus and Lewis loom by the door?”
“You’re asking for too much freedom.”
“I’m asking for common sense.”
They turned again, slower this time. It appeared that they had reached a moot point.
“If anyone knows how torturous it is to have your every move watched, it is me. And so I understand her frustrations, more so than you might. It is a difficult way to live, and I wouldn’t wish that on her.”
Alexander could hear the sincerity in her voice. It caused him to soften, even if slightly.
“I don’t trust the world,” Alexander said simply. “And I do not care for your advice on what to do when it comes to my daughter’s safety.”
“Is that why you set that ridiculous first rule?” Penelope narrowed her eyes.
Never disturb him unless it concerns Odette.
“So that was serious?” Penelope blinked. “You really meant that I shouldn’t bother you unless it’s about her?”
“Of course I did.”
“Why?” she asked, “Why isolate yourself like that? You married me. I’m in your home, but you’ve built these strange rules to keep me at arm's length.”
“I didn’t marry you to change my life,” he said finally.
Scarcely anyone in Alexander’s life was bold enough to question him like this. And so it was not something that he was used to in the slightest. It peeved him, and he could tell that Penelope was aware of that. But she continued anyway .
“I am not asking you to change your life,” she said. “But you must make certain allowances, now that I am a part of it as well. I think that is a fair demand, coming from the woman that you have chosen to marry. Did you expect nothing to change once you took the vow?”
Alexander did not know what to say to that. He had expected change, sure. But not to this degree, and not at this level of persistence.
“You need to be reasonable,” he said.
“I believe I am being reasonable enough,” she quipped back. “I beseech you to see things from my perspective as well, and then perhaps you will change your mind.”
“You are not letting this matter go,” he said, tightening his jaw.
“I do not see the utility in letting something go unresolved,” she replied. “Yes, it might be a difficult conversation to have. But it is one that is sourly needed.”
