“Indeed it has,” she said, standing as well.
He walked to the door, then paused and turned back. “Marianne?”
“Yes?”
“I am glad you are here. I think we shall deal well together.”
She smiled—a genuine smile this time. “I think so, too, Lucien.”
He nodded and left, closing the door softly behind him. As he walked back to his own chambers, he felt lighter than he had in years. Perhaps this marriage of convenience would bring them both the peace they sought.
CHAPTER 9
MARIANNE
“Marianne!!” Juliet called as she burst out of the carriage and ran towards her. Marianne opened her arms and received her friend, holding her close.
“You are here!” she said. “I cannot believe it, you are here.” She looked at her friend, who had not changed at all over the last few months. She still wore the same gray dress she always wore at the convent, the same simple leather shoes.
Marianne suddenly felt awfully overdressed, even though she had made sure to wear one of her simpler gowns.
“Goodness, this is your home. It is a palace. It is a true palace.”
Juliet gazed around, her eyes wide with wonder.
“It is not my home,” Marianne said. “It is, as I wrote to you, only temporary. I shall soon vacate the place. The two of us shallexplore the country and then the continent, and then perhaps the whole world. We will be free, and we will be explorers, Juliet,” she said, still holding onto Juliet’s hands.
“Whatever we wish to do, we shall do it,” replied Juliet, squeezing Marianne’s hands with gratitude. “We shall go anywhere you wish to go. But if you wish to remain at this place for the rest of your life, I shall gladly be at your side. Though I warn you, I shall be the most hopeless lady’s maid.”
“And I am the most hopeless countess. The most hopeless stand-in mother,” Marianne said.
“Mother? Are you meant to be the boy’s mother after all? I thought it most peculiar when you wrote to me about your arrangement with the Earl. Has he married you without any expectation that you should mother his child?”
“He did. But I am finding it more and more difficult. I have been here now for four days, and the child is ever-present. We do not take breakfast together, but he dines with us, and he wishes to converse with me and tell me about his day, and I do not know what to say. It is the most uncomfortable thing. I have taken to dining in my chambers for the last two nights, claiming I have a migraine.”
“Marianne, you cannot continue this. You must make an effort. What does... what is his name? Lucien?”
“Yes. But when you talk to him, you must address him as ‘my lord’ or ‘Lord Wexford.’”
“I know. I am not entirely without social graces, my dear. Now, can I see my chamber? Can we talk while you show me the way?”
Marianne linked her arm under Juliet’s while one of the footmen took down the plain, rather beaten-up portmanteau that she had come with.
“We shall go together and order you some dresses. You will need something to wear about the house, and then for when we go promenading, and then for when I have to attend balls?—”
“We will attend balls?” Juliet said, eyes sparkling with excitement.
“Well, I will. Most of the ladies’ maids go to one of the retiring chambers and wait.”
“I see,” she said. “That is perfectly fine. I imagine they shall have some refreshments available while we wait in the retiring chamber—something better than what we had at the convent.”
“I am certain,” Marianne said, although she felt a little awkward now. Back at the convent, they had been equals; here, they would not be. How did Juliet truly feel about being beneath her station now? Perhaps this had been a mistake.
“...Poor girl, she will have a baby any day now.”
She blinked and looked at Juliet. She had been speaking of Anna, no doubt.
“She must have been dreadfully sad to see me leave.”
