This is an unfortunate turn of events. I am not in London to handle this matter to my satisfaction. I will return as soon as possible. Have a care for your reputation, as it reflects on Cliffton, and do not go out in public. Await my return.
Octavia Claystone
Daisy resisted the urge to shiver as she thought of the message. She was breaking a rule by ignoring Lady Claystone’s order to refrain from going out. It was something her previous self would have balked at, but right now all she felt was relief.
“Thank you,” Daisy said. “I’m starting to see my banishment more as a gift than a consequence. I am glad I could escape Mrs. Miranda and get to know you better.”
“I remember meeting on only one occasion,” Lady Amelia said. “That dinner party with your family two years ago.”
Daisy smiled. “I remember. Graham glowered at you the whole time.”
Lady Amelia smiled. “Yes, he hated how I charmed your mother and father so easily.”
Daisy laughed. “I have to admit I would have never predicted that the two of you would end up married, and so suddenly.”
Lady Amelia looked away from her, but Daisy could see her cheeks pinken.
“You and I are not so different, you know. I’m only a few years older than you. So I won’t pretend I’m knowledgeable about love. I could never have predicted that I would one day fall in love with your brother. I loathed him. I admit it freely, and he would say the same. We had no qualms about voicing our dislike for each other. Alston knew it too, but then Alston got hurt.” She paused and swallowed. They stopped at a bench and sat.
“It was Alston’s idea that Graham should marry me. I refused immediately. My aunt always intended that when the time was right, I would marry Nelson, our cousin, regardless of how I felt about it. Because of that, I had vowed never to marry, though I still knew if the right man came along, someone I could love, I’d happily change my mind. Who would have guessed that man would be Graham?”
Daisy frowned. “Marry your cousin? That’s reprehensible. I know it’s done, but still.” She thought of her own cousin andalmost gagged. She had one male cousin, and he was two and forty.
“We married swiftly because Alston’s death seemed imminent. Our attraction had turned to something much deeper long before that. Love is quiet. It seeps in through your cracks, filling you until you’re overflowing with it and cannot contain it any longer. We fell in love, and there was no use waiting or holding back. We married at Alston’s bedside because we needed him to be there. You’ve spent so much time apart from your brother, but I think you can understand why it was so important. By the way he talks about you, I know you two are close.”
“We are, but I imagine as twins it is different for you.”
Lady Amelia nodded. “Tell me what Graham was like as a brother, before I met him.”
“He has always been much like you describe but gentler. Probably because I never gave him trouble.”
Lady Amelia scoffed. “I give him good trouble.”
Daisy giggled again. “I didn’t know there was such a thing as good trouble.”
“There is, if you know where to find it,” Lady Amelia sent her a knowing smile.
But Daisydidn’tknow. She’d never made trouble for anyone nor did she know how to find it. Her family had never given her sufficient reason to resist the choices they’d made for her because she trusted them. And Lady Claystone abhorred disobedience. It had served Daisy to be silent and compliant rather than contrary if only to save herself. Better to be small and invisible than at the sharpened end of Lady Claystone’s blade-like tongue. Her parents had always bragged about how good Daisy was, how obedient and demure. Daisy used to love those compliments. They had made her feel special. But she could see now that being the good girl hadn’t brought her anyjoy. What was the point of being the perfect little puppet when it made her miserable?
“Where is good trouble found?” Daisy asked after a moment.
“Usually in unlikely places.”
“Like?”
Lady Amelia shrugged. “You’ll know it.”
Daisy wanted to roll her eyes. She was sure she wouldn’t. “How will I know it? Are there obvious signs? Helpful trumpets and banners?”
Lady Amelia laughed. “When you know you’re doing something a sour-faced matron wouldn’t want you to be doing,thatis good trouble. Mischief. Innocent tomfoolery. For example, if I slipped off my shoes and danced around the springy grass. Is that wrong? Would I hurt anyone? But if a woman like Mrs. Miranda saw me, I expect she’d clutch her pearls and faint.”
Daisy laughed. “I can picture her exact expression.”
“See? Good trouble. In fact...” Lady Amelia gave Daisy an impish smile.
“What?” Daisy asked.
“Take off your boots.”
