That was one of the visions that came up in her memory time and time again.
“All right…well, since you clearly do not wish to speak about it, I will leave you…” Arabella continued with a hint of resentment.
Catherine did not wish to hurt her mother’s feelings. She would have liked nothing more to confide in her. But her mother was not capable of being impartial about this particular subject. Her mother longed to be installed back into her home and the life that she loved. She would put those desires over and above her daughter’s wants.
So, she said nothing at all when her mother lifted herself from the bed and left the room with a more forceful yank on the door than was necessary.
Leaving Catherine to sit, and stir, and dream of all manner of things that she should not want…butoh,how she did.
***
“Forgive me for saying so, my dear new friend, but it appears that you are struggling a bit.” Elizabeth giggled to herself over tea the following afternoon.
“I am going to choose not to be offended by that.” Catherine sighed into her tea. She had caught a glimpse of the purple bags under her eyes this morning and shocked herself. But she had to bide her time. She wasattemptingto sleep…it just was not going very well.
“I did not mean it offensively. I only speak out of concern for you, my friend,” Elizabeth continued as she poured Catherine a touch more tea. This time, she pushed the whole plate of scones that she had brought with her this morning as well.
“You spoil me.” Catherine hummed happily as she accepted the scones.
“Somebody ought to.” Elizabeth winked. “Perhaps a titled, strikingly handsome man that you keep bringing up at every chance?”
Catherine’s gaze flattened despite the blush that bloomed over her cheeks. She could feel the same heat that seemed to thunder through her core at the mention of his name each and every time.
“Would it truly be so bad? I know that you have explained it to me…but I cannot say that I understand.” Elizabeth sighed. “You were spotted in one another’s arms, and yet you do not wish to spare yourself the public humiliation?”
Catherine chewed slowly so that she could delay answering the question for as long as possible.
Elizabeth was more than happy to wait for her friend to be forced to answer.
“I do not expect you to understand. You married your husband because you love him, and he loves you fiercely. That sort of union that does not care about the opinion of others or what might be said.” Catherine waved off her concerns despite the weight that she felt settling in her chest.
Elizabeth’s smile shifted into a soft, sad one. “Oh. So you wish to marry for love. That is the issue.”
It was not phrased as a question.
“And you do not think that he is the sort of man that you could come to love? Proximity does wonders for getting to know a person,” Elizabeth continued. “It can bring some closer together…if you give it a chance.”
“I know it is foolish.” Catherine felt as if she were on the verge of tears, and she could not allow them to fall. The very emotion itself felt foolish. What right did she have to feel overwhelmed when there was so much to do? “I know that it is my duty to mend my family. I know that I am supposed to save the family fortunes and repair the damage my father left to me, but I—”
Catherine’s lady’s maid came to the door and interrupted their conversation. Catherine swallowed back the heavy emotions as quickly as she could.
“Pardon me, ladies, but we have company.”
Catherine sat up a touch too straight in her chair. Her spine lengthened as her heart flipped in her chest. She spoke a touch too quickly. “Lord Landry?”
“Yes, my lady. Lord Landry accompanied by Lord Wentworth.” The maid bowed and left the room.
Elizabeth was on her feet before Catherine could even manage it. Elizabeth pealed a giggle as she went rushing for the front door, Catherine hot on her heels in an attempt to stop her friend from doing anything too foolish or saying something that she ought not to say.
Though they both came up short at the sight of the two men struggling with the wagon currently parked out front of the cottage. Neither woman seemed to know what to say.
They could only gawk and leer as the two men, whom they would have otherwise claimed to be athletically built, struggled with a large, awkwardly wrapped package from the flat bed of a wagon, their carriage somewhere off to the side. It ought to have been purely amusing to watch them struggle and refuse to allow the men they had hired for this task to handle the situation, but Catherine was too focused on the package itself to find amusement in it.
What was it?
The men loaded it with great care onto the ground and started to pull the crude wrapping off of it, and her heart stopped in her chest. She could not breathe.
It was her pianoforte.
