Elizabeth’s lips pursed as she paused to pluck up a handful of smooth stones from the ground where they stood. She paused their walk, taking the time to skip them one at a time over the smooth, glassy surface of the small pond that was technically on Elizabeth’s property.
“It is a young woman’s duty to bear her husband children, is it not?”
“That is not an answer. I do not speak to you of duty, but rather, I would know what your mind and heart desire,” Catherine asked, watching the stones skip over the surface before finally stopping and sinking to the algae-covered depths.
For the first time in all of the time that Catherine had known her friend, Elizabeth did not answer a direct question that was posed to her.
Perhaps she had been wrong about the impressions that had been given to her from Elizabeth about her marriage. Was there perhaps some issues at home that she had not felt comfortable sharing with her before?
“Is he not attentive to you when he is home?”
“Sometimes, I wonder why he married me at all. For a man who claimed to love me, to wish to show the world our union, he does not seem to want to be home with me. Sometimes I think that he only married me to vex his mother!” Elizabeth ranted angrily and then seemed to catch herself at the last moment. “Oh, but I should not have said anything at all…it is not proper…”
“To hell with proper!” Catherine countered.
Elizabeth turned her, her eyes glassy. “I do not even think that he loves me. What a terrible thing to say, is it not? I am supposed to maintain the home and be pleasant. I think that the moment that his mother passes or finally chooses to move on to her new home, that he will leave or abandon me. I fear every day that he will cast me aside.
I know that my father will have me back. He is a good, honest man…I know that I will have places to go, but I…I…” Elizabeth quickly wiped away the single tear that managed to fall. “I am likely just being silly and overly dramatic…that is what he likes to say. He thinks that I am frivolous. You likely do too…”
“No! I am here for you to confide in! I promise, you shall never be judged by me. You are my best friend….myonlyfriend…” Catherine assured her and tapped the back of her hand comfortingly while keeping Elizabeth’s arm in her own.
“As that may be, you do not need to listen to me whine and complain all of the time because things at home might not be quite the way that I have presented them to you…” Elizabeth trailed off, sounding guilty.
“I shall be happy with whatever news you choose to share with me, my dear friend.” Catherine cut her a look out of the side of her eye. “Even if that news might perhaps sometimes include a particular Lord Wentworth?”
The color in Elizabeth’s ruddy cheeks deepened instantly. It was all of the proof that she needed to know that she was right about her suspicions that perhaps there was more than friendship developing between the pair of them as well.
“Not that there would ever be anything between the pair of us!” Elizabeth added quickly.Tooquickly.
“And why not? If you are unhappy in your marriage, then clearly, your husband does not properly value the woman that he has keeping his home for him! I would not see anything wrong with you seeking out a union that properly fulfills you!” Catherine said, meaning every bit of the implied innuendo. It was one of the perks that she hoped carried over into her own upcoming marriage. “It is your right!”
“Again, I am a mere daughter of a vicar, Catherine. He is a nobleman of great wealth and importance. Perhaps even more holdings than my present husband! I have no dowry to tempt him with.
There is nothing that he could gain by becoming involved with a divorcee.” Elizabeth sounded as if she were trying to make her reasoning okay by applying an abundance of logic, but it obviously did not make her feel any better about the truth of the matter. “What man would make that sort of deal in the first place?!”
“And what is to say that any of those things matter to him? I think you do him a disservice by presuming you know his intentions or desires,” Catherine said, knowing that she had personally been guilty of the very same thing she was urging her friend not to do.
“You certainly cannot say those things if you have not even tried…perhaps we can come up with a move for you to make? To test the waters and see how interested Lord Wentworth might or might not be?”
“No. This is not a road that I will walk down twice. I learned my lesson the first time around with my present husband. I shall not enter into another such agreement and then open myself up to being hurt by another man for a second time,” Elizabeth said sadly.
Clearly, her heart was interested in the man. But it was not her place to pry, no matter how badly she might wish to.
“Forgive me. I did not mean to upset you,” Catherine said.
“You have not.”
“…you will still assist in planning my wedding, will you not?” Catherine added slyly.
“Me?!” Elizabeth gasped before embracing her so suddenly that the pair of women nearly toppled over backward. “Yes! Of course, I will!”
“Good! Because we have almost no time at all!” Catherine grinned.
Rain started to drizzle down over the surface of the pond and flit through the gaps in the tree cover. With a grin, both women gathered their skirts in their hands and took off running in the direction of the cottage.
Chapter 17
St. James Church
