“What happened?” Beth demands, holding fast even as Mother tries to pull away.
It’s like she wants to run from Beth, and if either of them should have that right, Beth thinks it should be her.
“Lord Ashmond said it was all arranged. Did something go wrong—are they not agreeing?”
“Everything’s fine,” Mother says, still turned away from her, her shoulders high.
“Mother,” Beth insists.
But when she turns back, Beth wishes she hadn’t. There’s something wrong there on her mother’s face, something broken and bruised. She looks the way she did the only time Bethrecalls Father hitting her. She didn’t see it, but she heard the slap when Mother tried to argue Beth should be presented early, to give her a season to get used to the ton. Father said that they needn’t waste money on Beth that way. Mother said Father wasted money on frivolities every day; how could he be so cruel and capricious about Beth? And he slapped her.
Her face looks the way it did when she walked out of his study and found Beth in the hallway. It’s a cracked look, like the worst of the damage is below the skin. And Beth remembers how Mother retreated into herself after that, for months and months. How she lost her sparkle and slowly turned into this version of her mother, with her single-minded focus and intensity.
“What happened?” Beth presses.
“Lord Montson will propose on Saturday. You’ll have all the land you could ever want, a fortune for generations, and they’ll put me up somewhere lavish, I’m sure.”
“Isn’t that what you wanted?” Beth asks. “Whatwewanted,” she corrects quickly.
She gets Gwen. She can live through any of it if she can have Gwen.
“It is,” Mother agrees.
“Then—”
Mother closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. When she opens them, they’re harder. “We cannot see the Havenforts anymore.”
It’s the absolute last thing Beth expects to hear. She thought maybe someone was dying. “What?”
“Dashiell has been instrumental in garnering support for the Matrimonial Causes Act, and Lord Ashmond is vehemently opposed. Apparently there’s been some bribery, I’m not sure on whose side, but the blood has gone bad between them. It was his one demand.”
Beth stares at her mother. “He demanded it?”
Mother nods slowly. “I planned to find a gentler way to break it to you. I know how fond you are of Lady Gwen.”
“That’s absurd,” Beth says, her voice ringing around the room. How petty and vindictive and absolutely ridiculous—
“If we continue consorting with the Havenforts I am certain he will rescind his approval and that will mark you for the rest of the season,” Mother says.
Beth just stares at her, her eyes stinging with rising tears. Mother steps forward, obviously able to see the brimming anguish on her face, but Beth steps back.
“I’ll stop seeing Dashiell as well,” Mother says, like it’s some sort of consolation that they’ll both be miserable.
“I can’t give up Gwen,” Beth says, her voice raw, fists clenched. “I won’t.”
“Beth.”
“And you,” she adds, swiping at her cheeks and shaking her head. She won’t, she won’t believe this. “You can’t just stop seeing Lord Havenfort. You like him so much. He makes you smile.”
“I’m not worried about—”
“He makes you happy. You’ve never been happy!” Beth exclaims roughly. “And you want to give that up just so I can marry someone?”
“What else are we supposed to do?” Mother snaps, her voice a dampened shout that reverberates around them. “Your uncle wants the residence as soon as the season’s over. He’s alreadyarranging for deliveries to the estate. We’re about to be out of a house and what’s left of my settlement won’t get us through six months. We cannot throw away our one chance for stability for—”
“For what?” Beth shouts back. “For love, friendship, meaningful connection?”
“You’d rather we be on the streets than marry the heir to the Ashmond fortune?” Mother returns.
