But Frances did not seem to notice the slip, chattering on as she scoured the refreshments table for something that tempted her. “Oh, you know, that your marriage is a farce, that my cousin has a host of paramours, that you are oblivious to it all, that you are a poor, beautiful thing waiting naively at home for an absent husband.” She picked up a cream puff and popped it into her mouth, adding, “All nonsense, of course.”
“It is?” Thalia asked tentatively, choosing what appeared to be a glass of flavored ice, a pleasing shade of red.
With her hand to her mouth as she chewed, Frances nodded. “Iknowabout husbands with paramours and… alternative interests. Henry is not that sort of gentleman.Hisparamour is his work.” She frowned. “Why am I telling you all of this? This is not news to you.”
She gave a funny little laugh and selected some manner of fruit tart.
“No, but it is nice to have the reassurance from time to time,” Thalia said quickly, heat rushing into her cheeks.
Frances nodded in agreement. “And you are hardly pining away at Holdridge. You are always out in society with me. These gossips, they just say whatever the please to make themselves feel better about their own dreary situations; I am certain of it.” She turned suddenly, gesturing with the pastry. “Now, once you have children, that will be the ultimate end to their mean whisperings.”
“Children?” Thalia’s throat tightened. “Uh… yes, that would be one way to… um… silence things.”
She waited, hoping that Frances would fill the quiet with everything Thalia wanted to know about that particular issue. Rather, the lack of it. Four years and no children, even in a marriage of convenience, reallywasconfounding.
“Is that why things have improved, and he is finally attending events with you?” Frances asked. “Has he finally agreed to have children with you? Iknewit would strengthen your relationship. See, I told you that it would!”
Helpless, Thalia scooped up a mouthful of the flavored ice to buy herself time to think of an answer. It tasted of tart raspberry, sweet and sour and delicious, and so cold it made her gasp.
“No agreement as such,” she replied, swallowing the ice as it melted. “But, you know, am I really so bothered about having children with him.”
She framed it as a statement, though it was really a question.
Frances stared at her, frowning. “It is what you have longed for, for months. Do not tell me that all the afternoons we have spent discussing it have been for nothing, that you have changed your mind? Oh! Is it him? Hashemade you change your mind?”
Floundering, Thalia scooped up another large spoonful of the ice and shoved it into her mouth. This was becoming interminable.
I should just tell her what happened to me. Then, she can tell me everything I have forgotten.She got the feeling that her friend would be more than happy to oblige, too, once she got over the initial shock.
But before Thalia could decide, torn between wanting to know everything and the realization that she was in a rather publicplace that was not at all suited to such revelations, Frances groaned, “What do you want? We are in the midst of gorging ourselves.”
Thalia turned to find James standing there, offering a polite bow. “Henry has wandered off, so I thought I would come and annoy my little sister some more.” He smiled at Thalia. “No, in truth, I hoped I might borrow you for the duration of a dance, if you are not averse?”
Perhaps,hewould be better suited to answering my questions.After all, it seemed that she did not know him well, but he knew Henry. Any questions she had would not sound so strange, so unusual, coming from her.
“I would not be averse,” she said, offering her hand and praying that she could at least remember how to dance.
CHAPTER 18
“Traitor,” Frances said with a wink. “No, no, it is quite all right. I will be content with my delicacies until you return to me.”
Smiling awkwardly, her hand feeling out of place upon James’, Thalia promised she would soon be back. With that, she was suddenly being led out of the room, heading back toward the gossip and the whispers of the ballroom.
“I fear I may have angered you, Duchess,” James said as they walked. “I understand that you are fiercely protective of my sister; you have been instrumental to her recovery after the death of her husband. So, I do hope you know that I was merely jesting with her before. It is what we do, but I know it may seem mean-spirited to those who are unaccustomed.”
Thalia glanced up at him, appreciating the gesture of apology. Indeed, he seemed a pleasant enough fellow, though there was not much of a cousinly resemblance. Where Henry’s eyes weresapphire blue, James’ were a warm sort of brown, his hair as fair as his sister’s, his features handsome but ordinary. If it were not for that bright blonde hair, he would not have stood out in a crowd, not the way that Henry did.
“I just do not like to see my friends hurt,” Thalia replied. “Thalia assured me she was not, so all is well.”
James seemed relieved. “So, she does not mention marrying again to you?”
She remembered what Henry had said about Frances’ unceremonious ejection from the household she had married into, and patched together a picture of what Frances’ feelings on the matter might be. Not a memory, or certain knowledge, but close enough.
“She does not. I think the shock of the first time was enough.”
James nodded. “That is as I thought. She does not speak of it, you see, though I am not foolhardy enough to think you would betray your dear friend’s confidence either.” He smiled warmly. “But I hope you know I have no intention of forcing her into a match. We are not wealthy in the way that my cousin is, but we are comfortable; she has a place with me forever if she so chooses.”
“I am glad to hear that,” Thalia said, meaning it.
