Yes. The twins’ need for a governess had grown quite dire.
“I shall arrive promptly at eight in the morning.” She was going to do this. “You and I can lay out the terms of this agreement before I officially begin my duties. If you are amenable to a meeting, then?”
Lady Willoughby appeared horrified but Jas– Lord Willoughby appeared more amused than anything else. Terms must be agreed upon and put in writing. An independent woman had only herself to protect her circumstances.
“Good day, Lord Willoughby. Lady Willoughby.”
Lady Willoughby only sniffed.
Jasper smiled.
What had Tilde gotten herself into?
Willy!
“You’re going to work for the Earl of Willoughby?” Betsy studied Tilde skeptically. She was stitching together one of her newest creations. Unbeknownst to Tilde, three different ladies had approached Betsy regarding the two dresses. They’d recognized a unique style and had wondered if the gowns had been sewn by a French dressmaker. They were interested in commissioning gowns for themselves.
“I begin tomorrow.” She inserted.
“Is that why he sought you out then?” Betsy’s brows furrowed. Of course, an earl would not see his children’s governess at a ball.
Tilde couldn’t lie to Betsy. They’d always been closest in age as well as temperament. “We have a prior acquaintance.”
This caused Betsy to set her needle aside and give Tilde her full attention. “Did you meet him while working for the TKPriorEmployers?”
“Before them. Eleven years ago. Oh, Betsy, he’s the first man who ever kissed me. And then we ran into one another on the way to London last week. And he kissed me again last night. And I’m to begin working for him tomorrow.” It felt good to tell somebody else all of this. It made it more real and yet it sounded even worse when she admitted to all of it out loud.
“Is he the gentleman from Vauxhall?” The days that followed their parent’s death had been difficult ones and yet her sister remembered Tilde’s swooning sighs from the morning after that night.
“I was besotted with him at the time, I’ll admit, but I’m much older and wiser now. As is he. And his daughters require a most excellent governess. Not just anyone. They need me. More specifically, little Lady Althea needs Peaches and me.”
“I remember you––but wait. He kissed you last night?”
Tilde bit her lip. “It was an unfortunate relapse. I’ve made it quite clear that there shall be no more of that. In fact, it is forgotten.”
Betsy through her hands in the air and burst into a fit of giggles. “You do remember that I was once engaged? Do you not? If you two were attracted to one another enough to––how did you put it?” Another fit of giggles. “Relapse? Oh, Tilde. How are you going to fight it while residing in the same household?”
Tilde bent over and buried her face in her hands. “I don’t know, but we have to. If you saw those two little girls, you would understand. I could have said no to him, in fact it wouldn’t have been a question. But Lady Eloise, she pretends to be so grown up in order to watch over her sister. She does it for her father too. She worries about her father. I could see it in her eyes. And Lady Althea is afraid to trust. But she trusts Peaches, Betsy, and I believe she will come to trust me. It would have been selfish of me to say no.” She added.
Betsy had moved across to sit beside Tilde, dropping one arm around her shoulders. “You always were the soft–hearted one of all of us.” She squeezed her tight and then rubbed Tilde’s arm vigorously. “It’s no use worrying over any of this now. What’s done is done. And you know I have every faith in you.”
Tilde glanced up in time to see a teasing glint in her sister’s gaze. “Besides, if anyone can resist future relapses, it is my big sister.”
Tilde groaned and Betsy giggled again. “If you lose your job, you can always come work for me.”
Tilde groaned again and Betsy dissolved into another fit of laughter. Because both of them knew that despite getting the highest marks in all of her graduating class at Miss Primm’s Ladies’ Seminary, sewing was the one skill Tilde had never really grasped.
Willoughby did something he’d not done in over four years.
Just as any titled gentlemen would choose to do when avoiding the women in his life, he visited one of his clubs. Surprisingly, he was met with a number of familiar faces. It seemed that most of his cohorts from school hadn’t really changed all that much. Many had married, set up their nurseries, and then gone on to live their lives the same as they had before.
“Willy!” Archibald Crampton, Viscount Bridgeport was one of the few who’d avoided the parson’s trap. Not for lack of opportunity but because he simply seemed to be having too much of a good time as a bachelor.
“Bridge!” Genuine pleasure struck Willoughby at the sight of his old friend. Bridgeport and Willoughby had been polar opposites as youths and even more so as young men. And yet they’d been the best of friends.
Bridge strode across the room and enclosed Jasper in a welcoming embrace, pounding him on the back in greeting. “Good to see you, old man. Come sit down and tell me if you’re still following all the rules? How’s that working out for you, Willy?” The words were in jest, and yet they stung.
Because to be quite truthful, it hadn’t worked out all that well after all.
