“Thank you, Lucy.” Her maid had had a difficult few days as well. “I’m sorry for the trouble you’ve had. You’ve been wonderful with the girls since coming on. You certainly didn’t deserve such treatment, and I’m sorry I was unable to protect you from it.”
The young womanwas only a few years older than Rhoda.
“I’ll be fine. I was just so worried of what they were doing to you. I knew you’d never send me away like that.” Lucy twisted her hands together.
“And I never will. You have my word on that.” Eve knew that she and her girls were the closest to family Lucy had. Darius Mossant had thought only of himself.
Apparently uncomfortable, Lucy glanced around the room and then asked, “would you care for something to eat, ma’am?”
“Something light, thank you Lucy.” Eve wasn’t hungry, but the maid seemed to need a moment to herself.
And Eve needed some privacy.
Left alone, Eve could ask her daughter a very personal question. Something she’d been contemplating since the moment she realized she’d nearly married her dead husband’s cousin.
“Darling?”
Rhoda’s brows rose at her tone and she sat forward attentively. “Yes?”
Eve cleared her throat. “Would you consider me foolish, I mean. Are you happy?” She hedged.
“I am. You know that I am.” The somber mood fled her daughter for the moment. Lord Carlisle had been perfect for her. Eve had seen it from the beginning.
“Justin can be at times overly protective, and a bit stuffy.” She smiled. “But he’s made me happier than I ever might have imagined. Are you happy, Mama?”
How did one discuss something like this with one’s daughter? She supposed to do so as though she were a friend.
“I think I can be.”
“Because father is dead?”
Eve had quite come to terms with her emotions over Jean Luc’s death. “Your father’s death doesn’t make me happy.” She explained. “Although, I am relieved. I am also sad. At one time, he was a good man. At one time…”
Rhoda tilted her head. Again, Eve searched for words.
“I’m in love with Niles Waverly.” The words rang clear and true. “I didn’t think I’d ever feel love again, and I’m uncertain as to whether or not he feels the same…”
A huge grin spread across her daughter’s face. “I don’t think you need have any fears there.”
“You’re a Countess now.”
At these words, her daughter broke into a peel of laughter. “Oh, Mama. Are you asking for my approval?”
Was that it?
“I don’t want to make a ninny of myself.” This was more embarrassing than she’d imagined. She was past the age of forty!
“Remember what you told me when I didn’t know what to do about the bet? Or about Justin?”
Eve remembered. Of course, she remembered. “I do.”
“You told me that we Mossant woman oughtn’t only to survive, but that we deserved to thrive.” Rhoda smiled as she spoke the words.
“I’ve wanted that for you and for Coleus and Hollyhock more than anything, all along.”
“And we want it for you.”
Eve simply stared into her daughter’s eyes. “I’m so very proud of you.”
