“You look beautiful,” Genevieve assured her friend.
“So do you! Purple—so inspired!” When Genevieve just blinked at her, Elspeth laughed. “Is there finally something I know that you don’t? Purple—the color of royalty.”
“I hadn’t even thought about that,” Genevieve admitted. “I just loved the color.”
“Well, clearly, it’s perfect.” Elspeth clasped her hand.
“I heard there was a fashion parade happening,” Evangeline said shyly from the hallway.
“Oh, yes, come in, come in!” Ophelia exclaimed.
Evangeline’s gown of burgundy made her look striking, and Hannah said, “No,redis my favorite color!”
The women laughed. With four ladies and their bustles, the small nursery had become a bit crowded. Ophelia and Elspeth filed out as Genevieve bid Hannah and Peter good night.
“Augie didn’t come?” Hannah said a bit sadly.
“No, he wanted to stay with June,” Evangeline explained. “There would have been no playing, you know. You’re to go right to sleep.” She smoothed Hannah’s hair back over her forehead with a hand that trembled imperceptivity.
“Good night, Fletcher,” Genevieve said. “You’ll stay in bed, won’t you?”
“Yes, mum,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“We’ll have another chapter ofSigestantomorrow,” she promised.
“You look fine as a fivepence,” Fletcher admitted.
“Thank you,” Genevieve said, her heart warming. She risked mussing her dress to bend down and peck a kiss on his head.
“Steady,” Kendrick said, holding Genevieve’s hand tucked in his.
Her eyes rolled around to fix on him. “I’m not a horse.”
“I know that.”
“Next you’ll be telling me, ‘Whoa, girl.’”
“I would never,” he said around a laugh.
“Only because you don’t remember what it’s like to handle horses,” she murmured, and then the first guests were upon them in the receiving line.
Guests could enter by the front door, or by the cellar if they were coming from the Ossuary. Both guests would pass by the cloak room and the retiring room, if anyone needed to repair a flounce or re-pin their hair, and then come up to the open ballroom on the first floor in the receiving line. Genevieve had never presided over so large a social gathering, in this life or in her previous one, but she had been to a few assemblies and parties when she was alive and had watched those hostesses.
Welcome everyone, she reminded herself.Smile. Find partners for those without when the dancing starts. Be civil, be kind, and be firm when you need to be.
Beyond her and Kendrick, Dominic and Evangeline were passing out dance cards to the ladies. The orchestra was warming up—she could hear the distinct creak-groan of the hurdy-gurdy; wouldn’t that be a fun addition?—and the ballroom shone with its newly polished floor and the mirrors and beeswax candles set around the perimeter to reflect the light.
“Thank you so much for coming,” she said, meeting all the colorless eyes that came her way—some direct and arrogant, some lifted up from under eyelashes, some wary, some hopeful. “We’re so glad you’re here.”
“It’s a crush!” Elspeth declared as the windows at the far end of the ballroom were flung open to try to relieve the sound in the ballroom. It would have been suffocatingly hot if they’d had pulses, but Ophelia’s heart was the only one that beat within the ballroom.
“And the dancing hasn’t even started yet,” Genevieve marveled.
“It won’t start until we open the dancing,” Kendrick said, offering his hand to her.
“Oh, dear,” she said, but she followed him out onto the floor.
He nodded to the orchestra and smiled reassuringly down at her. “I promise I won’t saywhoa.”
