“What I overheard?” Shannon repeated in bewilderment. Her worst fear when she had agreed to help Brandon had been exactly this sort of conversation, one in which only Aurora herself could provide the appropriate responses.
Michaeline seemed to find nothing strange about Shannon’s reply. It was in her nature to find excuses for her daughter. “I did not mean overheard precisely,” she explained rather quickly. “I know you would not intentionally eavesdrop, but when I opened the door to leave our bedchamber and saw you fleeing down the corridor, well, I’m afraid I gathered that you had been about to enter our room and stopped when you heard us arguing. It would have been natural for you to listen since we were discussing you.” She came to a breathless halt and finally sighed. “I would have liked to have spoken of it then, but you neatly avoided the conversation, just as you did as a child when you were faced with some unpleasantness.”
“I think you have mistaken the matter,” Shannon said. “And worried yourself over a trifle. Iwasstanding outside your door while you and Papa were arguing, but I could hear nothing of any import. I fled because I never could abide it when you disagreed over something I had done.” She remembered a detail that Brandon told her and put it to use now. “Do you remember how we argued when I wanted to marry Brandon? You wanted me to wait, and Papa, if he had his way, would have had me marry his partner’s son.” She laughed lightly. “Really, Mama, can you wonder why I did not want to be party to another argument of that nature?”
Michaeline was completely disarmed. “I hadn’t realized,” she said slowly, trying to gather her wits. “You were so distant when we left that I thought…And then you rarely wrote…. How was I to know? You should have said something, Aurora.”
Shannon patted Michaeline’s arm. “I can see it’s troubled you, and for that I’m sorry. If I was a trifle distant, it was because I regretted your leaving. And as for writing”—here Shannon made a little face that clearly demonstrated her distaste—“you know how much I dislike it.”
Michaeline nodded. “I suppose I should have listened to your father and never brought it up,” she said uneasily.
“That is hardly fair. You’ve aroused my curiosity. What was it that you and Papa said to one another that you thought would upset me so terribly? Would it upset me now?” Shannon only asked because she thought it was the surest way to end the conversation, feeling certain Michaeline would avoid the question. She nearly groaned aloud when she was answered thoughtfully.
“As to the last, I cannot say. Youarehappy here now, aren’t you?”
Shannon despised herself. It was so very wrong to deceive Michaeline that nothing, not even Brandon’s fears for his daughter, could justify it. Yes, she wanted to scream,Iam happy here. But your daughter hates the things I love best. “Can you doubt it?” she asked.
A frown creased Michaeline’s brow. “It would seem not, though if you had asked me before, I would not have been so certain.”
“What do you mean?”
“You and Brandon, dear. Oh, you were in each other’s pockets often enough when we last were here, but I had the feeling, I don’t know, that you were trying to impress your father and me that you had not made a hasty choice.”
Shannon considered scoffing at Michaeline’s perceptive comment, but she thought better of it. It would be a mistake to think that simply because Michaeline had difficulty confronting Aurora, she could be easily brushed aside. She was a shrewd observer, and she had a mother’s keen ability to gauge her daughter’s happiness. “I had not realized we were so transparent,” she said.
“Then I did not imagine it. All was not as it seemed.”
“No…there were problems.”
Michaeline grimaced. “It was Parker. I knew it. He was bent on causing trouble.”
Shannon had no idea the Marchands knew Parker. Brandon had never mentioned that he had been at the folly when they visited. Shannon was grateful Michaeline did not expect a reply and began expanding on her theme.
“I always liked Cody well enough, though I know you can’t abide his teasing. But you have to admit there is no harm in anything Cody does. Parker is another matter altogether.”
Shannon’s palms turned clammy as Michaeline continued to catalogue Parker’s faults. At least Shannon thought she was still complaining about Parker. Shannon could not follow a word of the rapid-fire French Michaeline used when she was excited. “Mama,” she implored. “Do not distress yourself so. Parker’s been gone an age. Brandon has nothing to do with him.”
“Ça me fait plaisir,”Michaeline said firmly.
Shannon merely nodded, hoping it was appropriate.
Michaeline took a calming breath and switched to English. “It is good that Parker left. I did not like the way he looked at you. I did not like his eyes. They followed you everywhere.”
“Mama!”
“C’est vrai,”she defended, then repeated herself for emphasis. “It is true. He wanted to make trouble between you and your husband.”
Shannon knew how well Parker had succeeded, but she could say nothing. “Let us not talk of Parker,” she urged gently.
“At least you did not encourage him,” Michaeline added.
Agitated now, Shannon stood. “Mama! Please! It is too lovely a day to dredge up the past.”
Michaeline’s hazel eyes widened. “You didn’t encourage him, did you?”
“I am going to find Clara,” Shannon said repressively. “If you care to join us for a walk on the grounds, you are welcome.” She swept out of the room in a flurry of skirts, her spine ramrod stiff.
Chapter 9
