Was it possible shecouldleverage his temporary regard into a match of some kind?
Before she could ponder the idea much further, their butler, Kendall, entered the breakfast room. “Miss Liston, a missive for you.”
Emma crossed the room to take it. She turned it over and caught her breath. It was the seal of the House of Abernathe. Her hands shook a little as she broke it and unfolded the pages.
It was an invitation to a garden party in two days’ time and scrawled across the more formal page was a note from Meg.Please do come!
Emma drew in a long breath as the butler left the room. “How long will it take Kendall to report this to my mother?”
Sally laughed. “Three minutes,” she guessed. “And that’s only because he’s slow climbing the stairs.”
Emma stared at the looping, friendly message from Meg. Meg, who claimed to like her. And she shook her head.
“Well, then I suppose I’m going to a garden party,” she said.
“Excellent,” Sally said. “I’ll be sure you have a few gowns to pick from. And your mother will be pleased.”
Her maid slipped from the room and left Emma alone. She rubbed her eyes and sighed. “Oh yes, Mama will be over the moon.”
But as for herself, she was left with a restless feeling. One that had nothing to do with gardens or parties or Meg. One that had everything to do with Abernathe.
As Meg entered his office, James looked up from his pile of paperwork and smiled at her. When he saw her face, pale and pinched, his expression fell and he rose to his feet.
“What is it?” he asked.
Meg reached behind her, sliding his door shut before she leaned on it with a sigh. “My garden party starts in half an hour,” she said.
He nodded. “Yes?”
“And Mother is drunk. Again.”
He shut his eyes and shook his head. Anger rose up in his chest, but he tamped it down and instead looked at his sister. “I’m sorry, Meg.”
She let her head rest against the door a moment and he could see she was fighting frustrated tears. “She does well for months at a time and then she spirals into this. I know her life has not been happy, I know Father was…Father. He made it plain to all of us how much he despised us and wished we were those he truly loved. I want to have understanding for how broken that made her, but I am soincrediblyfrustrated by her behavior.”
James moved around the desk and came to fold his arms around her. He felt her go limp for a moment before she regained her strength. She looked up at him with a sad smile.
“What can I do?” he asked as she pulled from his embrace.
She met his stare. “Will you…will you come out and say hello?”
“Margaret,” he said, turning his back to go sit at his desk again.
“Don’t Margaret me!” she said, but laughter had returned to her tone. “Please, it will put the ladies all in a twitter and take some of the focus off Mother’s absence.”
He pressed his lips together and then glared at her. “You use my absolute adoration of my baby sister against me.”
She grinned. “Every single time, yes.”
He threw up his hands in surrender. “Very well. I shall poke my head out. But I warn you, I will make an excuse to go. I have things on my agenda today that cannot be ignored.”
She clapped her hands together and there was no denying the relief on Meg’s face. “Oh, thank you, Jamie.”
He smiled at the shortening of his name, a throwback to their childhood days. Margaret so rarely called him that anymore and it warmed him. “You’re welcome.”
“You may change your mind about not staying,” she said as she moved toward the door.
He sighed. “And why would I do that? I have no interest in listening to your friend’s gossip.”
