There had been a moment earlier when she had known utter despair and even anger. When Keaton had hesitated in announcing his trust and then been interrupted, leaving a single word dangling without context. In that moment, she had felt the rug pulled from beneath her feet. Her foundations had crumbled, and she had felt utterly alone.
The prospect of an ignominious return to Silverton had loomed, an endless future of subservience either to the Vexleys or whomever they decided to marry her off to.
But I will not go to any arranged marriage, even if I am once again in their power. I have changed. I have tasted freedom. They will find me a very different prey!
“Oh Lord, but I hope my resolve is never put to the test!” she exclaimed.
“Georgie?” Amelia’s voice sprang from the doorway.
Georgia jumped. “Amelia! You quite startled me out of my skin!”
“Ididknock, more than once. You were quite distracted, I think. What do you not wish to be put to the test?”
Georgia considered her response and then shook her head angrily. Amelia was not someone she needed to keep secrets from.
“I have been in Keaton's company for far too long. He keeps secrets, and it is contagious,” she said aloud, earning a frown of confusion from her cousin.
“I have resolved that regardless of what happens with my marriage to Keaton, I will not go back to being powerless at Silverton. Never again. And I will certainly not go back to Lord Emsworth or any like him. Never!” she added emphatically.
“Good for you. But why should you?” Amelia asked, puzzled.
“Because my marriage is... has been... no,still isprecarious,” she replied.
She sat down on the bed heavily, trying to order her thoughts. She played with the fabric of the shift in her lap.
“I married as a matter of urgent convenience. It was always our plan to annul after a month or so, when the scandal had died down. You remember what it was like.”
Amelia sat beside her, nodding.
“That time is fast approaching, and...”
“But surely he cannot divorce you so quickly and easily. Does it not take months? A special dispensation from the Archbishop of some such?” her cousin questioned, her pretty forehead wrinkling.
“It would only require a divorce if our marriage had been consummated... and I do not think that it has,” she answered.
Amelia went quite red, and Georgia matched her. They both were consumed by a fit of giggles.
“Whatever do you mean, you do not think that it has?” Amelia asked, astonished.
“Well, what constitutes consummation?” Georgia turned over the question, “I am not surethatthreshold has been crossed, but there has been...”
She could not seem to finish a single sentence. She buried her face in her hands. Amelia fell back onto the bed, doing likewise.
“I wish I could advise you, cousin. But I fear I know less than you, although I hoped that would soon change.”
She stopped laughing as Georgia looked sharply at her. She looked back, sitting up slowly.
“What was that? You had better say more now that you have heard as much as you have,” Georgia said, forgetting her own concerns and turning to give Amelia her full attention.
Amelia rose, looking thoroughly miserable, and paced the room.
“I was not supposed to speak of it. Father will be dreadfully angry. But... oh, it's all quite horrible, but my friends tell me it is quite normal, so I do not know if I am being a silly girl or if I am actually right and all this is as monstrous as it seemed at first and...”
Georgia rose too and took Amelia's hands in her own. The girl was babbling, words spilling from her.
“Take a deep breath and tell me,” Georgia began, kindly.
“Papa promised my hand in marriage to Lord Emsworth,” Amelia blurted.
