“Yes. He is returning the horses, so I have a bit of time to talk with you candidly.”
They began walking slowly.
“I’d hate to take you away from your fiancé,” said Grace.
“You aren’t. That is, I needed a bit of a break. We’ve spent time together nearly every day this week.”
“Oh, that is nice. You must be excited for the wedding,” said Adele.
Louisa recognized the empty platitudes for what they were. Adele was, of course, being polite and didn’t know the whole truth, but Louisa did not want to pretend everything was fine right now. “Ladies, can I confide in you?”
Grace looked at her a bit mischievously. “Please do.”
They formed a bit of a triangle. Not many people were out today—the air was crisp and the sky was overcast, not exactly ideal conditions for promenading in the park—so Louisa felt safespeaking to them. “I’ve had a terrible week. I need to talk to someone neutral about it.”
“Oh, dear,” said Grace. “Yes, tell us.”
Louisa explained about how she worried she and Rotherfeld had little in common and how her attempts to engage him in conversation had not gone especially well, and the cold fish kisses, and then she explained what had happened with Fletcher.
“Wait,” said Grace when Louisa was done. “Go back. YoukissedFletcher.”
“Yes.”
“And?” asked Adele.
“It was amazing. I did not know kisses could be like that.”
Grace made swooning noises. “Okay. So, you kissed him, and it was much better than kissing your actual fiancé, but then Fletcher offered for you, but only if you broke your engagement with Rotherfeld and couldn’t find anyone else?”
“Yes. He’d pity marry me.”
“Oh, Fletcher,” said Grace.
Adele stared at her. “Oh,Fletcher? You mean oh, Louisa. What a dreadful thing for him to say! I’m sorry he said that to you.”
“Fletcher’s a fool,” said Grace.
“I’ll say,” said Louisa.
“I see two possibilities,” said Grace. “Either Fletcher feels sorry for you and has offered to marry you as a last resort because he cares enough to offer but not enough to follow through. He reasons that, even if you break things off with Rotherfeld, you’ll find another husband.”
“Easier said than done.”
“Or,” said Grace. “He cares for you andwantsto marry you but didn’t want to be presumptuous, so he tried to thread the needle and failed.”
“I doubt it’s that second thing,” said Louisa. “He’s never expressed any desire for me beyond friendship. But even if that were true, it’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. He doesn’t want to be presumptuous? Why do men not just say what they mean?”
“He may not understand your doubts about Rotherfeld,” said Adele.
“I don’t see how I could have been clearer.”
“Men are foolish creatures,” Grace said. “I love my husband, but he can be an idiot. We took the baby to visit my parents this week, and Owen tried to leave the house without the pram. When I explained to him that he could not, in fact, just carry the baby to my parents’ house because Dafydd has grown quite heavy, Owen did not believe me.”
“I hesitate to call my husband foolish because Hugh suffered a head injury from which he will probably never fully recover, and that is not his fault, but sometimes he mixes up the name of our son with the name of our dog.”
“My father did that when I was growing up,” said Louisa. “Called me Rosie, which was the name of our cocker spaniel. So that is not unique to Hugh.”
“My guess?” Grace said. “I don’t know Fletcher as well as you do, obviously, but he and my husband are close, so I see him a great deal, and I’d wager that Fletcher misspoke when he…offered to take you off Rotherfeld’s hands. I know, for example, that Fletcher has been worried that your marriage will mean you will spend less time together.”
