We hope you will be pleased to learn that we have opted to let a place in Brighton for a full week. You read that correctly—just the ladies. We are leaving our husbands behind to fend for themselves in order to offer you, our dear Georgina, our support. Dearest, do not be distressed at our converging upon you; we understand that you require ample time to yourself to see to your other private endeavor.
She referred to Georgina’s writing.
You may expect us by the end of the week.
Until then, I remain,
Faithfully yours,
Lady Amelia Culver
P.S. Our Gwen may have stumbled upon some information regarding a friend of yours that we believe you will wish to learn, sooner than later.
Her closest friends were coming to Brighton for an extended holiday to support her, and she had not breathed a word to them about Teddy. Not one word in all this time. And now she was sharing a villa with him, claiming to be his wife.Dear Heaven.
And who was thisfriendthey wished to discuss with her? They were her only friends, and made up the entirety of her circle, with the exception of Teddy.
It was all very mysterious and distressing. Perhaps, if she was verycareful, she could arrange it so they met at their rented villa and thereby avoid any…confusion on their part. Or Teddy’s. Or her household staff’s for that matter.
With a moan, she set the missive aside and picked up the letter from her mother.
My dear daughter,
As you are not here for me to share my thoughts, I decided to write to you. Do not worry. I am not about asking that you reconsider your harsh decree as concerns your father. It was clear to both of us that you have quite made up your mind in that regard.
Your father, of course, is inconsolable that his only daughter would choose to treat him in such a callous and unfeeling way. His words, of course. I told him not to judge you so harshly. It is hardly your fault if the two of us cannot show our heads in public thanks to the debt collectors carting our belongings out of our home.
If only our Drake had returned home from the war. He would see to everything. But do not worry, Georgina. We will muddle through somehow. Your father mentioned taking a possible short-term loan from our very good friend, Mr. Mealy.
I do hope you are enjoying your vacation in sunny Brighton while your father and I remain behind in dreary London.
Affectionately yours,
Your Mother
Georgina dropped her head on the desktop with another heartfelt moan. She could not miss her mother’s not-so-subtle attempt at manipulation. Nor could she fault her entirely. No, Georgina had brought this on herself. She had created this monster by agreeing to pay her father’s debts in the first place.
It had started innocuously enough, with her mother bemoaning one of her father’s larger losses at the racetrack. In nearly the same breath, she had broached the subject of Mr. Mealy, the wealthyAmerican industrialist who had purchased the townhouse across the street from theirs and had become a frequent visitor, especially at suppertime.
Apparently, her father had shared his “little problem” with Mr. Mealy, who had then expressed an openness to lending him money to cover the IOU.
In exchange, her mother mentioned, almost as an aside, Mr. Mealy, a widower, and nearly twice Georgina’s age, wondered if her father might assist him in meeting a nice young woman of thetonof marriageable age who might, by her pedigree, grant himentréeinto a world not currently accessible to him as not only a commoner, but anAmericancommoner.
Alarm bells had gone off in her head. Thus far, her parents had not pressured her to find a husband. Her unmarried status had come up, certainly, but, as her mother relied on Georgina for much of the running of the household, especially after Drake’s death which had hit all of them very hard, they’d accepted her myriad excuses with alacrity.
Georgina had also long suspected their leniency owed to her father’s wish to avoid doling out the expected dowry should she contract a marriage, which was fine with her. She did not need a husband to secure a comfortable future for herself thanks to her writing success and subsequent investments, not to mention the only husband she would ever want was not to be had. The thought of marrying another could not be borne.
But on that day, something in her mother’s tone had sent a chill up Georgina’s spine. Immediately she’d made the offer to cover the gambling loss. And so it had gone for the last year, with Georgina stepping in to bail her father out whenever his losses outweighed his ability to pay.
That was, until her recent declaration informing both her parents that she no longer intended to provide the means to feed her father’shabit. Via her solicitor, she promised to see to the needs of the household whenever necessary, filling in gaps that her father’s income from his entailed estates did not cover and keeping her mother outfitted in the latest Bond Street fashions, as was her preference.
But she would cease purchasing her father’s vowels.
Straightening, she crumpled the parchment in her fist. As much as she loved her parents, and she did, very much, she was no longer a young girl on leading strings. She was an independent woman of means and, regardless of her parents’ ploys, she would not be manipulated into marrying any man against her will.
The slam of the front door, followed by the rapid clamor of heavy boots up the stairs, had her shifting to face the chamber’s entryway a moment before Teddy burst into view.
His hair was dripping, as were most of his clothes. He looked as if he’d come straight from a dip in the ocean, fully dressed, at a dead run. His cheeks were flushed, his cravat was untied and left to drape over his neck, his waistcoat was nowhere in sight.
