“I know she would.”
Festoon lights litthe single track to the manor house. I linked my arm through Dad’s and squeezed into him against the biting chill of the crisp evening. As we neared the manor, the front door swung open and Jasper’s voice boomed out.
“Michael, Catherine. Come on in.”
We stepped inside, stamping away the cold and shucking our outerwear. I folded my peacoat over Jasper’s outstretched arm as he pecked a kiss on each of my cheeks. Jane popped her head out of the drawing room; her elegant face split into a smile when she saw us.
“Catherine, look at you. You look lovely, darling. So grown-up… You’re all so grown-up now. Come, come, let me fetch you a drink, and you can go find the others in the snug.”
I turned to check on Dad, but he was already lost in conversation with Jasper, both men hunched over, chatting like conspirators.
I smiled as I looked back to Jane, who was chuckling at the same thing, and I was hit with a genuine rush of affectionfor the Daltons. They’d been good to us; they treated us as equals even though Dad was on their payroll. We’d lost so much before we came here, but the Daltons had been a glorious light at the end of a dark tunnel. They were friendship and warmth. Plus, they’d been more than generous with my education, which Dad never would have been able to afford otherwise.
In the kitchen, Jane poured me a glass of Champagne and clinked it with her own. “Before you go in to the others, may I speak with you for a moment?”
I took a sip and tried not to wince. It was still a taste I hadn’t acquired, despite Jeremy sneaking bottles and sharing them with me throughout the summer before I started uni.
Jane leaned in, looking at me through her fluttering false eyelashes. “What’s your take on this Gadby girl Jeremy’s brought home?”
The question caught me off guard. “Oh, Francesca. Yeah, she’s…”Where do I start? She’s bright, funny, sexy, can do magical things with her fingers…“She’s really great.”
Jane laughed, and her diamond earrings sparkled as they swayed. “Phew! Jeremy’s besotted, but he’s my baby boy and I don’t want to see him hurt. Girls can be so cruel, and he’s the sensitive sort, as you know.”
I bit my lip and nodded.
Iknewthis is what they’d think. Jeremy knew exactly what he was doing when he’d orchestrated this.“Me, finally bringing a girl home,”was what he’d said on the train.
I must have been frowning as Jane touched my armand peered into my face. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry. That was awfully insensitive of me, Catherine. Sometimes these chaps can’t see what’s right under their noses, can they?”
I tilted my head until the penny dropped. “Oh, wait. You don’t think that I like?—”
“It’s quite alright. I get it. It took me years of flaunting my ankles before I finally turned Jasper’s head. If it’s meant to be, it’s?—”
I squawked a laugh. “No, really. Jeremy and I are just friends. He’s like a brother to me.”
Jane pressed a hand to her chest in an exaggerated flap of relief. “Thank goodness. You looked crestfallen. I thought I’d shoved my foot right in it then.”
“No, not at all. I guess the three of us are close friends. I was just thinking how it’ll change everything if…”If Francesca and I were to come clean about how we spent the last night of term wrapped in each other’s arms.
“Ah, yes. I see,” she grimaced. “You don’t want to be a third wheel. Look, don’t worry, you’ll meet the right chap soon enough.”
I broke eye contact and stared down at my polished shoes.
“And if you don’t, then eager young Hugo Beaumont will be waiting in the wings. If rumours are to be believed, he has quite a crush on you.” Jane chuckled but then widened her eyes as if struck by an important thought. “The Beaumonts are one of the wealthiest?—”
“Families in Berkshire.” I finished the sentence with her, and we both laughed. “Yes, I know. I’ll bear that in mind.”
“Right, well you better go see what they’re up to, and I’ll go rescue poor Camilla before the chaps bore the poor woman into a coma. Supper’s at eight.”
I nudged open the door to the snug, where a tense concentration hung in the air. Jeremy leaned over the back of the chair where Francesca sat, holding a fanned hand of playing cards. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her black dress with its plunging lacy neckline and ruffled cap sleeves. Her makeup was pared back, but immaculate. Subtle kohl around her eyes, and dark lips which made her skin look pale, almost ethereal. She looked stunning, not that she didn’t usually look that way to me, but her outfit was a far cry from the clothes she wore around campus.
Here, there wasn’t even a hint of the vampy goth-girl I knew. She not only looked different, she held herself differently, moved differently. It was probably just the new hairstyle and change of clothing; I hadn’t seen her in a dress before. But something about it felt off — almost like the same machine with a different operator who hadn’t quite figured out the controls yet.
Francesca’s forehead crinkled in concentration as Jeremy leaned in close to her, whispering and pointing at the cards. The air crackled with a low hum of anticipation, punctuated by the clinking of ice.
Hugo and his younger brother, Archie, reclined on the Chesterfield opposite, their own cards fanned out and face down on the coffee table. Hugo swirled an amber liquid in his glass. “Oh, come on, JD. Quick game’s a good game; how long’s it take to teach her?”
Jeremy scoffed. “Why are you in such a hurry to lose, Hugo?”
