Delilah studied her spoon, turning it over and over in the glass cup. “She’s been through a great deal. My father’s death was difficult on her.”
Thomas shook his head. “It was difficult on you too. You were a child, but she only seems to care about herself.” Thomas needed to change the subject. No good ever came of discussing Delilah’s mother. Delilah was loyal and loving, and kept trying to get her awful mother to show her some affection, however slight. Delilah might make light of her mother’s words, but he knew they affected her deeply.
Delilah flashed him a look of amusement. “Oh, Thomas, you’ve never liked her. Ever since she chastised you for throwing pebbles at my window when we were younger.”
It was true. He used to toss pebbles at Delilah’s window to get her attention. It was also true that Lady Vanessa had become incensed one night when she’d found him doing it, but that wasnotwhy he didn’t like the woman. He didn’t like the woman because she treated her wonderful daughter so poorly.
“Yes, well, I no longer toss pebbles at your window. Now, I simply pull my carriage to the door, but your mother remains not particularly motherly.” It was the kindest thing he could say about the woman.
“Perhaps.” Delilah took another bite of her ice. “But I’ve never been terribly daughterly either.”
Thomas furrowed his brow. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Delilah shrugged. “I only mean that if I weren’t such a disappointment to her, I’m certain she’d be more agreeable to me.”
“I’m not certain about that at all.” Thomas glanced away. Delilah was smart and funny and beautiful and unique and a hundred other wonderful things. If her idiotic mother couldn’t see what a gem she had, she didn’t deserve her. But, Delilah’s intense loyalty was another thing he admired in her. Once she decided you were part of her inner circle, she would move heaven and earth for you if you needed her to. Her mother was no exception.
He stretched out his legs and laid an arm across the back of the bench. It was time to change the subject. “Do we have all the decorations for the play?”
“Nearly.” Her spoon arrested halfway to her lips, Delilah stopped and blinked. A sly smile crept onto her face. “Did I tell you Miss Adeline shall be in the play?”
Thomas’s smile faded. “No. You did not. May I resign my role in light of this news?”
Miss Adeline was Delilah’s parrot. She’d insisted on procuring a parrot when she learned that Cade Cavendish, her cousin Daphne’s brother-in-law, was a pirate. In truth, Cade was a privateer, but that version of events did not suit Delilah’s penchant for the dramatic. She insisted she was related to a pirate, and further insisted that the family must own a parrot as a result. The cursed thing lived at Daphne’s house, of course, because Lady Vanessa disliked animals. But Delilah had gamely offered to be the one to look after the bird. She’d had the thing for several months and had been calling it Miss Adeline before she discovered, to her chagrin, that it was in fact amaleparrot. Delilah, never one to allow such mistakes to affect her greatly, decided it would be tooconfusing to the creature to change his name, and therefore insisted upon calling him Miss Adeline for the rest of his days. The parrot did not seem to mind.
Delilah rolled her eyes. “Must you fight with Miss Adeline?”
“I don’t fight with him,” Thomas replied. “He fights with me. Specifically by biting me every chance he gets. Plus, he has a ridiculous name.”
She shook her head. “First, he’s terribly jealous. And second, it’s impolite of you to mention his unfortunate name given the fact that you yourself have a ridiculous string of names.” She blinked at him innocently. “Thomas Marcus Devon Peabody Hobbs.”
“At least all of my names indicate the correct gender,” he said with a scowl.
Delilah stuck her nose in the air. “You’re far too judgmental.”
“Judgmental of a nuisance bird. What is he jealous of, at any rate?” Thomas leaned back and studied the leaves in the tree above them.
Delilah shrugged. “The time I spend with you, I suppose.”
“Which is ridiculous because I am a person and he is a parrot.”
“Don’t tell him that.” She took another bite of her ice.
Thomas rolled his head to the side and smiled at her. “You’re right. It may scar him to discover he’s a bird.”
Delilah waved her spoon in the air. “He knows he’s a bird, but he also knows he’s a special bird.”
“Yes, well, I for one cannot wait until that special bird bites the Duke of Branville.”
Delilah gasped. “How positively unsporting of you. I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize my chances withBranville. Now, I must worry about Miss Adeline biting him, a possibility I had not before considered.”
Thomas refused to be remorseful for his remark. “You know it’s bound to happen.”
Delilah plucked at her bottom lip. “I suppose you’re right. I must make preparations.”
Thomas narrowed his eyes as he studied her profile. “Do I even want to know what you’re scheming?”
Delilah shook her head. “No, I don’t suppose you do.”
