The chain about Tessa’s heart tightened. Thiswas why she’d really come. Not for the mother who’d thrown her away. But for the sister she’d lost.
She forced herself to loosen her grip on her teacup and smile brightly. “Good morning, Verity. I have missed you.”
The girl smiled with absolute abandon. “I have missed you as well, sister. Mother says you are soon to wed.”
“She is,” their mother answered before Tessa could even open her mouth. “She will marry a good man. Your father approves, as do I. So we have decided to allow her to come home. Remember that, Verity. Remember what happens when you disobey. And what happens when you are a good girl.”
Verity tamed the curve of her lips and but didn’t even try to hide the amusement glowing in her eyes. “I am quite aware, Mother. You do not have to worry about me.”
Tessa traced the well-worn outline of a flower on the side of her cup. “He’s not proposed yet.”
“He will.” Her mother busied herself at the kitchen again and spoke with her back to them. “And you’ll accept. This time. Because you’re desperate enough.”
Verity rolled her eyes.
“What do you like to do, Verity?” Tessa asked.
“She knits with me,” their mother said. “And she does charity work with me. And she reads therightbooks.”
Verity nodded. “Sometimes I can do all three at the same time. Like last month when I knitted a scarf for Mrs. Farmer. She doesn’t have one, you know, so that’s charity and knitting together. Of course you cannot read and knit at the same time, at least I cannot do so, but Mother was reading aloud from Fordyce’sSermonswhile I worked. I think that counts as doing all three at once, don’t you?”
Tessa nodded.
“You’re rambling, Verity.”
Verity rolled her eyes again.
And Tessa could not help but smile, a grin so wide it almost hurt, but when her sister returned it, she loved the pain.
Beneath her skirts, Verity’s feet danced, as if she had something to say. She threw a glance over her shoulder at their mother, still busy behind her.
“Sophia! Sophia!” Their father’s voice, muffled and from the direction of his study. My, how memories rushed back.
Tessa’s mother wiped her hands on her skirts and bustled out of the kitchen, mumbling under her breath.
Verity exploded into a flurry of movement and excited little huffs. “Tessa, Tessa, Tessa! I did not recognize you. I do apologize. It’s been so long. But it’s not your fault, I know it’s not. Mother has been so terribly upset with you. She never talks about you, but shealwaystalks about you. Without using your name.” She lifted her nose in the air and pitched her voice higher. “We do not draw. It leads to moral decay. We do not run. We do not smile without proper reason to. We do not befriend boys.” She dropped her mother’s fake voice. “That leads to ruination. I don’t think you were ruined, though. Papa says you weren’t. That if you had been, the earl would have forced his son to marry you. So really, you were banished for not marrying who they wanted, and I think that terribly unfair. And I think myself likely to meet the same fate.” She ended with a sigh worthy of a Drury Lane actress
“I hope you do not. Tell me, are you… friends with the Iveses?”
Verity’s nose scrunched up. “There’s aboy. Timothy. He’s an arse.”
“Verity!”
“I know,” the young girl sighed. “That is not proper language for a young lady. But it is accurate, so I do not think God would be terribly mad at me for it. Surely lying is more of a sinthan cursing.”
“I… well… yes, I should think so. Though I’m no expert. You’ll have to ask Papa.”
“I do like his sister, though,” Verity said, looking thoughtful. “Aria is the right sort.”
Tessa daren’t ask what the right sort was.
Their mother whisked back in. “We must go, Verity. There’s a crisis.”
“Oh, yes, Mother.” Verity bowed her head, hid her smile. “Let me gather my bonnet.” She turned to Tessa in the doorway, her hands clasped innocently before her. “We take spiritual crises quite seriously here. The wicked are so very plentiful.” She left with what looked like a wink twitching in the corner of her eye.
Tessa’s mother wiped her hands on her apron. “We plan to visit Mr. Tilbury tomorrow. You will spend the day with us.”
Palms pressed into the old, worn table, Tessa stood slowly. Her mother didn’t seem able to look straight at her, but Tessa refused to look away. “I missed you.”
