“I noticed an abundance of plums you could use,” Jillian pointed out. “I am rather partial to a plum cake myself.”
“The menu’s already been decided!” wailed Cook. “I don’t have time to rethink all the recipes that have to be managed by this evening.”
Jillian shrugged. “Then simply leave out the ones you can no longer make.”
“Jillian,” Lady Bradford said sternly, “you cannot simply give away half the storeroom from our house…”
“If it is, in fact,ourhouse,” Jilly interrupted, “that makes half the storeroom mine to distribute as I see fit. Not that I have come even close to such an extravagant amount.”
“Your ignorance has betrayed you yet again,” said the baroness. “This home, and everything in it, is the property of his lordship. You are guests here at his lordship’s leisure. Even tonight’s dinner was cleared with him first.”
Jillian was unmoved. “And yet his lordship leaves his daily menu up to you. Did you not think to discussmyhusband’s dinner menu withme, so that I may be apprised of what was essential and what was free to distribute elsewhere?”
A stony silence followed. The kitchen maids, who had been watching the entire scene unfolding before them, turned hastily back to their tasks.
“You have never shown interest in arranging such dinners before,” Lady Bradford reminded Jillian.
“You are correct. I consider such large gatherings to be nothing more than the usual display of wealth and self-importance.”
“This dinner is important tome, Jillian,” Lewis interjected.
“Why?” his wife asked, turning to him with upturned palms. “Help me to understand what is gained from bringing together so large a group that they cannot possibly all interact with you or each other, eating dish after dish as if they have been starving for a week.”
“It is a matter of influence,” Lewis explained. “Such social events help to build alliances so that meaningful laws can be passed.”
Jillian folded her arms across her chest. “Such as?”
“Well, repealing the Corn Laws, for a start.”
“And did the members who wrote the Corn Laws also have such dinners to gather their forces and gain the necessary support to push it through?”
“I suppose they would have, but that’s not…”
“Seems a waste of a lot of good food if people are going to throw parties just to contradict each other as they do on the House floor,” said Jilly.
“It’s a lot more complex than that,” said Lewis, feeling his ire rise once more. What was it about Jillian that provoked such a heated response in him? She had been so amenable to his ideas before they’d been married. Why could she not fall in with them as she had once been inclined to do?
“I suggest we shelve further discourse until we are in a more private space,” warned Lady Bradford. “Meanwhile, you gentlemen can put those items down and return to your other duties, whatever they may be.”
“No.” Jillian planted her feet firmly on the ground.
“‘No’?” The look of utter disbelief on his mother’s face made Lewis fear for what might follow. If Jillian did not back down now, months of relative peace would be undone.
“No,” repeated Jillian. “I have already shown how the subtraction of a few unnecessary dishes would in no way harm the dinner or the outcome Lewis hopes for. I do not believe the absence of an apple pie or blancmange will in any way hinder the success of the evening. And I have promised these supplies to these gentlemen to be used for the children, to whom even simple foods will make a very big difference, indeed.”
“Lewis!” Lady Bradford cried, a fingertip to her forehead as if staving off a headache. “Do speak to your wife. This cannot be allowed.”
Before Lewis could even open his mouth—not that he had the foggiest idea what he might say under the circumstances—Jillian turned to the men waiting at the door and said with a voice ofauthority that matched his mother’s, “Take these and go. Now. You have heard my instruction.”
The men shuffled off in a great hurry, not least of all, Lewis imagined, to escape the furor that might very well erupt any second.
Jillian stood tall and proud and unflinching. “You have wanted me to act more like a future baroness. Well, here I am. Making demands. Ordering the staff about. Being unreasonable because I have the power to do so. I have made my will known and I expect it to be carried out. The menu will be adjusted. The dinner will continue. In future, plans involving my husband’s parties will be cleared through me. That is all.”
And she swept from the room—a sight that was as disturbing to Lewis as it was perplexing. The coldness. The disdain. These were not the hallmarks of his Jilly. They were the distinctive traits of his mother.
He had wanted her to fit in with his family, to be less herself. This was the example she had chosen to follow.
Lewis was under no illusion. She had done this on purpose, to teach him a lesson, to show him what she thought of the role of baroness. It was pure rebellion and crossed so many lines that he lost count.
