“Yes,” Theodosia said. She waved her husband off, who left, shaking his head.
Fitzwilliam-Cecil surely knew the three friends needed to plot.
Theodosia embraced Frederica. “I’ll never ever say you are stingy.”
Ester leaned in and joined the tangle of arms. “Never, ever from my lips again. She gave me Bex.”
“Men aren’t bonbons.” Frederica laughed. “Of course, I’d share. Well, maybe not the bonbons… You two know what I mean.”
They all did. They were more like sisters, each looking out for the other. This love had helped Ester when she missed Ruth. Maybe she and Bex could go visit her in the country if they could manage around his plays. “This must be meant to happen.”
Theodosia waved her lacy fan. “Last chance to count the costs, Ester? You could remain up here or hide on the third level in your bedchamber. We could get word to Bex.”
Her friend didn’t understand; maybe no one would. Sighing, Ester looked at the floor, at how each of their hems floated about their pretty slippers. The delicate lace, the tiny stitches, all gliding above the polished floors. The Vandyke points of Theodosia’s gown almost touched her shoes but remained inches away. Not wanting to be inches from a dream, Ester raised her head. “I’ll take my chances with Bex.”
Theodosia reached into her reticule and pulled out gold coins. “Take these with you. It’s enough to catch a stage if things don’t go well. I want you safe. If, for any reason, you change your mind, you will not be at his mercy.”
“I can’t take your money.”
She put the money in Ester’s hand and closed up her palm. “Consider it a wedding gift.”
Even in a happy marriage, Theodosia still carried money with her, still planned out everything in great detail, as if she were alone.
The way Bex had protected Ester from the drunk, she felt safe with him. “I can’t go into this looking for an out.”
“This isn’t about quitting,” Theodosia said, “It’s about safety. When you leave your father’s home and are away from your friends, you become a girl who some will see as foreign, a thief who has stolen a gentlewoman’s clothes, a servant to mistreat, or worse, a runaway slave.”
Ester’s eyes popped wider. “Slavery is illegal in London.”
Frederica shook her head. “Tell that to slave owners who still have men enslaved in vessels offshore. Some of my father’s friends joke about it, when they think I’m not listening.”
“That’s what Bex was fighting for in the basement.”
Theodosia voiced real concerns, ones Ester had no way to argue. Both of them were privileged and faced fewer of the evils that many who looked like them did. Ester put the coins in her reticule. “I’ll be safe, but I’ll come to you if something goes wrong. I’ll be like one of those shop girls you rescue. I’m too old to be one of Frederica’s urchins she sends to the charities.”
Theodosia hugged Ester and held on tightly. The air seeped out of Ester’s lungs when Frederica wove her arms around them again.
Frederica gave Ester an extra embrace. “I hope this is the love you’ve waited for, the love you deserve.”
The clock moaned. It was midnight. Each friend released their holds and dried their eyes. Five minutes to Ester’s appointment.
Slowly, Ester, followed by her two friends, dipped down the stairs and slipped into Mama’s first-floor parlor.
Frederica went to the window and pulled back the curtain. “The glow of the link torches is bright enough to see Bex arrive. Not the gas lighting we have about Mayfair.”
“Don’t mention gas lighting.” Ester took her bag from the closet. “That’s the Jordans’ livelihood.”
“I don’t see anyone,” Frederica said. “Just carriages, with more of your parents’ guests.”
All Ester’s big talk, her fight for a dream, crushed in upon her. She sat on the back of the couch to keep her balance. “He has a few minutes.”
Frederica wore a wide frown. She turned back to the window. “There’s still time.”
A knock on the door echoed in the silent room. “Come in,” Ester said. Her voice warbled.
A servant entered. “Miss Croome, your father wants you in the main drawing room. They’re about to cut Mrs. Croome’s cake.”
She nodded. “Thank you. Tell him to do so without me. I’m out of sorts.”
