“It’s orange. Pumpkin orange.Blindingorange.” Evie’s nose wrinkled. “Heavens, and it’s growing mold.”
“I think it is supposed to be like that.”
“No dress should be like that. Thank goodness you had the good sense to seek me out. And yourhair. This calls for an intervention. Come with me at once.”
Rosemary balked when her cousin grabbed her arm and began to physically drag her from the parlor and up the stairs. “I don’t actually have that much time–”
“You’ve time for this. Sit,” Evie commanded once they’d reached her bedchamber, a sun-filled room with a large canopied bed dressed in white linen and pale yellow walls stenciled with pink roses. It was a beautiful room. A room befit for the future Countess of Hawkridge.
Reluctantly, Rosemary sat in front of an elegant vanity littered with various perfumes, creams, and glass vials filled with mysterious powders and potions. A dubious frown settling upon her lips, she met Evie’s serious gaze in the oval dressing mirror. “The thing of it is, I’ve snuck away from a party and if I don’t return soon–”
“Why did you have to sneak away?” Evie interrupted as she used a narrow-toothed comb to scrape off the thicker layer of bandoline that had been used to plaster Rosemary’s curls to the side of her head. Made of quince seeds, bandoline was an awful, waxy concoction of which Lady Ellinwood was inordinately fond. Rosemary had managed to escape wearing it while her grandmother was on bedrest, but now that she was back on her feet and the Season was underway, she’d ordered it brought into the house by the bucketful.
As someone who did not pay much mind to outward appearances, particularly her own, Rosemary had never given much attention to the clothes that her grandmother ordered her to wear or the way she instructed her hair to be styled. At least not until Evie had pulled her aside at the house party and pointed out that her old-fashioned, oversized dresses were doing her no favors.
“You needn’t dress provocatively to be noticed,”Evie had said kindly.“But your clothes should reflect your personality, and from what I know of you thus far, you’re much more bright and beguiling than your gown would suggest.”
To date, it was the nicest compliment Rosemary had ever received. Which made her loath to tell her cousin the real reason why she’d had to steal away from Lady Garfield’s birthday picnic like a thief into the night. Evie and Joanna had been so welcoming of her, so accepting, that she didn’t want to hurt their feelings by revealing her grandmother’s opinion of them. Especially since her grandmother’s opinion was wrong. But neither could she keep lying. Any more half-truths and they’d begin to tangle up, like a knotted piece of thread.
“My grandmother doesn’t like you,” she blurted, and immediately winced. She could have said that better. Sheshouldhave said that better. But Evie didn’t look offended by her bluntness. If anything, she appeared amused.
“I received that impression when Lady Ellinwood refused to speak to me at Hawkridge Manor. At first, I feared she was deaf, but as it seemed she was capable of hearing everyone but me, it appears her hearing loss is selective.”
“I’m sorry,” Rosemary said miserably, hunching her shoulders. “As I’ve mentioned, she can be rather…difficult.”
“I’msorry that you’ve had to live with her all these years.” Giving up on the comb, Evie switched to an ivory brush with short, stiff bristles. “It must not have been easy. Growing up without your parents. I lost my mother when I was young, but I still had my father. Without him…without him, I don’t know what I would have done. Whatwewould have done, my sisters and I.” The corners of her mouth twitched in a quick grin. “Killed each other, most likely.”
“I don’t remember them. My parents.” There was a touch of wistfulness in Rosemary’s tone, but no pain. How could you hurt from the loss of something if you possessed no memory of ever having had it? “It is a miracle I survived the fire, as young as I was. Barely three, and already an orphan. I am fortunate that my grandmother took me in.”
“What else should she have done? Tossed you onto the street? Doing the bare minimum is hardly cause for celebration. Family takes care of family.” Evie set the brush on the vanity, then placed her hand on Rosemary’s shoulder and squeezed. “You’refamily now. Whether you want to be or not. And the Thorncrofts take care of their own. If you’d ever like to get out beneath Lady Ellinwood’s thumb, you’ve a home here for as long as you need. I’m sure Weston wouldn’t mind.”
Leaveher grandmother? The thought had honestly never occurred. But now that it had, she found herself feeling tempted. Tempted…and terribly guilty.
“My grandmother had already raised one child when I came to live with her. She never expected to be burdened with another.” Biting her lip, she laced her fingers together on her lap. “While it’s true that she isn’t prone to fits of affection, she’s taken good care of me. I’ve not wanted for anything.”
Which was, she reflected, rather sad. What did it say about her life, what did it say abouther, that twenty years of existence could be summed up in five words or less? Were she to die tomorrow, her gravestone would be every bit as unremarkable as her journey thus far.
Herein Lies Rosemary Stanhope
An ordinary woman who wanted for nothing
May she rest in peace
“You are not a burden.” Evie lifted the brush and resumed dragging the bristles through Rosemary’s stiff, unwieldy curls. “But I suppose someone who allows a squirrel to take up residence under their roof cannot beallbad. How is Sir Reginald?” Her hand stopped as her voice took on a guarded edge. “You haven’t brought him here with you, have you?”
“No, he is at home, taking a nap. Lady Garfield is not very partial to squirrels. That is where I was,” she explained when Evie lifted a questioning brow in the mirror. “Every year, she throws an elaborate garden party for her birthday.”
“I think we received an invitation, as the name sounds familiar, but Weston had a matter to attend to with his solicitor and I’ve been far too busy preparing for the wedding to attend any social functions during the day.” Finally finished with brushing the bandoline from Rosemary’s hair, Evie grabbed a handful of pins and, holding them between her teeth, began to fashion a loose coiffure. “Had I known you’d be there, however, I’d have made certain to attend. I could have brought Joanna as well. Although it sounds like your grandmother wouldn’t have been pleased to see us.”
“She’ll eventually come around.”I hope, Rosemary added silently. “I wish I hadn’t gone, to be truthful. The other ladies there…they weren’t very…erm…”
“Pleasant?” Evie said dryly. “So I’ve gathered from my brief experience with thetonthus far. And I thought the women in Somerville were malicious and spiteful. The ones here would devour them for breakfast with a side of tea. It appears an American with some scandal attached to her name was not their first choice to marry the Earl of Hawkridge.”
Aghast, Rosemary twisted in her chair. “Has someone said something untoward to you?”
“Nothing that I cannot handle. Now stop moving.” Fingertips lightly grasping Rosemary’s skull, Evie gave her head a firm turn back towards the mirror. “I’m almost finished and if I don’t set these pins correctly it’s all going to come tumbling down. They are just jealous, you know.”
It was like observing a magician work, Rosemary marveled as she watched her cousin deftly turn her hair from a flat pancake into a three-tiered cake. Freed from the waxy bandoline, her curls shone in the sunlight, appearing chestnut and mahogany in color instead of their usual mousy brown. Loose tendrils framed the side of her face, emphasizing the natural arch of her cheekbones while the rest had been gathered at the crown of her head to give her countenance, which tended towards roundness, more length. And all of it accomplished with nothing more than a brush and a few hairpins.
