Page 153 of A Scandal for the Beastly Earl

"You're very strange."

"So everyone says."

"I like it."

"So does everyone, eventually."

Margaret stayed for breakfast, which turned into lunch, which turned into dinner. She told stories of Matilda that Lucien had never heard—the girl who rescued birds, who secretly wrote poetry, who once dressed as a boy to attend a lecture on astronomy.

"She was brilliant," Margaret said. "Just... stifled."

"Many women are," Arabella observed.

"You don't seem stifled."

"I have an unusual husband."

"I'm right here," Lucien protested.

"One who lets you be yourself?"

"One who encourages it."

"Even the chaos?"

"Especially the chaos."

"Matilda would have envied you."

"Matilda would have found her own happiness, given time."

"Time she didn't get."

"No."

They were quiet for a moment, remembering a woman none of them had truly known but all wished they had.

"Stay," Arabella said suddenly.

"What?"

"Stay. For a while. Get to know us. Let us get to know Matilda through you."

"That's... I couldn't impose."

"It's not imposing. It's healing."

"For whom?"

"All of us."

Margaret looked between them; Arabella eager, Lucien cautious but not opposed, Cordelia curious, even Thistle wagging hopefully.

"All right," she said. "For a few days."

A few days turned into a week. A week turned into a month. By the time Margaret finally left, she was family—another stray collected by Arabella's enormous heart.

"You can't keep everyone," Lucien told her as they waved goodbye.