Page 100 of A Bluestocking’s Secret Courtship

Regina dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin and placed it beside her plate. “Xavier told me that Sir Jonathan has been miserable all day.”

Sophia nodded. “And Crispin compared him to a hound banished to the yard. All mopey.”

Cupid shot out from under the table and ran to the door a second before it opened. Xavier escorted Aunt Beatrice into the sitting room. Crispin followed, closing the door behind him.

“Well, that was painful,” Xavier said.

“The Regent’s Consul recruited the wrong family member,” Crispin agreed. “Beatrice is a beast of an interrogator.”

Aunt Beatrice laughed. “I had him shaking in his boots, didn’t I?”

“Damnation! You had me shaking in my boots,” Crispin said, laughing as he crossed the room to stand close to Sophia.

“What is your impression, Auntie?” Sophia asked.

Xavier walked Aunt Beatrice to the settee, warning her about the small table so she didn’t bark her shin.

“The man is despondent,” Aunt Beatrice said. “If I’ve ever seen a lovesick gentleman, it is Sir Jonathan.”

Evangeline refrained from pointing out her aunt’s eyesight was not what it used to be.

Cupid jumped into Aunt Beatrice’s lap for head scratches and a piece of fish she had wrapped in a napkin. Evangeline’s aunt clicked her tongue. “I hope you let the poor man down easy when you tell him you are truly finished with him. Charlie wants us on the next ship bound for England.”

Evangeline’s breath caught. They were leaving sooner than she had anticipated. “I-I probably owe him a conversation.”

“Will you be kind about it, my dear?” Aunt Beatrice asked. “I hate to think of him suffering more than he already is.”

As the family discussion shifted to Sophia and Crispin’s engagement, Evangeline was quiet.

“There’s a man of the cloth lodging not far from here,” Crispin said. “Since we have her uncle’s permission, Sophia and I want to marry as soon as possible.”

“What about the marriage contract?” Regina asked.

Sophia turned to Evangeline. “You helped Regina and Xavier.”

“I imagine Uncle Charles is better suited,” Evangeline said. She would do anything for her sisters under normal circumstances, but her heartbreak was too fresh.

“Oh!” Sophia’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry. I wasn't thinking.”

Evangeline shook her head. “I’m happy for you. Please don’t apologize.”

The conversation continued with her observing from what felt like a different realm. She was far away—in her body and not. Fatigue became unbearable, and she asked to be excused.

Aunt Beatrice followed her into the bedchamber and sat on the side of the mattress with her.

“For what it is worth,” her aunt said. “I believe Sir Jonathan is good at his core. You weren’t foolish for envisioning a future with him.”

Her throat tightened, tears prickling the backs of her eyes. Her aunt rubbed her back.

“If you’re satisfied with his answers and choose to forgive him, know you will have our full support.”

“How can I?”

“I don’t know,” Aunt Beatrice said. “But you’ve always been flexible when new information comes to light. I witnessed how Crispin was manipulated by Farrin. He had that power over others, especially the young men he targeted. Sir Jonathan was barely a man, and he’d lost his family a few weeks earlier. I understand why he clung to an anchor when it was offered.”

She wanted to argue that he wasn’t a young man anymore, but she partially understood. Hadn’t she clung to books and knowledge to keep herself from becoming lost after her parents’ deaths?

“I want to be chosen,” she murmured.