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Lady Stonely said, “I do love to swim. Having recently learned, I have the zeal of a convert. I had been looking forward to this pool, but I find I cannot last very long.” She pulled her legs out.
“You are all weaklings!” Miss Morgan said teasingly. “And so am I!” She removed her legs, too, leaving only the elder Lady Harcourt and Diantha in the water.
“I did not enjoy our attempt at bathing the other day,” the dowager said, “but I quite like having just my legs in. It is pleasantly bracing.”
“I agree,” Diantha said, and the other ladies exclaimed over the strength of her constitution.
Eventually, the dowager pulled her legs out, and Diantha followed.
They stayed where they were, wet legs stretched out in the sun.
“I wanted to tell you all something,” the younger Lady Harcourt said, and her sister, Miss Morgan, squealed and clapped her hands.
“It is perhaps early to be sharing this news, but I wanted to explain why I have been so absent from the group these recent days.” She flashed a smile that seemed a mite nervous. “I am expecting a child.”
Miss Morgan, who clearly already knew the happy news, increased the speed of her clapping. “I am going to be an aunt!” With a final clap, she interlaced her fingers under her chin and said, adopting a theatrically menacing tone, “I am going to be such a bad influence.”
Diantha found herself a bit overcome as she listened to Lady Stonely voice her congratulations. She was so happy for Lady Harcourt—and Lord Harcourt. She had watched them marry and start a life together, and now they were making a family. She found herself inexplicably sad that she would not be around when the baby came. “Congratulations, my lady. You are going to be a wonderful mother.”
Lady Harcourt, who was seated next to Diantha, turned. “Oh, Miss Brown, do you really think so?”
“Indeed, I do.”
The young countess had a big heart and a grand spirit of adventure. Her children would be lucky.
“I know so.”
“My own mother was wonderful, but I was so young when she died, I fear I can’t remember precisely what made her so.”
“There isn’t a formula to emulate, Clementine,” Miss Morgan said. “You need only be yourself, for your self is wonderful, and all will be well.”
“You are going to have a child,” the elder Lady Harcourt, who was on the other side of the younger countess, said.
“Yes. And it will be your grandchild.”
Tears sprang to the dowager’s eyes.
The younger Lady Harcourt embraced the elder. “It will be very fortunate to have you for a grandmother.”
“I always wanted a grandchild. Do you think it’s going to be a boy or a girl?”
“I don’t know,” young Lady Harcourt said. “I have heard tell of expectant mothers who have an inkling, but I have none. Perhaps it is too early for that.”
“I hope it’s a girl,” the dowager said firmly.
“I say, my lady, you may be the only matriarch of a noble family hoping for a girl instead of an heir!” Miss Morgan said.
“Girls are stronger, and better equipped to weather the trials of the world,” the dowager said. “They are also more fun.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Miss Morgan declared as everyone laughed.
“I have been feeling unwell,” the young Lady Harcourt said, “which is why I haven’t been at breakfast, or around much generally. I have been attempting to be present in the evenings, but that seems to be all I can manage.”
“My sister was the same,” Diantha said. “May I show you a remedy she swore by?”
Everyone’s attention swung to her, and she realized they were trying to square what she’d said with her claim that she had no family. “My sister was with child once. She got rather far along, but she lost it.”
The ladies murmured their condolences, and Diantha was struck by how … not alone she felt, despite the fact that she had just confirmed that she was without family. The elder Lady Harcourt reached over the younger and clasped Diantha’s hand, giving it a quick squeeze.
