“Anyway,” Rosalie said, rolling her eyes, “I wanted to know how you two feel about father. As in… do you forgive him? Are you still angry? Do you ever want to know why he did the things he did?”
Iris sighed and set down her teacup as well. Violet looked down at her hands which were fidgeting in her lap.
“There is a part of me that wonders why he turned out so evil,” Iris observed after a moment. “But I suppose that I’ve made peace with it. There are some things that we can’t understand in the world, some mysteries that it isn’t worth it to try and solve. And Father never made it easy to try and know him. Perhaps something terrible happened to him in his youth to make him the way he is, but would he ever tell us? No. So there’s no point in trying to find out.”
“I feel sorry for him more than anything,” Violet said. “He must not know how joyful and wonderful a life lived in the pursuit of love can be if he would choose a life of violence, deceit, and unkindness instead. He had a good wife and three wonderful daughters, and he still chose to not love us and to hurt us. He must not know how to love or what even it is, and for that, yes, I feel sorry for him.”
“Then you are very wise,” Rosalie replied with a sigh.
“She’s far too kind for her own good is what she is,” Iris said sharply. “I certainly don’t feel sorry for Father. I wouldn’t say I hate him, but I certainly haven’t forgiven him either. Some things cannot be easily forgiven; perhaps they shouldn’t be. And murdering my husband’s parents is certainly an unforgivable offense—to me at least.”
“I do forgive him,” Violet said, glancing first at Iris then at Rosalie. “Not because what he did was okay—of course it wasn’t—but because holding onto my anger harms only me. I can forgive him while still recognizing that he did terrible things and that he absolutely deserves to be locked away for the rest of his days.”
“I still don’t know how I feel about him,” Rosalie admitted. “There is still anger in me, yes. And it bothered me what he said to me about how I didn’t understand him even though I read so many novels. The villains in the novels I read are always one-dimensional, but people in real life are much more complex. That’s why I wanted to know why he did the things he did: I wanted to understand his complexity.”
“Well, he told you, didn’t he?” Iris raised an eyebrow. “He did it for greed and power. Isn’t that why most bad men do things?”
“I suppose so.” Rosalie felt sad still, listless. She had hoped that asking her sisters about their father would help her release her sadness, but she still felt sad. Maybe it wasn’t the kind of thing that just went away; maybe it took a long time.
“Let us speak of better things,” Iris suggested. “Father does not deserve to occupy so much of our minds and conversation.”
“In that regard, I agree.” Violet looked at Rosalie. “And on another topic, you must come with us to Cousin Niles’ ball!”
This news threw Rosalie. “Cousin Niles is throwing a ball?”
“Well, his new wife is. Did you hear—he married just last week! It all happened so quickly; I think they got a special license! And she is throwing this ball as a way to gloss over the hastiness of the marriage and to make her debut as the new Viscountess of Carfield.”
“That’s very exciting!” Rosalie felt perked up already. She did love a ball, and her heart hammered a little faster when she thought of how it would feel to dance with her husband in front of the entireton. There was no one as handsome as him, after all, and she knew she would be the envy of every young woman there.
“Well, apparently it’s a disaster,” Iris observed, giggling. “Niles came to see me yesterday and said that the Viscountess is making completely bizarre choices for all the decorations and refreshments! He wanted to recruit me to talk her out of some of her choices. Fortunately, I know better than to try and handle a woman throwing her first ball. I told him that she would learn from her mistakes and that he had to let her make them. But I’m quite excited to see what she’s done with the place!”
“Oh, poor Niles,” Violet said, shaking her head. “He always has rotten luck, doesn’t he?”
“He’s a viscount; don’t feel too sorry for him,” Iris pointed out with a snort.
“I think it will be very fun to attend this ball,” Rosalie said. “I’ll ask the Duke, but I’m sure we can make it. After all, we want to support family, and if this is her first ball, she needs our support more than ever.”
“Especially if it’s going to be a disaster,” Iris said, and her eyes glittered with suppressed glee.
“Iris, you’re awful!” Violet said, swatting at Iris, who stuck her tongue out. Rosalie burst into laughter. It had been so long since the three of them had been together like this, laughing and talking, and she felt lighter than she had in a long time. It made her wish that the Duke was with her. She wanted to share this happiness with him, especially since he didn’t have any family of his own anymore.
He has my family now, she thought, and the words brought tears of joy to her eyes.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“You really ought to stop reading,” Nathan said as he watched his wife turn another page of her book. “You’re going to make yourself motion sick.”
“Don’t worry,” Rosalie replied without looking up from the book, “I’ve done this more times than I can count. I know how to keep from getting sick.”
Nathan shook his head. “I hope you’re right. These seats are velvet, and if you are sick all over them, it’s going to be very difficult to clean them.”
This got Rosalie to look up. She raised an eyebrow at him, the side of her mouth quirking up as well. “It’s good to know that if I were sick in the carriage, my husband would be more concerned about the velvet seats than about his own wife!”
“Well only if you made yourself sick by reading in the carriage!” he exclaimed. “In that case, you have no one but yourself to blame.”
She laughed and looked back down at her book. “Okay, quiet now, we still have a few more minutes until we arrive at the ball, and I need to finish this chapter.”
“I don’t think you have time,” Nathan said, glancing out the window. “We’re just two blocks away.”
