Chapter Nine
Eve rose late.Keeping up with Freddie and the game was beginning to take its toll.Instead of going out socializing once or twice a week, she was now seeing him every night.Adelaide had made mention of the late hours Eve and Francis were keeping when they arrived home the previous evening.
Francis was gifted with the ability to stay out late but still be up and fresh with the dawn.Eve was not so fortunate.Adding to her problem was the fact she was a young lady.It would only be a matter of time before her mother decided a quiet word about reputations was in order.
Fate, fortunately, had other plans for Adelaide Saunders that morning.As Eve sat in front of the mirror of her dressing table, her bedroom door crashed open.
“He’s coming home.He’s leaving Gibraltar within the week!”announced an excited Adelaide.In her hand she brandished a letter.
Eve didn’t need to ask to whom her mother was referring.Her older brother, William, had been away in France for five years and had recently written to the family announcing his intention to return permanently to England.Every day since then, Adelaide had checked with the family butler to see if further letters from Will had been received.
“That is wonderful news,” replied Eve.She looked at her teary-eyed mother and smiled.It was more than wonderful.It was a huge relief.
Will had been a secret agent for the British government in the war to overthrow Napoleon.His ability to speak his father’s native tongue, and fit in with the local population in Paris, had made him an effective spy.
The war had been over for two years, and Will had made his first trip home to England during the summer.His family had been expecting him to stay and were dismayed when he’d returned to France.Her mother had felt the pain of disappointment harder than the rest of the family.Eve and Caroline had temporarily put aside their differences and rallied around her, but Adelaide had continued to weep for many weeks after Will’s departure.
“He has spent some time in Spain and is now in Gibraltar.Oh, Eve, he says by the time we get this letter he will already be on the boat.My boy is coming home.My boy!”exclaimed her mother.
“What did Papa say?”asked Eve.
“He doesn’t know.That’s why I am here.You need to get dressed and come with me to your father’s offices at once.Both he and Francis need to know the marvelous news without delay.Caroline has gone shopping with Harry Menzies’s mother and sister, so we shall have to wait until she returns to tell her.”
Eve frowned.What was Caroline doing going shopping with the female relatives of Francis’s best friend?A best friend who, as everyone apart from Caroline seemed to know, was head over heels in love with her?
Caroline had made no mention of having developed any romantic attachment for Harry.He came from a good family and had a sizeable fortune from importing goods from the Americas, but her sister had never treated him with anything other than cool politeness.All the nights Eve had watched Harry worship Caroline from close quarters proved her sister’s interest in him bordered on indifference.
But Caroline was no fool.She would have seen Eve and Freddie together enough times to know Eve had likely set her sights on him.If Caroline made a sudden and decisive move to be the first one married, Eve was likely to be caught wrong-footed.
A more pressing problem also now presented itself.The chances of her being able to get out the house each night to see Freddie would be severely curtailed in the first weeks of her brother’s return.There would be family reunions and special dinners held in his honor.Much as she wanted him safely home, Will’s return could not be coming at a worse time.If Will was already on the boat back to England, she had only a matter of a week or so to force Freddie’s hand.
“Now get dressed.I want to go and see your father within the hour,” said Adelaide.
She turned on her heel and rushed out the door.
Eve stared at her reflection in the mirror.
A small smile formed on her lips as she remembered Freddie having made mention that his mother was coming to London in the next few days.He had not formally requested permission from her father to court Eve, but Adelaide and Lady Rosemount knew one another.
If she could manage to get the two mothers together, and drop some subtle hints, the wheels of future matrimony would begin to turn.If Caroline had indeed decided to settle on Harry Menzies as her future husband, it was going to be a race between the two sisters as to who could get to the altar first.
“I’ll be damned if I am going to be the second bride of the family.I am going to get married before she does, even if it means having to elope,” muttered Eve.
Her fingers gripped the side of the dressing table.Eloping would be scandalous.An elopement would put Lucy and Avery’s hasty marriage to shame.She and Freddie would be the talk of London society.Her mother would be mortified, and Caroline would be furious.
She was falling in love with Freddie, every moment spent with him was magic to her heart.But until now he had shown no indication of having formed any sort of emotional attachment to her.Unrequited love would be a bitter pill to swallow if all her plans amounted to nothing.
