Graham looked at his wife, suddenly feeling foolish. Only the night before he had opened up to her about one of his biggest fears, only for her to say nothing now.
“Graham,” Amelia murmured but he held up a hand, pushing to his feet. “Graham, do not take notice of such things. It is a gossip column. It lies.”
“You admitted to being a wallflower,” he said, “and it states you as such. You looked beautiful last night, and it states as such.” His heart beat faster at the small admittance that had Amelia’s brows pulling together.
“It also called me plain and you a beast.”
“And am I not?” he shouted, frustrated, confused, as he had been ever since Amelia had crashed into his life. He hesitated, bracing his hands on the table. “The gossip sheets also speak of the duel five years ago—all of it istrue. Mother, you have even feared the column’s truths. Regardless, this Heavens-forsaken sheet is the strings upon which the ton dance! Theythink based onthis.” He slammed the sheet down, rattling the dishes on the table. “They judge based onthis.”
He shoved away from the table, stalking out of the breakfast hall without another word.
***
Amelia’s face was pale with panic, her heart pounding in her chest, as she watched Graham walk out of the breakfast hall.
Her breaths were fast and hard as she looked at Felicity. “It is not possible he believes the gossip, is it?” she whispered, dread pooling in her.
Felicity only squeezed her hand tighter. “Graham is… he is sensitive to such gossip. The duel he has mentioned scarred him badly.”
“Both physically and emotionally,” Daphne added. “And he believes that he wears that scar like a brand. That nobody will let him forget that night due to the scar being a reminder.”
Amelia’s chest caved. “I did not trick him,” she whispered. “I have told him several times but I do not think he believes me at all. How could he believe such frivolous rumours? How can he now believe when the same author stated we were doing something salacious in the hedge maze when he knows the truth! Why now does he choose to believe it?”
Her voice broke as she grasped desperately for answers.
“I am sorry for being so emotional,” she murmured, her head hanging. “It is only that I see how the situation appears. I am aware I felt different last night but it washim. He—he gave me the confidence I needed because we were the subject of gossip in the same ways. I knew that we could see it through together.”
“He will come around,” Felicity said. “You have a rather broody husband, Amelia.” She tried to laugh but the tension was too thick, and Amelia couldn’t convince herself to laugh with her. “Give him time. He will think it through and he will come to know your truth.”
“And until then?”
Felicity reached forward. “Until then we have a ball to finish preparing! Take a stroll with me through the house, and we shall assess how the ballroom is looking.”
Crestfallen, Amelia nodded, and Felicity continued eating but Amelia found that she had no appetite. She could only hope that the gossip writer soon got bored of fixating on the duke and her.
***
“Do you have a theme for the ball?” Daphne asked. “The decorators have been asking what to change the furnishing covers to.”
“We do not need to do all of that,” Amelia said quickly as they entered the empty ballroom. In broad daylight, with the room empty, it felt strange. Although she had not seen this room in full swing of a party, it was not hard to feel the emptiness of a space devoid of its purpose. “How long has the ballroom been empty?”
“Oh, at least five years,” Daphne answered with a sigh. “My father and mother hosted grand balls here when my father was alive. Graham has yet to host anything, but I am ever so glad that you have come along to help change that.”
“That is if Graham even lets me continue to have this ball,” Amelia muttered under her breath. “I fear that I have pushed us right back to where we began. It is easy to imagine that we were growing closer. I thought perhaps he might be learning to trust me. Now that scandal sheet has ruined all hope.”
“My brother walks around with a scowl all day but do not forget that he has a softer inside than he speaks about.”
“That is what worries me,” Amelia admitted. “For I think he was starting to show me that, and now I might not get another chance.”
“He will come around.” Daphne pulled her to her side, linking their arms. “You shall see!”
They continued walking around the ballroom, Daphne pointing out various changes she wished to make, and where the refreshments stands would go. Outside, they walked around the terrace, where Felicity had ordered a large, wooden structure that would squarely arch over the ground, and it would be decorated with lights.
“When it goes dark, it shall all look magical!” Daphne gushed.
Amelia turned around softly on the terraced area, her arms spread out, imagining herself dancing with Graham out there. But in her mind’s eye she saw Lady Cassandra watching her maliciously, and she saw Beatrice and her noticed jealousy of Eleanor and Lord Owen, and suddenly her movements ground to a halt.
“Is there anybody you wish to dance with at the ball?” Amelia asked but Daphne shook her head.
