Their mother crossed her arms over her chest. “How could you post the banns without telling me that you offered for Lady Marjorie?”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” John started.
“What was your intention?” she asked.
John pursed his lips together. “I’m afraid my engagement was rather sudden.”
Their mother gasped. “You didn’t compromise her, did you?”
“Define compromise?” John asked slowly.
“How could you?” she asked as she sat on the settee. “I thought I raised you better than this.”
“You did,” John rushed to say. “Marjorie’s brother caught us kissing in the garden and demanded satisfaction.”
“He challenged you to a duel?”
“He did, but I did the honorable thing and offered for Marjorie,” John explained.
Their mother turned her gaze towards Colin. “Did you know about this?”
“I only just found out,” Colin replied.
With a frown on her lips, their mother asked, “Do you even hold any affection for this girl?”
“I do,” John replied.
“I suppose that will have to do,” she responded. “I don’t even know anything about Lady Marjorie. Is she accomplished?”
“She is,” John confirmed. “She attended Mrs. Harper’s Seminary School for Ladies.”
“That is a prestigious boarding school.”
“That it is.”
“Does she have a sense of humor?” their mother asked.
John bobbed his head. “She is quite witty.”
“How did you two even become acquainted?”
“She is dear friends with Cousin Lucy,” John explained. “I met Marjorie at one of her soirées this Season.”
Their mother looked put out. “Yet, this is the first I have heard of her.”
“I was trying to find the right opportunity to tell you.”
“The right opportunity?”
John gave her a look. “I couldn’t very well just blurt out that I was engaged.”
“Whyever not?”
“I was afraid you would be disappointed in me,” John said.
His mother’s face softened. “All I have ever wanted was for you to be happy.” She paused. “Are you?”
“I am,” John admitted. “Marjorie is precisely the type of woman I have always envisioned that I would marry.”
