Mattie frowned, her frustration barely concealed. “It hardly matters to me that Winston is a lord. I love him, and I would have married him regardless.”
“Yes, but Lord Winston is the son of a marquess,” Emma insisted. “At least my chances to secure a lord have been elevated by your advantageous marriage.”
“Wonderful,” Mattie remarked dryly. Why was it that her sister only seemed to think of herself, especially at a moment like this?
Emma stepped closer, her expression softening slightly. “I am glad that you are happy, Sister.”
“Thank you.” Mattie paused, taking a deep breath as she prepared to broach a delicate subject. “Winston informed me that he gave you a letter about a year ago with instructions to deliver it to me. Do you recall that letter?”
Emma grew silent, her face growing pale. “I do.”
“Dare I ask why you didn’t deliver that letter to me?” Mattie asked, her voice tinged with accusation.
With hesitation, Emma responded, “I didn’t want you to marry Lord Winston.”
Mattie reared back. “Whyever not?”
Emma sighed deeply, her shoulders slumping. “I knew if you married Lord Winston, you would leave me, and I wasn’t ready for that,” she confessed.
“So you made the decision for me?” Mattie asked, her voice rising with incredulity.
“I didn’t think Lord Winston was the right man for you,” Emma insisted, a defensive edge creeping into her tone. “After all, you two fought all the time.”
Mattie tried to keep the frustration out of her voice, but she was failing miserably. “People can change.”
“Yes, but Lord Winston was always kind to me,” Emma said. “I thought we would be a better match than you two.”
Her brow shot up in surprise. “You wanted Winston for yourself?”
Emma had the decency to look ashamed. “At the time, yes, but I have since realized that I can marry someone higher-ranking than a younger son of a marquess now that Father is a viscount.”
Mattie walked over to the bench and sat down. She was trying to find the right words to say because she was growing increasingly upset with each passing word that came out of Emma’s mouth.
“I can’t believe you didn’t deliver the letter to me. I never thought you would do something so awful,” Mattie said. “I almost lost Winston because of it.”
“Regardless, you got precisely what you wanted.”
“That is beside the point. All you seem to care about is having an advantageous marriage,” Mattie declared.
Emma shrugged her shoulders, seemingly unperturbed. “If I want to be anything in life, I must make a brilliant match.”
Mattie stared at her sister in disbelief. “You can bemore than that.”
“Says the woman who is marrying a son of a marquess,” Emma remarked as she came to sit down next to her.
“I am marrying Winston because I love him,” Mattie said. “He is not rich, and we will live in a small cottage at his sheep farm for now.”
Emma looked at her with disbelief. “That sounds awful.”
“Does it?” Mattie asked, a wistful smile on her lips. “Because to me, it sounds perfect.”
In a soft voice, Emma said, “I am sorry for keeping that letter from you. It was unfair of me to do so.”
Mattie knew it had taken a lot for her sister to apologize since she was not one to do so, but she wasn’t ready to forgive her yet. In time she would, but not now. The betrayal was too raw. “Thank you for saying so, but I am still angry with you. It is time for you to grow up, Emma, and start caring about others.”
Emma grew contrite. “You are right. I will try to be better.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Are you sure you would rather live in a cottage than Darlington Abbey?”
“It doesn’t matter where I live, as long as I am with Winston,” Mattie admitted.
