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There was some sort of connection between the two of them. Elizabeth knew nothing of love, but she knew she could fall in love with this man. She felt it deep in her heart, and it terrified her. He wasn’t a man she could marry. He had no money; he’d said so himself. How was she to send Lucas to Eton with an estate manager as a husband? How was she to feed and clothe Susan and Jane? Susan was only fourteen now, but soon she’d want to make her debut. London was out of the question, but even a small local debut would cost money.
And that was the one thing that neither Elizabeth nor the man standing in front of her—possibly the only man who could ever capture her heart—had.
Dear God, she’d thought that life had treated her unfairly before, but this…this was nothing short of agony.
“Turn around, Elizabeth.”
She kept walking. It was the hardest thing she’d ever done.
Late that night, Susan, Jane, and Lucas Hotchkiss huddled together on the cold floor of the upstairs hall, directly outside their older sister’s bedchamber.
“I think she’s crying,” Lucas whispered.
“Of course she’s crying,” Jane hissed. “Any fool could tell she’s crying.”
“The question is,” Susan cut in, “why is she crying?”
No one had an answer to that.
They flinched a moment later when they heard a slightly louder than usual sob, then swallowed uncomfortably when it was followed by a loud sniffle.
“She has been very worried about money of late,” Lucas said hesitantly.
“She’s always worried about money,” Jane retorted.
“It’s only natural,” Susan added. “People who don’t have money always worry about it.”
The two younger Hotchkisses nodded in agreement.
“Do we really have nothing?” Jane whispered.
“I’m afraid so,” Susan said.
Lucas’s eyes began to glisten. “I’m not going to get to go to Eton, am I?”
“No, no,” Susan said quickly, “of course you will. We just have to economize.”
“How can we economize when we have nothing?” he asked.
Susan didn’t reply.
Jane nudged her in the ribs. “I think one of us should comfort her.”
Before Susan could do so much as nod, they heard a loud crash, followed by the unbelievably astonishing sound of their proper older sister yelling, “Goddamn you to hell!”
Jane gasped.
Susan’s mouth fell open.
“I can’t believe she said that,” Lucas breathed reverently. “I wonder who she was damning.”
“It’s not something to be proud of,” Jane snapped, poking in the soft spot above his collarbone.
“Ow!”
“And don’t say ‘damn,’” Susan added.
“It is so something to be proud of. Even I have never said that.”
