“We’ll see,” Lord Dalton said darkly, staring down the company as if they were enemy forces on the verge of an attack. “You are to know that I have engaged myself to Miss Danworth, and if anybody has anything to say about it, black eyes are back on the table.”
Daisy sighed in relief. He’d said it, now they only need brace themselves for the jokes and hope those jokes didn’t go so far beyond the mark that black eyes would actually result.
The room was silent for a moment, everyone seeming to have some difficulty in taking in Lord Dalton’s words, so strange they were. En masse, the party turned to Daisy for confirmation of this extraordinary news.
She nodded. “It is true, we are to be married. I hope we can count on your congratulations regarding this development.”
“I knew it!” Burke said, “did I not say you were suited? Congratulations indeed, old boy!” Burke grabbed Lord Dalton’s hand and shook it heartily.
There were general exclamations, most along the lines of:I am not surprised at all,of course they have always been well suited, did I not speculate on it last season and nobody believed me?
As Dalton was congratulated by his friends, and treated far more kindly than he had a right to be, Kitty leaned close to Daisy and whispered, “Is it true? You will really wed Lord Dalton? And nobody is forcing you to?”
Daisy laughed at the idea. “Indeed, nobody forces meorhim.”
“I am just so surprised,” Kitty said. “Others seem not so taken off guard, as I think they see you as similar temperaments.”
“Wearesimilar,” Daisy said. “We have been two blocks of ice who have had a very slow thawing.”
“Goodness,” Kitty said, sounding nearly breathless, “one never does know how these things will turn out.”
“No,” Daisy said, laughing, “one never does.”
At dinner, the party were remarkably cheerful, including Lord Dalton. Once he’d got over the danger of being teased into blacking eyes, it seemed the last of his cares were shed from him. He still was not an open book to his friends, as evidenced when Grayson inquired of him how he had pressed his suit to win Miss Danworth. He would not say, and Grayson thought to tease him by inventing strange scenarios until Lord Dalton glared at him with such ferocity that it was understood that black eyes might yet be back on the table.
Daisy was grateful he would not divulge how it had been. Their odd wooing at the window might stay just between them. And also the rascally servants who’d listened in.
Most of the dinner was passed with exchanging news. Cassandra, Lady Hampton, told Daisy that she and the other ladies had a regular correspondence amongst one another and now she was to be brought into the fold. It seemed somewhat remarkable to Daisy, as she had known all of the ladies from past seasons, but most very distantly. If she recalled rightly, she might even have been rather cool to Cassandra. It had only been Kitty who’d managed to make some cracks in her walls.
She was to be married and have a circle of friends. She had not seen her life taking such a turn. Always, she had been intent on just surviving and then retiring to quiet and safety. This was to be an entirely different life than the one she had envisioned.
As the dinner went merrily on, Lord Dalton stole glances at her and she stole glances back and the last hurdle had been jumped. They would marry in a month. As for the idea she’d told Kitty, that they’d both been blocks of ice on the thaw, it seemed they were well on their way to melting.
Dignified still, but melting all the same.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Epilogue:
Charles and Daisy did indeed marry in a month, and quietly, unlike Lord Burke’s large celebration. They married at the duke’s estate, which of course had undergone no renovations whatsoever.
The duke might have boasted to his son about his hand in arranging the whole thing, but the dowager was a more discerning sort and warned him against it. Nobody made comments or expressed surprise, which suited Lord Dalton very well. In any case, the duke would have his opportunity to crow when he would next meet with the other dukes, their pact now fully realized.
Daisy was not certain if she would have been particularly put out if the dukehadclaimed his hand in pushing them together. After all, he had indeed done it, with rather wonderful results. She found her new father-in-law a rather doting old fellow and Charles’ mother an energetic and helpful woman. The dowager, of course, was everything marvelous—sprightly and devilish and reminding Daisy of her own dear departed grandmother. While it took some time to become used to being surrounded in kindness, she was well-satisfied with the family she’d married into.
To her further delight, she was equally well-satisfied with the particular gentleman she’d married. Charles had told no tales when he’d informed Mrs. Jellops that a particular thing could not be done proper in twenty minutes. The duke’s servants were scandalized at their luxurious mornings abed and how late they descended the stairs each day, the time being closer to noon than morning.
They spent a month under the duke’s roof, walking the gardens and discussing the practicalities of a household. Daisy had thought there would be much to debate and decide between them, but it seemed that things were to go all her own way. When she had first noticed it, she’d playfully wondered aloud if pink silk curtains, or perhaps a print of palm trees and parrots, might not do well in his library. Charles had nodded and said it would be as she wished, though he had been mightily relieved to discover she had not actually meant it. It had been the first teasing between them, but was not the last.
Mrs. Jellops and Mrs. Phelps came to stay at the duke’s estate for a fortnight. Charles informed his mother and father of the ladies’ interesting mode of playing piquet, which became an amusing diversion. If six people played cards in the drawing room, two of them stumbled forward with ever-changing ideas on scoring while the rest stifled their laughter. Those two ladies had become such fast friends that they had plans already to visit one another often.
Charles, well-knowing the sort of insults and cruelty Daisy had endured at the hands of her father, took every step to ensure she would never suffer such again. The London house was re-made from top to bottom to her liking, and Charles was endlessly surprised to find a new carpet or draperies having arrived but took it in with good humor.
The house was re-made in temperament too—there were no drunken staff, no intemperate indulgences, no harsh words, no low acquaintances making themselves comfortable in her drawing room. The mistress’ house was inviolate and nothing untoward was to occur. Though, Daisy kindly left her husband’s library alone and it remained a clutter of open books on every surface.
Charles sometimes smiled to himself, knowing full well that with Mrs. Broadbent at the helm and Mrs. Jellops in the wings, anything out of bounds would have been stopped in its tracks anyway. They hired another butler after Bellamy retired to a cottage on the duke’s estate, where he was assured of having as much wine as he liked.
Mr. Roberts had come into the role severe and strong, but after enduring a series of relentless what-fors, questions, notations, and comments, that fellow was entirely outmanned by Mrs. Broadbent.
