Page 11 of The Widow Wore Plaid

“Jane, how wonderful.” Georgie threw her arms around her.

“Oh, Jane how marvelous.” Elizabeth beamed at her, all bygones apparently forgotten.

“Well, it’s about time.” Fanny’s gruff tone belied her smiling face.

“Hush, Fanny.” Charlotte rose and hurried around the table to embrace her cousin. “You are certainly not one to throw stones on this occasion.”

“Well, I suppose not.” Fanny laughed and patted Jane on the back. “So now we’ll have to change the name of Charlotte’s little club.”

“As none of us are widows anymore, I think that would be prudent.” Jane laughed and nodded.

“How about the Merry Matrons?” Georgie suggested, her puckered lips a giveaway to her jest.

Elizabeth made a moue. “I’d prefer not to be thought of as matronly, thank you, Georgie. I’d feel eighty years old.”

“Not even if you are merry?” Georgie giggled.

“Not even, dear.”

“How about the Happy Ever After Club?” Jane couldn’t help but smile as she said it. But it was true. With her capitulation, they had all found happy endings, just like in the fairy stories.

“Much better.” Elizabeth nodded. “Not matronly at all.”

“I agree,” Charlotte said, smiling fondly at the group. “We have come very far from that Friday-faced group that first met in Sir Archibald’s parlor. I can’t tell if it feels like yesterday or a decade ago that we were all so excited about meeting new gentlemen.”

“And I for one am glad we did.” Georgie settled happily in her chair, beaming about at all her friends. “I might not have been very keen on the idea at first, but it has worked out ever so well with Rob. Now everyone else has their own fairy-tale prince. I will dare proclaim we will all be happy forever after.”

Fanny raised a warning finger. “Don’t go tempting fate, my dear.” She turned for the doorway. “We have yet to get Jane actually married.” She whirled around. “You didn’t tell us when you and Kinellan are going to tie the knot.”

Caught out, Jane looked down at her hands, gripping each other in her lap. “We haven’t announced the betrothal yet.” Jane bit her lip. Confession time. “In fact, I wasn’t supposed to tell any of you that we were betrothed.” Raising her hand, she stilled the din that erupted. “Kinellan wants to announce the engagement at the bonfire tonight.” She gazed at their stunned faces, guilt now creeping into her heart. “I promised him I wouldn’t tell.”

“Well, he should have known that was a promise you weren’t going to keep.” Fanny laughed and slid her arm around Jane’s waist. “I’ll wager Kinellan tells Matthew before luncheon is served.”

“You must all swear to act surprised when he announces it.” Jane wagged her finger at each friend in turn. “And for God’s sake, don’t tell your husbands.”

“I’ll wager Matthew tells me before I can tell him.” Fanny’s face shown with glee. “Men are much worse at keeping secrets than women.”

“Can we tell Maria, Jane?” Charlotte sobered them with the question. “She’d be so hurt if we kept it from her.”

Jane sighed. As expected, the situation had gotten out of hand so quickly. “Yes, I suppose that is true. I’ll find her and tell her.” One more person to swear to secrecy. How could she ever hope they would all keep their word? “Now what is everyone doing this morning?”

Her friends broke into a clamor that sounded like the squawking of geese, every lady trying to talk at the same time.

“Wait, my dears, wait.” Jane held her hand up again to calm them. “Those are all lovely plans, but please remember Kinellan has arranged a picnic luncheon out with the shooters at half-past one. May I suggest that we each take care of whatever business we have arranged this morning, but be dressed and ready to go by one o’clock. The brake carriages will be ready to go precisely then, so we mustn’t be late. Let us all meet in the entryway at half-twelve, say? We can all ride together in one carriage, while the rest of the party, Kinellan’s relations you know, can ride in the other two.”

“Will we be able to sit together?” Georgie asked. “I mean the Happy Ever Afters and their husbands?”

Jane laughed. Georgie had always been the most whimsical of the group. “Yes, my dear. I will arrange for us to have a large table to ourselves.”

“You’ve quite taken over the duties of the marchioness, haven’t you, Jane?” Fanny’s tone held admiration, and perhaps a touch of archness. “I suspect in all ways but one.”

“What would that one way be, pray tell?” Georgie piped up, mischief in her face. “I can’t help but think Jane has taken on all the duties one would expect of a wife.”

“Ah, but she has yet to give Kinellan an heir, Georgie.” Fannie peered at Jane’s stomach. “Or have you been truly efficient in that respect as well?”

Jane flounced away, her face heating even though she and Kinellan had made their physical relations no secret to their friends. “No, I am not that bold, Fanny. I didn’t even think he would ask me again until last night. It would have been very foolish to have abandoned my precautions without some declaration from him. Thank you again for the advice about the seeds, though. I have been taking them every morning after we have been together.”

Which meant she’d been taking them almost every day since she’d arrived at Castle Kinellan. Gareth was quite a virile man, after all.