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“No. I am bored. Isaac is fussing too much, and I haven’t seen my friends for too long. At my age one must take advantage of every opportunity to keep the mind alive. I shouldn’t be sitting here waiting for God to realise I am still going,” Adelaide declared dourly.
Ursula bit back a smile and put her book in her lap. “So, what would you like to do with the evening?” She glanced at the clock and prayed Adelaide didn’t want to go to someone’s ball, but it was still early in the evening. They had time to do so if Adelaide insisted on it. “It is too late to accept anybody’s invitation to dine or anything, and you are not recovered well enough to go to any balls,” she warned darkly.
“I have two tickets for the theatre,” Adelaide declared with a crafty smile. “It would be a shame to not use them. I have heard so much about this play that I should like to see it for myself. Just so I know what everyone is talking about.”
“It is a dire spectacle from what I have heard,” Ursula replied, suspecting that they were going to go to the theatre.
“Well, let’s go and find out for ourselves. It is hardly a taxing endeavour to go to the theatre, now is it? I cannot just sit here all evening. I am bored already,” Adelaide argued even though Ursula hadn’t objected.
“Then the theatre it is,” Ursula agreed with a sigh.
An hour later, Ursula stepped inside the brightly lit entrance hall at the Apollo, and sighed in delight as she studied the brilliantly lit opulence of the theatre and its assorted patrons. The patrons were milling in the entrance hall, exchanging pleasantries and small talk before they found their boxes. She tried not to stare as she followed Adelaide through the crowd, but it was difficult given the plethora of colours, sights, sounds and infectious feeling of expectation that lingered in the air.
“We will take our box seat straight away, I think,” Adelaide declared over her shoulder. “I want to see who is here before the lights go down. Oh, there is Myra Thornton. I must say hello while we are here.”
Ursula sighed and followed her aunt as she forged a path across the room. She curtseyed to Adelaide’s friends politely and stood patiently to wait for her aunt to move on. While Adelaide conversed, Ursula turned her attention to the guests within the grand entrance hall.
In one second, her entire world screeched to a halt, and began to crumble around her. A gasp escaped her. Her stomach dipped. She blinked and stared in shock, unsure at first that her eyes weren’t deceiving her.
“Trenton,” she whispered, staring at him in stunned disbelief.
When several people blocked her view, she moved to one side so she could get a better look. Sure enough, Trenton was there along with his friend, Hugo something or other. That didn’t bother her at all. He was just out for the evening. That was all; nothing to worry about. She wouldn’t have worried either, if it hadn’t been for the very clear fact that the men were escorting two beautiful young women; one of whom Trenton had been so earnestly wrapped around the night of the Andover’s ball. Right now, he was laughing down into her face with carefree abandon that hinted at an intimacy between them.
The wave of hurt that swept through her was so strong that she struggled to take a breath. When she realised she was staring she forced herself to look away. Unfortunately, like a moth to a flame her gaze was drawn back to them time and again. There was something in Trenton’s face; an easy-going enjoyment that she had never seen when he was with her. When he was with her he was always tense; watchful even and had certainly never tossed his head back and laughed with such carefree abandon before.
“Come along, my dear,” Adelaide murmured quietly.
Ursula jerked and looked at her aunt. She blinked away the salty sting of tears and nodded, painfully aware that her aunt had also seen Trenton.
“Would you like to make their acquaintance?” Adelaide asked as she studied the group.
“No! God, no,” Ursula snapped in a voice that quivered with a mixture of outrage and hurt.
How could he do this to her after what they had shared? Had it not meant anything to him? She glanced about the room blankly, unsure which way to go or what to do.
“Would you like to go home instead?” Adelaide turned around until her back was to the group, effectively blocking Ursula’s view of them.
Ursula seriously considered whether to leave. She wanted to run and keep going until she could get that betraying image out of her head. As it was, something within her refused to allow him to see how much devastation his treachery had wrought. Closing her eyes against the pain, she gave her aunt a smile that was as brave as it was tentative.
“Let’s go and find our box, shall we?” she whispered, and swallowed the tears away while they made their way up the stairs to their private box.
“Are you alright, my dear?”
“Yes, thank you,” she replied woodenly.
“Did you not know he was here?”
She could see no reason to lie to Adelaide. “No. He told me he had some business to attend to. Why did he lie? Why is he with her?”
“I don’t know, my dear,” Adelaide replied frankly. “You do know who she is, don’t you?”
Ursula shook her head, not really wanting to know but determined to find out for herself before Trenton told her any more lies. Or rather kept even more secrets.
“That is Serena, Hugo’s sister. Hugo has been Trenton’s friend since they were young boys. It caused quite a stir when that Barbarella girl started to put it about that she expected an offer from Trenton. People had always assumed that Serena would be Trenton’s choice for a bride. They often go out together. The other lady, Melvina Davenport, is Hugo’s intended. They make a foursome, and regularly attend social engagements together. It is nothing new.”
“Why did you not tell me?” Ursula whispered. Each word Adelaide had spoken had felt like a hammer blow to her tender heart. She realised just how much of a fool she had been to place her trust in someone she barely knew, but couldn’t be sure whether to be angry with him or herself.
“I thought you knew, my dear. I had hoped that once he made your acquaintance, and realised how wonderful you are, he would end his association with Serena and look toward you.” Adelaide frowned across the theatre to the box where Trenton was in the process of seating the ladies.
