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Lilian smoothed a curl from Daniel’s cheek. He was busy gnawing on his fist, oblivious to them both, his eyes fixated on the stark branches above them. His head rested on the small mound of Lilian’s stomach. Finally, after nearly three years of marriage and several failed attempts, Lilian was with child.
“Curses, mostly.” Lilian laughed softly. “I’m sure she only taught you such words to annoy Mother. She succeeded. That’s why Mother finally gave up and allowed you to spend a great deal of time in Garrison while I was stuck in the city, learning how to walk properly with a book on my head.”
Georgina snorted. “Not walking,floating, Lilian. She did try with me, but the book kept falling off and hitting the floor. When the spine finally broke, so did Mother.”
Lilian laughed again. “Yes, well, she liked to claim one of the ways a gentleman chose his wife was based on the way she walked into a room.”
“I’m not even sure Masterson noticed when I entered a room. Or paid very much attention to me at all. Just my money.”
“I know you blame Father for your marriage—”
“Is there someone else I should take to task for wedding me to an elderly man who preferred bedding his grooms to me? Or for banishing me all the way to England because of a silly mistake? I don’t even know how Father met Masterson.”
“Your reputation was in tatters, Georgina,” Lilian said quietly. “There was little else they could do. Masterson and Father had a mutual acquaintance, I believe. Lord Pennybroke. Don’t you remember when Father went to London on business one year? I think he met Masterson through Pennybroke then. At least that’s what Ben told me after your marriage.”
“They wouldn’t even allow me to come home and see you wed, Lilian.”
“The gossip was very bad.” Her sister patted Daniel on the back as he chewed on the stuffed horse. “Not even Ben could sway Father. You’re still talked about, though a bit more quietly.”
Georgina knew her cousin had tried to dissuade her father. But there was no moving Jacob Rutherford once he’d made up his mind. “Father wanted a title, and I suppose he thought Masterson would do. Just as he wished for a lawyer in the family.”
Lilian’s calm expression faltered. “That isn’t fair. William and I were enamored of each other before Father encouraged the match.”
Georgina wasn’t sure that was the case, but Lilian loved William Harrison and seemed oblivious to whatever machinations their father had been part of to ensure he had a lawyer and budding politician in the family. Jacob Rutherford rarely did anything without a reason.
“I’m sorry.” Georgina touched her sister’s arm. “I know of the affection you and William have for each other. The proof,” she smiled at the bump of Lilian’s stomach where Daniel’s head rested, “is before me.” Her sister had gone through the agony of two miscarriages before finally conceiving and carrying the child long enough that the fear of loss had finally diminished. Her physician, one of the best in Manhattan, deemed Lilian and the child both healthy. “Perhaps I am only jealous. My marriage was hardly a love match.”
An image of Leo flashed before her eyes, and Georgina bit her lip. She didn’t want to miss him as much as she did. Some nights, she wondered what would have happened if she’d told him about Harold. Or Daniel. What more might he have said?
It would have changed nothing.
“Speaking of marriage, how is Mr. Fletcher?” Lilian said.
“Handsome enough, I suppose. But not the sort of gentleman whose attentions I wish to engage. I find him to be boring and tedious. Always droning on about laws and dropping the names of prominent people, hoping I’ll be impressed.”
“He’s a congressman, Georgina. Wealthy and well-connected. Related to the Biddles of Philadelphia. Fletcher is completely besotted by you.”
“According to Mother.” Lustful would be a better term for Fletcher’s affections. Were they to wed, Georgina expected she would need to tolerate an entire array of mistresses when Fletcher tired of her. “She mistakes his desire to bed me with something else.”
“Georgina.” Lilian’s cheeks pinked. “I’m sure that isn’t the case.”
Lilian was a bit of a prude. She wasn’t even sure anyone else had ever kissed her sister except for William. Whereas Georgina had deliberately allowed a kiss to be stolen by her beau. They were nothing alike, she and Lilian. Georgina always flouted convention while Lilian embraced the gilded cage most women found themselves in.
“And Fletcher speaks to me as if I can’t understand the simplest subjects. As if his political maneuvering were beyond my female comprehension.” Had he approached Georgina more as an equal and less an ornament—
A shiny bauble.
Georgina looked away across the expanse of her sister’s lawn edged by rolling hills covered with thick trees that stretched as far as the eye could see. Her sister’s home was somewhat isolated now, but Georgina thought in time, as more prominent merchants, lawyers, doctors and the like moved here, the landscape would become less untamed. “I’ll find someone soon, Lilian. I promise. It just won’t be Fletcher. I don’t want my problems to become yours. Nor Daniel to become a burden.”
“He isn’t. Nor are you. I took him gladly,” she emphasized. “Good practice for me, don’t you think?” She patted her mid-section. “I would do anything for you, Georgina. And Daniel. You know that.”
“I do.”
Lilian, her beautiful older sister. So full of light, it practically radiated from her very pores. Unlike Georgina, Lilian was slender. Willowy. The perfection of her features, the porcelain skin and striking white-blond hair, gave her the appearance of a fairy princess. Lilian had always been the very embodiment of the perfectly well-bred young lady. She was soft-spoken and docile where Georgina was determined to disobey. Ben taught Georgina how to swordfight and climb trees while Lilian practiced her embroidery and took ladylike walks in the park.
“You would have made a much better countess than I did,” Georgina blurted out. “I was disliked the moment I set foot in London.”
“And did nothing to change anyone’s opinion, did you?” Lilian gave her a sideways glance. “I would guess you went out of your way to be thought outrageous.”
