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On impulse, Helen kissed his cheek.
He looked surprised, but his mouth softened. “Try to spend only half the lumber profits?”
“No more than three quarters!” she called over her shoulder.
A Sideris footman in royal-blue-and-white livery guided her to the gleaming blue brougham carriage, its trim and wooden wheels lacquered gold.
“Helen!” exclaimed Pen as soon as the footman opened the door. She alone was perched on a seat in a sea of dark purple-red skirts the color of mulberry jam and shifted so that Helen could sit next to her.
“Good morning!” Helen’s enthusiastic greeting reflected the same warmth visible in the other woman’s gaze.
Once under way to Regent Street, Pen explained her mother’s absence with an indulgent smile. “Today was one of thosedays. She awoke knowingexactlywhat she must paint, and she cannot rest until she completes it.”
It was paint on Sirena’s fingers!Helen smiled at the thought. “How wonderful to be so inspired! To be so moved.”
“That’s a rather fine way of describing it. She ismoved, quite against her will. She wished to see you, but she said she needed to finish this. You’ll see her when you and your brother call on us later this week.”
If we go. Ambivalent herself, she still hadn’t extended the invitation to Elijah. A little smile tugged at her lips.He can hardly reject it after lecturing me about fostering connections in London!
“I, for one, am delighted we’ll have this time alone! Surely you have questions about Nicholas. Who better to reveal his secrets than his sweet, insightful sister?” Pen batted her eyelashes, and they both laughed.
“Oh, I wouldn’t pry.”
“Hmm. You ought to try. It’s delightful!”
Helen relaxed into the plush velvet seat, giggling.
It felt like a lifetime since she had socialized in such a lighthearted way, especially with other women. But she felt hopeful that, while brief, her time in London was the start of a better life. It was time to practice living that way.
“Very well, Pen, I will pry if you insist! But aboutyou. You spoke of wanting to travel. Where do you dream of going?”
With a smile, she listened to Pen’s fantasy adventures, her wishes a charming combination of sophisticated and naïve. The eighteen year old had just posed a question about the realities of long sea voyages when they arrived at the shop. Helen was grateful for the interruption, wanting neither to mislead nor disillusion the girl.
“Oh!” Pen froze before they reached the doorway to Madame Robillard’s establishment, one in a row of fashionable shops with artful arrangements of their wares behind plate-glass windows. Extravagant bonnets in every color of the rainbow were displayed at the milliner’s next door. “A word of warning, Helen. My family, well, we have certain…peculiar habits.”
You have no idea what I’d find peculiar!She tried not to show her amusement at the dramatic revelation. “Your warning is noted. Is there anything in particular you wish me to know?”
Pen stepped closer to be heard over the noise of the street, her vibrant-berry skirts swirling. Still unaccustomed to London’s bustle and traffic, Helen was distracted by the cacophony of iron carriage wheels on cobblestone, the shabbily dressed organ-grinder playing his worn out barrel organ, and the shouts of the vendors as they pushed their carts.
“You may overhear somebargainingon my part. It is our way. My parents expect no less, but it is a habit frowned upon by everyone else. Some of my acquaintances would absolutely die if forced to overhear my efforts.”
Helen smiled kindly. “Oh, you needn’t worry on my account, Pen.”
“Very well. And pay no heed if suddenly you wonder whether you arechez la modisteor attending the theater. Madame and I can be quite…dramatic.”
“Consider me prepared. But you needn’t worry! I’m accustomed to commerce.”
“Through your brother’s business as captain?”
“Through my entire life. Besides, we have different notions about commerce in America. In my circles, even the rich can be parsimonious and unwilling to part with a halfpenny more than they must.”
“Perhaps my ways will not be so strange to you after all.”
Helen’s blue eyes twinkled, thinking unkindly of the pursed mouths characteristic to Robbie’s family. “I suspect your ways will be unfamiliar, but I look forward to them. They sound refreshing. At home, those most dedicated to holding onto their coin also value what they call restraint.”
A mock shudder ran through Pen. “Restraint.”
Laughing, she took the young woman’s arm. “Forget I said the word. Come.”
