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“I’m sure you’ve mentioned her before.” Eric grinned. “How about we gamble for her?”
Heavenly’s face went pale, his mouth dropping open. “What? I can’t gamble my daughter.”
“Well, how about we do it this way? You win, I give you half of the money you’ve lost to me. I win, I get your daughter. Don’t worry,” he added when there was a collective gasp around the room, “I’ve got an idea for her that you’re going to like.”
“Like what?”
Eric paused for a moment, pretending to think about it. In reality, he had thought about it a long time ago.
“A husband for her. I know you’ve been looking for her to marry. It can’t be easy when she’s too old for marriage.” He gestured for a footman to approach with the drinks. “I can help you with that. Another drink?”
* * *
“Lady Eleanor?”
Eleanor looked up. One of the nuns was standing in the doorway of the laundry room, looking concerned. Eleanor put down the sheet she had been attempting to fold and approached her.
“Sister Cecilia. What is it?”
“I’m worried.” Cecilia was fidgeting with the edge of her apron. “Clarice has gone missing.”
“You mean she’s run away again?”
“I’m afraid so.”
Eleanor groaned. Clarice Newman was the daughter of a man who had been a worker on the docks as a bookmaker. The man had done well for himself, but he had also had a gambling problem. When he and Clarice’s mother had died six months before of smallpox, his debts were revealed and practically all his money was used to wipe out the debts and pay for the funerals, leaving nothing for Clarice. She had been brought to the orphanage. At fifteen, she only had a few more years before she could go out on her own, but nobody wanted her to be homeless.
Unfortunately, Clarice had a sense of entitlement. Her parents weren’t any better than the other parents who had sadly passed, but it sounded like Clarice’s family saw themselves above everyone else. She was rude and belligerent to both the people who worked at the orphanage and the other children. The girl refused to do her chores and thought her studies were pointless. Eleanor couldn’t begin to count how many times Clarice had sneered at her for working when she should be finding a husband before she got old and grey. She was just plain mean, but the nuns had persevered.
For the most part. Eleanor had lost count of how many incidents had sent Clarice to her room because she broke the rules. It was like her parents had never given her any rules. Then Clarice would simply walk out of the orphanage and disappeared for a couple of days before coming back, no remorse that she had done anything wrong. She was giving everyone a headache.
“Did Annie tell you where Clarice has gone?” Eleanor asked.
“Just that Clarice said she was going out. She didn’t know why Clarice was going.” Cecilia sighed. “All she would say was that she was really angry about having to do her chores and getting punished for it. All she had to do was tidy up the schoolbooks.”
And that was enough to make Clarice turn her nose up at any attempts to help. Eleanor knew it was difficult to go from having two parents to nothing overnight, but there came a time when every child needed to grow up. Clarice seemed to be refusing to do that. In her mind, a young man with a title was going to come along and sweep her off her feet.
Eleanor would love to see how that worked out. With Clarice’s attitude, she wouldn’t get very far at all.
“She’ll come back.” Eleanor touched the nun’s arm. “Just don’t punish her too much.”
“We don’t punish.” Cecilia reminded her. “Only when she physically lashes out, which she does a lot.”
“I know.” Eleanor smiled. “She’ll come back. She always does. Don’t worry so much about her.”
“I try not to.” Cecilia managed a smile in return, clasping Eleanor’s hand. “I really am grateful for your help here, Lady Eleanor. You do things that no one else would care to do. Your mother would be so proud of you.”
“I…” Eleanor faltered as a moment of sadness hit her. She swallowed hard. “Thank you, Sister.”
Her mother had done the same as Eleanor before she died. She had always helped with the orphaned children and looked after them when they needed someone. It was partly the reason why Edward Heavenly hadn’t fought Eleanor about going to the same place to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Deep down, he knew it was the right thing to do. Eleanor often thought she was at peace with her mother’s death, but then there were moments when she was mentioned without any warning and Eleanor would end up close to tears.
She missed her. A lot. Eleanor would give anything to have her mother back.
“Oh.” Sister Cecilia, blinking rapidly. “Forgive me, Lady Eleanor. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“I’m not crying.” Eleanor sniffed.
“Are you sure?” Cecilia reached out and brushed her thumb across Eleanor’s cheek. “You look like you’re crying. I didn’t mean to be so flippant.”
