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“Perhaps you ought to have thought of that before you put our good name in jeopardy!” Lady Balfour yelled at her, looking like she might burst with anger.
Daisy glanced at Bertha then, hoping to find some support from her stepsister, but she still appeared quite daunted by her last objection, and it was clear that she would not intervene further.You are as guilty of this as I am,Daisy thought, wondering how Lady Balfour might react if she were to learn that her own daughter was sneaking out to meet a groom.
Yet the moment she thought it, Daisy’s chest tightened. No matter how desperate she was, she would not throw her sister beneath the carriage as well. If she were to do that, she would be entirely alone and with no support when trying to get out of such a horrendous situation.
“Papa would never agree to this,” Daisy protested. Squaring her shoulders, she looked her stepmother deep in the eye and snapped, “You do not speak for him!”
Yet the moment the words left her mouth, Lady Balfour’s own lips began to lift at the corners, a sly smile crossing her face. She stepped out of the doorway and gestured Daisy from the room. “Feel free to go and enquire of his opinion on the matter. You shall find him in his study in quiet agreement with his wife.”
It was then that Daisy realised it was pointless to continue arguing. If Lady Balfour had no objections to her going directly to her father, then he must have agreed with her. After all, Bertha had just told her she had come directly from his study.
“Go if you do not believe me,” Lady Balfour insisted with another hand wave. Instead, Daisy dropped her head, feeling defeated. All she could hope now was that Lloyd would be as kind towards her furthering her education as Philip had always been. If not, she would spend the rest of her life in an unhappy marriage, dreaming of Oxford University and the time she had spent on its grounds.
As if she saw the nail not quite buried deep enough in the coffin, Lady Balfour announced, “You shall marry Lord Bessington, or you shall face utter ruin!”
Chapter 26
Still, after more than a week, there had been no word from Lady Daisy. What had arrived, however, was the carriage containing his sister Petunia along with her three young children. Though it was good to see them all, Philip was more than a little eager to be on his way. Knowing that it would be rude to race off as soon as she arrived, Philip knew he ought to grit his teeth and bear it for just a few more days while preparing to return to Oxford.
It was much easier to handle his time in the countryside now that his father appeared to be recovering, and Philip had started to wonder whether there had even been any point in Petunia dragging her three children across the country. Yet they did put a smile on the earl’s face. Hearing them laughing and playing and running through the manor house was enough to put a smile on even the sourest of faces.
“Ahh, it is good to hear children in the house again,” Philip’s father announced as he sat with both his children, finally propped up in bed against his mountain of pillows rather than slumping down into them and almost disappearing. Philip was relieved to see the colour returning to his face.
“I am sure you will not continue to say that after a few days, Papa.” Petunia chuckled where she perched on the edge of the bed, clutching her father’s hand. “Though they are pleased to be here too.”
“How long has it been?” Philip asked. She had been far too busy living the life of a viscountess in the north of England, caring for her children, who were all between five and ten, three boys who all appeared eager to keep their mother on their toes.
“Christmas, I think,” Petunia responded, and Philip gulped, realising it had been even longer than he had imagined. “Married life leaves me quite busy indeed.”
I wonder if it shall do the same for me,Philip wondered, hoping it would. He had never really thought about life after his studies, at least not until Lady Daisy had wandered into his life. Now when he looked at his sister’s children, he couldn’t help wondering what their cousins might be like. Hopefully, they would have Daisy’s fine strawberry blonde hair and bright almond-shaped eyes. Closing his eyes, he found he could imagine twins, both girls with beautiful strawberry blonde locks, because in truth, one small version of Daisy was simply not enough.
“One day soon …”
“Excuse me?” Petunia’s voice made him jump, flickering open his eyes, and his heart hammered in his chest when he quickly came to realise that he had spoken out loud. He also realised that both his sister and father were scrutinising him, looking quite suspicious indeed.
“Are you well, Pip?” Petunia asked, and Philip’s lips twitched upwards in a smile. It had been years since he’d heard his childhood pet name. It seemed that only his sister continued to use it. “You are blushing.”
“I … umm …” Philip stammered, unsure how much to say. On the one hand, he could tell them the truth, that he was just thinking of what awaited him back in Oxford. After all, they would know soon enough once he had the duke’s blessing and wedding preparations began.
Yet he couldn’t help wondering whether he ought to tell them or not. After all, the earl had been quite ill, and Philip was unsure whether his father would be pleased with the news.Of course, he will!Philip scolded himself, remembering thathe and the duke are friends.
“I fear my illness has dragged him away from something important in Oxford,” the earl explained to his daughter, utterly surprising Philip.How could you possibly have known?
Petunia looked even more intrigued then, flicking her gaze from her father to her brother and back again. Finally, when it seemed nobody was willing to explain without her insistence, she asked, “Well, is somebody going to tell me what is going on?”
“When your brother arrived, he thought me too ill to notice, but I saw his excitement.” The earl chuckled, a mild cough causing him to take a pause while Petunia tightened her grip on his hand to help him through it. “Over the days, that excitement appears to have turned to apprehension.”
Philip’s stomach clenched tightly then. The earl and his daughter looked at Philip expectantly, and he knew that he would have to explain himself, whether he liked it or not.
“Well, brother, what have you to say for yourself?” Petunia demanded, looking at him with a devilish smile as if she couldn’t wait for him to admit what kind of trouble he had got himself into this time.If I am in trouble, then I shall happily take the punishment!Philip thought for perhaps the first time in his life. No matter what happened, Lady Daisy was more than worth it.
“I would know that look anywhere,” the earl announced before Philip could even say a word to explain or defend himself. Startled by the words, Philip looked up from where he had instinctively glanced down to play with a loose thread on the hem of his jacket to allow himself a moment to think of what to say. “It is the same look I had when I met your mother.”
Philip was even more surprised by that. Very rarely had his parents ever talked of their relationship or even their feelings towards each other, even rarer still were their displays of public affection, and Philip might have forgotten they were married at all if not for the fact they were his parents.
“Don’t look quite so surprised, boy.” The earl chuckled and rolled his eyes, less of a cough and more of a wheezing, causing him to cut off abruptly this time. “Many years of marriage may cause love to look different, but they do not change the feelings that brought us together, and I would recognise that look anywhere.”
“So, hold on, what you are telling me is that my big brother,” Petunia said the words slowly yet clearly as if she were trying to understand them even as she said them, “my brother who always told me as a child that education and career are far more important than marriage and relationships and he would never enter into one, is in love?”
