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Townsend’s eyes widened. “You’d do that?”
“I’d do that.” Blake nodded. “It is just, after all, and I am all for finding justice.”
* * *
“Annalise, what a surprise!” Caroline called.
Annalise turned as Caroline entered the drawing room, held out both arms, and smiled. “I thought I wouldn’t see you for days, possibly weeks, now that your husband has returned.”
Caroline looked Annalise up and down as if searching for some sign of trouble. Well, she wouldn’t find it on her clothing. Annalise’s troubles consisted of her inner turmoil. But then, she’d never told Caroline about the true state of her marriage. She’d never told anyone aside from Lavinia, but the high society had a way of finding out. As an unmarried lady, however, Caroline was kept in the dark from the most unsavory gossip.
“I just wanted to see you and let you know not to worry about me,” Annalise said with a smile. “The last time you saw me, I was such a mess.” She shook her head.
“Come, let’s sit.” Caroline led her to a settee and sat next to her. “I ordered some sandwiches and tea. I haven’t eaten since breakfast, and I am starving.”
Annalise stifled a laugh. For a very lean and fit lady, Caroline ate a lot. Poor Lavinia always envied that. She ate almost as much, but she kept getting softer and rounder, while Caroline stayed the same.
“How are you, dear? How is your husband?”
“I am well. Not perfect, but as well as can be expected. Aren’t Lavinia and Olivia going to come too? It’s time for a nuncheon, isn’t it?” Annalise looked around for a clock but couldn’t find one in the large room.
“Lavinia sent a note with her apologies today. She said she came down with a cold.”
Annalise frowned. She doubted that what Lavinia had was a cold. She worried that her friend’s father was in one of his moods again. Since he’d remarried a few years ago, things had become better for Lavinia. Her stepmother, although not much older than Lavinia, seemed to have a way to draw attention away from her stepdaughter, but it didn’t always work.
“What about Olivia?”
“Oh, she should be here any minute. But you know Livvie, she’s probably going to be late,” Caroline said with a smile.
Ever since Annalise’s come-out, she, Caroline, and Olivia quickly became friends. They were all extremely different, but that’s what made their meetings interesting. Lavinia had turned the trio into a quartet a year later. And even though Annalise was the only married lady of the four, they still had a lot more in common than Annalise would have thought.
“It’s good that you are here, though,” Caroline continued. “It gets quite boring.”
“How is your uncle?” Annalise asked.
The ladies started a new tradition of visiting Caroline every week for nuncheon, because Caroline’s uncle, the man who raised her, had become quite a recluse lately. Ever since then, Caroline, a social butterfly, was stuck in the house most of the time.
Caroline was an outgoing and lively young lady, and Annalise couldn’t fathom how being stuck at home like this affected her spirit with no one to talk to but the servants and her elderly uncle. The only entertainment for Caroline now was the rare balls that her uncle, the marquess, attended or hosted. Annalise felt lucky that the old man had even agreed to attend her betrothal ball. Without Caroline, she would’ve fallen apart even more.
“He is well. But he found a new activity—hounding me to get married.”
Annalise blinked. An unusual request from a man who never let his niece out of the house these days. How was she supposed to find a husband? She knew Caroline’s views on marriage, though. This was something she’d avoided wholeheartedly since her come-out.
“And you still don’t want to?” she asked carefully.
“I don’t see the reason to. I am well provided for by my uncle. And even in case of his eventual demise, I am to inherit a fortune. I don’t see the need to give my husband my entire fortune, the lands, and my freedom. I can take care of myself.”
“What about children?” Analise frowned. The thought of never having children of her own frightened her to death.
“I don’t want children. Being all round and heavy for most of the year, then giving birth, then…” She paused and grimaced. “God knows what comes then, but I don’t think it’s pleasant. And then you have to do it again and again until your husband has an heir and a spare and possibly one more. And if you have daughters, it’s a never-ending cycle, unless, of course, you die and—” She stopped abruptly as she raised her head to Annalise’s face and finally saw her grimace. “Oh, my apologies. I know you want children, and it’s probably not a terrifying notion to you. But I have always feared the unknown.”
Annalise gave her friend a look that said that she wasn’t fooled for a moment.
“All right, maybe I am not afraid of the unknown, but I am afraid of being split apart as the babe comes out of my—” She clamped her lips shut. “Anyway,” she continued in a more composed tone of voice, and Annalise shouted with laughter.
“Oh, Caro, you lift my mood with your peculiarities.”
“It’s not a peculiarity,” she said defensively. “Why women want to experience such a thing is beyond me.” She shuddered theatrically.
