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“Oh, truly?” Victoria laughed earnestly. “I love her already.”
“I hope it is not a trouble that I brought her with me. I know, cats are not usually kept as pets. But she is not feral… mostly. She is quite friendly with ladies and… I couldn’t leave her at home for fear she might run away without me.”
“Oh, do not worry about it. I wouldn’t want to leave my cat either if I had one. I imagine the journey was not easy for her. I shall let the servants know to take good care of her. And will mention that she prefers female caretakers.”
“Thank you so much!” Lavinia felt a load lift off her shoulders. It felt nice to connect to a young lady this quickly. It had not happened to her before. Not since Annalise. Sure, she was friends with Caroline and Olivia, but they were Annalise’s friends first. Annalise was the one who introduced her to them. Making a friend on her own was… tough.
“I am very glad you are here,” Victoria echoed Lavinia’s thoughts. “I was quite famished for the company. Not to say that the company of my uncle and great aunt is lacking. But…”
Lavinia smiled. “You wished for the company of someone closer to your age.”
“Yes,” Victoria said with a sigh as she stroked Miss Gale’s fur. “See, you understand me so well. I knew we would get along. And it is rather difficult navigating through society, especially having no one to discuss things with. But you have friends. It must have been easy for you.”
Oh, lord… If you only knew.Lavinia sat opposite Victoria and folded her hands on her lap. “I have just finished my second season, I am still unmarried, and on the brink of losing everything. Trust me, it has not been easy.”
Victoria’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, no. You might be in even more dire straits than me. But how… why…?”
“Well, I’ll start with how…” Lavinia said with a chuckle. “I’ve always wished for a love match.”
“That’s where the trouble begins!” Victoria said cheerfully. “See, my sister told me to marry for status, and then just keep lovers for love. That’s what she did.”
“Oh.” Lavinia blinked. There was truly nothing she could say to that. “You have a sister then?”
Victoria waved a hand. “Yes, but she is married and happily living with her lovers.”
Multiple lovers? “And you wish to follow in her footsteps?”
Victoria’s smile turned coy. “I truly thought I did, but now I am not so certain. Perhaps I can have it all.”
Victoria’s optimism was infectious, and Lavinia found herself smiling in turn. “You are young, beautiful, rich, and quite clever. I can’t see why you can’t have it all.”
Victoria bit on her lower lip playfully. “You might be right. But what about you? You wished for a love match, and then what happened?”
Lavinia inhaled deeply. “And then he married someone else.”
“Oh, no!” Victoria’s face scrunched up in a frown. “And now what do you want?”
What did she want? Except for Dane, that was… “I want a marriage to a respectable lord, who would take me away from all my miseries, of which I have plenty. I am not looking for a love match anymore. An amicable union would do.”
Victoria narrowed her eyes. “Is that truly all you wish for?”
Something between a snort and a chuckle left Lavinia’s lips. “I am not going to lie, I would love to meet a man who would see me for me and instantly fall in love. I would love to meet a man who would appreciate my intellect and wit and whatever else a gentleman might find appealing in me. And perhaps he would not care about my full, unshapely figure, clumsiness, and all that uncertainty I carry around with me daily. But this is not possible. Such a man does not exist. Not in this life.”
Victoria pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Not in your life thus far. But it doesn’t mean that this could never happen.”
Lavinia shook her head. “If it hasn’t happened to me before, why would it happen to me now?”
Victoria leaned closer toward Lavinia. “There is something my sister told me, which I carry with me to this day. I think it will help you, too. She said that if you want to have something you’ve never had, you need to do something you’ve never done.”
Lavinia furrowed her brows in thought. Such a simple yet poignant statement. How did Lavinia expect to win over a suitor if she hadn’t won anyone in her twenty years? To find a husband this time around, she might need to plot something outrageous. “She sounds very wise.”
“Beyond her years,” Victoria agreed. She handed Miss Gale to Lavinia and jumped up. “But I am wasting your time. You need to rest, get refreshed, clothed, and out onto the suitor hunt. And I,” she continued as she skipped toward the door, “shall go and make certain you get the very best lady’s maid.”
“Thank you,” Lavinia said with a smile, her mood lighter.
“Oh, but we should take afternoon tea together, all four of us! I shall tell Caroline my brilliant idea! Oh, how lovely!” Victoria said and slunk away excitedly.
Yes. Lovely.Lavinia expelled a breath. Surely she knew she was going to share a house with Caroline and Dane when she agreed to come to this house party. But she hadn’t quite imagined being forced to socialize with either of them.
I suppose I better start preparing for it.
