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“I have to say, I am glad you did. She got me through some very difficult times.”
Annalise peered into Lavinia’s eyes, but she tried to evade her friend’s perceptive gaze. “Will you tell me what is wrong?”
Lavinia swallowed. “It’s my father… He is dying.”
“Oh my God!” Annalise looked very perplexed. “What happened?”
“He… He fell… Two nights ago, after Lady Carlyle’s ball.”
“Oh! I am so sorry, Lavinia.” Annalise scooted to the edge of the settee. “I know you have no love for the man, but he is your father.”
Lavinia nodded frantically. “You are right. I have no love for him, and I am not exactly grieving. Perhaps it makes me a horrible person, but—”
“It doesn’t. The man treated you like a rug. He beat you!”
Lavinia grimaced. “I know. It’s just… I don’t know. I still feel…” Lavinia bit her lip and looked away.
“Guilt?”
Lavinia’s head snapped up. How would Annalise know?
“It is natural to feel guilty that you’re not feeling grief for your father,” Annalise assured her, and Lavinia let out a breath of relief.
“Thank you. And yes, you might be right. This must be the guilt I am feeling, or at least it could be a part of it. But to be honest, I am very confused at the moment. But also if he dies…” Lavinia shuddered.
“Someone else will take over the title.”
“Yes, and knowing my father, I will be left with nothing but the clothing on my back. Both my stepmother and I.”
Annalise stood and started pacing the room. “Are you certain your father is going to die?”
Lavinia shook her head. “The doctor doesn’t know how to help him now. He tried a few remedies, but nothing seems to work. I fear he might perish soon, although I am not certain fear is the right word for what I am feeling either.”
Annalise stopped and faced Lavinia directly. “We need to tell Kensington. He will be able to help. He always—”
“Please, do not involve Dane in this,” Lavinia said, her heart squeezing at the mere mention of him. There was a huge boulder stuck in her throat, and tears burned at the back of her eyes, threatening to erupt. “He has always been the one to save me my entire life. And I-I just don’t want him to be involved in this.”
Annalise nodded, understanding clear on her face. Her brows were drawn over her eyes, and she bit her lip. She was concerned for Lavinia. She always had been. Annalise was like a sister to her. But this time, her expression held a note of pity, which Lavinia hated. But how could anyone not pity her? The man she loved, the only person who could make all her problems go away, was the man she could no longer look in the eyes because he had married one of her closest friends.
“Very well. But if we do not involve Kensington… There is only one solution that comes to mind, and I am not certain you are going to like it.” At Lavinia’s inquiring expression, Annalise continued, “We need to find you a suitor… A husband.”
Lavinia expelled a breath. It wasn’t a surprising conclusion at all. Lavinia had thought about that numerous times while sitting beside her ailing father. Of course, she’d have to marry sooner or later. But she didn’t expect it to be this soon and under these ghastly circumstances.
She had always thought that if she ever had a husband, it would be Dane. She had spent her life waiting for him and, in the end, he had married someone else. And now that he was wed, she did not even have time to properly grieve the loss of her dreams.
The pain was still raw to the point it felt as if Lavinia was bleeding from the inside. But what was the alternative? Spending her life as a penniless spinster? Finding work?
There was nothing she was trained to do but be a lady. And even in that, she wasn’t perfect. No, she could not put it off any longer. She needed to marry someone soon.
But whom could she marry on such short notice? It wasn’t as if suitors were beating down her door. She was unmarried for a reason.
Not that Lavinia had ever applied herself to find a suitor. She had been waiting for Dane to ask her for most of her life, and she was grieving the rest. Now that she had no other choice, she would have to apply herself. Because whether her father died or awakened, being married and away from her home was her only salvation.
Her gut tightened as she remembered the note lying in her dresser. Well, she’d have to figure out what to do with that later. For now, her first priority was to leave home as soon as she could.
She inhaled deeply. “I agree.”
Annalise’s eyes rounded. “You do? I thought you would resist the idea.”
