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“Yes, of course,” Evander replied, releasing my hand. My mother interlocked her arm with mine and led me away.
“Mama, are you crying?” I asked.
“Of course not. Married ladies do not cry in public. It is childish.” She huffed and lifted her head high. “And you are not a child any longer.”
“Married or not, I am always your child, Mama.”
Evander
The reason her mother had taken her was quite obvious, even if it was tradition. Yet I could not help but wonder what she had told her, because when Aphrodite returned, her face was…perplexed and slightly alarmed. She looked truly lost. So much so she barely said a word for the rest of the evening. Only when the last guest had gone and we stood before our carriage in front of her family along with Verity, who took it upon herself to decide to stay with them for the remainder of the season, did she speak.
“Abena?” she said to the youngest sister, opening her arms. Typically, Abena could not hold her tongue, yet today, she’d stood beside her father, her eyes red and a frown on her lips. “Will you not wish me well?”
The little girl looked down. “Bye.”
“That was wishing me off but not well. I demand a hug,” Aphrodite said. Still, Abena refused.
So, Hathor and Devana grabbed both of her arms and yanked her forward. All three sisters were now thrown against my wife. I stepped forward to catch her should she fall, as she nearly stumbled back at the force. She stood firm, and they all hugged tightly.
“You must write to us!” Hathor declared.
“Married women do not have much time to write, Hathor,” her mother called.
“I shall find the time,” Aphrodite said with a laugh.
“We can visit later?” Devana questioned.
“And married women do not have time to entertain their little sisters,” her mother added, shaking her head.
“I shall find the time,” Aphrodite replied.
When Hathor and Devana released her, there was only Abena still hugging tightly. Aphrodite bent down to pinch her cheeks.
They hugged her once more before her brother Hector stepped forward and embraced her.
“Father says the most important thing is to be happy,” he said, “so be happy.”
“I promise it.”
He glanced over to me, glaring, and I had to say, for a boy of such young age, he held a very mean gaze. “Make her happy.”
“It shall be my life’s work.” I watched her say goodbye to her mother and father. I had been so focused on little Abena that I had not noticed the other red face here—Lord Monthermer. He swallowed and nodded over and over to himself, widening his eyes and holding back his own tears before he hugged her. I did not know what he whispered into her ear, but I knew it made her smile. They both even shared a small laugh before she took a step back. I looked at my sister.
“You shall not weep and hug me?” I asked.
“Why? I shall see you in three weeks, a month at most,” she said with not a care.
“Do not cause them any trouble, Verity,” I warned, giving her a stern look. Truthfully, I was worried about her condition and others knowing, but she said she was taking the medicine prescribed to her by Dr. Cunningham.
“Thank you for keeping her,” I said to my godmother, who nodded, seemingly choking on her own emotion as well.
“You both should get on,” her father said.
“Right,” I replied, waiting for Aphrodite. When she returned to me, I helped her inside the carriage before going in myself.
From inside, she glanced once more at her family, waving to them as they waved back. It was only when they were too far to see her in the dark that her eyes also glazed over with tears. When one escaped, I reached over and wiped it away with my thumb. Startled by my touch, her eyes finally met mine.
“Forgive me, I am not sad…I am only…”
