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“I cannot get her to sit still long enough for me to do her hair if she is not eating. I only just sent the tray back down when you arrived.”
I glanced at Emeline, who looked at me as if I were a monster, even more terrified now than when I had first met her. In fact, every day since my arrival that I had seen her she looked more and more afraid. What had happened? Was I that frightening to her?
“Emeline?” I said gently. “I do hope you and I will have lunch then. I wish us to be friends.”
She eyed me carefully.
I smiled once more and then addressed Mrs. Watson. “I shall allow you to finish your work, but please see to it that we may have lunch together.”
“Yes, Your Grace,” she replied.
“I shall see you, Emeline.” I waved to her.
Her response was tepid, and I did not wish to force myself upon her, so I quickly left the room.
“I thought children liked me? She looks scared of me, does she not?”
“Do give her time, Your Grace. I doubt it is easy to adjust to a stepmother,” she reminded me.
Right, the stepmothers in tales were never kind. “Another thing to add to my list of duties.”
“Next, the house staff?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yes, and I would like to see a ledger of all those working here. You should get it from the housekeeper.” I stopped, recalling that the housekeeper was tending to Emeline. I did not wish to disturb her again. “I will need to speak to the estate steward directly then.”
“Then you ought to wait in the drawing room, Your Grace, and I shall let him know so he may come to see you.”
I had a mind to go directly downstairs, but the memory of the last time I had intruded on servants in my own home had stuck with me. If servants who had known me for years felt uncomfortable with my presence downstairs, it would only be worse here, especially as I was no longer a nobleman’s daughter but now the duchess.
I could do this. I merely had to take it one step at a time.
Evander
When I awoke to find I was alone, a slight ache of worry spread through me. Only the sight of her things within the room reassured me that she was not a dream. Which then left me to wonder why she had left so early.
The answer to my question arrived with my valet, who informed me that my wife had called an assembly of the house.
I was aware Everely was not in the best state, but I did not believe things were so drastic that she would move with such urgency or severity. I had thought she would give herself a few days to adjust, and even though we had spent more time indulging on our way here, I simply was not yet satisfied. Would I ever be? That was the real question.
“How long have you worked here?” I heard her voice when I came downstairs.
Not wishing to interrupt, I listened from the adjacent room as each person gave her their name, their position within the house, as well as how long they had been employed.
“Should I announce your presence, Your Grace?” Wallace asked from beside me.
I shook my head, glancing through the crack of the door as she sat in her chair while her maid wrote down the information beside her.
“Did we not already have these records?” I asked Wallace.
“The steward looked for them, but apparently most have been lost or mismanaged. He said he would create a new set later, but the duchess preferred to do it this way,” he explained.
“How long has she been in here?” I asked.
“Almost two hours, Your Grace.”
Two hours? “Has she even eaten this morning?”
“I believe so, Your Grace. However, I would have to ask her lady’s maid.”
