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“Like a lady, perhaps? You haven’t been the same since—”
“We don’t need to talk about that, Mother,” Stephen said curtly.
But if there was one thing he had in common with his mother, it was her relentlessness. “Why not?” she demanded with all the strength of a lady who was used to getting what she wanted. “Do you plan to run away from it all your life?”
“I don’t plan to run away from anything, Mother,” Stephen said strongly, hoping that would be enough to curtail the conversation. “I simply don’t want to talk about it. What happened was in the past.”
“As long you ensure that your past doesn’t come up to haunt you then, so be it. I wonder if the memory ofheris what makes you so against participating in this Season.”
Stephen got to his feet. Trying to get her to desist was clearly not going to work, so his only other option was to leave. “As I said before, Mother, I am not feeling very well.”
“Fine,” said the Dowager Duchess. “Run away if you must. We can talk about this another time. Go get some rest.”
“I will go visit a friend,” he said, turning his back to her. “I’m not sure when I will be back.”
“The debut ball is in a few days, Stephen,” his mother said to him as he left. “Please. Do as you’re told.”
He didn’t respond. As usual, his mother wanted to have the last laugh and it was worth too much effort to upset that.
* * *
“I thought you’d be bored but I didn’t think it would be this bad,” Lily said at the doorway, startling Belle so much that she shot upwards. The sudden movement caused a jolt of pain through her ankle and she gritted her teeth.
The sight was already bringing a smile to Belle’s face. “Was I doing something odd?” she asked the girl.
Lily’s eyes were still on her ankle, concentrating on her task. “Nothing more than staring at the ceiling as if you would die if you didn’t get some entertainment soon.”
“I think you might have read my mind.”
Lily gave her a small smile. “If I were in your shoes, I would be doing the same thing. I would try my best to get Julia glued to my side at all times.”
Belle waited until Lily seemed satisfied with the position of the cloth on her ankle and took a seat before she said, “So is that what you’re here to do? Glue yourself to my side because you understand the torture I’m under?”
“For a short while, at least. I’m sure we can entertain you for that long.”
Belle was grateful for any reprieve she got from the silence and stillness she’d been under for too long. “Where is Julia? I thought you two usually came in a pair.”
“Usually,” Lily said with another one of her small smiles. She tilted her head to the door. “She’s on her way. She’s bringing a few gifts with her.”
“Gifts?”
“For you. You didn’t have much with you when you came so we thought it was the least we could do for you.”
Belle couldn’t fathom what she was talking about, but she shook her head. “You’ve already done so much, Lily.”
“And we can do much more, Hannah.” Lily rose and went to the door. As if she sensed her sister’s approach, she opened the door wider to let her in, Julia’s vision impeded by the mountain of clothes she held in her hands. With a grunt, she dumped it on the side of Belle’s bed.
“That,” Julia panted, pointing to the clothes she’d just brought in, “is much heavier than I expected it to be.”
“If you’d accepted my help, then you wouldn’t have been struggling half as much,” Lily stated matter-of-factly. She made her way over to the pile and picked out a grass-green dress sitting on top.
Belle was still gaping at the sight. “What is all this?”
“This is for you, Hannah,” Julia responded. With a bounce, she jumped onto the side of Belle’s bed, shaking her a bit. Without the ice on her ankle, Belle had a feeling that movement would have hurt.
“Me?” she gasped. “All of this?”
“You came in with only the clothes on your back.” Lily handed the dress to Julia, who passed it on to Belle, before continuing. “And what sort of host would we be if we let you stay in that dress for too long? Do you like that one?”
