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“Three of us?”
Emma looked a little deflated. “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to go. I have to go to dinner with Mother.”
Ellie looked up. “Was that already planned?”
“I got it sprung on me just as I left last night.”
Ellie exchanged looks with her sisters. She was under no illusion that the old woman’s tactics were to monopolise the time of her daughter-in-law in spite of their mutual dislike for each other.
“Does she do this all the time?”
“A little bit. Normally, I’d tell her that I can’t do it, but when she mentioned going over to Madeline’s to check on her great-grandchild, I agreed.” Emma put her coffee cup down and reached for her toast. “Madeline can take care of herself, but she doesn’t need the extra stress of having her grandmother harass her.”
“So what are we going to do?” Dorothea asked. “We can’t go to the dinner on our own, can we?”
“Lord Cliveton-Smythe will look after you. The only place you’ll be unescorted will be in the carriage going there, and my driver will make sure you’re safe.” Emma gave them an apologetic look. “I know it’s not ideal, and there’s bound to be someone who’s going to scold us, but we have to make do. Unless you want Mother around you, do you?”
“No!” Ellie immediately shook her head, noticing the shocked looks on her sisters’ faces. “We certainly don’t want her around unless we have no choice.”
“Because she mentioned taking you three under her wing and helping you find husbands. Something about how I’m too useless to do it.”
Regina sounded like she was choking.
Dorothea shuddered. “Please, don’t let that happen, Emma.”
“Don’t worry, I’m going to put my foot down on that. I said to my cousin that I would make you three my responsibility, not my mother’s. Especially if she’s going to do nothing about it beyond letting you stay here.” Emma munched on her toast for a moment. “So, the best thing to do is keep your social calendar busy so you don’t have an opportunity to run into her again. And don’t be afraid to say no.”
“You mean to say, ‘Don’t be like me’?” Regina quipped.
Their cousin winced. “Not in so many words, but close enough.”
Ellie didn’t say anything, focused on forcing down her food. It seemed to settle in her belly like she had been eating stones, but she managed to keep it down. After breakfast, where Emma headed to the morning room to write some letters before they went for their walk, Ellie found her sisters falling into step behind her as they went up the stairs.
“We’re going to a dinner party on our own?” Regina whispered. “Only yesterday, Emma was saying we couldn’t go without a chaperone, and now she’s changing her mind?”
“Probably because we’ve got a chaperone at the party,” Dorothea pointed out. “Someone she trusts.”
“Well, we can handle that, can’t we?” Regina grinned at Ellie. “We have our own chaperone here.”
Ellie groaned and turned on the stairs. “I’m not going to do that again, Regina. Aside from the fact it was a one-off, Emma is going to know.”
“How do you know? I’m sure she won’t notice anything different.”
Ellie snorted. “You just don’t want me to steal the light from you while you find a potential husband.”
Regina made a face. “Don’t make me sound so conceited, Ellie. It just worked well last night, so why shouldn’t we do it again?”
“Well, you are more likely to find someone to marry than I am.”
“You’re prettier than I am!”
Ellie didn’t believe that but appreciated Regina’s comment all the same. She squeezed her sister’s shoulder.
“It’s not a competition to see who gets married first. You don’t have to marry someone immediately, you know.”
“But I do,” Regina said sadly. “Father needs it to be done as soon as possible. That’s stressful, don’t you think?”
Ellie couldn’t agree more. Although she didn’t want to dress up as a spinster again, she found herself wanting to look as unappealing as possible. Regina and Dorothea were more likely to find husbands, and she wanted the focus to be on them.
