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A fleeting thought smeared every image in her mind. Albert. She could have been in there with him. After all, he must have lingering feelings for her to go to such lengths as a fake betrothal despite his principles just to spite her. Straightening her shoulders, she continued on her way.
It was not her place to judge anyone’s behavior. She was not clean herself. Whatever happened going forward, she would not be carrying all the blame alone, at least. That made her wound easier to bear.
The lovely ray of light was immediately snuffed out by the sight of her stepmother arriving in the grand foyer. She stopped and stared as the woman’s many boxes were being carried in by footmen. She wondered what had changed the woman's mind about coming. “Mother?”
Prudence turned around and clucked her tongue. "My, my, you are yet to be the Mistress of the Mansion but you are already picking and choosing who comes and goes."
“I beg your pardon?”
“You look surprised to see me, Edwina, displeased, even.” She smiled viciously. “Did you not receive my letter?”
“No, I did not.”
“I suppose your stupid brother did not bother to share it.”
At least you know he is stupid, she thought.
"For once, Mother, can you try not to read any ulterior meaning into what I say?" Edwina asked.
"I do not trust you." Prudence’s gaze assessed her from the top of her head to her feet. “New clothes?”
"I am not asking for trust," Edwina replied, "merely civility. Especially now that we are not in our territory. We should not be talking like this here." She ignored her remark about new clothes. It was one of the dresses that Albert had given her.
“There is hardly anyone here. Anyone of consequence, at least. And would you look at yourself, talking to me about civility!" She scoffed. "Good heavens! You get a little taste and now you want to act all proper?"
"Whose fault is it that I was never taught how to act from the start?"
Prudence leaned close to her and smiled. "No amount of soap can take the stench off of a sewer rat. Thus, I never troubled myself with it. Besides, you lack the intelligence to be molded." She made a show of sighing.
"Oh, my!" Edwina placed a hand over her chest. "No wonder Tommen has the wit of a nit. I always wondered what the problem was. Now I know."
If she lacked intelligence, so did Tommen. With a smug smile on her face, Edwina turned to leave her stepmother wide-eyed and sputtering at the insult to herself and her son. “You will regr—”
A bark sounded and her stepmother jumped. Puppy came bounding into the hall. Prudence began to run.
Chapter Eighteen
“Icannot believe she is afraid of a puppy!” Kitty laughed as they went downstairs to the drawing room.
That afternoon, Edwina decided to join the embroidery session in the drawing room. Not out of any interest in the craft but out of support for Kitty. She loved embroidery and if Edwina were to declare disinterest, Kitty was sure to skip the session too. She did not want to deny her that.
“Puppy saved the day, Kitty,” Edwina said, satisfied. “I am very proud of him.” They had left him asleep on the bed. Prudence would make her pay for allowing a dog to chase her but she did not yet know that it was her dog. Even if it was not her dog, she would make her pay for witnessing it. Such was the extent of her cruelty.
About a dozen ladies were in the drawing room when they arrived and Edwina braced herself for a boring time. But soon, the room resounded with lively chatter as the ladies, good and bad at the art, compared their skills and encouraged each other.
Even Edwina found herself having a good time at a task she never liked before. Her governess—when she'd had one—had always made it seem like a sin to be bad at embroidery and as usual, Prudence had never cared to help her improve. In fact, she had ridiculed her at every given opportunity until she abandoned all effort to be good at it.
"I think I can improve at this," Edwina said, chuckling.
"You underestimate yourself, Dear," Camilla said. "It only involves needled looping thread through linen."
"Making lots of handkerchiefs the ladieshardlyuse, I daresay," Viscountess Evans put in with an encouraging smile on her kindly features.
Prudence walked in at that moment, closely followed by Roxanne Perkins. Both women bore an air of artifice as they tried to interact with the gathered women and Edwina thought that Roxanne rather looked like the daughter Prudence never had.
If she married Tommen, they should be very close. It was still unclear whether he intended to marry her but it was clear they were courting. "Such an enchanting atmosphere," Prudence declared, a false smile plastered on her stiff face.
"Why don't we make it even better with some music?" Roxanne suggested, looking pointedly in Edwina's direction. "Play something for us, Lady Edwina?" she asked, a smug smile playing at the corner of her lips.
