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“Let us leave, Mother, please.” Marina managed to pull her mother free from the door of the ballroom. Her mother was reeling, her face pale, for she had clearly heard the news, but behind her, Joshua was yet to hear.
“What on earth is going on?” Joshua asked, following Marina out of the room. When her mother swooned, tottering on her feet, he grabbed his wife’s arms and walked her forward, heading for the exit. “Careful, Ruth. I have you.”
Marina led the path out of the building, not once looking back. At the door, she collected her pelisse from the staff and grabbed her father’s frock coat and top hat too, not wanting to waste time with letting him take his time as he gathered the items.
“Marina?” Joshua called impatiently, following her down the front steps, out into the night air. The driveway was full of carriages, and Marina fervently sought out their carriage, hidden among others. “What has happened? Are you ill? Is that why we had to leave in such a rush?”
“Y-yes,” Marina stammered, uncertain what to say when they were out in the open. Ruth whimpered, the only sound she made to show she knew the truth of the matter.
Marina gulped as she found their carriage and opened the door.
“Inside then I shall tell you all.”
Joshua helped Ruth in to sit beside him, and Marina flung herself back on the opposite bench. She issued quick orders to the driver, closed the door, then lit the lantern above them with a tinder box. The light jumped to life just as the carriage took off, rocking them from side to side.
As that light flickered and danced, Marina looked at her parents, fearing their reactions.
Ruth’s pallor was paler than normal. Her brown hair that was so like Marina’s own was perfectly tidy apart from one loose tendril that she pulled at now, curling it around her finger in a sign of stress. Joshua’s rather haggard and aging face was set in such worry that his jowls shook, and his greying eyebrows furrowed together in one line that could have been mistaken for a rat’s tail.
“Is it true?” Ruth whispered as the carriage escaped the driveway.
“Not everything you heard, I am sure.” Marina gulped hard, her thoughts working quickly. There was one thing only she could say to her parents, and she would have to hope they believed her story, rather than what others would say. “I felt ill tonight. I suffered from a headache, but I could see you were enjoying yourselves, and I did not want to drag you away from the event.”
Joshua must have sensed the wariness in her tone, for he released his wife and sat back. His spine went rigid, and his body tensed.
“What did you do?” His whisper shook.
“I went to lie down,” Marina said as hurriedly as she could. “I found a bedchamber and thought I could rest there for a while to let the pain pass –”
“Foolish, foolish girl,” her father cursed before she could even finish the story.
“I was found. The Duke of Curton walked in, and before any words could pass between us, others arrived.” Marina avoided looking at her parents. She stared down at the dance card on her wrist instead where Baron Rutherford had listed his name beside three dances.
May one good thing still come out of this. I pray he will retract his proposal now.
“They saw the Duke and I in the chamber and jumped to the wrong conclusion. Father, I fear they whisper that we were –”
“Do not say the words! Any possible words for it are too hard to hear at this moment.” Joshua raised a hand and covered his face as their bodies rocked from side to side with the carriage movement. “I cannot believe it. Caught with the Duke of Curton in a chamber? What will they think of you? They’ll think you are aharlot.”
“Father!” Marina protested at the harsh word.
“Joshua, that is a cruel word,” Ruth began slowly. One harsh look from Joshua made her fall silent. Marina wished her mother would not be cowed by such looks, but she had judged long ago that Ruth did not have such fire in her. She seemed to do what she thought would give her the easiest life. She sat back, dabbing her cheeks with a handkerchief as tears escaped, hearing of Marina’s fall from grace.
“It is true,” Joshua spat the words. “They’ll call her a harlot and the Duke’s whore. His reputation is already a bad one; what do you think it will do to Marina now?” He shook his head vigorously. “This is awful, too awful. Ruth, you heard this?”
Ruth hesitated. That hesitation made Marina lift her eyes to her mother, seeing there was wariness in Ruth’s gaze. Those green eyes were narrowed a little as if trying to judge something. A breath caught in her throat, and she dabbed another tear away from her cheek before she nodded, ever so slightly.
“I heard our daughter’s name whispered by others. As Marina says, they are running wild with what has happened. They will no doubt tell lies and make the matter into something truly awful.” Ruth’s words made Marina sigh a little with relief. It seemed her mother was reluctant to repeat the exact words she had overheard.
“What is to happen now? What is to become of us all?” Joshua held out his hands, sitting so far forward on the carriage bench that he was in danger of falling off the edge.
“We must see, Father.” Out of nowhere, Marina felt a calm overtake her. Earlier she had been panicked and flustered, fearing that her plan had gone wrong indeed, but the more she considered what had occurred, the more she realized things may have worked in her favor.
The Duke of Curton is a rogue. He will not wed himself to anyone. I will have avoided marriage to Baron Rutherford, and I can remain a spinster.
She tried to keep her lips pressed flatly together, not giving into the temptation to smile. She simply had to hope that the Duke listened to her parting words and didn’t come to see her tomorrow.
Ruth fell silent, her only sounds coming from her occasional sobs. Marina didn’t say much either. She simply listened as her father lectured her on all that she had done wrong.
