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Marina could have danced for joy. Had she been free to do as she liked, she would have jumped up, sang God’s praises, and danced quite alone in celebration, but she was not free. She stuffed her mouth with a bigger forkful of fish, trying to hide any temptation to smile.
Joshua suddenly struck the table, the side of his fist thumping where the letter rested on the table. Ruth jumped so much that she spilt tea on herself.
“This is maddening!” Joshua moved to his feet. “The one chance we had at saving your reputation was to see you married and fast, and now, look at what has become of that? You should hear the way Lord Rutherford speaks of you.”
“I am not interested to hear it.” Marina had also stood, but she moved toward her mother and offered a napkin, helping her to clean up.
“Thank you, dear,” Ruth said with softness. They shared a small smile, and Marina half wondered if there was a part of her mother that was also relieved Baron Rutherford would not be in their lives anymore.
“He calls you…” Joshua snatched up the letter, ignoring Marina’s words and reading out from the page regardless. “‘A deceiver. The lady charmed me yet clearly has many other men’s eyes. I will not be cuckolded by a disloyal wife.’”He tossed the letter in the air. The paper seemed to mock him, for it did not fall flat. It drifted in the air, waving from side to side like a falling feather before ending on his plate where he snatched it away for a second time.
“What’s that?” Ruth asked, pointing to the folded paper beside the letter. Marina poured out a second cup of tea for her mother and passed it to her. “Thank you, dear. I see you’re taking care of me again.”
“I always will.” Marina smiled and patted her mother’s shoulder. She loved Ruth dearly and was devoted to her. In the whole of this affair, the worst thing for Marina was to think she had disappointed her mother. Ruth reached for her other hand under the cover of the table and squeezed it reassuringly.
Maybe she is not as mad as my father, at least.
“This?” Joshua answered Ruth by reaching for the paper. “It’s a scandal sheet. God knows, I do not wish to read this, but what choice do I have?” He flapped open the pages, his eyes casting down at the words. “Well, they do not pull their punches.”
“I do not wish to hear it, Father,” Marina pleaded.
“You will hear it,” he snapped, glaring at her before he began to read from the scandal sheet.“‘What news we have to share with our readers today, for we speak of the downfall of a well-respected lady of the town. Lady Marina Hodge, daughter to Earl of Miller, was last night caught in a chamber alone with the Duke of Curton. Many will have read before of the Duke’s wayward and wandering eye, but to hear that Lady Marina had succumbed to his temptation was a shock indeed for the ton. Some even say she was seen in her underwear with him.’
“Oh, this is not to be born!” Joshua broke off and cursed at what he read. “They are lying now. As we suspected they would, they are making the situation much worse indeed.”
Marina gulped and retracted her hand from her mother’s, hiding her face a little by bending down and offering a jug of milk to Ruth. She had been in her underwear, after all. She prayed her father would not read the truth on her face.
“What are we to do?” Ruth asked, accepting the milk from Marina.
“I would see her married, but who would have her now?” Joshua laughed though there was no real humor in his tone. “Perhaps we should send her away to the country, somewhere far away from here, away from the whispers.”
Ruth reached for Marina’s hand again and clutched it hard. Ruth didn’t protest, but Marina knew what that touch meant. Her mother was reluctant to see her leave the house.
“Must we?” Ruth asked in a whisper.
“It is the way of things.” Joshua huffed and sat down in his chair, moving so fast that he managed to clatter his cutlery and send it flying. He didn’t bother to retrieve it off the floor.
A second knock came to the dining room door.
“What is it now!?” Joshua snapped with his voice much louder than before.
The butler peered his head around the door, clearly so nervous to enter that his feet stayed beyond the threshold.
“Forgive the intrusion, My Lord, but you have a visitor.”
“A visitor? Pah! I scarcely believe that.” Joshua shook his head. “I’ve had two notes already this morning to rescind invitations to balls and assemblies. Is it another messenger boy to tell us of our woes and retract more friendships?”
“No, My Lord.” The butler shook his head, appearing more than a little confused. “It is the Duke of Curton.”
Ruth dropped her teacup again, and Marina tried to catch it, but she missed. She was too busy staring at the butler, her lips parted in wonder.
No… the Duke of Curton has come.
* * *
James waited restlessly in the Earl of Miller’s parlor. His top hat was resting on his knee, and it wobbled each time James’ knee bobbed up and down. He could not sit still, despite being confident of the decision he had made regarding Lady Marina.
The door soon opened, and the man he presumed to be the Earl of Miller appeared, followed by his wife. Behind them, Lady Marina stepped into the room.
