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“Yes, Lucy was…a great tragedy for all of us,” she agreed. “Darling girl. We all grew up together, didn’t we, Kip?”
I frowned at the nickname. She’d used it twice now. “Kip?”
Xavier had the decency to blush. “As in kipper. Like the fish. Ah, herring, in the US. They used to make fun of me because I hated it so much.”
“But you love fish, Dad,” Sofia piped up as she climbed onto the window seat with her stuffed unicorn. “Sake, uni, hotate…”
She continued to list the Japanese names for various types of fish that Xavier had taught her at the market, more to Tyrone than the rest of us. I smiled. Xavier had taken her to the London fish market a few weeks ago, early one Sunday morning, so I could sleep in. I’d been hearing about it ever since.
Imogene just looked slightly appalled.
“Oh, isn’t she a darling?” she cooed. “Kip, she looks just like you. She really does, no matter what the papers say.” She bent down so that she was face-to-face with Sofia. “Are you your papa’s princess, sweet girl?”
Sofia just set Tyrone in her lap and frowned. “I’m not a princess.”
“No, that’s right.” Imogene nodded. “You’re the daughter of a duke. So that makes you a lady, doesn’t it? Just like me.” She stood and tapped her finger on her mouth. “Although I’m not sure that’s appropriate either, given your mummy never married him.”
I tensed and darted a glance at Xavier. He just chuckled and clicked through an account ledger on his computer screen.
“Well,” Imogene continued. “Perhaps we can make an exception, just this once. What do you think, Lady Sofia?”
Sofia’s frown flattened her features, and she shook her head hard enough to toss a feather of black hair into her face. I hid a smile. She had the exact same errant lock over her forehead that Xavier did, and it flopped forward in exactly the same way when she was annoyed.
“No?” Imogene was not deterred. “Well, give it time. I’m sure your papa would buy you some lovely new dresses if you asked him. Then you’ll really look the part.”
For a moment, Sofia looked tempted by the idea. Her eyes darted around the room again, landing on all the clearly fancy things that, even at four, she would know not to touch without asking. But stubbornly, she shook her head and clutched her doll to her chest. “No. I like pants now. No dresses.”
My eyebrows rose. That was new. Especially since there were no less than three sparkly princess costumes shoved into her overnight bag right this moment.
“Well, then, he’d better get you a pony instead.”
Lady Imogene straightened while chuckling, as if she’d made an excellent joke. She smoothed nonexistent wrinkles out of her trousers and turned.
“It really is a mess, though,” she told me as she strode over to stand next to Xavier. “When I heard about it, I came straight over—I helped Papa manage the sale of the paddocks, you know.”
I didn’t answer. My eyes were glued to the place where her hand now rested on Xavier’s broad shoulder. It was just a touch, but it annoyed me. And Xavier didn’t seem to care at all.
“I still don’t understand why Henry would have invested in a mine, of all things,” she was saying. “And slate, too. All of them have been shut down in Cumbria. The red tape alone will be a nightmare. If he really wanted to get into mining, he should have invested in the new coal mine like Papa. First one in thirty years, they’re saying. Now that will mean some real money.”
She looked at me as if for backup. I just shrugged. I hated that I had absolutely nothing to add to this conversation. Part of me wanted to be snarky and ask exactly what the sale of a few paddocks had to do with an entire estate’s finances, but I knew it was only my insecurities talking. After all, Imogene grew up here. The only thing I could offer was third grade arithmetic lessons.
To my satisfaction, Xavier patted the top of Imogene’s hand like she was Sofia offering Tyrone’s expertise on cutlery.
“Maybe if it were the beginning of the twentieth century, not the twenty-first,” he said. “It’s a dead industry either way unless we’re investing in the past, not the future. If Henry really wanted to do something useful, it should have been silica.”
“Well, maybe it’s not too late to change the deal.” Imogene hovered her hand over Xavier’s head. Then, with a glance at me, stroked it lightly before striding around me toward the door.
This time, I rather wanted to rip her hand off her body and smack her with it. But again, Xavier didn’t react.
“If you want help changing the terms, let me know,” Imogene told him.
“We have our own lawyers, thanks,” Xavier said distantly.
“Nevertheless, a second opinion is never unwarranted. I’ll call Humphrey and have him on the next flight to Kendal. Just say the word.” She glanced at me. “Did you take the four o’clock? Was the airport crowded?”
“Er, no,” I said. “We took the train this morning to Lancaster.”
“Oh, you poor dear. What a slog that is. Kip, why didn’t you book her a flight instead? I thought you took the helicopter.”
