AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Where’s Sofia?” I asked Gibson, who had returned with my wine.
He looked troubled by the question. “Miss Sofia is in the nursery, of course, enjoying her dinner with Mrs. Crew.”
I frowned. “Shouldn’t she be here with us? We always eat as a family. I’m sure Elsie would like to join us too, don’t you think, Xavi?” I didn’t like the idea that the two of them had been shuttled away.
“All together?” Imogene asked. “Oh, that’s so lovely. So very quaint. Can you imagine, Mummy, if Lucy and I had joined you and Papa every night for dinner. Frederick, would you have done so?”
Frederick snorted from his seat in the far corner but didn’t reply.
“So very American,” Georgina added from her place on a sapphire-blue chaise lounge.
“It’s fine, Ces,” Xavier said, blue eyes begging me not to argue. “I reckon they’ll be all right together, happy as clams. Sof wanted to bake cookies with Els, so they’re probably up to their elbows in flower.”
Maybe he was fine with that, but I wasn’t. This was our own little pattern we’d started weeks ago. I’d grown up in a house where family dinner was sacred every night, and it was something I had always wanted to pass on to Sofia. Over the last month, I’d come to believe Xavier shared that goal.
“I don’t really—” I started.
“Just for tonight.” Xavier’s eyes silently begged me to stop. “We’ll eat together tomorrow. I promise.”
“Are you making your assistant take care of that little girl?” Imogene put in. “Xavier, you can’t be so cruel. She’s got far more important things to do.”
“Why would it be cruel?” I wondered. “Elsie seems to like it. She’s always volunteering to take her. And God knows Sofia loves her to death.”
“Volunteering? Or looking for a raise?” Lord Ortham remarked with a tap to his nose.
Everyone laughed. I just frowned.
“Elsie’s not like that,” I said.
They acted like I hadn’t spoken at all.
“Xavier, how long has the girl been in England?” Georgina wondered, standing up to sway across the room and join our little circle. “One week? Two?”
“Four,” I said. “We’re staying the summer.”In case you were hoping otherwise, lady.
Georgina stared at me like an ant she’d like to crush.
“Well, then,” she said to Xavier. “It’s high time you got proper help, is it not?”
“Elsie has a few candidates arriving tomorrow,” Xavier put in, as if to reassure them. The people who didn’t know our family at all. “We’ll have someone straight away so she can get back to London.”
“Candidates for what?”
Georgina’s laugh practically tinkled over the crystal glasses everyone held. Imogene looked like she wanted to join her. Her parents looked embarrassed for me, while Frederick just looked bored in his corner.
“Candidates for a nanny, Ces,” Xavier said gently, though he didn’t look at me while he said it.
Wait, what?
“I—I don’t understand,” I said. “Why do we need a nanny when I’m right here? And when Elsie doesn’t mind watching her.”
It wasn’t as though I didn’t want a babysitter every so often, but I was a bit taken aback. Sofia wasn’t in school, and I wasn’t working. I was more than happy to take her around the English countryside on the days Xavier had to work, then leave her with a sitter—often Elsie, whom she adored—on the nights we went out. It was the routine we’d fallen into. What had changed?
“It’s true, Xavier,” Georgina put in. “It’s not as if she’ll be in charge. Better let her take care of her own child. After all, you’ll be busy, and what else is she to do? Fish in the pond?”
I couldn’t hold back my glare. It was one thing for me to suggest I was the best person to take care of my daughter. Another thing completely to come from a stranger who was basically saying I had no other talents anyway.
I opened my mouth to say as much, but Xavier’s hand on my shoulder stopped me.
