by Abby Ayles
Lord Harrison chuckled. “There’s a feisty one inside of you yet, Miss Regina. And here I had heard that you were the mouse of the five.”
Regina swallowed. She knew that she was plain in features. And she knew that she was quiet. But to learn they called her a mouse…
It stung, honestly.
But she would not be a mouse where Bridget was concerned. “My sister is an accomplished woman,” she said. “Only the best of men could hope to win her hand.”
“And you clearly do not think I am the best of men,” Lord Harrison replied. He seemed amused by this, smiling down at her. Regina shivered at that, but not unpleasantly. He looked striking like this, smiling with the moonlight on his face.
“I think that I do not know you well enough to cast judgment. But if you wish to win Bridget, you’d do well to proceed with more delicacy.”
“Delicacy?” Lord Harrison chuckled. “Miss Regina, the time for delicacy is at an end. You and your sisters are, as of now, dependent upon the goodwill of others. You must learn to be bold.”
“In speaking plainly to you I think that I am being quite bold.”
“Miss Regina.” Lord Harrison sighed. He briefly clenched his hand into a fist in frustration. “I apologize if I have offended you. But my offer is genuine. You and your sisters need the protection of a husband since your father can no longer provide any. I am willing and happy to offer your sister my heart and my home. Please convey this to her if it please you.
“You must understand the danger you are now in. I do not wish to see five innocent women thrown out onto the street. My words may be direct but my intentions are good.”
He took his hand in hers. Regina was surprised both by the size of it and how warm it was. It practically encased her own. It felt oddly as though the warmth and weight of his hand was the only thing anchoring her.
Lord Harrison’s eyes bore into hers. She felt a bit like a mouse pinned by a snake, except there was no malice in his gaze. “Believe me, I am only trying to help you.”
Regina swallowed. “You have helped, sir, and I thank you for it. The night air has done some good. As has your advice.”
She took a deep breath to steady herself. “I must get to my father. My sisters shall stay. It will be remarked upon if we all retire so early. I shall take my father home. Mr. Fairchild will give my sisters a ride back. Then I will speak to them of this in the morning.”
“Good girl,” Lord Harrison said. He squeezed her hand. “Have a calm head and act quickly. It is the only way to save yourselves.”
Regina nodded. Yes. Stay calm and act quickly. She could do that. Or, rather, Bridget could. She felt certain that Bridget would know what to do.
Then she realized with a start that Lord Harrison was still holding her hand. She slid her hand out of his grasp. Immediately she missed the safe feeling it had given her and the warmth it had provided.
“Thank you again, Lord Harrison. I shall take my leave, if I may.”
Lord Harrison made a shooing gesture. “Do what you must. And remember what I said.”
Regina hurried back into the house. She could feel Lord Harrison’s eyes tracking her the entire way. It felt like they were burning into her back.
Chapter 4
Regina returned to the side parlor to find that all the men had cleared it. Save for Mr. Denny, who was sitting with Father.
“Mr. Denny, your kindness will not be forgotten,” she said, crossing to Father’s side.
Mr. Denny stood at once. “Anything for the Hartfields, Miss Regina. Are you quite well?”
“Yes. Lord Harrison forced me to take some night air. It did me some good.”
Regina knelt in front of Father. He had sunk back into his chair and still looked pale. He turned his green eyes to her. They looked watery.
“Father,” Regina whispered. “Are you quite all right?”
He shook his head. “I have ruined us,” he whispered.
“Don’t fret,” Regina said immediately. Her voice held a firmness she did not feel. “We shall find a way out of this. Never you fret.”
She looked up at Mr. Denny. “If I may take advantage of your good nature once more, sir?”
“As I said, anything.”
“Would you please find my sister, Miss Hartfield? Inform her that Father is feeling unwell and I have taken him home in the carriage.”
As the eldest, Bridget was known among society as Miss Hartfield. The second eldest, Louisa, was known as Miss Louisa Hartfield. Natalie, Elizabeth, and Regina were all known simply as Miss.
Mr. Denny bowed. “I shall inform her. I hope your father recovers. And…” he hesitated. “If there is anything I can do to assist, please inform me.”
“Not unless you are willing to marry one of us,” Regina replied before she could stop herself.
Mr. Denny flushed. Regina felt rather like bashing her head against the card table. When had she become so impudent?
“I was only jesting, of course,” she said quickly. “I apologize. Think nothing of it. I fear my mind is not at rights.”
“No apology is necessary,” Mr. Denny replied, just as hasty. He bowed again and hurried out the door.
Well, there was one man she’d just scared away from her family.
“Up you get, Father,” Regina said. It took some tugging but she convinced Father to stand on his own two feet. “I’m taking you home.”
She got him out to the carriage without much incident. It was only once they were safely inside that Father broke down.
Regina had never once seen her father cry. She had heard him in his study sometimes. After Mother had died, he would lock himself inside for hours. Regina would creep down at night to see if he was still there. If she pressed her ear to the door, she was able to hear quiet sobs.
She had wondered then what kind of love was so deep it ruined a man. She had then wondered if any man would ever love her like that.
She doubted it.
But now Father was sitting next to her in the carriage and crying. He was doing it quietly without much fuss. Regina would have expected great heaving and sobbing. But her father merely let the tears run down his face.
It was awkwardly silent. Regina had no idea what to say.
When they arrived home she helped him out of the carriage.
“Here we are,” she said, speaking to him as if he were a child. “I’ll get the front door.”
Father looked down at her. “You know you have your mother’s eyes?”
Regina stopped and turned to look at him. “Yes. Bridget has said so.”
“The prettiest brown eyes, they were. So soft and dark.” Father sighed. “I apologize. You must forgive an old man’s ramblings.”
“You are not so old, Father.” Regina took his hand and led him inside.
“I am old enough to be labeled an old fool.”
“I suspect Mr. Charleston called you that and I will have none of it. He is a sour man of little fortune.”
Father shook his head. “He was right. Regina, I have just ruined us. And I have been ruining us for years.”
“Don’t say that.” She started to lead him up the stairs. She was grateful the servants were abed so none of them saw Father this way.
“I suppose Bridget hasn’t told you.” Father let Regina lead him easy as a lamb. “My weakness for cards led us close to bankruptcy even before tonight. It was why I have been urging you girls toward marriage.
“I feel as though I am seized by a devil. I cannot stop myself. Each time I see the cards and think, I shall win. I must win. Surely this time… and then nothing but more loss.
“Your poor sister has been at her wit’s end. I have promised her and promised her that I would stop. And I have failed. Now you will all perish.”
“Now Father, be reasonable. The whole world knows Lord Pettifer is the most disgraceful of men. It is his title alone that keeps him on invitations. It is not as if Natalie ran off to Gretna Green.”
Father shook
his head. “No man will have you girls now.”
“Lord Harrison asked for Bridget’s hand even after your losses,” Regina blurted out.
Father stopped on the stairs and stared at her. “Did he now?”
Regina nodded. She felt a little as though she had betrayed Lord Harrison’s confidence. But then, he had not asked her to keep it a secret. And he must ask Father’s permission before marrying Bridget anyhow.
“I am not sure of him,” Father admitted. “I have heard the most wild stories. Nothing about him is known for certain. But he has wealth and seems a good man, if mysterious. Bridget could do worse given our changed circumstances.”
“I am certain other men will come forward as well,” Regina said. She spoke with a confidence she did not feel. “Now come, we must get you to bed.”
She helped him get up the rest of the stairs and into his chambers. It felt so odd, as though their positions had reversed: he the child and she the parent.
Father didn’t say anything more as she helped him. Not until he was in bed and she prepared to walk away. Then he caught his hand in hers and said,
“I am glad that one of you took after your mother.”
“I have been informed that I am nothing like mother,” Regina replied. Elizabeth had hurled that truth at her one day during a fight.
Father shook his head. “No. You and Bridget are like your mother. But you got just a bit more of her, I think.”
He raised his hand and gently touched right between her eyes. “Your eyes.”
Regina gently set his hand down on the bed and patted it. “Sleep, Father. We shall deal with this in the morning.”
She made sure all was taken care of and then went to bed herself. She knew that she should get some rest but for a while she simply couldn’t sleep.
She tossed and turned. But everything from the night played back at her. Especially Lord Harrison. She could see his eyes staring straight into hers as he promised that he only wanted to help. She could feel his hand holding hers, making her feel safe.
Regina sat up in frustration. Why should she be thinking of a man she had just met? It was of Father she should be thinking. Father and her family’s future.
She had no inclination to marry. And she did not think her sisters would appreciate being rushed into marriage themselves. To marry a husband for charity? Out of desperation? It seemed so base.
Marriage was to make a good match. It was an economical decision. To marry a man for love alone was folly. But neither was marriage something to be rushed into. It required a careful weighing of pros and cons. It went against Regina’s nature to rush herself or her sisters into matrimony.
If only there was a way to get back their fortune and land so that they could rely on Father as before. Then they could marry as other women did, smartly and in proper time. What would society say of them all getting married at once?
Her sisters deserved better than marrying under a cloud of scandal. And Father deserved better than the pity and judgment he would receive.
If only she could think of a way.
Regina distantly heard the sound of the front door. She checked the clock. Her sisters were back earlier than expected.
There was the sound of thumping feet and then the door to her bedroom flew open.
It was Elizabeth, her green eyes all but glowing and her chest heaving.
“Regina!” She snapped. “Care to inform me why Mr. Denny just proposed to me?”
Oh dear.
Chapter 5
The sisters all met in Bridget’s room.
Louisa sat quietly on the bed, propped up with pillows. Elizabeth paced back and forth. Natalie was curled up on the windowsill. Bridget was on the edge of the bed next to Louisa.
Regina stood in the middle. It felt a little like she was on stage.
“Spare nothing,” Bridget told her.
As simply as she could she told them what had happened. Elizabeth uttered many words that a lady shouldn’t know. Natalie clapped a hand over her mouth. And Louisa burst into tears.
Bridget merely stayed silent.
When Regina had finished she looked to her sister for guidance. Before Bridget said anything, however, Louisa cut in.
“Charles can never marry me now,” she whispered through her tears.
“There, now,” Bridget said, patting Louisa’s knee soothingly. “Mr. Fairchild will not hesitate to wed you. I should say this gives him more reason to.”
“If only his aunt would hurry up and die,” Elizabeth said with an eye roll. When the other four looked at her, she shrugged. “Don’t look so scandalized. You’re all thinking it.”
“You must accept Mr. Denny,” Natalie said.
“I am not accepting a man I hardly know,” Elizabeth replied.
“He has an income of ten thousand a year and that’s all you need know!” Natalie hissed. “I should think you’d put up with half that a year if the man was fool enough to put up with you.”
“Squabbling will get us nowhere,” Bridget said. “Elizabeth, please consider Mr. Denny’s proposal. He is a good man and has been watching you for some time.”
“Watching is not half as good as speaking. If he has been watching me as you say then why not ask me to dance?”
“Because you are a harpy that does nothing but insult the man fool enough to ask you.”
“Natalie, enough!” Bridget commanded.
Natalie fell silent.
Bridget drew herself up. “You could do well to improve yourself, Natalie. You cannot treat men as playthings. Pick one, and pick now. The time for indecision is over.”
Natalie huffed but said nothing.
“And what of me?” Regina asked.
Bridget looked over at her. Her green eyes warmed and she almost smiled. “Don’t fret for anything, darling.”
“There’s no need to play favorites,” Elizabeth said. “She’s eighteen, that’s old enough to marry.”
“And how will it look if all of us marry at once?” Bridget replied. “And if the youngest marries before her elders?” She gestured at Louisa.
Elizabeth had nothing to say to that. What Bridget said was true. Two of them getting married at once would raise eyebrows but not too many. Three or four of them? Everyone would know the real reason they had tied the knot. The gossip would never cease.
As for age, it was commonly accepted—although by no means a rule—that the elder daughters married first. For Regina to marry before Louisa would provoke spinster comments about Louisa. Comments that her sweet sister did not deserve.
“And what of you, Bridget?” Natalie asked. “Surely you have suitors.”
“I have. And I shall think on who would best suit me. I shall have to be married first, if Louisa is not. But there is nothing stopping either you or Elizabeth from entering an engagement.”
“Let us face the truth, Bridget,” Louisa said. Regina was surprised that she had spoken up. She sounded incredibly tired.
“We must face it. Marriage will save us financially. But it will not—nothing can save our reputations. Especially Father’s. It will be years before people will stop whispering about it. Any man who marries us will have to take that on.”
“The whispers will die down as soon as the next scandal comes,” Bridget replied.
“Our lives will never be the same,” Louisa countered. “We shall be indebted to our husbands as most women never are. Our wedding days will be covered in clouds. Father might never be welcomed back into society.”
“This is how our lives are now,” Bridget said. “Perfect marriages they might not be. But they are all we have. Let us be thankful that we have suitors willing to marry us. Not every woman is so lucky.”
Again, Regina wished that there was a way to fix this. If only they could win back their land. That would stick it to Lord Pettifer. Then this cloud wouldn’t be over her sisters’ marriages. Father could hold his head high again.
If only…
“Then prove it to us,�
�� Elizabeth said. “Find yourself a husband.”
Bridget thought for a moment. “I shall choose my husband the night of Lord and Lady Morrison’s annual masquerade ball. It is in a month’s time. Is that acceptable?”
The other three women nodded. Regina didn’t. She couldn’t. A thought had hit her like a lightning bolt. Her skin tingled and her stomach flipped.
Lord and Lady Morrison’s masquerade ball.
There was a way to win their land and money back. There was a way to fix all of this.
She had figured it out.
Chapter 6
The girls retired for the night to their bedrooms. Louisa stayed in Bridget’s room. They all had their own rooms but Regina suspected that Louisa needed a bit of extra comfort that night.
Regina went back to her bedroom and lay in darkness until she was certain the others were asleep.
When she had waited until she could hardly bear it anymore, she rose. She slid on her robe again and opened her bedroom door.
There was no sound throughout the house.
She didn’t get a candle. Someone could see it and investigate. Instead she crept down the hall in darkness. The stairs were tricky. Luckily she had the banister to hold onto.
When she reached the main floor she felt her way using the wall. She had never been in such darkness before. The moonlight slid through the curtains here and there. It created little pockets of silver-white light and tinged the edges of the dark blue. But in between those patches was nothing but deep shadow.
It was a little frightening. Regina found herself holding her breath now and again. Each time she shook herself. She had been reading far too many Gothic novels recently. This was not The Castle of Otranto or The Mysteries of Udolpho. She was not in a lonely castle on the moors. There was nothing to frighten her here.
Still, she couldn’t deny that the house seemed different in the darkness. She moved slowly, carefully. It made everything seem longer. Distance and time were strange and unknowable.
When she finally reached her father’s study she let out a sigh of relief. And, thank heaven, it was unlocked.