Julia had only a sparse handful of friends herself due to the rumors of her birth, and was really only comfortable speaking with them. None of these friends were with her now, but at least she could look forward to seeing them in Bath – that is if this odious journey ever ended.
She turned her body towards the window and looked out of it again. They were now on the last day of travel, and Julia could no longer ignore that there was a reason for their trip to Bath, other than the summer holiday. The thought made her stomach tie up in painful knots.
When the conversation in the coach turned into a heated discussion over which man was more of a rake: Neville Collington, the Earl of Wentwell or Godwin Gruger, the Baron Fawkland. Julia wanted to sink into the floorboards of the coach. Lord Fawkland, was the very man to which her father had so thoughtlessly betrothed her: the gentleman who caused her trip to Bath to be fraught with such anxiety. Though it seemed, according to the ladies’ gossip, that the baron was less than a gentleman. Julia simply bit her tongue and blushed.
She could only hope the other women forgot about her entirely. She slid further down in her seat and wished she could disappear, but she was far too large a girl to even become inconspicuous, never mind invisible.
“I have heard that Lord Fawkland escorted a lady home in his carriage,” a blonde friend of Jane’s said. She paused for effect, fanning herself. “Without a chaperone.”
“It has come to my notice that this was not the first time,” the other lady, a pert red-head added.
Julia must have made some noise that drew their attention, for the first woman turned to her. “Is it true then,” The blonde asked. “Did your father truly betroth you to the Lord Fawkland?”
The lady’s startling blue eyes were fixed on Julia and she found all she could do was murmur.
“Yes.”
“Well, he is very good looking,” the blonde replied. “In a rather large and over-bearing sort of way. You must admit that.”
The second lady tsked. “Oh, dear, you know looks are not everything. The poor girl, how perfectly horrid.” She looked sympathetically at Julia. “Is there not some way around it?” she asked.
Jane shook her head at her friends, answering for her younger sister. “My husband, has his solicitors looking into the matter, but he suggested we go ahead as if it cannot be broken.”
Julia noted that mercifully, Jane did not go into great detail here amongst near strangers. “But perhaps it can be changed,” Julia murmured to herself. At least Jane had asked her husband to check into the matter, even if he offered little hope. Julia reached across and gripped her sister’s hand in thanks. Jane smiled at her briefly, but offered no other encouragement.
Julia supposed that her father had planned with her best interests at heart when he made the arrangements for her after his death. Yes, he had left her with a last request, which as it was a last request, it was not a request at all. It was a command. He had betrothed her to Godwin Gruger, the Baron Fawkland, all unbeknownst to Julia, thinking he was a childhood friend. Without a doubt, this was prior to the soiling of Lord Fawkland’s reputation. Her sister Jane was initially quite elated that Julia would become a baroness, but Julia did not share her sister’s love for titulature.
Julia was not a social person. She could not possibly be a baroness. No. She did not want to marry the Baron Fawkland. Julia and Godwin Gruger had never been friends, even as children. Their age difference had been too great, and Godwin thought himself already a baron. When his father died and Godwin had actually inherited the barony, he came home from the Navy even more cool and distant.
The one time she had spoken with him since Julia felt entirely out of her depth. She had never gotten on well with Godwin, and now if rumor was to be believed, he was a terrible rake. He had not changed from the wicked boy who had broken her dolls; for it seemed he was now just as careless with women’s hearts. Everything was wrong with her father’s decree. It was Lord Fawkland’s younger brother Cedric she remembered. Cedric was much more lighthearted, ever involved in some trick.
Oh why had her father not chosen Cedric instead of Godwin? Julia was nearly of an age with the younger brother, though she must have been about ten when she had last spoken to him. Still she had played with the younger brother as a child when Cedric had invited her on his mischievous jaunts. He had even played tricks on the ladies who teased Julia on her behalf. Some of those, she now thought, were quite cruel, but his older brother was over six years her senior and a stranger to her.
If only the words had not also been immortalized in her father’s will, an irrefutable document that sealed her fate. Still she clung to the hope that the earl’s solicitors may yet find some way to twist the will to her favor, a loophole to slip through.
Julia had given the matter considerable thought. It was not as though she did not wish to honor her father’s dying wish, but the terms of the arrangement were entirely unfair, and she knew that if she had had but a moment to confer with him, her father would have changed the conditions. If her prayer could be answered, she would have asked for just five more minutes with her father, but if that prayer would be so granted Julia was sure she would not have used those precious moments to speak of her marriage.
She loved her father, and missed him terribly. Melancholy filled her. She sighed, uncertain how to proceed. Her father had always taken care of such things for her, and although she had her sister to help her, Julia still felt bereft without their father. It was not her sister’s responsibility. Nor was it the responsibility of her sister’s husband, the earl. She needed someone of her own. Julia wanted a husband, just not Godwin Gruger.
Continue reading….
The Baron in Bath ~ Miss Julia Bellevue
by Isabella Thorne
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Winning Lady Jane: A Christmas Regency Romance (Ladies of Bath Book 0) Page 24