“By we, does that mean you want me to do the honors?” Walter asked.
“Of course. I think you should have the children with you as well. It might remind some of the ladies what one of the main reasons is behind your entering the marriage mart again.”
“I imagine Gwendolyn would be in agreement with that suggestion.”
“Too right she would,” Ethel said, before she told him she’d round up the children and glided away.
Once Oscar, Samuel, and Priscilla had been gathered up and told Walter was going to address the guests before Catriona sang, Oscar pulled the twins aside, telling Walter he needed to have a little talk with his siblings—one Walter hoped centered around encouraging the twins to behave. When the children rejoined him a moment later, Walter stepped in front of the orchestra, waited until silence settled around the ballroom, then presented his guests with a bow.
“On behalf of the Townsend family,” he began, “I’d like to welcome you to our annual Newport ball. Next up, you’ll be given the privilege of listening to Mrs. Barnabas Zimmerman, simply known as Catriona, of course, to those who saw her perform at the Academy of Music. After that, we’ll repair to the dining room, and then there’ll be additional dancing and more games for the children.” He looked down when Priscilla suddenly tugged on his jacket.
“Oscar wants to say something,” Priscilla said.
A sliver of apprehension shot through Walter, but when he glanced to Oscar and caught his eye, Oscar merely sent him a shrug before he stepped forward and bowed to the crowd.
“Good evening,” Oscar began as Priscilla and Samuel moved to stand on either side of him. “We’re Walter’s children, and, according to rumor, my father has reentered society because he believes we need a mother.” Oscar grinned as he leaned forward. “I think that’s because we can be unruly at times.”
Laughter resounded around the room, which Oscar accepted with another grin before he cleared his throat.
“As my father has enjoyed getting to know the young ladies Miss Brinley has arranged for him to meet,” Oscar continued, “my siblings and I were given the task by Miss Brinley of telling her our thoughts about the nice ladies who paid attention to us.”
Walter’s sense of apprehension increased as murmurs began to spread amongst the guests.
Oscar didn’t seem to notice as he began wandering back and forth in front of the orchestra. “Miss Brinley thought we should have a say in the final decision about who Father weds, because that lady will become a big part of our lives as well. That’s why we decided that tonight we’re going to announce the lady we think will be the best option.”
Walter stepped to Oscar’s side and leaned close to his ear. “This is not the moment for this, son,” he said quietly, but before he could usher them into another room to speak privately, Priscilla bounded forward, drawing everyone’s attention.
“It’s Miss Brinley!” she shouted.
A mere blink of an eye later, chaos mixed with a great deal of hostility erupted through the ballroom—all of it directed toward Gwendolyn, who was standing still as a statue in the middle of the ballroom floor—until she glanced his way. An eternity seemed to pass as her gaze locked with his, but then her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned before she suddenly spun on her heel and stalked out of the ballroom without a backward glance.
Thirty-Three
“I certainly never expected last night to end in what can only be described as a mutiny enacted by the Four Hundred,” Catriona said, causing Gwendolyn to pause in the act of sorting through the trunks one of Mrs. Parker’s footmen had dumped off on the front porch of Catriona’s rented cottage a few hours earlier.
“I don’t know why you’d find their reaction to Priscilla’s pronouncement so surprising,” Gwendolyn said. “According to Mrs. Parker, as she was in the process of terminating my employment, Newport’s social set has decided I’m a conniving, underhanded woman of questionable origins, who purposely steered Walter away from numerous charming ladies in order to snag him myself, going so far as to hoodwink his children into accepting me into their little lives.”
“I suppose I’m not actually surprised about society’s general consensus, but I was surprised that Mrs. Parker fired you, along with me, in the middle of Walter’s drive.”
Gwendolyn shook out a skirt a maid had clearly shoved into the trunk with little regard for the silk fabric. “Mrs. Parker’s performance was undoubtedly stage worthy, but I understand why she made such a scene, telling me in a very loud voice that I’d fooled her into believing my intentions toward Walter were honorable, when they were nothing of the sort. She’s merely attempting to salvage her reputation—something, if you didn’t catch it last night, she accused me of trying to destroy, right before she informed me my services would no longer be needed, effective immediately.”
“There certainly was no need for her to insist her footman escort us to my carriage after she fired you, as if we were members of the criminal persuasion.”
Gwendolyn abandoned the trunk and went to sit beside her cousin on a settee done up in a pale shade of blue. “At least her firing me got us rapidly removed from Sea Haven. Seeing the abject horror on Walter’s face after Priscilla’s announcement, I certainly didn’t care to linger there.”
“Perhaps you were mistaken about the look.”
“I wasn’t. He was clearly shocked and probably a little embarrassed. However, because it’s Walter, I was convinced he’d feel obligated to seek me out to discuss the matter. But since I didn’t want to endure what would have been a mortifying exchange—one where he’d most assuredly apologize for yet another misunderstanding between us—during my firing, I made a point of telling Mrs. Parker I’d had quite enough of high society and would be thrilled if I never spoke to another member of the Four Hundred again, including Walter.”
Catriona frowned. “That certainly explains why Walter didn’t show up here last night or this morning.”
“I’m confident Mrs. Parker didn’t hesitate to tell him what I said, so that’s that, and now we simply need to finish packing and catch the ferry back to the city. If you don’t mind, though, I’d like to stop by Sea Haven. Not to see Walter, of course, but to say a proper good-bye to the children. They deserve an opportunity to hear my explanation regarding why I can’t be their mother. I only hope Walter isn’t there, but if he is, I’ll bid him a pleasant adieu, and that will be the last time I’ll ever have to see him.”
Catriona tilted her head. “What would you have done if you’d not seen horror on Walter’s face but another emotion instead, such as delight, or perhaps anticipation, as if he’d been thinking along the same lines as his children?”
“That’s a moot point because he didn’t look delighted—he looked as if he was hoping a large hole would materialize in front of him so he could disappear from sight.”
“I doubt that’s true,” Catriona said before she blew out a breath. “I suppose this is where I need to admit you were right about my matchmaking abilities, since I thought you would be Walter’s perfect match and actually tried to finagle that match behind your back by telling Walter all sorts of lovely stories about you.”