Henrietta raised one black brow and he shrugged.
“I wish my butler was as well trained as yours,” Merton grumbled.
The rest of them laughed. “I believe”—Lady Merton accepted a glass of champagne from Hulatt—“that Worthington had it right when he said we get the butlers we need.”
Once they each had a glass of champagne, Hulatt bowed to her. “Thank you, my lady.”
Henrietta moved her sister to the sofa, and dark heads together, they spoke in hushed tones. Nate found Merton at his side. “I would like to ask you to stand up with me.”
He raised his glass. “I hoped you would ask.”
“You said you have news.” Nate took a sip of the wine. “I trust it is good.”
“Thea, can you come here, my love?”
“Of course.” She stood next to her husband and Henrietta stood next to him.
“It was confirmed earlier today.” Merton raised his wife’s fingers to his lips. “We are having twins.”
Nate caught Henrietta’s glass before it fell. “Is that why you are—”
“So big?” Her ladyship laughed. “It is. However, it is also the reason I have been so short-tempered and difficult. I visited Grace. She was the one who first thought of it. I saw her mid-wife today.”
“We will depart for the country a day or two after your wedding,” Merton added.
“I am so happy for you.” Henrietta hugged her sister. “Twins. I cannot believe it. I have never heard that we have twins in our family.”
“It was a shock to hear it.” Her ladyship’s eyes widened as she shook her head. “Apparently twins can happen at any time to anyone. I had no idea.”
“That is good to know.” Henrietta’s hand went to her stomach, then she quickly snatched her glass of champagne out of Nate’s hand and took a drink.
Merton coughed. “There is something to be said for short engagements, is that not right, my love?”
His wife grinned up at him. “Indeed there is.”
Henrietta glanced between the two of them and tilted her head slightly. “When will you tell the rest of the family?”
“This evening at dinner. Our grandmother requested we be there.” Lady Merton glanced at Nate. “I suppose you should call me Dotty. Everyone but by husband does.”
He inclined his head. “Thank you. Please call me Nate.” His friend looked at him in surprise and he grinned. “I have grown used to it.”
“If you have time,” Henrietta said to her sister, “I shall show you the colors I have selected for my rooms.”
“I would love to see them.”
He kissed her cheek. “We’ll come back down later.”
Linking arms, they went out of his study, chatting.
Merton raised his glass. “Welcome to the family.”
* * *
“I think we should all congratulate ourselves on a successful match.” Catherine Fotherby said as she raised a glass of champagne.
“I agree,” the duchess and Cordelia Stern said at the same time, raising their glasses as well.
“I do not mind telling you, I was a little concerned for Henrietta,” Cordelia took a drink of wine. “It was not that we would have pushed her into marriage; she was just not interested in any of the gentlemen she had met.” She sighed. “She had a list of requirements a future husband must meet.”
“And none of them did,” the duchess agreed. “That was when I thought of Fotherby. The problem was getting them together.”
“Yes, that worked out more fortuitously than I ever could have imagined,” Cordelia agreed.
Catherine had been sipping her wine. “It was pure serendipity. Although I do wish you would have included me in your scheme. When he told me of meeting a lady, and I worked out that it was probably Henrietta”—Catherine took another drink of wine—“It was a bad moment.”
“Fate.” The duchess nodded. “We could not have done a better job ourselves.”
“As I recall”—Cordelia glanced at her mother—“you had rejected one idea after another. Yet the way it happened, they both knew almost instantly the other’s best points.”
“Yes.” Catherine had been so worried it would come to nothing, and her son’s heart would be broken. “I was scared to death that their chance meeting would not work out.”
“She wrote to me immediately, asking me to come directly to Town.” The duchess chuckled. “I thought something had gone horribly wrong.”
“It would have been more helpful if you had told me when you first got your idea about the two of them,” Catherine repeated.
“I am sorry about that.” Her old friend gave her a regretful look. “I should have done so. If I had had any idea they would meet accidently, I would have. I had been sharing your letters with Cordelia, and she agreed Fotherby had turned into the perfect gentleman for Harriett.”
Cordelia glanced at Catherine. “What will you do now? Is there a Dower House? Where will you stay when you come to Town, or will you?”
This was always the problem when one’s eldest son, the heir married. “Your mother and I have decided to go traveling. I have never been to the Continent. I’ll make more decisions when we return.”
“Yes.” The duchess reached over and patted Catherine’s arm. “We will not go too far afield for a while. You will want to be there for the birth of your first grandchild.” “I will indeed. I hope they get around to it soon.”
Cordelia laughed. “If they have not already.”
Catherine’s jaw dropped. “They would not have. They cannot have. I have been very careful.”
The other woman just grinned. “Where there is a will, there is a way. I have a feeling there was a lot of will on both their sides.”
She sat back in her chair and poured another glass of champagne. “Well, I am certainly not going to ask.”
Cordelia and her mother went into peals of laughter.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The three days after Henrietta’s parents had arrived were frantic. Final fittings had to be done, they had borrowed luggage from Dorie and Alex because it was too late to order their own. Fortunately Henrietta had been correct that Alex and Nate had worked out the details of the wedding trip. As far as she was concerned, the dinner with family and friends was better than any ball could have been. Best of all was that Nate had been accepted by everyone.
Now, today, she was to marry the gentleman of her dreams.
She was awake before Spyer had entered the room with tea, toast, and a baked egg. “I thought you might need something more substantial this morning.” She hummed as she brought out the gown Henrietta would wear for her wedding.
She held up her teacup. “You are happy this morning.”
“Of course I am, miss.” Her dresser blushed. “You will soon be Lady Fotherby and we will be on our way to Paris.”
Hmm. Somehow she did not think that was all of it. “I do hope you and Styles are getting along well. After all, you will be in fairly close quarters for the next month or more.”
Her dresser turned away, but not before she saw the color in the woman’s cheeks deepen. “That will be no problem at all. He is a very nice man.”