Her mother’s eyes filled with tears and Amelia rushed to her. “Don’t cry. Please. I didn’t mean to make you weep.”
“It’s just that you are such a good girl.”
Amelia wanted to cry out that she was not a good girl. She had become pregnant out of wedlock and all but ruined herself by kissing a man in a stable the night before. Good girls did not do such things.
“I wish things had been different for you.”
“And I wish they had been different for you, Mama. But all we can do is hope things are better in the future.”
“Yes.” She patted Amelia’s hand. “How did you become so wise?”
She wasn’t wise at all. She was an idiot, and she’d made terrible mistakes. Amelia eased into the chair to sit beside her mother. “There’s something I need to tell you, Mama.”
Her mother sipped tea again, and Amelia wondered if she’d even heard.
“Mrs. Blackstock!” Rose appeared in the doorway with a letter in hand. “This just came for you and Miss Blackstock.”
Her mother shook her head. “A bill from the doctor, no doubt.” She rubbed her temple. “I will look at it later.”
“No, madam. It came from Battle’s Peak.”
Amelia watched as her mother’s hand fell away from her temple and an expression Amelia had not seen for years crossed her features. She looked...curious. The expression made her look younger and seemed to ease some of the lines at her eyes. Amelia stared at her mother as she reached for the letter.
And then Amelia blinked, realizing what the contents of the letter probably held.
“Wait!” she said before her mother could break the seal. Her voice was so shrill that even Rose glanced at her sharply.
“What is it?” her mother asked.
“I think I had better speak to you before you open that letter.”
“Why? Do you know what it is about?” Her mother’s voice sounded younger, so youthful. “It has been years since we received any correspondence from the Averstow family. How curious that something should come today.”
Not so curious if one had been in the stable at the Averstow estate the night before. “Rose, would you leave us for a moment?” Amelia asked, wanting privacy to tell her mother what she must. Rose would find out at any rate, but her mother should be the first to know.
“Of course, miss,” Rose said. Amelia didn’t miss the look of injury on her face. Not only had she been sent away just when an exciting letter had arrived, she was also being excluded from the confidence of the two women she had worked beside for more than twenty years. Amelia promised herself she would make it up to Rose. Somehow.
Rose closed the door as she departed, and Amelia turned back to her mother. She blanched when she saw her mother had not waited for her and opened the letter already. “How curious,” Mrs. Blackstock said, looking from Amelia to the paper and back again. “We have been invited to dinner this evening at Battle’s Peak.”
“Have we?” Amelia squeaked.
“Yes. It will be the dowager, Lady Averstow, and Lady Florentia. It says an informal repast with ladies.” Her mother lowered the letter to her lap. “Whatever shall I wear?”
“It didn’t mention anything else?” Amelia asked.
“Such as?” her mother asked, her tone all innocence.
“Might I see it?” She held out her hand, and her mother placed the heavy cream paper in it. Amelia scanned the letter and saw that it was, indeed, just an invitation to dinner. The men would likely still be en route from London, and the ladies probably wanted to do something to welcome the Blackstock family, considering Amelia would soon be one of them.
“That’s very kind of them,” Amelia said.
“I didn’t realize the dowager was in residence.” Mrs. Blackstock lifted her teacup again. “I wonder where Lord Nicholas is. Or perhaps he does not care for company.”
“He doesn’t,” Amelia said. And then, realizing what she had said, she continued in a hurry, “I hear he is somewhat reclusive.”
“That’s too bad. He never used to be, but the war changes people.” She glanced at the wall where a portrait of Amelia’s father hung. He looked down at them, his dark eyes smiling, even if his expression was serious. Amelia understood her mother’s thoughts then. They had been through their own war, first with the illness and death of Amelia’s grandmother and then her father’s injury a few years later.
“I don’t suppose I need to think overly much about what to wear,” her mother said. “I only have one black dress fit for a dinner. But what shall you wear? You are too young to wear mourning.”
At six and twenty, Amelia was not too young, but she had taken advantage of her mother’s largesse and worn bright colors or white in company these past few months. Right now what she would wear back to Battle’s Peak was the last thing on her mind. “Mama, I believe I know why we have been invited to dine.”
“There is a reason?” her mother asked.
Amelia nodded. She knew she should simply tell her mother everything right then, but the words stuck in her throat. Her mother had always thought her such a good girl, and it was not easy to disabuse her mother of that idea in one fell swoop.
In the long pause, her mother lifted her hand to her temple again, and Amelia knew she would be the cause of the next megrim.
“It has to do with Lord Nicholas, Mama,” Amelia said carefully. “And myself.”
Her mother said nothing. She simply waited for Amelia to go on. It was the way she always accepted bad news. She stood stoic and silent before doctor after doctor, absorbing the dire predictions for her husband’s fate, never asking or soliciting. It was not her way.
“Something happened last night,” Amelia said. “And I am betrothed to Lord Nicholas.”
Anyone else would have gasped in shock, but Mrs. Blackstock had suffered worse shocks than this. Her expression did not change, and she did not speak. Amelia explained how she had arrived home from the assembly rooms and found Sweetie missing and how she went to find Sweetie and found her in the stable at Battle’s Peak. She did not mention she had been there before.
“Lord Nicholas was inside. As I said, he prefers solitude, and his mother had invited the Kentworths for dinner. I believe he slipped out for a few moments and encountered Sweetie. We were talking and...well, one thing led to another, and he kissed me. Or I kissed him. I’m not sure which. It was only a kiss, but, well, we had fallen to the ground, and it looked like much more and that was when Mr. and Mrs. Kentworth came for their carriage followed by the dowager countess and Lord and Lady Averstow and Lady Florentia.”
Mrs. Blackstock closed her eyes as though pained. Amelia pressed on anyway because what else could she do?
“The dowager said I was ruined, and Lord Nicholas offered to marry me, and I accepted because I don’t want a scandal. I don’t want to hurt you, though I’m aware I am probably hurting you now—” She was aware she was babbling, but she couldn’t seem to stop. She always talked too much when her mother became silent. It was as though someone or something needed to fill the hush surrounding them, and she always stepped into the void.
“Lord Nicholas and his brother went to London to get the special license. We’re to marry tomorrow.”