Louisa grinned. Retrieving a necklace off the table behind her, she held it out to me. “Margaret, would you help me with this?”
“Of course.” I moved next to her and took the gold chain. She turned so I could clasp it at the back of her neck.
“I hope you’ll go down first,” I murmured. “I want to watch Daniel’s expression when he sees you.”
Louisa giggled.
“Don’t forget this, Louisa.” Mrs. Rosthorn held a white and gold fan out to her.
Once the fan was hanging around her wrist, Louisa took a deep breath and smiled. “I am ready.”
She led us out the door. Mrs. Rosthorn and I hung back to allow the focus to be upon Louisa as she descended. Daniel’s sharp intake of breath was audible all the way to where we stood. He dashed up the stairs, meeting Louisa halfway to offer his arm. His gallant and doting behavior was so different from how he had acted before, and as the former Lady Swenson and I followed her down the stairs, I wondered if Louisa had understood the potential within him when I had not.
Since the Rosthorns did not have a ballroom, they’d had the carpets in the drawing room rolled and removed, the settees, tables, and chairs pushed against the walls. Candelabras shimmered around the perimeter, and a giant chandelier had been installed for the occasion. Within an hour, the room was full of people mingling, waiting for the dancing to begin. I stood to the side, watching the entrance, as family after couple after family entered, all looking about them in anticipation of an evening of pleasure. But Gregory didn’t appear.
When the opening strands of a minuet were played, Daniel and Louisa took their place at the head of the line.
My father appeared next to me. “May I have this dance?”
I forced my gaze away from the door. “With pleasure.”
As we stood across from each other in our lines, my father asked, “How are you faring?”
I raised my brows and received a knowing look in return. Placing my hand in his, I curtsied to the front of the room with the rest of the women in the line. “Father, I am perfectly content.”
“I did not know they invited Edward. I am sorry. If I had known they were thinking of it—”
“It makes no difference. Truly, Father. He means nothing to me beyond his being Louisa’s brother.” I dropped his hand and danced to my new position on the opposite side of the woman next to me.
My father didn’t speak until we joined hands again. “I only ever wished for you to be happy.”
“And I am. I will be.” But as Daniel and Louisa flashed into view, I realized the small twinge of pain I’d felt earlier was no longer small.
I was aching with loneliness for Gregory. Where was he?
Forty-Four
James Johnson claimed my hand for the next dance.
“You look quite lovely tonight, Miss Brinton.”
“Thank you.”
“We are all relieved to hear of your sister’s recovery.”
“Yes,” I said, dropping his hand to turn. “Thank you. We are—” I glimpsed his sister Catherine along the wall, speaking with a brown-haired gentleman whose back was to me. But I knew those shoulders, the tilt of the head. My breath caught and I stumbled.
James grasped my hand, steadying me. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” I replied. I searched the wall, but neither Catherine nor the man was visible any longer. Perhaps, in my current state, I had mistaken someone else for Gregory.
We stepped away then stepped back together. “I believe we were speaking of your sister,” he prompted.
“Oh, um, Alice. We are quite relieved about Alice.”
“Will she be recovered enough to attend the wedding?”
We turned to dance back down the room. “I believe so.”
“Your brother and Miss Rosthorn look very happy.”
I followed his gaze to the head of the line, where Daniel and Louisa smiled at each other, seemingly unaware of the rest of the town’s presence. “It has been a long time coming. Which reminds me, by asking me to dance you have played quite into my mother’s expectations.”
The dance required we shift partners. When James and I rejoined each other, he smiled. “And you still believe my feelings for you have not changed?”
I lifted my brow. “Are you going to pretend they have?”
He laughed. “No, you are quite right.”
I caught sight of Catherine again. She was dancing with a man who was definitely not Gregory. “My mother will be very disappointed.”
“Disappointing mothers seems to be my lot in life,” James replied.
“Mine, too.”
Once the set finished, I allowed James to walk me to the side of the floor, but it wasn’t long before another man claimed my hand. I twirled and clapped and forced myself to smile through dance after dance. But eventually the searching and the waiting became too much. I had seen numerous men who resembled Gregory in some way, each time my heart lurching with hope and anxiety until I recognized them for who they were. Or, rather, who they were not. Gregory wasn’t here. It was well past the time for people to arrive. Which meant he wasn’t coming.
I slipped out the open side doors onto the terrace. There were only two more dances until supper, but I wasn’t up to tolerating the crush of people, perfumes, and body odor that plagued the room. Though I wore long gloves, the night was chilly without my wrap. I inhaled the fresh air with relish, then immediately began rubbing my arms with my hands, walking until I reached the banister at the far side of the terrace, where no one would notice me if anyone also decided to enjoy a break from the festivities. I leaned on the railing and looked out over the dark lawn.
The ball was a success. Everyone was commenting on how they had never seen a couple so happy. Daniel had left Louisa’s side only to fetch her a drink. The musicians were superb, the punch divine, and all the guests seemed content to spend the entire night in celebration.
I tried to ignore the emptiness inside me by studying the stars and the outlines of the trees, but the ache wouldn’t go away.
I had been so certain Gregory would come.
“Margaret?”
I turned away from the balcony. “Daniel, I’m here.”
He walked over and followed my example of leaning against the railing. “Louisa sent me to find you. How are you?”
“She did? I didn’t think she knew anyone was in the room aside from you.”
He chuckled.
“Of course, if Louisa had come out here I would have said the same about you.” I poked him gently in his ribs.
“We’re not that bad.”
I lifted my brows high and looked down my nose at him.
“Well, maybe we are.” His large, toothy grin indicated that he was not in the least apologetic about it.
“You are,” I stated with decisiveness.
His smile faded. “How are you? Edward and Mrs. Rosthorn mentioned they had seen you.”
“I don’t understand why everyone is so concerned with how it would be with Edward.”
I turned to study the darkness over the lawns.
He placed a hand over mine. “It’s all right. I understand.”
I didn’t understand. Gregory hadn’t come. He’d given me all the signs. There was a donkey in my barn, for goodness sake. And, yet—