Page 32 of The Detective and the Baroness

“Yes, I agree and accept.”

“Can we be friends again?” Corrine asked. “Please, let us promise to keep in touch. I have missed you both terribly. I will be honest; I have no other friends. I’ve been too busy to seek any.”

Celia sighed. “Me neither. Especially since I live in near isolation in Northern England. Let’s be friends again.” They looked to Selena, who nodded. The relief Corrine felt was palatable.

“I would like to ask your advice on something rather personal, now that we’re bosom friends again.” She smiled, trying to gather her nerve. “It seems that…another man has caught my attention,” she blurted. “Am I selfish for wishing to be free from my vows and see where this mutual attraction goes? I do not know what to do.”

“What to do?” Selena exclaimed. “Engage a solicitor and come to an arrangement with your husband, even if it means you must return some of the money. Save yourself before you become a hollowed-out husk devoid of emotion. Like me.”

Selena’s stark words cut through Corrine’s soul. Corrine wanted to love, and be loved. But who was to say she would find all that with Mitchell? She hardly knew him. Then again, she knew him better than her husband. Deep down, Mitchell appealed to her in every way. She looked carefully at her friend. Other than her situation, what had happened to Selena?

“What is it? Is it Barnsdale? Please talk to us, Selena,” Corrine urged.

“Yes. We might not have been in contact the past ten years or so, but I thought of you both often,” Celia said softly. “You can tell us anything, Selena.”

The room was brimming with emotion, as if all their pent-up emotions of the past several years were escaping in a rush. The air fairly crackled with it. Selena’s eyes shimmered with tears. “I hate him,” she whispered miserably. “He is cold, cruel, and controlling. I have started doing charity work, just to get away from him. Mostly in the early evenings when he is home. I cannot bear to face him.”

That was why Barnsdale thought Selena was having an affair. She was away most nights. Inwardly, Corrine was relieved. She could report to the Galway Investigative Agency that Selena was doing charity work. If the agency wished to investigate further, they had the option.

“Has Barnsdale—hit you?” Corrine asked softly.

“He wouldn’t dare,” Selena snarled. “I would put a bullet here.” Selena pointed to her forehead, right between her eyes. “I have an appointment with a solicitor in two weeks’ time, where I will be examining my options. I have had enough.”

Corrine and Celia exchanged astonished looks.

“Good for you. You should take a lover,” Celia stated firmly.

Selena shook her head. “After what I endured with Barnsdale? I want no other man to lay a hand on me ever again.”

Thomason and Jonathan, the footman, entered the room carrying the tea service and the three-tiered tower filled with sandwiches, biscuits, and tarts. After setting up the afternoon tea on the table, the servants departed.

What Selena had related opened up all sorts of questions, but that was better left for another time. Corrine could see that just the little bit Selena had already confided had taken an emotional toll on her.

“Look—shrimp sandwiches. And Celia, I recall you prefer egg, salad cream, and watercress. There is also ham and cheese and beefsteak and onion,” Corrine said.

“Brilliant!” Celia exclaimed as she picked up a plate and piled sandwich wedges. “I am famished. Selena…” Celia passed her a plate. “Tuck in.”

Reluctantly, Selena took the offered plate and laid three shrimp sandwiches on it.

“I wish we were staying longer,” Celia said, sighing as she laid her cloth napkin on her lap. “But Carlton is insistent we return to Marshall Meadows before the snow accumulates. I do not know when I will be back in London. But I am a prodigious writer. Promise me you will both answer my letters. We will exchange addresses before we leave.”

Selena reached into her reticle, retrieved a lace handkerchief and dabbed at the corner of her eyes. Corrine studied her. Her friend had lost none of her fair beauty, and her golden-red hair still gleamed. But she seemed almost overwhelmed by sadness. And weariness.

“I will, I swear,” Corrine replied.

“Yes,” Selena replied shakily. “And so shall I.”

Corrine poured the tea and passed the cups and saucers to her rediscovered friends. The years melted away, and they spoke as openly and honestly as they had when they were girls. Corrine was pleased.

Seeing Selena so miserable and Celia living in near isolation with a man almost old enough to be her grandfather convinced Corrine that she should do something about her marriage. Life was short. Why should she live it without feeling loved? If not with Mitchell, then someone else?

But she did not want ‘someone else.’ Only Mitchell.

Well. That was a firm admission.

She would do as Selena suggested, offering to return some of the money in exchange for a quick divorce if such could be achieved. Satisfied she had made the correct decision, Corrine smiled and sat back in her chair. It was the first time she had felt truly content in a long time.

Chapter Twelve