Page 19 of A Momentary Marriage

“I confess that a meal sounds excellent to me,” Laura said. “If I could just wash away the dust of the road . . .”

“Of course.” Tessa flashed the smile that had won her many hearts, and looped her arm companionably through Laura’s. “Come, I’ll show you the way.”

Tessa whisked her out of the room. “Dearest, I cannot tell you how excited I am to see you. I had almost given up hope, you know, because James never showed any partiality for one girl. He is not very sociable, of course, but even when I can drag him to a party, he will dance with a few different girls and chat a bit, but he doesn’t seem terribly interested. One would almost think that he is odd, if I didn’t know that he has always had a string of—” She stopped abruptly. “But that’s nothing we need discuss. The problem is just that he is so very choosy. It would take a paragon to catch his interest, which, of course, you are.”

Laura was not sure what to say to that statement, but fortunately Tessa seemed to need little response from her audience, sailing on to a new topic of conversation. “How is your dear father?” Tessa glanced over and saw Laura’s stricken face. She stopped with a gasp, her eyes flickering down to Laura’s black dress. “Oh! No! Is Dr. Hinsdale—surely he is not—”

“My father passed away two weeks ago.”

“I am so sorry.” Tessa’s eyes glittered with ready tears. “You must be devastated. But of course, that explains why James said nothing to me beforehand. No doubt he went flying to your side as soon as he heard.”

Laura blinked, taken aback at the dramatic picture of James his mother painted.

“He did just right.” Tessa patted Laura’s arm comfortingly. “I will not scold the boy any further. Naturally he wished to marry you right away so he could take care of you. I do hope your father did not suffer, poor man.”

“No, I believe not. He went quite suddenly. It was apoplexy; I did not even hear him cry out.”

“Oh, my . . .” Tessa sighed, shaking her head.

Her new mother-in-law continued to talk all the way to the washroom and back, flittering effortlessly from one topic to another and requiring little response from Laura. It was clear Tessa was used to being the center of any social setting and equally clear why she was.

Though her face was softer and more lined than in the days when she had taken London by storm, her dimples were entrancing and her silvery eyes, so like her son’s, were vivid. She had a way of tilting up her chin and casting a sideways glance at one that both was charming and, Laura noticed, served to smooth out the wrinkles around her neck. And if Tessa’s dark hair owed its color to something other than nature, it was no less shining and dramatic against her pearly skin.

It would be difficult not to be charmed by the woman, but Laura waited with dread for the moment when Tessa asked Laura about James’s health. Since James had been in London, she doubted Tessa knew how serious his condition was. Laura would not want to be the one to tell her. That should come from James himself. However, if Tessa asked a direct question, she would find it hard to lie to his mother.

To her surprise, Tessa did not touch on James’s thinness or the shadows beneath his eyes and the lines of pain bracketing his mouth. The closest she came to the matter was when she paused for an instant in her monologue, a tiny frown wedging its way between her lovely curving brows, and said, “I knew Mr. Caulfield could not be right. He’s partner with James in some business or other, and he saw James in London, and he said—but obviously it was love that afflicted James. It would take him like that, of course. He would fight it.” She shook her head at the peculiarities of her eldest son. “But now that he’s married, it will be different.”

Laura stared at Tessa. Could she really think that James’s appearance came from thwarted ardor? That a few nights of love in Laura’s bed would make him whole again?

For an instant something peeked out from behind the dimples and smiles, and Tessa’s hand tightened on Laura’s arm. “He isn’t . . . ?” Then Tessa shook her head, letting out a little laugh. “No, I’m being silly. I fear I often am. Laurence used to call me his beautiful, foolish girl.” She let out a little sigh at this apparently cherished memory of her late husband. “James is obviously making plans for the future. He’s fine; he’ll be quite fine.”

Laura realized that Tessa did not want to learn what was wrong with James. It would shatter her pretense that all was well. Laura wasn’t sure whether she felt more pity or irritation at Tessa’s willful blindness.

The others were waiting for them in the anteroom. James gave Laura a searching look as he offered her his arm to escort her into the dining room. “I take it you survived my mother intact.”

“Your mother is charming, as you well know.”

“Yes, but you are accustomed to an atmosphere of quiet and peace.” He seated her at the elegantly laid table before she had a chance to make a riposte.

James assumed his seat at the head of the table, with Laura seated on his left and his brother-in-law, Mr. Salstone, facing her. Salstone was a sandy-haired man who sported a twirled guardsman mustache and muttonchop whiskers so ridiculously wide that Laura had difficulty not staring at him.

His wife, Patricia, seated beside him, resembled her mother, but she lacked Tessa’s vivacity, and her eyes were a faded blue rather than Tessa’s unusual silver color, so that she looked like a poor copy of the original.

As the first course was served, Laura took the opportunity to study the other diners. James’s brother Claude was seated beside her, and the youngest, Walter, was farther along beside the maligned Cousin Maurice. Neither brother greatly resembled James. Like Patricia, their eyes were blue and their hair more brown than black. Claude had a sullen set to his mouth. Walter, nodding along in a bored way as Cousin Maurice talked to him, kept sneaking glances down the table at James and Laura. Once, when Laura caught his gaze, he glanced down hastily.

Laura suspected that Mr. Netherly was one of the “swains” James had mentioned hanging about his mother. Tessa seemed to devote most of her arch glances at him. The other person at the table, Claude’s wife, Adelaide, lived up to James’s description, her smile almost constant and her voice soft and sweet. Indeed, in all her ribbons and flounces, with her porcelain skin and fluffy blond hair, she looked like a confection herself.

“Lady de Vere.”

It took Laura a moment to realize that James’s sister was addressing her. A faint flush rose in Laura’s cheeks as she said, “Yes, I’m sorry. I am still unused to my new name.”

“Of course,” Patricia responded with a narrow smile. “I don’t believe we have met before, have we?”

“No, I think not. I’m sure I had my come-out before yours,” Laura replied.

“Then you do not visit London during the Season?” Patricia went on doggedly.

“Rarely.”