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“You look lovely. Is this for Gerald’s benefit? Teddy has been talking about his visit all morning,” Agatha said.

Clara drew in a breath sharply. “Certainly not. I’d quite forgotten he was coming.”

Agatha gave her a sly smile. “I may be old, but I’m not foolish, Clara. I’ve seen how you are with him.”

“And exactly ‘how’ is that?”

“Happy,” Agatha said. It wasn’t the word Clara thought Agatha would choose, and she wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about it.

“I suppose it is fun to pretend,” Clara replied.

“So this is just a game to you?”

“In a sense. It’s little more than that to him, so I don’t see why it should be anything more for me.”

“You would be surprised at how deep a man’s emotions can run. I know we like to think of them as stoic and hard, but they are not all stony. They are like deep rivers, only it takes the right woman to see them.”

“You are growing quite poetic in your dotage, Grandmother.”

“Less of that, please, I still have many years before me.”

“Of course, but I fear you are mistaken about Gerald. He is a man of business, of transactions. The only reason he’s helping us is that he wants something from me. He isn’t doing it out of the kindness of his heart.”

“And you believe you know him well enough to understand his intentions? I didn’t realize the two of you had grown so close,” Agatha said. Clara opened and shut her mouth, feeling as though she had fallen into a trap that Agatha had laid. Agatha chuckled to herself and squeezed Clara’s arms.

“Intentions can lead to unexpected consequences, Clara. One must always keep an open mind. I’m sure that someone so devoted to business would not spend two days at an orphanage.”

Clara couldn’t deny that was true, and she was forced to consider that she may not understand Gerald’s intentions as much as she believed. After all, he wasn’t the simplest of men. Anyone who concocted this deception had a wily mind. It would have been arrogant of her to assume she knew exactly what he was thinking. However, she couldn’t fully believe there was any romantic intent behind his actions.

Even so, she was wearing a prettier dress than usual, and every strand of hair was tucked neatly into a bun.

The children were filled with energy from the off. Teddy and Oliver were chatting happily about their boat, and how they were going to sail it properly today with Gerald’s help.

“You had him all day yesterday!” Emily protested. “He’s going to play dolls with me today.” She wore a haughty look.

“He doesn’t want to play dolls,” Teddy said.

“Yes, he does.”

“Doesn’t.”

“Does.”

“Doesn’t.”

“Children,” Clara’s voice whipped through the air, commanding their attention. That argument could have gone on all day if she didn’t intervene. Emily and Teddy were each as stubborn as the other, and neither of them would have relented. When they were both looking at her, Clara spread her hands out towards both of them and shifted her head between them, trying to make sure that they both knew they were at fault equally.

“Gerald is a grown-up and a Duke, and he can decide to do whatever he wants. If he wants to play with dolls, he can. If he wishes to spend time with the boat, he can do that as well. He may not wish to do either, or he may wish to do both. We must not be selfish and demand that people do things we wish them to do.”

“But you tell us to do things all the time, like wash our face,” Emily said.

“And brush our teeth,” Teddy said. The only thing worse than having them arguing against each other was having them united.

“And eating our vegetables,” Oliver chimed in. Clara looked helplessly at Agatha, who was wiping a tear from her eye as her body trembled with laughter.

“That’s different. You’re children, and those things are for your own good,” Clara said.

“So is playing with dolls,” Emily replied.