“But what if it wasn’t Freddy that Katherine was in love with?”
Fanny stopped what she was about to say to frown in Eliza’s direction, for it seemed her friend had a great deal of knowledge of what was going on seven years before.
“Eliza, I’m sorry to say it but she eloped with Freddy of her own free will. You’re not suggesting he kidnapped her. I think Katherine might have said something to us at the time if not in the intervening years.”
Eliza’s brow was creased. She bit her lip and fidgeted in a way Katherine had never seen. Eliza was always the picture of restraint. “What if…” Eliza stopped and shook her head, suddenly reluctant to continue until Fanny encouraged her with a wave of her hand.
“What if she meant to elope with Jack?”
“Jack?”
The sisters repeated the name in one single shocked syllable.
“Please, before you think me completely mad, just think back to their time together. They were always friends—”
“Yes, friends. I don’t mean to offend you, Eliza, but I really don’t think Katherine harboured romantic feelings for Jack,” Fanny said awkwardly.
“You’re not offending me,” Eliza said. “I’m just thinking over what I saw just now with the possibility that seven years ago, Katherine had planned to run away with Jack, only for some inexplicable reason, she ran away with Mr Marwick.” She shook her head to stay the inevitable responses. “And the reason I say that is because just half an hour ago, I saw for the first time that Diana has a tiny sixth finger. It’s barely noticeable—not nearly so noticeable as Jack’s—but you can’t deny that’s what it is. Such a rare anomaly, deformity, call it what you will, runs in families.” She hesitated then shrugged. “I really don’t know what to think except that it is a possibility.”
The stunned silence that followed was broken by Antoinette. “Oh, my! That is indeed a possibility!” Fanny had rarely seen her sister looking so distressed. “I remember, all those years ago, Katherine making some veiled hint about the man she was…experimenting with.”
“Lord, Antoinette, do watch what you say!” muttered Fanny. “There are enough rumours swirling about Katherine without you adding to them!”
“I’m teasing out Eliza’s suggestion of what could really have happened, not endorsing any rumours,” her sister responded, offended. “And I do recall that the allusions Katherine made to the gentleman she’d fallen in love with did not equate with Freddy, though I dismissed that at the time. I think she was using Freddy as a…decoy.”
“And Diana was born exactly nine months later, with a tiny sixth finger.” Eliza put her head in her hands before looking up. “But why would she elope with Freddy? It doesn’t make sense.” She appeared to be thinking before she added. “What I do think, however, is that Katherine was in love with Jack seven years ago, and I think—no, I know, that Jack is in love with Katherine right now.”
“He can’t be. He’s marrying Miss Worthington.” Bertram had just reentered the room with these bold words as he pulled on his gloves. “And we all know he won’t cry off at this late stage. Can’t, really, if he’s the sort to worry about his honour and reputation and all that. Which we all know he is.”
“Yes, I think you’re right, Eliza,” said Fanny bleakly. “I think Katherine’s in love with Jack, though I have no idea whether she was in love with him seven years ago since she chose to marry Freddy.” She looked sorrowfully at her friend and siblings. “Oh, my poor child. Her marriage to Freddy was a disaster. And she’s been so unhappy these last seven years. Yet just when happiness might be within reach, it turns out that Jack now is about to become unavailable.”
“We’ll just have to make him available,” said Bertram matter-of-factly as he picked up his silver-topped cane and was greeted by the inevitable scorn of his sisters. Undismayed, he continued, “We need to find someone who’ll sweep Miss Worthington off her feet in order to free Jack up for Katherine.”
“So easy, Bertram,” Antoinette mocked. “Jack and Odette are due to wed in a little over four weeks and Odette is, as is plain to see, quite besotted.”
Eliza nodded gloomily. “She has her claws well and truly sunk, and she knows how to play on Jack’s highly tuned sense of honour.”
Fanny was surprised. “I thought you liked Miss Worthington.”
“Very much. And I’d think her the perfect daughter-in-law if I were convinced Jack was in love with her and nobody else, for then he’d not begrudge dancing to her tune. Believe me, Miss Worthington may look very sweet and pliable on the surface, but there’s a ruthlessness beneath that soft veneer. She will always get what she wants, and she wants Jack, regardless of what Jack wants.”
“Then we must make her want someone else,” said Antoinette.
“Derry thought her a proper bit o’ frock.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Fanny rounded on him. Bertram’s sanguine approach irritated her for her daughter’s happiness was at stake. Matters were serious. “I suppose you mean Odette caught his eye, but then, so did Katherine all those years ago. And Katherine has associated with him sufficiently intimately to lend credence to baseless rumours, it appears. It’ll be a scandal if Katherine doesn’t marry Derry, and that, I believe, is what she may have to do if she is to be welcomed warmly by society. Which she does. If she doesn’t, she’ll be a social pariah, regardless of the fact the rumours linking her to Derry are baseless.”
Bertram hesitated in the doorway and shook his head sadly. “Am I the only one with inspired ideas. Why, you and Antoinette were considered queens of your craft when you brought Eliza and her beloved Rufus Patmore together.”
“Queens of our craft?” cried Antoinette, delighted. “Why Bertram, that is clever and I like it very much. And Fanny, what he says is true. You’ve turned into a proper curmudgeon. What happened to the bold sister I once knew who did not shy away from taking the risks needed to ensure the happy outcome desired? Would you really wish Katherine to enter another marriage not of her choosing just to be accepted by society?”
“Of course I wouldn’t, but right now I can’t see an alternative. Katherine is miserable and has been for a very long time. She wishes to be welcomed by society, but she won’t be if she doesn’t marry Derry. And I hardly think even the boldest scheme is going to succeed in making Miss Worthington miraculously fall in love with Lord Derry, of all people, or anyone else. Besides, Lord Derry has wanted Katherine for his wife for more than seven years. Meanwhile, Odette Worthington is determined to wed Jack…in four weeks!”
“Yes, the odds are stacked against us and we are working against the clock,” agreed Antoinette. “But making Miss Worthington fall in love with Derry is what must be arranged.” She nodded, thoughtfully, as if they were all agreed on a plan which Fanny had just outlined as being totally unworkable, if not outrageous.
“I’ll start by influencing Derry.” Bertram rested his cane against the back of the sofa and went to the sideboard to pour himself another drink. “Remember that you’re looking at the clever fellow who masterminded dear Thea and Grayling’s very successful romance.”
“Which nearly sent Aunt Brightwell to the moon in a balloon when matters got totally out of hand,” Fanny reminded him.