Page 74 of The Baron Takes a Bet
“This one, I think,” Marnie said, pointing to the thicker ribbon. “Always best to go with bolder accents as opposed to the bolder gown. It catches the eye without drowning out everything else. A tip shared with me by the Duchess of Wellington.”
“How very interesting,” Katrina said thoughtfully.
“Over there,” Marnie pointed to a cupboard against the wall. “See if you can’t find a pair of gloves with tangerine thread.”
Katrina did as she was told, and Holly stepped gingerly into her spot. Lowering her voice, she leaned in.
“It’s very kind of you to share your knowledge with my sister. To be sure, neither of us would have been very prepared for St. James Palace.”
“No,” Marnie said. “You wouldn’t have been.” Holly nodded, unsure what to say to break through to the old woman when she spoke suddenly. “It might have done you a bit of good, had you had a season.”
Holly lifted one of her shoulders before dropping it.
“It was not meant to be, I’m afraid. There’s little room in the ton for poor country gentry.”
“No, and yet you’ve managed to catch yourself a baron.”
Holly tried not to make a face but turned fully to face her.
“I am sorry, Miss Winscombe, that you have been disappointed in the great hopes you had for your nephew. I can’t imagine it’s been easy for you, raising him as you did on your own. And with so little help.”
Holly was baiting the woman, but she was eager to learn all she could.
“It wasn’t easy,” Marnie said slowly. “But it was my duty.”
“I know about that. It was my duty to raise my Jasper and Katrina when our mother passed away.”
Evidently, it hadn’t ever dawned on Marnie that she and Holly had both raised children that hadn’t been their own. As if seeing her for the first time, Marnie’s expression lightened as she looked at Holly with a new appreciation.
“Then you know the weight of it. You know, I was the eldest as well.”
“Were you?”
Marnie nodded.
“Indeed, I was. John was two years younger than me, but Joseph, Gavin’s father, was ten years my junior,” she said, the faintest of smiles touching her wrinkled lips at the memory of her youngest brother. “We doted on him as a child, John and I. He was so even tempered. Such a darling boy.”
Holly smiled, charmed to learn about Gavin’s father as Marnie continued, her brow pinching together as her eyes went out of focus as if watching a long-forgotten memory play out before her.
“A darling boy, but he didn’t have a strong constitution. He was often sick. I wanted to protect him from the world, but John insisted otherwise. He was so sure that Joseph could do anything, be anything, that he never accounted for the risks if he should be pushed too far.”
Holly’s smile faded as she tilted her head.
“Too far?”
Marnie nodded slowly as if in a daze.
“It was John who insisted that Joseph travel with him on some wicked, depraved holiday on the continent. Joseph fell ill and returned home a short time after. He never recovered. Gavin had caught whatever illness had taken his father and for a time we didn’t think he would make it either. But then he did, and I promised the Lord that I would take care of him… but John had other ideas. He argued that as he wouldn’t have any children of his own, Gavin was his heir and should be raised by him.”
Holly frowned.
“JohnwantedGavin to come live with him?”
“Yes, but I couldn’t let him do to Gavin what he had done to Joseph. No. Joseph’s death was a punishment for all the gambling and carousing under John’s dissolute guidance.” She shook her head as if trying to shake away the memory. Turning to face Holly, her brow puckered. “John was a wicked man.”
Holly’s brow pinched together. She doubted there had been a wicked bone in John’s entire body, but Marnie seemed too deep in her beliefs to be convinced otherwise, and Holly couldn’t see that there was anything to be gained by arguing. Taking a deep breath, she pressed on, trying to sympathize with a woman who had lost her brother.
“I suppose it would have been difficult for you to let Gavin go, to be raised by John.”
