Page 4 of Foolish Bride
“Father, what is going on?” Her voice gained an edge.
Mother spoke. “He has been injured, Elinor.”
“Injured? When? How? Why was I not summoned to care for him?” Panic rose in her chest. She rushed away to gather her wrap and have the carriage take her to Michael’s townhouse.
Both of her parents shouted in unison, “Stop.”
She spun, gaping at them. Her place was at Michael’s side if he required care.
Mother sprang forward like she might leap over the table to reach her. One hand covered her mouth and, with the other, she reached toward Elinor.
Hands outstretched, Father strode across the room with his hands like claws about to physically restrain her if she persisted in her efforts to leave.
It was almost comical.
Father pointed one fat finger at her. “You are forbidden to see Sir Michael. You will not care for him. He is nothing to you, as you are no longer engaged. I will be dissolving the contract immediately, so there is no reason for you to be in his company ever again.”
“Father—”
“I will brook no argument, Elinor. You will obey me in this.” Returning to his desk, he pushed a pile of papers to one side and plopped a heavy glass ball on top of them.
The entire world had gone upside down. Her parents had lost their minds. It wasn’t possible that she couldn’t marry the man she loved, after a year-long engagement. Her emotions boiled to the surface. “Will no one tell me what is going on?”
“Elinor,” Mother scolded, “you must not raise your voice like a scullery maid.”
She stared at her and forced her mouth closed. Everyone had lost their minds. She took a deep breath. “Mother, I have been summoned, told that I am no longer engaged, and informed that I am not to even see Michael again. What reaction were you expecting?”
“I expect you to act like the lady I raised you to be.” Mother straightened her back and folded her hands in her lap.
“Then tell me what has happened to Michael.”
“Sir Michael,” Father corrected.
“As you wish, Father.” She continued to stare at Mother as if seeing her for the first time.
“It is just as well. He is beneath you now anyway. I was only allowing the wedding because the agreement was already signed, and I did not wish to renege. It is a shame that a true patriot has suffered such a fate, but you can certainly do better now that you are the daughter of an Earl.” Father was mostly talking to himself, but she listened for some bit of logic that would make this sudden change of plan make some kind of sense.
“Mother, what is going on?”
Father cleared his throat. “I’ll leave you two ladies to have a chat.” He practically ran from the room, his morning coat flapping as he went.
Most people in London society thought Elinor was silly and senseless, and she would admit to her closest friends that she rather liked the low expectation her ignorance afforded her. However, at that moment she wasn’t concerned about what society, her friends, or her mother thought of her intelligence. “Mother, I demand to know what is going on.”
Mother sat in the small chair, then leaned forward, putting her head in her hands. The pose imitated the one she’d taken just over a year earlier, when the paper had reported Elinor’s certain ruin. She and Michael had been caught kissing in a library at a ball by Lady Pemberhamble, the most notorious gossip in London. The kiss had been brief and passionate. It had been foolish really, but she couldn’t help herself when she was with Michael Rollins. Then, when Michael had escaped town after the report became public, she was only saved by her friends’ support. She hated causing Mother any pain, but needed to know what was going on.
“Elinor, please take a seat,” Mother whispered.
She perched on an armchair facing Virginia. Whenever summoned to her father’s study, she snuggled into the soft cushion. Usually the chair was warm and cozy, and no matter what silly rules her father set out to impose, she would snuggle into the chair and listen to him with half an ear. She waited for her mother to speak.
And she waited.
Mother held her head, fidgeted in her seat, and looked up and back several times at the Persian rug between them.
After a full three minutes, it became clear that Virginia might never speak if not prompted further.
“Mother, I can see that you are upset. Shall I ring for tea?” Though tea was the last thing in the world that Elinor wanted, it might put her mother at ease and thereby speed up the dissemination of information.
“No, dear. That will not help today.”
