Page 24 of Claws and Contrivances
“Shh, shh.” Aunt Parry waved an irritable hand, her spectacles tipping even further down her Roman nose. “Trust me, my dear, I have no fear of you taking advantage of Mr Aubrey. What concerns me is whether, in your innocence, he may have taken advantage of you.”
“I beg your pardon?!” Rose let out a startled burst of laughter that she immediately tried to choke into silence. “Aunt ...”
“No, you will hear me out on this.” Poking her spectacles back into place, Aunt Parry fixed Rose with a firm glare. “Humphrey and I are your guardians, my dear, by right of care, if not by any legal authority. It is our responsibility to you and to your late parents, as well, to ensure that you are safe from harm in this house. I know Mr Aubrey is a fine-looking young man, but—”
“Aunt—”
“Handsome young gentlemen of fortune have been known,” her aunt continued forcefully, “to make shining promises to impoverished young women without any intention of following through upon them ... and it disturbs me very much that we have still not heard anything about this betrothal from the young man himself. So, my dear, I need you to tell me now: what exact promises has Mr Aubrey made to you? Has a suggested wedding date been set, or even mentioned from his lips?”
“Ah ...”
“I thought as much.” Aunt Parry’s shoulders rose and fell with her sigh. “Well, never mind.” Reaching out, she patted Rose’s knee with a tight smile, brushing casually against Rhiannon’s scaly tail along the way. “What’s done is done. No matter what he may have persuaded you into doing today against the constraints of modesty or common sense, you need have no fear. Our local community has publicly witnessed his acceptance of the announcement of your betrothal here tonight, and your uncle shall see to the rest. He has a great many connections, you know, among the scholars whose opinions Mr Aubrey values highly, and in order to protect the family, Humphrey would take any young man to court for breach of promise against his niece.”
“What?!” Rose cringed so hard that Rhiannon startled on her lap. “Aunt—”
“But I wouldn’t worry about any of that,” her aunt finished calmly. “It shan’t reach any such extremes if Mr Aubrey possesses even the faintest shreds of common sense. We’ll order the first banns read at church this Sunday, and—”
“Aunt, no!” Rose jumped to her feet, carefully placing Rhiannon on the seat of her chair. “You mustn’t do anything of the sort. We’ve agreed that any scheduling must wait until Mr Aubrey has had the chance to visit his grandfather and tell him of our betrothal himself, rather than allowing the news to come from anyone else. Truly, I should never have made the announcement in the first place.”
“Now that you have, though, he cannot wriggle out of it.” Aunt Parry gave a firm nod. “When it comes to young men and matrimony, my dear, we simply must be firm. He will have to understand that he cannot escape his obligations, and the shorter the betrothal—”
“Oh, but I like the idea of a long betrothal. And besides ...” Rose smiled weakly, resting one hand on Rhiannon’s warm back for comfort. “You did say we had moved too quickly for your liking. What if it was a mistake, after all? Perhaps I may wish to break things off myself upon coming to know my fiancé a little better, just as your heroine Margarethe did in The Curse of Cwmbran Castle, three times in a row. Remember all of her different betrothals? Shouldn’t I be allowed just as much of a chance to think things through?”
There was a long moment of silence as her aunt regarded her. Rhiannon scooted more and more tightly against Rose’s closest leg.
Finally, Aunt Parry said, “Very well. Let us allow him enough time to write to his grandfather first—but not to wait upon his grandfather’s approval for the match. Like it or not, the betrothal has been announced, and we shall not allow him to ignore his commitment to a cherished member of our family. In the meantime, the two of you may come to know each other better ... but my dear ...”
Her voice softened as her lips took on a rueful twist. “You must know I wish for you to achieve the same happiness in your union that I have known in mine. But when it comes to real life rather than lovely, romantic fiction ...”
Aunt Parry gave a sidelong glance at the closest patch of peeling wallpaper and let out a soft sigh. “I should not advise you to be too swift to ignore the security that a gentleman’s wealth can provide for you and your children. Your uncle and I will not live forever, you know. When Rupert inherits all of this in our wake, he may well also inherit the responsibility of three older sisters to support ... and regardless of what may happen in any of my novels, in reality a dowryless young lady who dares to jilt one gentleman may never be fortunate enough to receive a second offer.
“It could only be worth taking such a great risk should the gentlemen in question be a monster – and I do not believe that is the case for Mr Aubrey. Therefore, no matter how rashly this betrothal may have been formed ...” She caught Rose’s gaze in her own as she finished, “I am afraid it would be impossible for us to approve such a foolish decision from any young lady living under our protection. Unless you could share with me any alternate plans that would establish a safe and respectable future for you without marrying well ...?”
Rose stared back at her aunt in stymied silence.
Her Grand Plan still waited, underlined twice but otherwise empty, in her commonplace book upstairs. Even the thought of it clogged her throat with panic.
“I thought as much.” Aunt Parry rose to her feet, her voice gentling. “Never mind, dear. I know you will do what is sensible and right. In the meantime, I’ll just have a quiet word with your uncle before supper is served. We can afford to give your Mr Aubrey one more week, I think, before the banns are read. One more week from this Sunday ... but no longer.”
Numbly, Rose watched her aunt leave the room.
“Less than two weeks,” she whispered to Rhiannon, and sank onto her knees on the carpeted floor to bury her face against the little dragon’s hot scales, breathing deeply.
She had thirteen days to save Mr Aubrey from the disastrous consequences of her latest scheme and write herself a new future.
Chapter 13
Rose could only take comfort, several hours later, in the reminder that there were still some advantages to real life over romantic fiction. Gothic heroines exploring ruined abbeys at midnight were doomed to come upon rattling skeletons, ghosts, or murderers in their adventures. Rose, as she lit her way down the thick and ominously creaking darkness of Gogodd Abbey’s back staircase by the flickering flame of a single candle, only risked tripping over the two nervous dragons who clung close to her feet on either side, chortling nervously and tangling their tails and necks around her legs in the most awkward manner possible.
Rather than vengeful spirits, beloved family members were the only creatures likely to respond to any untoward noise or crash; still, she held tightly to the banister with her free hand and hissed, “Please do be careful!”
After their earlier conversation – and the disconcertingly watchful gaze that Aunt Parry had bent upon her and Mr Aubrey all evening – Rose didn’t dare attempt to convince her aunt of the innocence of tonight’s private meeting.
“She’d wake the vicar to read the banns before dawn,” Rose muttered.
Elinor’s imagined voice filled her head in response, every bit as maddeningly calm and pragmatic as she had always been whenever reacting to Rose’s greatest flights of despair.
“Surely those would need to wait for a Sunday, dear.”
