Page 116 of A Lady of Means
Noelle sighed, then nodded to her husband.
Fitzwilliam Pomfrey put two fingers in his mouth and let out a loud whistle.
Nothing.
He repeated the motion again, this time louder and shriller.The movement in the ballroom stopped.Moria had to stifle a laugh at the sight of Lady Althea, her sister’s grandmother in law, holding a small potted fern over her head as if about to hurl it at another lady.
“As I shall remind you, you are all in fact, ladies, and gentlemen.I have never witnessed such behavior,” Fitz said with a disapproving grimace.
Many of the occupants of the room took stock of their state of agitation, the dishabille of their wardrobe, or the toppled chairs or ferns around them.
The Countess of Clairville motioned with a hand to a large table on the other side of the ballroom.
“In an effort to try and fix the way all of us young ladies specifically relate to one another, lady to lady, I have erected a table, laden with cards and quills and pots of ink.I’d like you to write an apology to whomever you may have wronged, to set it right, as I’m trying to do with all of you.”
When no one moved to follow her directive she kept going, suddenly the bravest that she’d been, no longer held back by her need to overcome, by the need to prove herself.She was fully loved, for who she was, all parts of her.
She began speaking, finding Kate Herring looking back at her as she swallowed a lump in her throat, and the words flowed out of Moria.“Everyone deserves the chance to be unencumbered by the weight of a secret, to move out of its shadow,” Moria said, holding her friend Tristan’s eyes from the second row.“Everyone deserves the chance to put things right, while you still can,” she said to Lawrence, her eyes following the empty seat beside him that would have been Sarah’s.“Everyone deserves the chance to say what they’ve been carrying in their heart and be heard,” she said, looking to Bridget Kelley.
And the amends that were made, with some reluctance and not without effort, became more of what the Countess of Clairville was known for, as well as the besotment in her eyes when her husband peppered her with kisses as she exited her little stage, rather than all of the scandals of her past.
