Page 21 of An Icy Christmas Engagement
“Is that so?” her best friend mused. “Perhaps I should put an advertisement in the papers for a few more ladies maids.”
Elizabeth nodded, clearly not picking up on Louisa’s slightly sarcastic tone. “Yes, I think that would be a splendid idea.”
“I shall get right on that then. Though,” Louisa slouched her shoulders in mock disappointment, “it would be rather difficult to tell them that I will no longer be needing them once you are gone. It would make little sense for me to keep them, you see, seeing that only Caroline and I reside here.”
Elizabeth blinked. She looked at Caroline, but Caroline was too busy trying to fight her laughter to pay her any mind. “Oh,” she answered at last. “Well, I do see how that could be a bit difficult.”
Louisa was adept at underlying remarks behind a polite smile and it was no more obvious than it was now. Obvious to Caroline at least. Elizabeth clearly didn’t know what to make of what she’d just said.
“It is quite the conundrum, yes,” Louisa said, widening her smile. “Now, if you would excuse me, I will be in the gardens.”
“Oh, let us join you,” Caroline spoke up quickly. She didn’t want Louisa to go. She wasn’t equipped to handle her mother alone right now.
“Certainly,” Louisa chirped. “I’ll ask the gardener to fetch an extra pair of gloves and trowels.”
Elizabeth’s eyes went wide. “You mean, you plan on actually gardening?” she gasped.
Louisa gave her an innocent look and Caroline was crossed between groaning and laughing. Louisa knew what she was doing. “Why, yes. It is a marvellous way of spending my afternoons. Though, it is rather sunny today, so I do recommend that you wear your bonnet.”
Elizabeth squeezed Caroline’s arm a little tighter. “We will have tea in the drawing room instead, thank you.”
Louisa shrugged, eyes sparkling. “If you wish, my lady. I shall have the gardener bring the extra tools just in case you change your mind.”
She turned and left, Caroline and Elizabeth staring after her. Another time, Caroline would have marveled at how adept Louisa was at turning around judgment aimed at her, capable of leaving the other party either utterly confused or put out. But right now, she felt slightly betrayed that Louisa left her to deal with her mother instead.
“She is rather odd, that one,” Elizabeth commented once Louisa was out of earshot. “I had wondered why she’d never married, considering what a lovely girl she is, but I suppose no gentleman would marry a girl so willing to get her hands dirty.”
Caroline sighed, heading in the direction of the drawing room. She might as well get this over with. “She is not getting her hands dirty. She wears gloves and a bonnet.”
“She is still playing around in the dirt!”
“She isgardening,” Caroline corrected. “It is her passion and there is nothing wrong with that. It far beats having no interest in life.”
Elizabeth fell silent, saying nothing until they were seated next to each other in the drawing room and had already rung for tea.
At last, she asked, “Are you saying that I have no interest in life?”
Caroline resisted the urge to sigh. “No, Mother,” she said, even though that was what she’d been insinuating. But now thatElizabeth had asked the question, she felt a little bad for thinking like that in the first place.
Elizabeth thinned her lips. “Well, she is still a lovely girl. I suppose she may still be able to find a husband if she tries. Perhaps at Lady Maria’s upcoming ball.”
There it was.
“I was not aware that Lady Maria was having a ball,” Caroline pushed through gritted teeth. She didn’t know how her body could tense any more than it already had.
“Did I not tell you?” Elizabeth asked in exaggerated surprise. “I believe her invitation is somewhere around here.” Caroline tried not to roll her eyes as her mother made a show of looking for this invitation. She gave up on her one-woman show in seconds and said, “Not to worry, though, because I have already accepted the invitation on all our behalves for this evening.”
“This evening?” Caroline gasped. “Mother, why didn’t you say something earlier?”
“I did not think it pertinent,” Elizabeth explained.
Caroline curled her nails into her palms. “Of course it is! That is far too short of a notice.”
“Oh, heavens, Caroline, you act as if you have something better to do this evening.”
She most certainly did. She’d already planned on having a long night poring over her novel until the wick of her candle gave up on her. Caroline was bursting with inspiration after her time at the orphanage and would have gone straight up to her bedchamber if her mother hadn’t stopped her at the front door.
If she spent her time dallying at these silly balls, then when would she ever get the time to write? The deadline was looming dreadfully close as it was. At this rate, she wasn’t going to make it.
