A Family Affair (22 page)

George
turned
toward
his
daughter
with
a
frown.
“Why
not
Rake?”

“Oh,
come
on,
Papa,”
Fanny
said,
not
believing
her
ears. “You
know
why.”

“No,
I
don’t,”
George
answered,
bewildered.

Fanny didn’t answer, though. She was trying to sort out
this
horrible
situation
of
Penelope’s in her head.

“I can’t believe it happened,” she whispered hoarsely. “He’s her bloody father! He should love and protect her, not sell her.”

George went
to
Fanny
and
hugged
her
closely
for
a
long
time,
the
father
needing
to
reassure
his
daughter
that
his
love
for
her
was
true and
the
daughter
needing
to
feel
fatherly
love
truly did
exist.

Butler
came
in,
his
grave
face
more
serious
than
ever.

“Lady
Nester,
for
Lady
Newbury.”

George
froze.
His
gray
eyes
darkened with a seething anger he could hardly control
,
and
Fanny
shook
her
head at him.

“No,
you
won’t,”
she
soothed
him
quietly,
before
she
told
Butler
to
send
the
woman
in.

George
released
her
and
strode
to
the
fireplace.
He grabbed
the
mantel
with
as
much
strength
as
he
could
muster, until his hands turned white from the effort.

To Fanny it looked as
though
he
was
trying
to
keep
from
hurling
himself
upon
the
woman
who
walked
through
the
door.

Lady
Nester
stopped
short
as
she
saw
who
was
waiting
for
her. “I
came
for
Lady
Newbury,”
she
shrilled
with
a
slightly
hysterical
voice.

“My
mother
is
occupied,
for
the
moment.
Maybe
I
can
help
you?”
Fanny
asked
politely,
not
sure
how otherwise
to
approach
the
older
woman.

Lady
Nester
looked
ready
to
faint.
She
was
obviously
looking
for
her
daughter
and
didn’t know
how
to
ask
them
for
her
without
letting
them
know
she
was
missing.

Fanny
took
pity
on
her.
She
knew
this woman
had
not
been
a
part
of
Penelope’s nightmare last night, as it had all been Lord Nester’s doing,
and
she
must be devastated by now. The poor woman probably had not a clue of the arrangement he had made
and
why
her
youngest
daughter
hadn’t
gone
home
with
them.

If
Lord
Nester
could
behave
so
outrageously
toward
his
daughter,
one
could only
assume
he
behaved in
the
same
selfish
and
unethical
way
to
his
wife.

“My mother
is
upstairs
with
Penny,
trying
to
sort
things
out.”

Lady
Nester
paled as relief
washed
over
her
tired
face. For a short moment her angst was visible,
before
she
turned
stark
white
and
fainted
dead
away.

George
rushed
forward
and, in the last possible second, caught
her
head
before
it
hit
the
floor.
He
lifted
her up with a grunt
and
carried her to
the
sofa.

Fanny turned to
Butler and told him
to
get
smelling salts, and then she gazed down at their guest.

“Poor
woman,”
she
said,
filled
with
compassion.

H
er
father
snorted
in
a
most
patronizing
way.
She
ignored
that
completely.
He, like all her occasionally tedious male relatives, could sometimes behave in the most childish way. Her mother had more than once sighed over their lack of dignity when they snorted and rolled their eyes too much in public.

Lady
Nester,
who
slowly regained
consciousness,
was
soon
sitting
up,
fanning
herself
with
a
silken
handkerchief.
She
looked
flustered
and
uncomfortable,
understandable since
her
family
had
just
had an
enormous
crisis.

“Is
there
anything
I
can
do
for
you?”
Fanny
asked, carefully choosing her words.

Lady
Nester
glanced
quickly
at
her
before
she
shook
her
head.

“Do
you
want
me
to
get
Penny
for
you?”
Fanny
asked,
trying
to
get
the
silent
woman
to
speak,
a seemingly impossible mission.

“N-
no,”
Lady
Nester
stuttered,
startled,
surprising
both
Fanny
and
George.
“Please
don’t
fetch
her.
I
just
needed
to
know
where
she
was,
and
if
she
was
all right.
I
was
so
afraid…”

They
waited
for
her
to
continue,
but
instead
she
started
to
gather
her
things, seeming
in
a sudden
frenzy to leave.

“Are
you
sure
you
don’t
want
to
see
Penelope?
She
had
quite
an
awful
night
yesterday
and
may
really
need
her
mother.”

The
sorrow
in
Lady
Nester’s
eyes
was
unbearable
as
she
shook
her
head,
unable
to
speak.
Her distress was obvious, and
Fanny
didn’t
argue
with
her.
I
nstead
she
picked up the gloves and the reticule Lady Nester had dropped when she fainted and was rewarded with a wobbly, thankful smile.

Not until the
lady
was
about to
leave
the
room did
she
ask
her, “Would
it
be
acceptable
for
Penny
to
stay
with
me
for
a
while?
I
am
finding
it
so
reassuring
to
have
her
around
during
my
first
season,
to
share
this
with
her. I
would
be
forever
thankful.”

Lady
Nester
stopped
in
the
doorway
and
looked
back
over
her
shoulder
at
Fanny,
who
stood
there,
young
and
pretty,
her
back
straight,
ready
to
fight
for
the
friend
she
loved
so
dearly.

“Maybe
it
even
could
be
possible,
to
avoid
complications,
for
Penny
to
stay
with
me
for
the
rest
of
the Season?
P
erhaps
the
rest of this
year,
so
I
won’t
feel
lonely?”