What the Fates Decree: The Caversham Chronicles-The Titans of the Revolution (5 page)

“Do we tell them about the trip now?” Lia asked, looking toward Elise and Beverly for agreement.

“I don’t see why not. Waiting until she and I are alone would mean she would not have her friends to help her through any upset.
If
she were to get upset. What do you think, Elise?” As she asked this, Beverly heard the girls’ progress up the steps. Soon, they would be at the door to the drawing room, and the fact that it was closed might arouse suspicion because Beverly usually kept doors open in warm weather.

She stepped to the door and set her hand on the knob. “Shall I invite them in? And do we tell Penelope now?”

Only after both her friends agreed, did she open the door, just in time to see her daughter leading both Isabel and Charlotte to the library across the hall.

Greeting the girls with a smile, Beverly said, “Penny, when you’re done there, can you girls come in here a moment?”

“Certainly,” her daughter replied. “I was just going to get a book for Charlotte.”

Penelope had become reserved, even reclusive during the past year. Before her great disappointment, Penny had been an outgoing, smiling, happy young lady. One who enjoyed being with people, going to balls, the theater, and other events.

Beverly wanted to mend her daughter’s heart. If Mr. Santiago had any feeling—even one tiny bit—for Penny, he would explain his actions and apologize. Penelope deserved at least that much.

And Beverly would have to make certain that she stayed close by when the two met again. Because it was bound to stir painful feelings, no matter what her daughter might say to the contrary.

A few minutes later, the three girls entered her morning room, Isabel and Charlotte sitting in the Chippendale chairs across from the settee where Elise and Lia sat.

“What are we being called in for?” Penelope leaned a hip against the arm of the chair where Charlotte sat, flipping through the pages of the book she’d just retrieved. “If it’s because we jumped the bench in the park, I promise we didn’t know there was a man sleeping on it until…” The gasp from the mothers forced Penelope to lift her gaze from the pages. “Oh…” Penny closed her mouth in a very dramatic fashion when she realized her mother didn’t know about her jumping in the park. She straightened and explained, “Our approach was from the rear, so we didn’t see the man on the bench at all.”

“I know you ladies enjoy riding when there aren’t the crowds in the park,” Elise said. “Your mother and I adored it as well. But maybe you should refrain from jumping. Save that for the country. Falling out of a sidesaddle, wearing skirts… It’s so undignified. Take it from me.”

Beverly choked back a laugh. She and Elise had done the same thing, jumping those benches in Hyde Park, and she could hear Ren’s voice now, admonishing them for their antics.

“No, we hadn’t heard about the man sleeping on the bench,” Beverly said.

“He never woke up,” Charlotte chimed in. “And when we were on our way back to the mews, he was sitting upright, so he wasn’t dead.”

“I see I must have a word with your grooms,” Lia said.

“Please no, mama,” Isabel said. “We’re leaving in a few days.” Lia’s daughter turned a worried glance to all three mothers. “If someone hasn’t reported on our jumping in the park, why have you called us in? Have the papers said we’ve done something else? I assure you, we…”

“Not at all, Isabel,” Beverly replied. With a glance to her friends, Beverly went on. “I would like to know if you three would like to accompany me to Aunt Adina’s birthday celebration and hunt this October.”

“You mean, I can bring Isabel and Charlotte?” Penny’s amber-brown eyes started to glow with excitement. She explained her delight to her friends. “I haven’t been to Rathcavan since we’ve come out. My great aunt has prime horseflesh in her stables and there’s a hunt of some sort almost every day. Well, weather permitting. After all, it
is
in Scotland in autumn.”

“Oh, it doesn’t rain
every
day,” Beverly said. “It just seems that way.”

Excitement began to well up in the three young ladies. She was encouraged that Penelope was interested in attending, though that was likely to change the moment her daughter knew what she’d not said thus far. “Lady Adina’s birthday celebration is the first weekend of our arrival, and there is likely to be a party of some sort to commemorate her seventy-fifth birthday.”

Penelope could barely hide her excitement. “Having my dearest friends will make the obligatory trip north to papa’s relatives so much more interesting for me.”

This was the daughter she remembered from before last spring. This was her normally effervescent Penny. She hated that she had to reopen her old wound.

Beverly again glanced at Elise and Lia, drawing her strength to proceed from her friends. “And, as if that is not enough, it seems the new earl’s sister, your cousin Olivia, has become engaged to marry. There will be a ball celebrating the betrothal on the weekend before we return home.”

“That’s nice for her,” Penny said in an off-handed fashion, then immediately, and excitedly starting talking about early morning fox hunts with Charlotte and Isabel.

“You might want to hear all that your mother has to say, Penelope, before making plans to hunt each day,” Lia advised.

Penny then returned to her task of flipping pages in the book, still searching, or pretending to search, for something irrelevant to the discussion before them. “What more is there to know,” she said with an indifferent tone and dismissive manner. “Olivia is getting married. Good for her. I hope her husband-to-be has an enormous amount of patience, and an even bigger purse. Because he’ll need both to have any happiness with her.”

“Penelope!” Beverly didn’t like correcting her daughter in front of her friends, but she had no recourse. She didn’t raise her daughter to be so mean-spirited about anyone.

“I can understand why you might be lashing out, but she is your cousin, and a sweet girl.”

“Mother,” her daughter continued, with the same disaffected tone, “she doesn’t like horses.”

“Not all women like horses as you all do, Penelope,” Lia said with a quiet authority and confidence that comes from being at ease with ones self. “I find them large and a bit… frightening.”

To Beverly’s ears, her daughter’s words sounded demeaning to all who didn’t have the passion for the hunt, or even riding in general. And that hurt Beverly as much as she was sure it hurt Lia.

“I think you owe your godmother an apology, Penelope. Now. That was uncalled for.” Beverly could see Penelope understood her meaning.

Lifting her gaze from the pages of her book, she gave Lia a sincere expression as she apologized. “I am sorry, your grace,” Penelope said. “I should not have spoken so broadly. My cousin is a lovely young lady with interests vastly different from mine, and I likely have not had enough time to get to know her as well as I do Charlotte and Isabel.”

“That is true, Penny,” said Beverly, herself nervous from having withheld the full story until now. “And I hope you’ll still want to come with me to Rathcavan after I tell you the rest of the news.”

“What news is that?” Penelope said as she returned to scanning the pages of the book she held, seemingly uninterested in anything
her mother
had to say now that she had her apology out of the way.

“The man that Olivia is marrying is someone known to you.” Her daughter lifted her eyes to her, and Beverly studied Penelope’s expression, and found no worry on her brow yet, but she knew for certain that it would change. “She is marrying a friend of her half-brother’s.” Penelope tilt her head with curiosity. It was a habit she’d learned from her father.

“She’s newly betrothed to a Mr. Nathaniel Santiago.”

Charlotte and Isabel sucked in a breath, recognizing the name immediately. For her daughter, though, the response she sought was there, even if only for a fraction of a second. And just as she caught that flash of recognition in her daughter’s eyes, it was gone. Hidden behind that wall of emotion she only shared with Isabel and Charlotte.

“That’s nice for the two of them,” Penelope said in that same disinterested voice, now tinged with bitterness. She resumed flipping through the pages of the book with an intensity that bordered on viciousness, searching for something of importance to show Charlotte.

She did her best to maintain her calm, knowing her daughter’s heart was likely breaking anew. “Do you still wish to attend the party?” Beverly asked. “It will mean one month in Scotland, in the presence of—”

Penelope stood and handed the book to her friend. “—In the presence of a man who obviously wasn’t worth the time I spent upset about his disappearance. He was such a coward that he didn’t have the courage to tell me he was leaving. He didn’t even send me a note.” After glancing down at Charlotte and Isabel, Penelope took a deep breath and said to Beverly, “I would love to go, Mama. I want to go for the hunt, to visit with my father’s favorite aunt. And I want to go especially to show the fickle Mr. Santiago that he didn’t break my heart. In fact, he hardened it to others like him.”

Her daughter gave her a forced smile, and Beverly recognized the false bravery behind the glow in her daughter’s eyes. She knew this because Penelope’s beautiful brown eyes were on the verge of filling with tears.

“You’ll see,” Penelope stated. “I am a much stronger woman than I was before I met him.”

O
ctober
, 1842, Scottish Lowlands

M
iss Penelope Fenwick
, daughter and only child of the Viscount and Viscountess Huddleston, fought the rising panic inside as she held the door to her room open for her friend to enter.

“Well… If that wasn’t the most awkward welcome we’ve ever received, I don’t know what is,” Lady Charlotte Brightman, only daughter of the Earl of Camden whispered as she swept into Penelope’s rooms. “Emphasis on awkward.”

Penelope nodded in agreement. Placing a finger over her closed lips, she shut the door to her suite after allowing entrance to one of her two best friends in the entire world. She then pressed her hand to her belly, hoping to stop the butterflies from bursting forth. Penny never showed nerves on the outside, she kept them bottled within, releasing her anxieties in the privacy of her own bedchamber. It was something she’d had to learn early in her life. If her mother saw her upset, she would then become worried for her. And her mother had enough of her own worries with Penny’s father off somewhere in the northern territories of India. Penny didn’t want to add to her mother’s concerns.

Even before Penelope could reply, a second knock, just moments from the first, brought their friend Isabel into the room.

“I rushed right over after tossing my hat on the bed,” Lady Isabel Halden whispered. “I can’t believe what we just heard.”

“Same here” said Charlotte, as she gave Penelope an expectant gaze. “What on earth is going on?”

“You’re asking me as if I know.” Penelope felt herself trembling. “My great aunt just said that my cousin is not engaged to marry anyone, much less Mr. Santiago. But I read the letter Lady Edgar sent to my mother. She is planning to announce the betrothal during this house party, and…”

“Since they aren’t here there is no way of asking is there?” Charlotte said.

“If there’s been a breakup Miss Olivia might not wish to talk about it,” Isabel offered. “It would be nice if we could discover what happened without appearing the worst sort of gossips.”

“No,” Penny whispered, trying to regain what strength she thought she had before she arrived at castle Rathcavan a mere hour ago. One short conversation with Lady Adina had her belly tumbling like a circus performer inside her. “As much as I may have wished at one time that Mr. Santiago realized his folly, begged my forgiveness, and asked my father for my hand in marriage, the man has not contacted me in any way, for over a year.”

“Well, the good thing is he likely won’t be a guest at this house party because of this new development.”

Penny went to the window, and pulled back the curtain so as to look at her view. Rolling hills, lush and green, spread out before her far off into the distance. Glancing down, she saw her rooms were above a flagstone terrace with steps leading to a path that wound around the side of the house. She’d stayed in this room once before several years ago, before she’d come out, before she’d fallen in love with that feckless man who stole her heart. “We won’t know for certain what the truth is, or if there ever was an… understanding between them until my cousin and Lady Edgar return from shopping in the village, which could be any minute.”

“You don’t sound as though you believe what was written in Lady Edgar’s letter,” Isabel said.

“Do not be swayed by his sweet words again, Penny, if he does come here,” Charlotte warned. “Do not melt if you see his handsome face, and do not give in to his passionate Spanish nature. He would use your emotions against you.”

“Yes, Penny,” Isabel said. “You have recovered and have become a stronger woman because of his cruel actions.”

“Remember,” Charlotte said, “Mr. Santiago promised he would write, and he never did. Over a year without a single word, and these past months he’s been here in Britain. Why did he never come to you, or write to you?”

In the distance Penelope watched a young lad, a groom likely, riding one horse in the front, center position, leading about eight other horses behind him up the narrow lane from a distant pasture. They looked well-behaved, following him with no halters or ropes on their heads. Likely he was bringing in horses for the guests that have already arrived, or were still en route to Rathcavan.

She turned to face her friends, how could she explain without making her cousin seem truly horrid? “I have told you both before that my cousin Olivia is a bumble-head,” Penny whispered. “And that was being… kind. You will find she’s… an… exaggerator.”

“She’s a liar?” Charlotte sounded surprised.

“In a way… I suppose,” Penelope said, trying to find the correct way to describe her vacuous, self-absorbed cousin, without being cruel. “She wants desperately to be liked. And to that end, she will say and do almost anything to gain your amity, or affection. Her mother died when she was a small girl.”

“I’m not going to feel sorry for the girl who tells her aunt Mr. Santiago wants to marry her when he said no such thing.” Charlotte would be the least of the three to be forgiving or accepting.

“I am in no way giving Olivia a pass on her behavior, but as she isn’t here—and neither is Mr. Santiago—I don’t know what the real story is.” Before walking into Rathcavan, Penelope had hardened her heart such that she was almost as strong as Charlotte. But with what her great-aunt Adina had just shared with their party, Penny’s heart was beginning to take flight again—she could feel it. And after what had occurred over a year and a half ago she wasn’t certain she could let her heart think about him again.

Charlotte might have been right. He likely wasn’t even going to be here. And that would suit Penelope just fine.

But there was still the very real possibility that if Olivia knew Penelope had had her heart set on him, Olivia would use it against her. From the letters that her mother received from Lady Adina, it seemed as though Lady Edgar’s influence had already been established in her cousin’s behaviors. It might not hurt to prepare her friends, away from her mother as they were now, to what Olivia’s nature might be.

“After Olivia’s mother died, she was sent to live near here, with Lady Adina, first, and… well, you’ve met her.”

Charlotte smiled. “She doesn’t appear the type to tolerate fools kindly.”

Penelope nodded, Charlotte was right about that. “She can be brusque, or short with people she deems frivolous, weak, or whiney. And Olivia was the only girl in a family filled with male offspring. Her parents treated like a fragile little princess. Her mother and father doted on her.

“When Olivia’s father died, Lady Adina was… unprepared to raise a little girl, so she sent Olivia to Lady Edgar—the widow of her firstborn son—a woman who had never had a child herself. Lady Edgar then sent Olivia away to boarding school in Switzerland because
she
didn’t know what to do with Olivia either.”

“With the portrait of Olivia that you are painting,” Isabel said, “I almost feel sorry for her.”

“Don’t,” Penelope warned. “She was a manipulator as a child, and I doubt she’s changed. It’s something I believe she learned at Lady Edgar’s side.”

“I believe I understand,” Isabel said. “Though, one would think she’d grow up eventually, and learn right from wrong.”

Penelope agreed with her friend, then added, “Just… be wary of her.”

Her friends left to nap before dressing for dinner. As Penelope lay on the bed trying to force herself to fall asleep, she began to hear carriages clattering up the front drive. She knew from this room, she wouldn’t see the arrivals. Besides, they were likely more guests, or the return of the group that had gone shopping in the village.

She must have dozed for a few minutes at least, because before she knew it Annie was waking her to dress for dinner. As her maid placed the last of the pins in her upswept straight blonde locks, a knock sounded at her door. Thinking for certain it was either Charlotte or Isabel, she called for the person to come in.

Penelope wasn’t prepared to see her cousin.

Olivia had grown a few inches taller since the last time they’d met three years earlier. Her artfully designed coif was similar in color, a shade of blonde particular to the Fenwicke side of the family, only God had seen fit to grant Olivia more curl than Penny.

And that wasn’t only thing he’d given her more of. The girl’s bodice revealed an indecent amount of flesh for one so young—barely seventeen. Or maybe it was just the illusion from a daringly low cut dress and a very tight corset. Penelope tried not to stare at her cousin’s breasts, and forced herself to look instead at the sleeves and skirts. The cerulean velvet bordered with gold piping was beautiful, and the cream-colored hand-woven lace underskirts peeking out at the scalloped hem, and the sleeves perfectly complimented Olivia’s complexion, her eyes, and her hair. The dress surely cost a fortune, as did the jewels.

And for a jealous moment Penelope wondered if the sapphires and diamonds were a gift from Nathaniel. But she remembered he said he wasn’t well-off, and they were no longer—or had they ever really been?—betrothed.

Perhaps the jewels were borrowed from Lady Edgar, Olivia’s aunt. That had to be it.

“Cousin Penelope!” The strawberry blonde swept into the room with a cool smile. “It is wonderful to see you!” She glided over to Penny, very graceful in her movements. Olivia wore a hint of rouge, but it didn’t detract from her natural beauty. Penny wanted to hate her, but couldn’t. Yet. Penny had to keep that in mind. She dismissed Annie, saying she would call for her in a few minutes.

Olivia gave her a welcoming hug, and began immediately rattling about things Penny didn’t care about. “Aunt Margaret says you have had another incredibly successful season. The newspapers in Edinburgh say nothing but intriguing things about you. There’s always speculation over who might ask for your hand, or that of your friends, and each week it’s a different man. A girl up here should be so lucky to have half as many fawning beau! I asked Aunt Margaret at the beginning of the year if we could go to London for one season there, and well…” she blushed as she smiled, revealing dimples that made her incredibly, disgustingly, pretty. Dimples that Penny never got from her father’s family.

“Aunt Margaret said that’s no longer necessary because I will soon be a married woman, but…”

Penny felt her heart slide to a stop, much like a horse refusing a jump, then slamming into the obstacle. She had set her mind on the fact that Lady Adina said there was no betrothal between Olivia and Mr. Santiago, so to hear her cousin say those words caused her world to stop spinning.

Her cousin leaned in closer to Penny, and held onto Penny’s shoulders as she whispered, “I wish aunt Margaret would drop that entire debacle, neither one of us wishes to wed the other. Just because
she
walked in on me and Nate—er, Mr. Santiago—kissing, doesn’t mean we have to wed. His kiss wasn’t even that good. It was very much like kissing a rock. I cannot possibly marry someone who cannot kiss.

“Now, Mr. Carswell, back in Edinburgh, he
can
kiss and make a girl feel the most delicious things. As can Lord Blackmon.” Her cousin shivered with delight at the thought of the two men. “But, Mr. Santiago? The poor man doesn’t know what to
do
.”

“Excuse me, please,” Penny turned away from her cousin’s grasp. She suddenly wanted to be ill, but forced herself to keep her composure. She couldn’t show weakness to her cousin, for who knew how she would use that against her. “I must finish readying myself for the evening. We can talk about this more later, if you’d like.” Only there would be no later. If she could make it until Monday, when her mother planned to go to Edinburgh to visit a friend, Penelope was leaving.

Her cousin sensed that her gossip was causing Penny’s upset. “I’m sorry,” the younger girl said, in a non-apologetic way. “I assumed you would have kissed men before. All the girls in my set of friends have kissed men. Some, many men. I’ve only kissed a handful, and found it—”

Penny went to the dressing room door and tapped on it for Annie to return, trying to not hear what her cousin was saying. She couldn’t get out of her head the image of Olivia and Mr. Santiago in a romantic embrace. The thought that he might have enjoyed Olivia’s kiss, was causing her to breathe too rapidly. If she wasn’t careful, Penny thought she might faint.

Her cousin continued her chatter while Penny waited for her maid. She thought Olivia spoke about being forced to wed, and being unhappy about the situation, though he was handsome and she could do worse.

Penny thought she nodded, she wasn’t sure. She thought she smiled, but she wasn’t certain of that either. Only one thing rang clear in Penelope’s head and heart—Mr. Santiago
had
kissed her cousin.

She’d been such a fool. Such a hopeful and blind fool. She never questioned his explanation of going on a job to another country as a translator for a diplomat. He’d lied to her about caring for her, his job was probably a lie as well.

And Olivia was obviously intimate with the man as she called him by a name Penny would never have presumed to call him, and Penny had only known him for all of five whole weeks. At this point, Olivia has known him longer than she had. She’d likely been intimate with him in ways that Penelope had wanted to share with her Mr. Santiago—and that made her physically ill.

Now she understood why Lady Adina didn’t believe there to be an understanding between the two. Lady Edgar believed her charge to be compromised, and the honorable thing for the gentleman to do was to pony up and marry the girl whose reputation he sullied.

Only he likely wasn’t the first to ‘sully’ her cousin!

Penelope felt as though she were going to be sick. She wanted out of this conversation as quickly as possible, before she humiliated herself in front of her cousin by bursting into tears.

Her maid, Annie, entered carrying the pins and comb to finish styling Penny’s hair. She begged her cousin’s pardon and understanding. “I think I’m more exhausted than I first believed, and I need to rest. Traveling over several days is exhausting.” Penelope took one of the pins from her hair and handed it to Annie.