A Ramshackle Start by Heather Boyd

Author:Heather Boyd [Boyd, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Heather Boyd
Published: 2020-12-01T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

“They are on their way at last,” Robin Cooper murmured with utter satisfaction as his younger sister and her new husband drove away from Robin’s home. He waved one last time and then faced the woman he hoped to marry one day soon.

Tessa was teary as she wrapped her arms around her chest. “Indeed they are, and very much in love. I do hate goodbyes, though.”

Some goodbyes were worth the wait.

The presumptive George Leven had taken himself off as soon as he realized he wouldn’t get a penny from Robin to take Tessa off his hands. The man couldn’t have loved Tessa even a little to have said that to anyone, especially to Robin. George Leven had only asked for Tessa’s hand to secure the dowry he’d been led to believe Tessa would bring to her marriage. He had assumed it must equal Anna’s generous marriage settlement.

When Robin had confided that there never had been any funds set aside by her long-dead parents, nor was he about to settle any on her either, George had stormed out in quite a temper, vowing never to call on Tessa again.

It had been worth the lie to divine the strength of George Leven’s attachment to Tessa. If he had shown one shred of yearning for Tessa alone, without the dowry, Robin would have eventually revealed the size of the dowry he’d always intended to provide her with.

Since George Leven had stormed out, he felt vindicated that he was right to have been distrustful of the man’s pursuit.

“Goodbyes are always the start of a new adventure,” Mother exclaimed as she fluttered her handkerchief in the air, shooing away the departing carriage.

Robin said goodbye to any lingering wedding breakfast guests with considerable relief and waited for Tessa to do the same.

“Anna always longed to be married and have a home of her own,” he told Tessa. “She always had a soft spot for poor William, too. He never stood a chance once she started fluttering her lashes at him.”

“The poor fellow, to have fallen so low as to want to actually marry anyone,” Tessa murmured, craning her neck to see the carriage. “I couldn’t be happier for her, or for him.”

Love matches were always preferable, in Robin’s opinion. Robin was sure of William Leven’s affection for his sister Anna. He had deliberately withheld revealing the size of Anna’s dowry until he was satisfied that William would have wed Anna without a penny.

“Everything is almost perfect,” Mother announced suddenly. “But there is still so much to be done. Come. Come.”

She hitched up her skirts to climb the front steps with unusual haste.

He exchanged a rueful glance with Tessa. Like him, the young woman knew better than to get in his mother’s way when a mood like this struck, and he was glad that she hesitated to follow after Mother immediately, just as he always did.

Expecting the worst sort of scheme to be launched upon them, Robin snagged Tessa’s arm and followed his mother inside at a slower pace.

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