Garden of Hope by Daphne Bloom

Author:Daphne Bloom [Bloom, Daphne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Empress Publishing

Chapter Eleven

Lily

“Papa is not doing well,” Elise says as she paces by the windows of the morning room. I’m watering the various houseplants and flowers. Constance is in a chair, rubbing her forehead.

“Mama says that he rarely speaks and that he sleeps all the time. It’s all she can do to get him to drink a bit of broth to keep him going.” Elise sighs and rubs her lower back. In all honesty, I’m not sure why she isn’t on bedrest, as large as her stomach is.

“Does she want us to return home?” Constance asks. “Should he die while we are here in London…I’m not sure I’d ever forgive myself.”

“No,” Elise says. “She says that it should be our top priority to find Lily a husband. She says that even a proposal should be enough to secure her dowry since at that point the marriage would already be a contract of promise.”

I look down at the plant I’m currently watering, a small gardenia with waxy green leaves and white blooms, and touch its leaves. Eventually it should grow large enough that it will be moved to the terrace. Actually, it is already growing a bit big for this pot. I should pick up another…

“Lily!”

I snap back to myself and why I looked away in the first place. How can my sisters expect me to find a husband after what happened at the Ellsworths’ party?

“Are you listening to me?” Constance asks.

“I am,” I lie.

“Put the watering can down and come here.”

I do as she says—reluctantly—and sit in a chair as far away from her as possible. We’ve barely spoken since that terrible night other than to make small, nominal apologies to each other. Things have never been so tense between me and my sisters. They’ve always been among the few—the very few—people who seem to understand me. They might bicker with each other, but they’ve always been gentle with me.

“This is somewhat good news,” Constance says. “If we can only secure a proposal without having to finalize a marriage, you can still receive your dowry.”

“What? You thought I was going to leave London…married?”

“That was the point, darling,” Elise says, lowering herself onto the couch between me and Constance. “To find you a husband.”

I look away again. I hadn’t realized that they wanted me to not only receive a proposal but actually be married in only the few weeks left of the Season. How dreadful. That would mean marrying a man I’d only just met. It’s a terrifying thought.

“Does Mama know what a fool I’ve made of myself?” I ask. “Have you told her?”

“Of course I haven’t told her,” Constance says. “She’d be mortified.”

“I think you should,” I say. “Then maybe she will call us home instead of forcing me to continue in this fool’s errand.”

“We mustn’t give up,” Constance says. “We must carry on. Surely somewhere out there in the whole of London there must be one man for you.”

My thoughts immediately go to Henry Pembroke. His dark hair and green eyes.

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