DOWNSTAIRS, LILY and Rose had joined their oldest sister in her cheerful turquoise drawing room. With the three of them together, it felt just like old times.
Almost. Violet, of course, was married now, and a mother of three herself. Although she lived close by and they got together often, Lily did miss the nights when they’d all gathered in one of their chambers, gossiping and giggling away the hours.
She watched Beatrix wander the room, poking her little black nose here and there as she searched for something familiar. Suddenly Lily wished for the old and familiar, too. “You should come home to sleep one night, Violet.”
“At Trentingham?” Violet stopped pacing, which meant tiny Rebecca started snuffling. The babe seemed to prefer constant motion.
“I’ll walk with her,” Lily offered. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on her niece.
When Rebecca was settled in Lily’s arms, Violet dropped onto one of the turquoise velvet chairs. She lifted her spectacles and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Why should I stay the night at Trentingham?”
“A sleeping party. It would be like the old days.” As Lily walked back and forth with Rebecca, her gaze swept over little Marc asleep in a cradle. She smiled to see Rose playing with Nicky on the floor, his miniature English warship in fierce conflict with her Dutch one. “I know you rarely let your children out of your sight, but you do have nursemaids. They could relieve you for one night, don’t you think?”
Violet seemed to contemplate that odd idea for a moment before she grinned. “Perhaps I could find time to read a book.”
“No,” Lily said, then reconsidered. If solitary time to read was what her sister needed, she wouldn’t deny her. “Of course you could read, if that’s what you want. But I was thinking we could spend the night together. The three of us, like we used to.”
Rose looked up with a wicked smile. “And read Aristotle’s Master-piece?”
“Not that,” Lily said quickly, remembering the hours they’d all spent together stealthily reading the scandalous marriage manual before Violet’s wedding. She’d found Aristotle’s Master-piece an uncomfortable combination of intriguing and embarrassing, and she hadn’t been sad when the book moved to Lakefield along with her sister. “I just thought…I thought it would be nice to talk.”
“Bang!” Nicky sailed his ship closer to Rose’s. Beatrix’s small head whipped back and forth, following the battle. “Bang, bang!”
“Quieter,” Violet cautioned. “Your sister’s sleeping.”
Rebecca had nodded off in Lily’s arms. Violet gazed at her daughter fondly. “Of course I’ll come sleep at Trentingham. Someday soon. It will be great fun.” Though she sounded enthusiastic, her brown eyes were filled with concern. “Is there something in particular you’d like to talk about?”
“Nothing special. Just…life.”
Rose aimed a tiny Dutch cannon. “I want to talk about Lord Randal.”
The one thing Lily didn’t want to talk about. Though she dearly wished for Rose and Rand’s happiness together, she couldn’t help growing weary of her sister’s gushing. She might be the sweetest of the Ashcroft sisters, but it made her want to gag.
“How many times,” she said with uncharacteristic scorn, “do you suppose he’s asked you to call him Rand?”
“Oh, about a million,” Rose answered gaily. “But I like to think of him as a lord. My lord.”
Lily mentally rolled her eyes.
“Has he shown interest?” Violet asked Rose.
Their sister’s perfect nose went into the air. “He walked with me in the garden today. He’s been very kind.”
“Bang, bang!” Nicky yelled. “Auntie Rose, you’re not watching. You’re going to sink!”
“Quieter,” Violet repeated—rather patiently, Lily thought, considering she’d probably heard her sister utter that word a thousand times or more.
Lily lowered herself to a chair slowly, so as not to wake the baby she held. “Still, he’s hardly about to propose to you, Rose, and now that he’s moving to Lakefield, things will only get more difficult.”
Beatrix began hiccuping.
“That silly cat.” Rose stood, abandoning her ship to the mercy of the English. She narrowed her eyes at Lily. “You made a promise. Do you mean to break it?”
Violet gazed with curiosity at Lily. “What promise?”
“She promised,” Rose answered for her, “to help me win Lord Randal.”
Lily swallowed hard. Hadn’t she been helping? She looked to Violet for a reaction, but her sister’s face was impassive. Her gaze shifted back to Rose. ”Have you ever known me to break a promise?”
Rose appeared to give that some thought. “No,” she said at last. “You always do the right thing.” But she said it as though always doing the right thing were a character flaw.
And though it made no sense at all, Lily was beginning to think that might be true.