Page 61 of Dropping the Ball

“I have been your correspondent all this time,” Lady Beatta said, her accent thick, lowering her head.

Bernadette’s jaw dropped, but she had nothing to say.

Hethersett cleared his throat. “I did not realize at first that my dear wife was using my correspondence to teach herself English,” he said. “I encouraged it, as I was quite busy in those early days of my appointment and required a secretary to manage my correspondence. I did not realize you were writing to me, Lady Bernadette, and I did not realize you believed the two of us to be wed.”

“For ten years?” Bernadette asked incredulously.

“The fault is mine,” Lady Beatta said. “I loved your letters most of all, but my English was not good in the beginning. I did not understand many things you wrote. When I did begin to understand … .” She glanced sheepishly up at Hethersett, then smiled bashfully at Bernadette. “I considered you a dear friend. I thought you would be angry and stop writing if I confessed my deception. It did not seem to matter, since you have such a happy, exciting life.”

“Beatta and I have spoken about the implications of her actions,” Hethersett said, still smiling with love at his wife. “She meant none of it maliciously, I can assure you. There is not a malicious bone in her body.” He went so far as to dip down and kiss her forehead.

Alden found the action and the clear affection between the couple decidedly charming.

“The children,” Bernadette said with an intake of breath. She glanced warmly at the three, small children crowding around Lady Beatta. “You were not writing about the children of the court in Christiana, you were writing to me about your own dear babies.”

Lady Beatta glanced to Bernadette with a bashful smile and nodded. “I was. Olad, Jenny, and Jesper.” She touched each little one’s head as she named them.

Bernadette let out a sudden laugh and stepped forward. She crouched so that she could be closer to the children’s levels, then said, “I am so very pleased to make your acquaintance at last.”

The little ones smiled. The girl, Jenny, who could not have been more than seven, pointed to Egbert and said, “You have a lizard on your shoulder.”

“Yes, his name is Egbert,” Bernadett said, twisting so she could pluck Egbert from her shoulder. “Would you like to see him?”

All three children nodded, but as Bernadette presented Egbert to them, Lady Gladys interrupted with a loud, “This is madness. All of this. None of this can possibly be true.”

Her sour complaint yanked Alden out of the sudden, beautiful image he had of Bernadette with her own children, their children.

“It is unlikely, but it is true,” Hethersett said.

The way he frowned at Attleborough prompted the man to say, “It’s true. It’s my fault. I deceived everyone and manipulated things for my own gain. For that, I’m sorry.”

The way he spoke led Alden to believe that he and Hethersett had already had the whole thing out before arriving at the ball. He was just glad they’d appeared in time to–

Alden sucked in a breath as the implication of everything became clear to him.

“You are not married,” he said to Bernadette.

Bernadette, who was still holding out Egbert so that the Hethersett children could touch and pet him, glanced over her shoulder at him. She seemed to suddenly understand the implication as well. With a gasp, she handed Egbert over to the oldest Hethersett child, then stood and faced Alden.

“I am not married,” she said, as though discovering a great treasure.

Alden burst into a smile. “Would you like to be?” he asked.

Bernadette matched his smile with utter joy. “If it is to you, then yes.”

“Lady Bernadette, will you marry me?” Alden asked at once, reaching for Bernadette’s hands.

“Yes,” Bernadette said unequivocally.

“No!” Lady Gladys shouted. “This is not how things are meant to be. I am the one you are meant to marry! I am the lady who should preside over Lyndhurst Grove!”

“The two have declared their engagement,” Lady Muriel stepped forward to point out. “Under Wessex law, that means they are engaged.”

“Huzzah!” one of the young bucks, who had moved in closer so as not to miss a moment of the drama, exclaimed. “Lord Alden and Lady Bernadette are engaged!”

A cheer went up from the crowd, but Lady Gladys’s shriek could be heard over all of it. “No! I refuse to let this stand! I have worked too hard to have what I want. I will not have some weak, pale, tradeswoman sweep in and–”

“That is enough from you,” Alden said, stepping toward Lady Gladys and cupping her elbow. “It is time we resolve this, once and for all. Without an audience.” He glanced to Bernadette, then the Hethersett children, and said, “If you would kindly bring Egbert along to the terrarium, I think all of us would be more at home there.”

---