Page 36 of The Insufferable Duke
“What is that?” Helena asked as they turned their path and followed their mother and aunt down a new street, heading past a tall fountain surrounded by passersby who threw shillings into the fountain, making wishes.
“You and the Duke of Bridstone stared at one another a lot over dinner the other night.”
“I beg your pardon?” Helena tripped on the cobbles, and it was only Julia’s grasp on her arm that held her up.
“You heard me,” Julia said with wide eyes. “You stared at one another.” She glanced forward, checking their mother and aunt were a good distance away.“A lot.”
“We did no such thing… We… we merely looked at one another as we spoke. That was all.” Even the lie felt ridiculous to Helena. She knew she had looked at the Duke far more than she should have done. “In my defense, he’s a handsome man.”
“That’s what I first thought about his brother.”
“Julia!”
“Come, come, I have an idea.” Julia pulled on Helena’s arm and ran toward the fountain in the middle of the square. The people parted a little as some threw their shillings into the fountain and walked away, muttering between themselves and asking what wishes they had all made.
“What are you doing? Julia, we shall lose our mother and aunt.” Helena waved a hand down the road, but it could not be helped. Julia had stopped and was fishing in her reticule, looking for a coin. She pulled out two and passed one into Helena’s palm.
“Here, now we can each make a wish.” She closed her eyes, whispered something, then tossed the coin into the fountain. “Now, it is your turn.”
Helena sighed and turned to face the fountain, knowing that as soon as they did this, they could catch up with Anna and Kitty again. She closed her eyes and thought of what she wanted more than anything else.
An image of the Duke of Bridstone appeared in her mind, from the night they had danced together, but she dismissed it hurriedly. She thought of the last time she had seen Julia and Lord Robert together, the way they had held hands and smiled at one another absurdly.
I wish for my sister to always be this happy.
She opened her eyes and tossed the shilling into the fountain.
“There, it is done.”
“Come, let us catch up with the others.” Julia took her arm and scurried down the street. “What did you wish for?”
“Your happiness,” Helena said swiftly. Julia smiled broadly, her cheeks pinkening.
“How curious, for I wished the same for you.”
“Me?” Helena jolted, startled her sister would make such a selfless wish when there was so much more she could have wished for. How about the wedding to go off without a hitch? Or their warring families to be at peace?
They slowly closed the distance between them and Anna and Kitty before Julia spoke.
“There is one thing I need your help with,” Julia linked their arms tightly together. “I wish to meet with Robert again.”
“You see him a lot.”
“I mean alone.”
“Julia!” Helena tugged on her arm, pulling her to a sharp halt. “You and Lord Robert have been alone enough as it is. You have been caught once alone, and that scandal is all over the scandal sheets. Do you wish to make matters worse by risking being caught for a second time alone? No, no, I could not countenance it.”
“Helena, please. I am not so foolish as you think I am,” Julia whispered, her hand tightening around Helena’s arm.
“Pah! This from the woman who was caught in a garden alone with a gentleman.”
“Helena, please,” Julia whispered as they walked on again. “All I wish for is a chance to spend some time with Robert away from our arguing families. It would be nice to see him without the topic of conversation being, ‘How do we stop this fight?’”
The words left Helena’s stomach tightening into a knot. She could hardly blame her sister for such an innocent wish.
“You know how to make me feel guilty, do you not? I swear you have the power of a puppy’s eyes. You ask something, and I dance to your tune.” Helena looked to the heavens, pleading to God for strength to say no.
“Just one meeting to be happy with Robert, far away from our families, that is all I ask for,” Julia went on.
