Page 76 of His Stolen Duchess
She understood why he might want to remain distant after what he had seen in the war, but she wouldn’t let him give up. Perhaps he would never get to a place where he could move forward with his life, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try. She would be there for him.
“It’s interesting, isn’t it?” Georgina looked away from her husband and back to her sisters. “I’ve never considered myself a strong woman, and I think that’s because I’ve never needed to be, but I’m finding some hidden caches of strength inside myself. I think we all carry a degree of strength and fortitude within us, even if it doesn’t always manifest as physical power.”
“I can drink to that,” Ava said. “I’ve always thought each of you was strong, all in your own way. Perhaps it’s a family trait that we share. I know that we’ve all had our challenges in life, but coming through that and moving past it is a sign of resilience. In that manner of speaking, you are right, Georgina.”
“Lysander was there to protect me at the ball, and I’m thankful for that, but I also feel that I need to be there for him. Does that make sense?”
Juliana nodded. “It makes perfect sense. We all need to be there for our husbands, no matter what. That is what marriage is all about. You have entered into a sacred partnership, and you must honor that in every way you can.”
“I think that’s what it truly means to be in love,” Emily added.
“To love!” Ava cheered.
The four women lifted their drinks in a toast and each sipped.
Georgina smiled at her sisters, but it was an artificial smile. She only wore it to mislead her sisters into thinking that she was just like them. When she thought about her and Lysander, she realized that although they had an understanding and worked well together in many ways, they weren’t in love and knew they never would be.
She glanced across the room at him again, but this time he didn’t look back. He was deeply immersed in conversation with theother men. She had come to like him after a rocky start, and she might even have some feelings for him, but they would never be in love. He had been too damaged to have the capacity to love her, and she couldn’t hand him her heart only to have it broken.
Can I settle for some intimacy? He makes me feel things that I have never dreamed of feeling, and it is the most wonderful thing in the world. Is that enough? A good life with everything I want, and my husband pleasuring me. Can I live with that and not love? Many people have lived well with much less.
Six children burst into the room, all of them dressed in lavish, homemade cloaks and hats that were unsuitable for wearing in public but were also not bad enough to be out of place at home. Their attire was the culmination of a reasonably good effort from six children working together on short notice.
Richard, the oldest at thirteen, stepped forward. “Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you, the circus of the extraordinary!”
The adults smiled and clapped, coming together near the middle of the room to watch the impromptu performance. Georgina also spied Juliana’s youngest child, Penelope, eight, as well as Ava’s two—Colin, nine, and Harry, seven. Bringing up the rear were Emily’s two children, James and Lavinia, five and three.
The children partnered off, each of them pretending to be ballroom dancers at a fancy ball. They murmured greetings to each other, meant to mimic how lords and ladies spoke, thendanced around the room as they all hummed a different tune. The dance ended with them all falling to the floor.
The adult audience all clapped vigorously at the finale. The children leaped to their feet and gave bows and curtsies. Richard then waved his hands in the air, and the children began dancing around individually, each of them moving like a different animal.
Colin did a particularly good impression of a dancing elephant, but no one could quite figure out what animal Lavinia was.
“Company, in order!” Richard shouted.
The other children quickly lined up behind each other in order of age from oldest to youngest, their backs straight, and their hands by their sides.
“And march!” Richard boomed.
The children began to march, but in all different directions, and they continued to bump into each other until they were a mass of children piled on top of each other in the middle of the floor.
“Ladies and Gentlemen!” Richard said, gesturing to the pile of cousins and sighing. “The circus of the extraordinary.”
Everyone clapped and cheered as the children got up and left the room. Someone whistled, and another called out, “Bravo!”
Georgina found Lysander and moved closer to him. “Thank you for putting up with all of this. My family is very important to me, and I wouldn’t ever want to lose them. I know this is a lot to take in all at once, but it really does mean a lot to me, so thank you again.”
“It’s not so bad,” Lysander admitted. “I’ve been in much worse situations.”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Ava announced, borrowing the words of her nephew. “If you will accompany me and Oliver, we are ready to eat, and we hope you enjoy the food that has been prepared for you tonight.”
“Oh, good,” Georgina said to Lysander. “I am famished. Are you ready to eat?”
“I’m ready for many things,” Lysander replied. “As I was watching your nieces and nephews put on the show for everyone, I thought that there would be no better time than tonight to start our own family. It has been a long time coming.”
Although Georgina knew it had been coming, nervousness still rippled through her.
In a few hours, they would finally make love to each other.
