Page 81 of The Precious Secret of a Loving Governess
She had been anxious to meet her husband’s mother, who had been living far out of London for a number of years and hated to come into town. Numerous times they had tried to arrange a meeting, but it had never seemed to happen. Not when they tried to get her to London or when Victoria and Reginald had tried to make plans for a trip out to the countryside.
But when she had arrived the evening before, it was as though they had known one another all their lives and had always been the best of friends.
Mrs. Fairfax, the Dowager Countess of Hanover, was a kind woman, just the sort that one might expect to have raised the Earl.
Not only had she instantly been kind to Victoria, but she and Mrs. Jamison had become fast and intimate friends. They seemed to bond with a kinship as though they were sisters. Victoria could not quite understand such a sudden friendship and how it might sprout, but she hoped that one day she would know it.
She hoped that one day, she would be the sort of woman who could instantly connect with others through her kindness and humility. Until that day, she would simply admire Mrs. Fairfax and hope for more time with her while she was in town.
“My dear, shall we dance again?” Reginald asked, his blue eyes bright with happiness.
“Yes, my love. We must,” she agreed with glee of her own.
He swept her onto the open space where couples danced to the tunes played by the musicians who sat in the gazebo. All around them, colours swirled and the world came to life as they remained in one another’s arms.
Victoria had grown not only to appreciate, but to love the way his scar melted against his face when he smiled at her like this. She sometimes had to fight the urge to kiss along his cheek there. But now that they were wed, she would be allowed to give him any affection she wished and his scar would be kissed daily.
She dreamt of the riding they would do in the future and promised herself that if he ever declined to go out, she would agree to it, particularly if there was a storm.
But things had become quite settled at the estate and fear was now a stranger. The constant companion they knew now was always joy and Victoria felt that this was exactly how it ought to be.
When the dance came to an end, Victoria saw that her father was preparing to take her mother for the next dance, perhaps giving Marian the opportunity to sit with her grandmother for a time.
But Victoria was overjoyed all over again when she saw the former Lady Ingles and her husband Mr. Smith coming towards them as they departed from the dance floor.
“Forgive us for intruding,” Mrs. Smith said as she tried to pull the newlyweds aside so she and her husband could speak with them.
“Do not be silly, we are always delighted to see you,” Victoria replied.
“Well, we know that you have a great many guests, but we simply had to thank you once more. So much of our happiness, we owe to the both of you,” Mrs. Smith declared.
“It is true. You two were so kind and generous with us when most would not have been. We deserved nothing, but you gave us everything,” Mr. Smith added.
Victoria glanced at her husband, thankful that he had been brave enough to end the engagement when he did and choose to pursue her instead. It had been a risk, but it had been one that he was willing to take and had brought two couples together in the unions that they ought to have been in from the start.
“I think that we shall always be friends and I cannot be more grateful for the bravery which you showed,” Victoria said to Mrs. Smith. “Were it not for your honesty and confession, I would not have the happiness that I do now. So I think it is I who must be grateful.”
“Perhaps we all must be grateful,” Reginald laughed, seeing that they could easily try to compare who had done the most for the other or to whom the credit belonged.
Victoria read this in his tone and laughed along with him.
“Yes, my love, that is the wise decision. We shall all be glad for the life that we now have. For we have all ended up with the one that we love most in this world and that is a fortune afforded to few,” she remarked.
“And it is a bond of friendship that has formed between us as a result of it,” Mrs. Smith agreed.
“Absolutely.”
Mrs. Smith leaned in and embraced Victoria with an eagerness that left her humbled.
“Thank you for keeping my secret for as long as you did. While I know that it was wrong of me to ever ask it and I was a terrible woman for even having such a secret against your husband, I needed your silence at the time,” she said.
“I understand. And I am glad that you chose to tell him in the end,” Victoria replied.
“Yes, but as you know, my reputation would have been ruined had you not kept your silence. You gave me time to figure things out, to learn how to share the truth. Were it not for you, I might never have had that,” she pointed out.
“We all need a bit of privacy at times. We all have things to figure out. And it all worked out in the end,” Victoria reminded her.
Mrs. Smith moved to speak with Reginald and thank him for all that he had done as well. The two spoke kindly to one another and Victoria observed them with admiration.
