Page 13 of A Wicked Duke's Arranged Marriage
It worked well enough for what it was.
And when it didn’t, she found another task to occupy herself with.
The front flower beds had never been weeded so well as they were that next day, nor the downstairs fixtures gleamed quite so brightly.
Of course, only so many things needed to be done, and eventually, her other looming problem took precedence. Unlike her issue with the duke, the problem of her family’s budget wouldn’t solve itself. And, no matter how hard she’d searched for any answer other than Caroline’s suggestion, she’d come up short.
She frowned at the empty paper in front of her, the sunlight from the far window in the sitting room catching a corner of the page and making it brighter.
She didn’t want to write a single one of her siblings. They knew the state of affairs here; they could have offered help if it was something they could provide. The combination of guilt and anger sat uncomfortably in her stomach as she tried to decide which sibling she should even contact in the first place.
Laughter from the entryway stopped her mid-cycling through her siblings’ names, her eyes shooting over to the door in time to see her father beckoning her mother, who had also come to see what the noise was.
“Come, come. I’d rather announce it all at once,” Josephine’s father instructed.
“Announce it?” her mother repeated, already trailing after her husband to come and join Josephine in the sitting room. “Good news, I hope?”
“Very good news,” Josephine’s father chuckled. He beamed at his wife and daughter, his grey eyes alive in a way that Josephine hadn’t seen for quite some time. “I’ve just received a reply from the duke.”
Josephine’s heart, if possible, sank even further in her chest at the proclamation, her face frozen as she willed his excitement to be about anything other than what she knew was about to come out of his mouth.
“And? Is he willing to consider Josie?” Josephine’s mother pressed, excitement building beneath her words as she spoke.
“Willing to consider?” Lord St Vincent chuckled. “Consider? My dear, he’s written to agree to the arrangement already! He’s asking for Josie’s hand and inviting us to dine with him the night after next!”
Josephine’s mother made a noise of happiness, her hands lifting to cover her mouth in surprise as she fought her own excited bubble of laughter. “Agreed to the arrangement?” she replied as if she couldn’t quite believe such a thing. “Oh! That is wonderful news! Isn’t it Josie? Isn’t that wonderful?”
Josie’s face felt as if it had been burned, her muscles tightening as she forced a smile onto her lips that she couldn’t begin to feel through the horrified numbness spreading through her.
“That’s fantastic,” Josephine murmured. “And you’re sure that he wants to finalize such a thing? There are so very many other girls …”
Even as she spoke it, that hope was withering slowly in her chest like parchment put too near an already lit candle.
Her father brandished the letter he had read happily, grinning from ear to ear at the prospect.
Josephine had to bite down on her tongue hard to keep her smile in place.
Suddenly, the prospect of writing to her siblings didn’t seem nearly so daunting.
But then – with this news – she wouldn’t be required to do so.
She should be as happy as she was pretending to be. She knew that she should be. This solved all her problems. Logically, it was a better option than any other she had gone over. As a duchess, she would be able to provide for her parents in a way that her other siblings were either refusing or unable to do. She wouldn’t need to worry herself over wondering whether, when winter came, they would have enough firewood or money to purchase it to keep the draught out of the old estate.
No one would have to go over expense reports before going to the market to purchase fresh food or supplies. Her mother wouldn’t have to sell off any more of the heirlooms she had brought with her from her family into her marriage.
Her parents’ excited back-and-forth served as a background hum as she tried to reason with herself, that smile forced into place the whole while.
She jerked out of it only when she heard her name.
“Josie? Isn’t that right?” her mother enquired, her voice pitching at the end. She sounded almost worried, her blue eyes running over Josephine’s face as if trying to see past the mask that Josephine had affixed there.
“Hm?” Josephine jerked back into reality, her eyes moving between her parents as she pushed her reservations further down. “Yes, yes, of course! I’m sorry, I was just thinking about the dinner and what I should wear. Do you think he’d like me better in the blue or the green dress?”
The words were instantaneous, though very carefully placed. She knew she stood no chance of hiding from her mother’s searching gaze if she stayed the course and allowed herself to drift off once more.
So, she would steer the conversation. And worry on her own when there weren’t eyes on her.
Oh, how she hated being a woman.
