Page 2 of Seven Swans a Swimming

The two sisters laughed, and their father sighed with a shake of his head. “My older brother loves company, do not even jest about it—if he could tempt all the Fitzroy cousins to stay at Chalcroft all year round, you know he would!”

Arabella smiled as she placed the last few gifts in the trunk. She knew she should feel grateful to have the family that she did, really. There could not be many brothers like her father her two uncles, who actually liked each other.

Uncle William lived in the family seat, Chalcroft, while Uncle Rupert had a beautiful townhouse in Bath—Esther and Lucy had stayed there a few years ago, and Arabella had the past summer.

Her father and her five sisters—well, not Jemima and Caroline now, of course—lived in London, yet despite the distance between the cousins, the Fitzroys were able to often meet together and indulge in familial gossip, high spirits, and laughter.

It was why she was so unhappy with being excluded this year.

“Are you not packed, Arabella?” asked Esther innocently as she tried to sit on the lid of her trunk. “I saw your trunk on your bed, completely empty!”

No matter what Arabella did, she could not catch her sister’s eye to make her keep quiet. She turned to her father with a rather sheepish grin.

“Arabella Fitzroy, do you mean to tell me that you are not even packed yet?”

“Well, I thought,” said Arabella hastily, glaring at Esther, who had the goodness to look a little embarrassed, “thought you might change your mind, Papa, and permit me to come to Chalcroft and celebrate Christmas with the rest of the family, and—”

“Absolutely not,” said their father sternly. “Arabella, you knew this day was coming. It cannot be a surprise to you that now you are a lady, it is time to take your responsibilities seriously.”

Arabella glowered.

“I think I’ll just see how Lucy is getting on,” said Esther in a falsely bright voice. “Have a wonderful time at…well. Have a lovely Christmas, Bels.”

Kissing her sister swiftly on the cheek, Esther rushed upstairs in a medley of shouts to Lucy and Sophia, giggling as she raced along the corridor.

Arabella sighed heavily and dropped onto the lid of the trunk that Esther had been trying so hard to close. It snapped shut with a loud click.

“I just…I do not think I have ever spent a Christmas away from you, Papa,” Arabella said quietly. “Not any of you. The idea of having a Christmas Day without any of my family, none of our traditions—I do not even know what they eat on Christmas Day!”

The tears that had threatened to fall for so long now did so. A few drops splattered onto her gown before Arabella was able to brush them away furiously.

And she was furious at herself. She had known for years, almost as long as she could remember, that she would be marrying Lord Nathaniel Cartier. His father was her father’s best friend. The match had been made almost when they were in their cradles.

The fact she had never met Lord Nathaniel was neither here nor there. Arabella knew her duty, had known it forever. She had never attended a ball and made eyes at a young gentleman or wondered why a specific man did not ask her to dance or wish that a certain someone would attend a card party or walk her around the room or anything like that.

She had always known, always believed herself to be set apart. Apart from her sisters, apart from all other gentlemen, because there was one already marked out for her.

Lord Nathaniel. She had no idea what he was like, though her imagination had played many a trick on her in the past.

“Arabella, I am not sending you away to be punished,” said her father softly as he sat down on the trunk beside her. “It is true, Christmas will not quite be the same without you—but I do this for your happiness, though you may find that a little hard to believe.”

Arabella glanced at her father. “You…you are?”

Her Papa nodded, sighing heavily. “You are to marry this man, and in truth, though I have had doubts about it in the past, I still believe I ought to keep to my word…but that’s neither here nor there. When you marry Lord Nathaniel, you will be his wife. I have been fortunate enough in my time to have two marriages, and I tell you now. a marriage is always better with keen understanding between husband and wife.”

Arabella nodded. She could hardly refute such words; they were laden with truth and honesty.

“I know, it’s just—”

“Arthur!” Selina Fitzroy, Arabella’s mother, almost tripped into the hallway, so great was her haste to be moving. “Arthur, it’s coming!”

Arabella’s Papa blinked at her. “Coming?”

“Make haste, make haste—Mrs. Bird, call the carriage, linens, we need linens!” Selina shouted along the corridor, as though their housekeeper may not hear them unless she screamed at the top of her lungs. “It’s coming, you dear man, now move!”

“Move?” repeated Arthur, utterly at a loss. “What?”

Arabella could not help but laugh. Well, they had all waited so long, it was no wonder that her father had forgotten Caroline’s…condition.

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