Something Old, Rebecca Connolly [ebook reader for laptop TXT] 📗

tell you both after this attention for my sister is done, but everything has changed. Everything.”

“What?” Marianne took her arm, forcing her to open her eyes and meet her own. Marianne’s bright blue eyes were round as they considered her. “What do you mean by everything has changed?”

Lily smiled weakly, though her pulse skittered about her body. “Just that. Cornwall changed everything for us. He… he was the man I always longed him to be. Attentive and sweet, charming and warm… He loves me, Marianne.”

“I know you’d like him to,” Marianne said hesitantly, doubt rife in her expression and her eyes. “Almost anyone would wish for their husband to feel that way, and I am pleased to hear he has not been neglecting you in the same manner. You know how that irks me. But I don’t think you can call it love just because his behavior has changed.”

“He has told me, Marianne.” Lily lifted her chin with a confidence she did not usually know, her adoration for her husband giving her strength, and her certainty in him giving her courage. “Several times. He loves me. He always has, he was only ashamed of his marrying me in the way he did and was trying to make amends. It was foolishly done, but he’s come to terms with it now. Believe me, he does love me.”

Marianne’s lips had parted in surprise, and now they began to form a very small smile. She laughed only once. “Very well, then. I know something of husbands being constant in their own way, even if we cannot see it. I suppose you would have me hate him less, and, for your sake, I shall try my utmost.”

Relief washed over Lily, and she reached out a hand for her dear friend, finding herself near to tears. “Thank you. I did not think he and I could know this sort of joy or this sense of wonder. That we would ever share this… this excitement with each other. This exhilaration over something as simple and profound as the other person and to want nothing more than to see them smile, counting the moments until they do so.”

“You are going to make me weep,” Marianne protested, laughing as she squeezed Lily’s hand. “Do stop, or I’ll become quite a sight.” She wiped delicately at her eyes and sniffed very softly before smiling again. “I think the pair of you ought to make haste back to Cornwall as soon as possible, and only return when you’ve a child in tow or one shortly forthcoming.”

Such a direct suggestion would have once had Lily blushing to the tips of each strand of hair, and even now, she felt a heat of embarrassment start in her cheeks and at the tops of her ears, but she also smiled at the idea.

“I would not mind that a jot,” she replied without blinking. “It sounds perfect.”

Marianne coughed a laugh and snapped open her fan to cover her mouth. “My dear Lily, if nothing else were to convince me of the change in your situation with your husband, that certainly would. Now, I’m off to dance with my husband. Gemma has allowed for couples to dance together so that Rosalind might do so, and I cannot let Helen Pratt have all the fun with her husband when mine is also at hand.” She winked at Lily and glided away with more grace and poise than Lily had ever managed to attain.

Was now the time when Lily might be able to escape the polite duties expected of her and instead go share a dance with her husband? She’d seen so many of the influential members of Society, some of whom she greatly admired, and she had given suitable praise to her sister and her new husband. She had done everything she had been expected to at such an auspicious occasion and was now finding herself looking for some way to escape the ball entirely. All she wanted was to go home with her husband.

Not so long ago, she would have wished to go home alone. Not now. Not ever again.

She looked across the room again, finding him exactly where he had been before, though by now, Tibby had slipped away to something or someone else. Thomas was now in conversation with Lord Sheffield, the eldest Riverton son, brother to Rosalind’s husband, and the more reserved of the two, which was undoubtedly why he and Thomas got on well when they were together.

“Something’s different about you.”

Lily laughed softly to herself and smiled at her sister, now standing beside her and looking her most radiant. “I wondered if you would see it.”

Rosalind grinned, her dark eyes crinkling, and she linked arms with Lily. “I certainly do. I saw it yesterday at dinner, but we didn’t have a chance to speak with everyone else there.”

“You are in very high demand from your new family, Mrs. Riverton,” Lily reminded her with a gentle nudge to her side.

“With twin nephews and an infant niece to adore, don’t forget,” Rosalind sighed and turned to walk, pulling Lily with her. “What I would dearly love is to find a quiet wing of Riverton House and sleep for three days.”

Lily chuckled and rubbed her sister’s hand. “It must have been an exhausting journey.”

“It’s been an exhausting life,” Rosalind corrected. “The Navy could not decide if they wanted us to remain in the Indies or go on to Spain, and then they did decide on Spain, but after a fortnight, they thought it would be better if we were back in the Indies, and then…” She groaned and shook her head. “Well, then we came here instead, and I pray that Will sells his commission before they can assign him somewhere else. I just want to be home in England with him. And you.”

Lily leaned her head affectionately on her sister’s shoulder. “I missed you, too.”

They meandered around some guests, all of whom smiled at them as though old friends, and they returned the