“Whyever not?”
“She’s beyond beautiful, Susannah. Please comb your hair. Do you have any shiny pins to fasten in your hair?”
“No, I don’t.” Nevertheless, she went to the dressing table and began to straighten her hair. She had only brushed it back and tied it with a bow at the nape of her neck. She smiled at Toby in the mirror, then pulled several tendrils to cluster around her ears. “There, is that better?”
He eyed her. “A bit. What about your gown, Susannah? Don’t you have anything that would make you look, maybe, er, whiter in the flesh, and perhaps more, er, soft and—”
He didn’t know the words, bless his eight-year-old heart. But she now realized that there must be a beautiful woman downstairs with Rohan. But surely not his mother. His mother was a grown man’s mother and not a young girl. Wasn’t his mother on the Continent, hadn’t he told her that? Was it a neighbor? A mistress? Even a man who was as debauched as he was reputed to be still wouldn’t bring a mistress to his house, would he? Surely Toby was wrong. Surely the woman wasn’t Rohan’s mother.
“You want me to be more appetizing, perhaps?”
“I suppose,” Toby said with a frown. “But even after I found out what ‘appetizing’ meant, I still always thought of food. I still do.”
She grinned at him and ruffled his hair. “Here,” she said, pinching her cheeks, “is that just a little bit better?”
“Her mouth looks like she’s been eating strawberries.”
Oh, dear.
She had never worn cosmetics. No mother wore cosmetics, at least no mother she’d ever seen. Who was the woman?
“Rohan said you were also to bring Marianne, if she’s not in a temper.”
“All right. Let’s fetch her. Toby, could this woman possibly be his mother?”
He shook his head vigorously. “No, that’s impossible. Ro-han was jesting with me. She’s far too young, Susannah. You’ll see. She looks like his sister, but didn’t his sister die a long time ago?”
“I believe so.”
Could it be his mother, that famous beauty that her husband had adored and Society still adored, who supposedly had more lovers than most ladies had gowns?
Ten minutes later, the three of them stood in the drawing room doorway, Marianne between Susannah and Toby. Since Susannah wasn’t eight years old, she didn’t stand and stare at the lady. But she well understood why Toby had. The lady was beautiful. No wonder Rohan was so handsome. George as well. She wondered briefly about Tibolt the vicar. If he looked like his mother and his brothers, the young ladies in his flock must be vying with each other to attach him.
Susannah gave a tug to her old and well-worn pale blue wool gown, not that it helped.
“Ah, here you are. Do come in and meet my mother, Lady Mountvale. Mother, is this the young lady you saw in your vision? The one who was terrified?”
“Yes,” Lady Mountvale said without hesitation. “This is she. How odd, son, that you would have looked helpless.”
Susannah blinked at Rohan’s mother, then at him. “I don’t understand. What is this?”
“We will speak of it later,” Rohan said.
“And who is this little sweetheart?” Charlotte said suddenly, staring down at Marianne.
“That,” Rohan said with great relish, utter wickedness in his green eyes, “is your granddaughter, Mother. She is George’s daughter. This is Susannah Carrington, George’s widow. Toby is her brother.”
To Rohan’s surprise, his mother went down on her knees in front of Marianne. She made no move to take the little girl into her arms. She just looked into Marianne’s face. Marianne stared back.
“She is the image of George,” Charlotte said. “She is the image of you and me as well. Ah, but she’s got your dear father’s eyes.” She rose, turned to face Rohan, and burst into tears.
“Mother!”
He held her against him, patting her slender back. “Now, Mother, sh
e isn’t that old, just a little girl. She’s very young, really. No one would ever believe that you could be a grandmother.”
Toby said, “Please, ma’am, Rohan’s right. No one would ever believe you were Marianne’s grandmother. You look like her mother, except I’ve never seen a mother as beautiful as you are.” Toby looked suddenly inspired. “I think you look like her older sister, ma’am. Just barely her older sister. Why, Susannah looks like an older mother than you do.”