She smiled at the idea of cozy being applied to the large, elegant room, but she would give it her best effort. Even the drapes were a solid, nondescript color. The fabric was heavy and of the highest quality, but she did not particularly care for it. She would like patterned velvet in a warm yellow.
The dowager entered, leaning on her ornate cane. "Good morning, dear. Where is that handsome husband of yours? Surely he has not abandoned you the very day after your wedding?"
Thea smiled. "He is on an errand of business on my behalf." It was true, although not the whole truth.
Lady Upworth nodded approvingly while taking a seat near Thea. "You will, of course, relinquish your interest in your company now that you are married."
She would do no such thing, but Drake had shown her that discretion with family was valuable, so Thea ignored the comment. "Thank you for the lovely breakfast yesterday. You went to much too much trouble on our behalf."
"Nonsense, you are family."
Thea impulsively leaned forward and kissed her aunt's wrinkled cheek. "You are a dear woman."
Lady Upworth's eyes sparkled, but she dismissed the comment with a wave of her hand. "I'm sorry about the shock you had yesterday. I did not expect Langley to come so early to Town. It is not his usual manner."
"I'm quite all right. Drake took very good care of me."
"Lady Boyle said that he ushered you out of the room so quickly, she barely realized you were leaving."
"He wanted me to have time to get used to the notion of seeing my father."
Her aunt sighed. "Yes."
"Was Jared with him?" The possibility had haunted Thea since the day before.
"No, though he did come to Town."
"Why did they come early?" She discovered she was curious about the goings-on of this family she'd never known.
"Irisa." Her aunt frowned. "Evidently they're angling for a betrothal to the Duke of Clareshire. The servants told your father Irisa could be found at my house."
"But she's only sixteen."
"And his grace is sixty if he's a day. I don't know what your father is thinking to encourage the match. All the fault of his wife, I've no doubt. She's a hopeless social climber."
"I cannot believe a mother would encourage a daughter barely out of the schoolroom to marry a man old enough to be her grandfather. It's wicked." Mama would have fought the devil himself to protect Thea from such a fate.
How could Irisa's mother be so different?
"You don't know the current countess. A duke at any age is considered quite the catch in Jacqueline's eyes. I've always felt she somehow precipitated your father's final idiocy toward your mother."
Perhaps. Thea didn't want to think about her father or Jacqueline right now. She would much rather focus on unemotional issues, such as how to catch a thief. However, her aunt was not finished with the topic.
"I spoke to Langley after you left yesterday."
Wary, Thea probed her aunt's gaze with her own. "What did you say to him?"
Had Lady Upworth told him Thea's secret?
Before answering, the dowager leaned forward and took Thea's hand and held it. "The time for truth has come, my dear. I made a mistake sending your mother to the West Indies. Had I not done so, she would be alive and your father would not have married Jacqueline."
Although she had mentioned a similar feeling before, Thea had not credited the depth of guilt her great-aunt carried about the past events within her family. The older woman's eyes had filmed with tears, the pain and remorse in them unmistakable. Before Thea had a chance to comment or offer comfort, she continued.
"Had I told the truth to your father years ago, things would be much different." Two tears spilled over and rolled down Lady Upworth's withered cheeks. "I promised myself that if you ever came to England, I would tell my
nephew the truth."
Compassion for her aunt's pain welled up in Thea, but it was tempered by a sense of betrayal. "Don't you think that was my decision to make?"