“Is he looking at me?”
Charlotte looked back and sure enough he was, his face scrubbed with hurt. “Yes,” she said. Talking it over might do her good, although Arabella was proving to be much more stubborn than ever before.
“Then let him. But that is all he will ever do,” she said.
Mary Ann sighed. She hooked her arm around Charlotte’s. “Shall we go meet your suitor? We will leave Arabella with her brother here.”
Charlotte shrugged. “He is hardly my suitor, you know.”
“Then what is he exactly?” she asked.
Charlotte clamped her mouth shut because he was exactly her suitor, but she couldn’t explain to Mary Ann that it was all a ruse of epic proportions.
“Ugh,” she groaned. Once the others were deep in a conversation, Mary Ann pulled her closer.
“Your brother is obnoxious,” she said.
“I have been trying to tell you.”
“I have known it. I have a much shorter temper than you, but when you love someone, it does not matter so much,” she explained. “All I am saying is that you are closer than you think to finding your match. This will inevitably force you to make a choice between your own desires and your convictions.”
“What?” Charlotte wrinkled her nose, trying to pretend like she didn’t know what Mary Ann was speaking of.
“Do you truly wish to marry after all that you have said? You are treading awfully close.”
“Mary Ann—"
“Just be prepared,” she said, before turning to walk. She tugged Charlotte along, who followed hesitantly at first. It was embarrassing that her sister-in-law had read her so easily. Could anyone tell her true feelings about William? It was weak. It was mortifying, especially after she’d been so sincere that it would never happen. He was making an even bigger liar out of her than she already was.
“My lady,” William bowed.
“Lord Holdford,” Charlotte said, refusing to curtsy on account of him now that she was feeling rather stubborn.
“Pardon,” Lord Stanton said. He looked nervous, clutching a single stem of a rose close to his body. It was likely for Arabella, but she wouldn’t be accepting it. The rose was white. A bit on the nose, if you asked Charlotte. “Your sister has declined to join you.”
Charlotte frowned, not sure which party she was more sympathetic towards. “Yes, my lord.”
“I have not spoken to her since our outing,” he said.
“I fear she is not very interested.” Charlotte shook her head. “There is very little that I might say to convince her otherwise.”
William cleared his throat, pressing a hand against the trunk of the willow and leaning. A long branch snaked over his shoulder like an expensive scarf. “Lord Stanton revealed to me what it was that he said.”
Charlotte’s eyes fixed on the ground. “Arabella does not take kindly to advantageous suitors,” she said. “Was this your intention?”
“No, Lady Charlotte. I promise. I merely got excited and said something I should not have,” he said. “I have nothing but great respect and admiration for your sister. I would be lucky enough just to have a chance to court her.”
Charlotte opened her mouth to respond, but it was not lost on her that she was in between a rock and a hard place, as it were. As much as she believed him, she also had to firmly align with Arabella’s own convictions, lest she undermine her. Charlotte wanted to fix things, but if that meant betraying her sister, then it might not be worth it.
“Listen,” William interjected. “Stop complaining and apologize to her. We should go visit with the family.”
Lord Stanton dabbed his brow with a handkerchief and bowed. “Give me a moment then to collect myself.” He excused himself, stepping over to the water’s edge. He, a man who had traveled places that Charlotte wasn’t even sure were real was shaking at the mere thought of facing her doeish sister. It was pathetic, yet incredibly sweet.
Along with the sound of children shouting and laughing, there was a steady creaking noise. Charlotte looked over past the lake to the arm of a little creek that extended towards the tree line. Out some ways was a waterwheel. It looked quiet enough.
“I apologize for my friend,” William said once Lord Stanton was out of earshot.
“I believe his intentions are true,” Mary Ann said plainly, crossing her arms.