Folly Read Online Free Page B

cold.
    “But think, Ellie. What if our plan doesn’t work? You’ll
need options.”
    “It will work.”
    “Ellie.” Helena put her hand on Eleanor’s. “How long were
you married to Ulster?”
    “Five years.” She tried not to, but couldn’t help but wince
at the thought. The memories.
    “And you never got with child. What are the odds you can
conceive in one short month?”
    “I will. I’m certain of it.”
    “All right, dear.” Helena took a sip of tea. “But meet
Haversham. Just meet him. Give him a chance. Promise?”
    Eleanor frowned at her friend. But her annoyance was
impossible to maintain. Helena was far too charming. And she did want to help,
bless her. “Fine.”
    “And speaking of our plan, now that we’re private, do tell
me how last night went. I am practically expiring with curiosity. Did you find
someone?”
    Eleanor took a finger sandwich but didn’t eat it. She merely
wanted something to hold.
    “Well?”
    She dipped her head. “Yes.”
    “What? Yes? Do speak up, Ellie. I want to hear everything.”
    “I am not telling you everything .”
    “Was he handsome?”
    “As far as I could tell.” At Helena’s look, she elaborated.
“He was wearing a mask.”
    “A mask. How mysterious.”
    “Yes.” Eleanor gazed off out the window, though she saw
nothing. Nothing but his face, wreathed in shadows as it was. “He was tall and
muscular.”
    “Always promising. And did you seduce him?”
    “I rather think we seduced each other.”
    Helena considered Eleanor, her mouth working a bit, as
though she was having trouble forming words. Finally, she murmured, “Well, did
you ? I mean, did you complete the act? Did our plan work?”
    Oh dear. How did one respond? In the parlor? Over tea?
“Yes.”
    “That’s wonderful. Just think, Eleanor, you could be with
child right now. All your troubles could be over. I’m so happy for you.”
    She wrapped Eleanor in a warm, rather un-countess-like hug.
Eleanor allowed it because she adored Helena, and because she needed a hug. But
she didn’t feel wonderful. She didn’t feel wonderful at all. And it all had to
do with the roiling regret, still scalding her heart, that she hadn’t gone to
Hyde Park. That she’d never seen his face, and now she never would.
    Just then, the butler scratched on the door to announce yet
another visitor, which released Eleanor from the burden of having to converse.
    Other burdens, however, remained.
    * * * * *
    Eleanor shivered against the chill. The fire burned, but
halfheartedly and far away, on the other side of her cavernous chamber. She sat
on the edge of her bed and stared at the red stain on her petticoat as though
she’d never seen such a thing before. Suddenly very cold, she wrapped the
blanket tighter around her shoulders.
    It didn’t help.
    That easily, all her hopes evaporated. All her dreams came
crashing down. An enormous weight descended upon her, panic pounded in her
chest.
    She was not with child. She was not.
    She stifled a heaving sob with her fist but it bubbled out
anyway, an anguished wail.
    It wasn’t her dire circumstances tearing at her heart,
although she did worry what would become of her when Berwick returned to London
and discovered her belly flat. No, her sorrow came from an entirely different
heartbreak.
    She hadn’t realized she’d made so much of it, made so much
of him. The dream lover, the man who made her soul sing. She hadn’t realized
how many hopes she’d arranged around his memory. Around the child who would
have been his. The child would have been a constant reminder that life was not
always difficult and love did not always hurt.
    But now it hurt. She hurt.
    Her maid, Celeste, entered the room through the servant’s
door, carrying a bowl of warm water. It would be tepid at best. Even though
Celeste hurried, it was a long tramp from the kitchens to the master’s chambers
of Ulster House.
    Sympathy, and perhaps pity, tinged her expression. Celeste
knew what this meant