Summerset Abbey: Spring Awakening (Summerset Abbey Trilogy) Read Online Free Page B

she knew it rankled him to live off her money. He was working hard and saving so that when he started school in the fall, they wouldn’t have to lean so hard on her small inheritance.
    She put her key in the lock, entered the stuffy flat, and hurried to turn on the fan she had splurged on. All it really did was move the hot air around, but it helped. A little. She had left all the windows open, but Andrew didn’t like her leaving the door open while he was gone. The flat was so long and narrow that the air never seemed to circulate from the front room to their back bedroom, and the windows didn’t help at all.
    She had gone down to St. Pancras Gardens and sat in the shade to read. At least hearing the water in the fountains made her feel as if she should be cool, even if she wasn’t. It was better than sitting in the sweltering flat all day. She tried not to think about the cool, spacious rooms of the Mayfair house where she’d grown up. That way of life had died when Sir Philip had. This was her life now, and for all intents and purposes, it wasn’t a bad life. Just a different life.
    Prudence went to the small counter next to the sink and set the block of ice she had just purchased into it. Pulling up a corner of the burlap, she chipped off a chunk of ice and put it in aglass before wrapping the burlap tightly around the block and placing it in the small icebox. She filled her glass with water and drank deeply before refilling it and starting supper. There was no way she was going to light the oven. Andrew would have to be grateful for the bangers she had bought and would serve with a small, and blessedly cool, plate of fresh, sliced tomatoes.
    While she worked, she remembered that Victoria’s letter was still in her pocket. She put the bangers in the pan, sliced the tomatoes, and then arranged them prettily on a plate. She wasn’t much of a housekeeper or cook, but at least she tried.
    Taking her cool glass of water, she sat at the kitchen table and opened her letter. She could almost hear Victoria’s impudent, breezy voice as she read the scrawling words.
    My dearest Pru,
    How I wish I were sleeping on your tiny window seat rather than living in a place where everyone watches me as if I am going to collapse at any given moment, regardless of how fine a mansion it is! The doctor has given me a clean bill of health, my asthma is better thanks to Nanny Iris’s concoctions, and still everyone fusses over me so!
    But on a happier note, I’ve finally pinned Uncle Conrad down as to a date when I can move out. He did promise, you know, and has been dreadfully remiss in keeping that promise. I, however, have not forgotten that he promised me a flat in London, and Eleanor has started looking already.
    The wedding is over a month away, but that’s all I hear tell of day and night. I think Rowena is as sick of it as I am, at least that is how it seems. And poor Sebastian disappears every time Aunt Charlotte and his mother appear.
    I am so happy I made the decision never to get married. I think Seb and Ro should just do what you and Andrew did: a week to plan, a day to get married, and you’re off!
    Well, I hope to see you soon. I plan on coming up in a week or so to see the flats Eleanor has found. I will send word as soon as I know what day. Why don’t you just get a telephone? They are so convenient!
    All my love,
    Vic
    Prudence set the letter aside, mixed emotions warring in her chest. The thoughtless comment about the telephone stung a bit—but Victoria had little concept of money and would have no clue that Prudence didn’t have a telephone because they couldn’t afford one—so Prudence couldn’t fault her much for that.
    If she was honest with herself, it was Victoria’s talk of the wedding that settled in her stomach as if she’d eaten a bad pudding.
    She had thought she was over Sebastian. She was over Sebastian. It wasn’t as if they’d actually had anything more than a flirtation. She pushed their one