But there was no longer any escaping how she felt about him.
“What are we doing today?”Bridget asked, finally leaving Rose alone.
“Lessons,” Lady Stark replied, without glancing up from her plate.“Micah’s new tutor will be arriving shortly, and Miss Swift is going to give you and Charlotte singing lessons.”
“Why do we need to learn how to sing?”Bridget asked, getting that particularly mulish expression on her face that often preceded a fight.
“Because if you want to have your pick of the gentlemen, you need all the attributes that a proper young lady should have.”Lady Stark took a sip of her tea.“Those ladies who have mastered all the expected skills for the marriage mart are the ones who can choose who they marry.Those who are not skilled must take what they can get.”
Which made Johanna very glad she’d not had to be a debutante.She had certainly not mastered the skills required.
“Johanna does not know how to sing, and she landed a duke,” Bridget said, frowning.
“So, she did.It was very lucky for her that matters worked out that way.Would you like to rely on luck, or would you prefer to control your own destiny as much as possible?”Lady Stark said, finally raising her gaze to look directly at Bridget.
Bridget’s frown deepened.
“I am going to control my destiny,” Charlotte announced.“I will choose the best husband.”
“What if you marry him and it turns out he’s terrible?”Micah asked, teasing.
Charlotte shrugged.“Then I will get a new one.”
“He would have to die for that to happen, you know.”
Charlotte shrugged again, and Micah eyed her with growing consternation.As did everyone else.
Perhaps Johanna would need to pay closer attention to her youngest sister.
“Well, I am sure you will make a good choice the first time,” Lady Stark said lightly.Then she muttered under her breath as her gaze dropped down again.“I hope so for his sake.”
Charlotte smiled beatifically
Matthew leaned over, and Johanna tensed.Was he worried that her sister might actually kill her future husband?Would he think she got that from their mother?
“I just realized, I never flip to decide to leave the breakfast table either,” Matthew whispered gleefully.
“There are certainly a lot of things you do not use your coin for,” she agreed, suppressing her laughter, though she could not suppress the smile he brought to her lips.
Soon enough, breakfast was over, and it was time to make their way to her mother’s room.Johanna breathed a sigh of relief as her brother and sisters went to their respective lessons, Lady Stark escorting Micah in order to introduce him to his tutor.
She and her family owed Matthew and his grandmother so much.
Letting him talk to her mother was the very least she could do.Especially after he’d promised to protect her.
“Rose,” she said, as she got to her feet.“Will you help me with Mother?We need to get her dressed today.She’s going to meet Matthew.In the sunroom.”Which was closer to her bedroom than any of the other public rooms.Johanna glanced at Matthew, who nodded, the smile fading from his lips.
“I will meet you there.”
Nodding, Johanna felt her mouth grow dry as she turned away.Rose was frowning at her as she came around the side of the table and looped her arm through Johanna’s.
“What is going on?”she asked in a low voice as they exited the dining room.
“You will see,” Johanna told her.Inside her chest, it felt as though her heart was constricting, despite Matthew’s promise.He already knew the worst of it, surely.Johanna had questioned her mother, after all.There was nothing more than Johanna had been able to tell him, but she understood why he wanted to question her mother himself.“You will know everything after this, I promise.”
“Very well.”Rose skewered her with a look.“I do not like it when you keep secrets from me.”
That brought Johanna’s smile back.