Greer wasn't exactly sure how to answer the question. Having met Miss Farley only the one time, she had no idea what her normal demeanor was, or truly how she was handling it. It must have been hard and Greer had clued into that fact a little too late, trying to get down to business first, but little by little it seemed like everything was, well, tense.

"I can't truly speak for her," obviously, because Greer was no expert on anyone's emotions, not even her own, but she thought she could at least understand the gravity of the situation. "But she looks a little bit like that, like a deer caught in the wandlight," Greer motioned with one hand to his own expression. It was drawn and serious and stressed. Greer had dressed plenty of brides and made her fair share of suits, and nobody ever seemed quite so down about the whole thing.

The question she really wanted to ask was stuck in her throat, but she wondered if anyone had said it yet; "I know I don't exactly fit the bill for most empathetic," she knew this about herself. Her empathy was coming out in a different way; being helpful and trying to be supportive (by almost starting a bar fight), but she could try to do it the normal way too. "But I should think that even under the stress of it all," because people held the public's regard far too highly, in her opinion, but that wasn't something she was going to change. "That if this was something desired, that maybe you both might be a little more enthused about it." Whatever it was that had happened in the coat closet that night was truly none of her business, but Greer didn't see much residual fondness even in inquiring after how the other was doing.

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The following 2 users Like Greer Owens's post:2 users Like Greer Owens's post
   Elias Grimstone, Fortitude Greengrass

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Like that she said, and motioned at him. Well, thought Ford wryly, We've got something in common after all.

Greer could have stopped there, having answered his question, but she didn't. Ford felt a burst of panic at the direction the conversation was turning, but tried his best to keep it off his face. Was it that obvious? He'd been trying so hard. But maybe he couldn't take Greer's assessment as a good barometer for what society in general thought; even if they weren't close, she had a lot more exposure to him than the average person did. He couldn't keep up the act all the time, try as he might, so of course she'd seen him slip here and there. Still — it wasn't great that Greer had seen through him. Was her assumption tentative enough that he could still get things back on track? Was he a good enough liar for that? If he mostly told the truth, maybe he could manage it, he decided.

"It's — it's just — I wasn't planning on getting married now," he sputtered. This was so obvious that it practically went without saying, but in the context of defending himself from her entirely accurate assessment he'd decided to say it anyway. "You know that. I mean, with this house, with my sisters, with — it just didn't seem — you get it," he said, hoping she did. "And this isn't the way I would've wanted it to happen, at all, obviously. I'm not sorry it's her," (this, the one indispensable lie that he needed to slip in to make this story count for something) "— but I'm sorry about just about every other aspect of it. I mean, there's nothing I can do about any of it, but — yeah, I wish — I wish things had happened differently."

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The following 1 user Likes Fortitude Greengrass's post:1 user Likes Fortitude Greengrass's post
   Elias Grimstone

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Set by Lady!

Greer could only shrug. If that was what was going to get him through this, he could keep telling himself that. She wasn't going to pry, not really. She was just a bystander watching the trainwreck unfold. "Sure," Greer rather thought there was quite a bit either he or Miss Farley could do about it, but she was not about to go handing out unsolicited advice. Maybe she had the privilege of speaking as nearly a complete outsider, from this town, from the more polite side of society, but Greer would rather be disgraced than married to someone she didn't even like. She wasn't sure if that was even the case, Fortitude seemed to simply regret the course of action, so she could very well just be projecting her own issues into the problem.

"Of all the people you don't have to bullshit though, your very foreign cousin who has no sense of society could be a good place to start." She shrugged again, holding the jacket in both arms gently. "Lorie and I will get out of your hair before the wedding, too." The could find a flat easily enough, there had to be some boarding houses or something for them to settle into.

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Ford took exception to her statement, both because she was challenging the lie he'd tried so hard to sell and because he was always put off-balance by her casual use of profanity. He was primed to be on the defensive, even though he didn't know what he could say to counter her, until she continued. Out of your hair was a fairly crass way to put it, but he assumed she meant they were moving out. Ford had known that was their plan ever since his mother had clued him in (once it was too late to back out) that they would be coming to stay in the first place, but they hadn't discussed any specific timeline for it. He had always assumed it would be rude to ask, and he didn't want to give them the impression that he was chasing them out. He hadn't expected them to be leaving this soon, and given the wedding and the rumors surrounding it, he was fairly confident he'd ended up chasing them out after all.

"Oh," he said, with an anxious frown. He shifted his weight on his feet, feeling he ought to say something more but having a hard time finding the words. We didn't hate having you probably wasn't exactly it.

"Well," he said eventually. "If there's every anything we can do for you..."

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Set by Lady!

Well, she'd offered, in her own way. She could understand if Fortitude didn't want to get into the details with her, it wasn't exactly her business anyway. Right now her business was making dresses, trousseaus and tailoring suits and other gowns for the upcoming wedding and that was going to keep her busy enough over the next few weeks.

"We'll be alright," Greer assured him. She could tell her independence rubbed him the wrong way; which really wasn't her problem either. Greer was well-aware that she was not everyone's cup of tea, especially a frazzled bachelor (for a couple more weeks) with too many female relatives on his hands. "Hopefully not too far, I've grown to like large family dinners." It was sort of nice, to sit down with everyone and enjoy a meal. It did feel a little bit like family. Or like her family used to anyway.

"I'll ah, get started on this tonight. Do you know if Noble or anyone else need anything fitted?" She wasn't if sure she would have to fashion something for Grace and Clementine, but she could probably squeeze in some easy fixes or embellishments to existing dresses.

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It was a bit of a relief that she mentioned dinner. It was an avenue that was easy for him to commit to — it cost very little to have a few extra plates at the table — but allowed him to still feel as though he hadn't entirely thrown them to the wolves. He did wonder how the timing might look to outsiders... people outside the Greengrass home wouldn't necessarily know that Greer and Lorelei had wanted to find their own accommodations, and might assume that either he had unfairly ousted them in order to make room for his new bride, or that Miss Farley had demanded they leave. The former he could live with — his own reputation didn't much matter to him at this point, as evidenced by the lie he'd told Mrs. Dempsey in the coatroom — but the latter seemed unfair to Miss Farley, who was already going to have a pretty bad shake of things. But it wasn't as though Ford was going to be able to say anything to deter her, anyway. In fact, him arguing the point and trying to get them to stick around a few more weeks or months might only make Greer more stubborn in her conviction to leave as soon as possible.

So, let the cards fall where they may, and they'd just have to make the best of it as they went. "We'd love to have you back for dinner, as often as you like," he agreed. "I, ah, don't know about anyone else's things. I don't think Noble would need anything, but — you'll have to ask them."

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Set by Lady!

Though surprised to hear that, it was a nice affirmation that perhaps they hadn't been such a huge burden on the Greengrass family. Greer was not sentimental in many aspects, but family, no matter how distant or new, was family after all and they had taken a chance on her and her sister.

"Great, I'll check in with everyone else then." She assumed there would be lots of mending to do, but she would find out and make a plan to go from there. "Let me know if you need anything else, Lorelei and I are happy to help." She offered knowing her sister would be far more likely to follow through on that than Greer would (beyond what she was already doing), but it felt natural to at least put it on the table.

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wrap?

The following 1 user Likes Greer Owens's post:1 user Likes Greer Owens's post
   Fortitude Greengrass

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