Noble. Noble, Grace, Verity, Clementine; Greer and Lorelei. (And he was – Fortitude.) Jemima nodded along, and filed away the little details she could, because perhaps they would help – though it would take time to get to know them, and how well she knew them would hardly change the outcome of anything now. She was marrying him either way. So –
“If you think it would do any good,” Jemima said uncertainly, weighing up the options of being candid or polite, and choosing the former while she still could. She could insist that she was very eager to meet them and delighted to be joining the family, but he knew that wasn’t true. And truthfully Jemima would rather take her last few days for herself in mourning, before she met them all and had – well, all the time in the world to be teased or ignored or judged by the Greengrasses.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad as that; maybe she would get along with them all perfectly well. “Do they all think that we... ?” She flushed at having to ask the question, and alluded to her meaning as she trailed off with an awkward little wave between them to mean – whatever the rest of society now thought had happened. She had told her parents the truth about that evening – though she was not sure how far they believed her, for they had decided that marriage would be her best hope all the same. (She had also told Mrs. Dempsey the truth, for all the good it had done.)
So perhaps he had been honest with his family, too, behind closed doors? Or maybe he hadn’t; maybe he had done the same with them as he had with the Minister’s wife, if the lie was somehow better for him. (She still had to wonder where he had been before he’d come through the Floo, what else he had possibly been doing or whom he had been thinking of, when he had given them up. She was certain that giving himself in marriage could not have been his desired outcome – but he had taken the risk of it, and had shouldered the scandal all the same.)
“If you think it would do any good,” Jemima said uncertainly, weighing up the options of being candid or polite, and choosing the former while she still could. She could insist that she was very eager to meet them and delighted to be joining the family, but he knew that wasn’t true. And truthfully Jemima would rather take her last few days for herself in mourning, before she met them all and had – well, all the time in the world to be teased or ignored or judged by the Greengrasses.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad as that; maybe she would get along with them all perfectly well. “Do they all think that we... ?” She flushed at having to ask the question, and alluded to her meaning as she trailed off with an awkward little wave between them to mean – whatever the rest of society now thought had happened. She had told her parents the truth about that evening – though she was not sure how far they believed her, for they had decided that marriage would be her best hope all the same. (She had also told Mrs. Dempsey the truth, for all the good it had done.)
So perhaps he had been honest with his family, too, behind closed doors? Or maybe he hadn’t; maybe he had done the same with them as he had with the Minister’s wife, if the lie was somehow better for him. (She still had to wonder where he had been before he’d come through the Floo, what else he had possibly been doing or whom he had been thinking of, when he had given them up. She was certain that giving himself in marriage could not have been his desired outcome – but he had taken the risk of it, and had shouldered the scandal all the same.)
