It was the right thing for her. Ford wondered if Noble believed that or if he, like Ford, was just saying things out loud in the hopes that it would make them sound more reasonable, easier to swallow and internalize. He shifted his weight and took a sip of his drink. It was the right thing for her. She would be happy as Mrs. Swann. Two distinctly different statements. Did one imply the other, or not?
"She has no dowry," Ford said with a helpless shrug. "And he still asked. So he must be fond of her." Although he and Noble had not explicitly discussed this he thought it was probably already obvious to his brother. If there had been a need to come up with a dowry, they would have already been talking about it, because it would have meant moving a lot of money around in order to keep the rest of them afloat. As it was, he'd made the lack of dowry clear to Swann and he'd proceeded with the proposal regardless. That had to count for something — Ford just wasn't sure what. Maybe Swann was in love with her. It was the romantic explanation, but Ford couldn't bring himself to believe it. Not because Verity was inherently unloveable, or anything — it had just been too short of a time since Swann had dropped out of the sky and into their parlor, and it was too good to be true.
But if he didn't love her and he wasn't getting a dowry, why marry her? The Greengrass family had some legacy, but none of the ones left alive were particularly well connected, so it couldn't have been a political move. He had no particular interest in either Ford or Noble's career areas, from what Ford could tell. There was no imminently unfolding scandal surrounding Everett Swann that he needed a wife to distract from (at least, none that Ford had uncovered — though admittedly he hadn't been looking). It just didn't make any sense, no matter which way he looked at it — but there had to be something.
"She has no dowry," Ford said with a helpless shrug. "And he still asked. So he must be fond of her." Although he and Noble had not explicitly discussed this he thought it was probably already obvious to his brother. If there had been a need to come up with a dowry, they would have already been talking about it, because it would have meant moving a lot of money around in order to keep the rest of them afloat. As it was, he'd made the lack of dowry clear to Swann and he'd proceeded with the proposal regardless. That had to count for something — Ford just wasn't sure what. Maybe Swann was in love with her. It was the romantic explanation, but Ford couldn't bring himself to believe it. Not because Verity was inherently unloveable, or anything — it had just been too short of a time since Swann had dropped out of the sky and into their parlor, and it was too good to be true.
But if he didn't love her and he wasn't getting a dowry, why marry her? The Greengrass family had some legacy, but none of the ones left alive were particularly well connected, so it couldn't have been a political move. He had no particular interest in either Ford or Noble's career areas, from what Ford could tell. There was no imminently unfolding scandal surrounding Everett Swann that he needed a wife to distract from (at least, none that Ford had uncovered — though admittedly he hadn't been looking). It just didn't make any sense, no matter which way he looked at it — but there had to be something.
Set by Lady!