“He said it would hurt less if I ever needed to step on someone’s toes, and it would be more effective.” She had read concern on Albert’s face and wondered how much he knew about how she had been received by the ton. She loved him for not urging her to change, but to stand tall and proud.
“Whose toes do you intend to step on?”
Charlaine shrugged. “I have no immediate plans. But a woman always needs to be prepared.” Her eyes swept over the assembled guests, unwilling to allow anyone to intimidate her. Eyes met hers here and there, but Charlaine did not drop her gaze.
In her mind’s eye, she could see Albert nodding to her encouragingly.
“I hope you’re enjoying yourselves,” Lord Pembroke greeted them with a wide smile as he strode to their side.
Pierce nodded. “It is a splendid celebration, however, I cannot help but be surprised by it.” He regarded his friend with teasing interest. “I thought you detested the ton.”
Lord Pembroke laughed. He was a young man with laughing eyes and an honest countenance. Charlaine liked him instantly. “I cannot say my opinion has changed in that regard. Now, however, I have a wife to consider and she has a cousin very dear to her.” When he said cousin, Charlaine thought she heard a deeper meaning behind that one word and couldn’t help but wonder if Lord Pembroke suspected that there was something between Pierce and his wife’s cousin, Caroline.
Then he cleared his throat and his gaze moved to her. “Would you grant me a moment alone with my friend?”
Charlaine smiled at him. “Not at all.” Then she grinned at Pierce. “If you need me, I’ll be on the lookout for toes to step on.”
Pierce chuckled, then turned to his friend as she made to step away. Perhaps Lord Pembroke could convince Pierce not to waste any more time and finally reveal to Caroline how deeply he cared for her.
Sighing, Charlaine returned to watch the children. Always had she found their unrestrained joy a healing balm for the soul. Whenever her days had been filled with darkness, whenever there had been pain too crushing to bear, Charlaine had done her best to remember her childhood, that way of living in the moment, her eyes focused only on the here and now, finding joys all around her.
The warmth of the sun.
The way the waves rolled over her feet.
The smile of someone she loved.
Laughter had always been the best medicine. Laughter and silliness. Following a hunch. Trudging through the forest or across a field. Getting her hands and feet dirty. Exhausting her limbs.
And a friend by her side.
Peter had always been that friend. Through all the losses Charlaine had suffered, Peter had been there. He had held her hand and told her that all would be well. That the sun would shine again and that laughter would return.
Now, he, too, was gone.
But, now, Charlaine had Pierce.
Somehow, the world always continued on. Somehow, a friend always found his way to her side. Charlaine was grateful for it, and it gave her the strength to continue on through the dark, knowing that one day the light would find her once more.
And then she spotted a young man standing on the other end of the terrace, his face almost identical to that of Lord Pembroke. “He must be his brother,” Charlaine mumbled to herself, remembering what Pierce had told her about their host.
Her eyes swept over the man’s tense shoulders, the hard line of his jaw and the way he stood turned away from everyone. Admittedly, Charlaine, too, stood facing out into the gardens. However, the man’s posture made Charlaine think that he was keeping himself apart intentionally. A hint of pain lingered in the way he held his hands clenched behind his back, a tension that Charlaine knew only too well.
He was grieving.
Something had plunged him into a black abyss…however, he was not trying to fight to get out. No, it seemed as though he had given up and accepted his lot in life.
Accepted the dark.
The pain.
The sorrow.
Remembering her own moments of utter desolation, Charlaine straightened her shoulders and inhaled a deep breath. It certainly would not be easy, judging from the way the muscle in the man’s jaw kept twitching. Still, whether he would admit it or not, Charlaine knew that what he needed above all else was a friend.
And since there was no one else around applying for the position, she would step up.
She would be his friend.
Perhaps Fate