it.
“Lady Edith Leveson, Miss Wright.”
Edith blinked hard and forced a smile as the drawing room was suddenly before her.
“Thank you, Mrs. Evans,” Charlotte chimed, rising from her seat within the drawing room and turning to face them with her usual grin, a dimple appearing in her left cheek. “Edie, I was worried you weren’t coming.”
“Edie?” Grace cried from her spot in a chair. “Wherever did that name come from?”
Edith snickered as she entered the room, watching as Charlotte rounded on Grace with an exasperated expression that spoke of a very entertaining conversation prior to her arrival.
“I was simply trying it out, Grace!” Charlotte insisted. “It could be an adorable shortening of her name that we use, as her friends.”
Grace looked utterly bewildered and turned her attention to Edith. “Has anyone, in the whole course of your life, called you Edie?”
“Not since I was a wee thing,” Edith said simply as she sat in the vacant seat on the sofa next to Prudence Vale, taking a cup of tea from her. “Thank you, lass. This is much needed.”
“Of course,” Prue murmured. She leaned closer and whispered, “They’ve been arguing the virtues of familiarity for a quarter of an hour. Heaven alone knows why.”
Edith nodded as she blew softly on her steaming tea. “One can only hope Charlotte finds a point to come to very shortly.”
Prue snickered a soft laugh, then groaned a little, one arm wrapping around her visibly swollen abdomen. “Merciful days…”
“The bairn?” Edith smiled gently, eyeing her friend’s wince.
Prue nodded, biting her lip briefly. “I know I still have some time before my confinement, but this little one isn’t behaving very well.”
“That’s because the child is Camden Vale’s,” Charlotte announced, interjecting herself into their conversation, as per usual. “You cannot expect an easy time of it.”
Georgie Sterling snorted softly, bouncing her infant son on her lap. “That’s so comforting, Charlotte. Really. Prue feels much better now.”
“Well, it’s her own fault,” Charlotte insisted as she flopped herself inelegantly down in a chair. “Having your child in the middle of the Season. Really, Prue, you’ll be off to your country estate in a matter of weeks, and then that will be it. Why could you not have arranged your confinement for the winter?”
“Arranged?” Izzy Morton laughed, setting her tea down to avoid disrupting it. “Charlotte, there is no scheduling something like this.”
Charlotte huffed and shook her head. “I refuse to believe that. As adorable as the young Miss Vale will undoubtedly be, I shall take some time to forgive her for taking my friend away during the Season.”
“Miss Vale?” Prue repeated with a small smile. “Cam would be delighted if that came to be.”
“So would I,” Georgie announced. She bounced her giggling son again, quirking her brows. “She has a suitor waiting.”
Edith pursed her lips playfully. “The lass might have two Sterling suitors vying for her. Didna Janet and Lord Sterling have a strapping lad, as well?”
That earned her a scowl from Georgie. “How dare you! Thomas is far and away the better candidate for Miss Vale. Henry may be my son’s cousin, but he is not suited for the match. Ask Elinor when she arrives next week, she will agree with me.”
“Don’t talk about that girl,” Charlotte insisted, raising a hand. “I do not have it in me to call her Mrs. Sterling, and I may never accept her husband as I have the others. It is too monstrous.”
Prue sighed heavily, rubbing at her belly. “Charlotte… Hugh Sterling has s-sent us all some very f-fine letters of apology, and he apologized again at the wedding breakfast. You’ve s-seen him yourself, and he was most p-pleasant.”
Charlotte shook her head, her lips pulling down. “No, I cannot allow that. He has misled Elinor, and she is a fool for being so duped. The wedding was beautiful, and they were wise to keep it small, but that is one redemption I cannot see as valid.”
“Then it is a mighty fine thing that you were not chosen to be the Almighty,” Georgie snapped, smiling to soften the blow. “None of us would make it to heaven if you were. I like Hugh as he is now, and I will even go so far as to say he is good for Elinor.”
“I am not hearing this.” Charlotte covered her ears and pointedly looked out of the window.
Grace waved a dismissive hand. “It must be exhausting to have that much indignation about so many things. Are you all going to the theatre tomorrow? Henshaw asked Aubrey