Spinster Ever After (The Spinster Chronicles #7) - Rebecca Connolly Page 0,19
and took her mother’s hand as she passed. “Perhaps, but I know now who to come to if I need someone to shut up.”
Her mother clicked her tongue and tapped Charlotte’s cheek. “Oh, you…” She swept from the room with rather the same air as she had entered.
Charlotte only had a moment to breathe before it was announced that her friends had started to arrive, which was well enough, as her list truly was as pitiful as she had informed her mother. Not one of the Best Bachelors would do for her. Not a single one.
What a perfectly discouraging thought.
Feeling rather sour, Charlotte strode into their usual sitting room, smiling limply at Grace as she entered.
“Good morning, Grace. Lovely shade, suits you nicely.”
Grace nodded in greeting. “Thank you, dear. You look a little pale, are you quite well?”
“That’s hardly a fair response,” Charlotte retorted. “I compliment you, and you nearly insult me? Rubbish.”
Her friend rolled her eyes and flicked at her lavender sprigged skirts. “My concern over you outweighed my jealousy of your blue muslin, dear. Apologies for being a true friend. Now, are you well?”
Charlotte managed a smile and sat in her nearest chair. “Well, yes, but I am a trifle disgruntled. Nothing that a good session with the Spinsters will not mend.”
Grace’s high brow furrowed. “What good would the Spinsters do for you?”
“Sensible conversation, for one, and a jolly good list of suitors for another.” Charlotte widened her eyes in exasperation.
“Ah.” Grace sighed heavily and shook her head. “There we are. I wondered if you might have found yourself in a muddle with that.”
“A muddle with what?” Georgie asked as she appeared in the doorway, Izzy behind her.
Charlotte winced, hissing loudly. “Finding candidates for my matrimonial prospects. The list is quite depressing.”
“Surely not,” Izzy protested in her kind way. “There are some lovely men about.”
“Lovely men?” Charlotte repeated, indignation raging high. “Where was that opinion just a few years ago? Or has your darling husband influenced your tastes?”
“I know mine has,” Elinor chimed in as she entered, smiling with some inner superiority. “Good day, all.”
Charlotte groaned with all the necessary dramatics. “Ugh, I cannot bear another blissful bride when my prospects are so dismal. Will one of you please say something truthfully foul about your husband?”
Georgie hummed quickly, then brightened. “Tony bites his fork when he eats. Not all the time, but enough that I feel a chill race up my spine that renders my appetite miniscule.”
The other married women in the room shuddered together, and Charlotte frowned at them all as tea was brought in. “There is an air of understanding between the lot of you, and I feel quite left out.”
Grace chuckled darkly, reaching forward to pour her tea. “Aubrey snores. Dreadful sound, I could barely sleep when we first wed.”
Elinor settled into her seat, grinning to herself. “I am well aware of my husband’s faults, thank you. Or his previous ones, at any rate, and I must say it is a vastly amusing time to be married to a reformed man.”
Charlotte scowled at her. “Elinor, I’ve only just got your husband down from his former perch as the devil’s representative on earth, I’m not at all prepared to give him a place with the angels in heaven.”
“Oh, but he doesn’t belong up there, either,” Elinor insisted, still smirking in a secret way. “Else he would not deign to marry me.”
“On that, we can certainly agree.” Charlotte gave her a playful sneer that made the others laugh. Then she turned her gaze to Izzy. “And you, Mrs. Morton? How does your husband irk you?”
Izzy stared back at her, eyes wide, cheeks flushing. Then, after a moment, she smiled sheepishly. “Well…”
When she didn’t go on, Charlotte threw up her hands. “Oh, for pity’s sake, you can’t find a single flaw, can you?”
“He’s not perfect,” Izzy assured them hastily as laughter made the rounds again. “I don’t want any of you to believe he is, it’s just that…”
“It’s just that nothing he does upsets you,” Charlotte finished, rolling her eyes. “You’re too good, Izzy, even for Sebastian, and I never thought I’d say that.”
Izzy blushed prettily, and looked down at her lap, her fingers wringing together.
Something about the action gave Charlotte pause, and she continued to watch her friend as though she could see into her mind and body with enough effort. Would she, too, have a pleasant announcement to make soon? With two of their group joining the ranks of motherhood, it could not be long before