Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Thea Whitmore came from a modest family. She was the youngest of four children and the only daughter, with three older brothers. There was a seven-year gap between her and her brother Frederick, who was twenty-seven, then Edward, who was thirty-one, and the eldest, Henry, who was thirty-four.
She was what her mother called a blessing.
It was something Thea did not seem to understand until she was around fifteen years old.
She had been in the library, reading and tucked away at the back, when her mother and Henry had come in. Neither of them knew she was there, so Thea continued reading until she heard her name mentioned.
“Mother, I know it is hard, but you must understand. Thea will need to make her debut at Court, and then she will need to have her first Season in London.”
Thea's eyes lifted from the page.
London?
Why was Henry mentioning London? She had yet to even be allowed to attend such things within their own community.
“She cannot be cooped up here and pretend her world of books and stories is real. I know it is hard, given that she was not a baby you expected, but she is here and she is growing up. Girls her age are already having lessons and preparing to be presented. You need to remember, she is a woman. She needs to marry one day.”
“I know that, dear, and your father has ensured that she has a modest dowry, but she is still too young to be parading around like a cow at the local farmer’s market. I will not allow your sister to be sold off to some duke.”
Thea pressed her lips together.
Henry made a sound that might have been a laugh.
“I hardly think that is what anyone intends.”
“It is precisely what they intend.”
Her mother's voice sharpened.
“They will dress her up, parade her through drawing rooms, and expect every gentleman who possesses a title to consider whether she is suitable for purchase.”
“Mother—”
“I will not allow my daughter to be sold off to some duke simply because he has a large estate and a grander carriage than the next man.”
Thea stared at the pages before her.
A duke?
Her mother had just mentioned a duke.
She suddenly found the book in her lap considerably less interesting.
Henry spoke more gently.
“No one is suggesting she must marry a duke.”
“Good.”
“Nor that she must marry the first gentleman who asks.”
“Better.”
“But she must be given the opportunity to meet suitable gentlemen.”
There was silence.
Thea could almost imagine her mother crossing her arms.
“And what,” her mother asked, “do you suppose makes a gentleman suitable?”
Henry hesitated.
Thea smiled despite herself.
She rather suspected her brother had walked directly into a trap.
“Character,” he finally said.
Her mother's response came immediately.
“Good. Then perhaps we agree.”
Thea's smile disappeared.
Character.
Marriage.
London.
Court.
A Season.
The words seemed to belong to another girl's life.
Certainly not hers.
She looked down at her book once more.
For the first time, the stories within its pages seemed rather less fantastical than the future her family had apparently begun planning for her.
Then her mother's voice softened.
“She is my blessing, Henry.”
Thea's heart gave an unexpected little ache.
She had heard those words before.
Many times.
But she had never understood them.
Until now.
“She was the child we never expected,” her mother continued. “Your father and I had thought our family complete. You boys were nearly grown. We had made our plans. And then Thea came along.”
Henry was quiet.
“She gave us something we did not know we were missing.”
Thea swallowed.
She suddenly wished very much that she were anywhere else.
Her mother continued.
“And now everyone speaks as though she must be hurried away from us.”
“No one is trying to hurry her away.”
“They are.”
Her mother's voice trembled.
“Because she is our last child.”
Thea closed her book.
Slowly.
Carefully.
She remained perfectly still until she heard the library door close behind them.
Only then did she allow herself to breathe.
She looked down at the book resting in her lap.
She had always believed herself the youngest member of a family that loved her.
She had never realised that, to her parents, she was something more.
She was the unexpected child.
The child who had arrived when they thought their family was complete.
Their blessing.
And now, apparently, she was a young woman who needed a husband.
Thea stared at the closed library door.
London suddenly seemed a very long way away.
And yet, somehow, she knew she would soon be going there.