There was nothing left to do now but wait. Because that was his life. Waiting and reacting to whatever terrible turn came next on the road of a life that was never meant to be his. Including the bride who would take his name in a few short days.

Chapter 6

It was early evening when Jasper stepped into the parlor where he had first found Thomasina that morning. He stared around the room, recalling how she had stood just there looking at that miniature or smiled at him from that place by the fire. It was odd how he already associated her with his home, that he was already making memories of her in this space.

Probably foolish of him, considering their circumstances.

Ones he was sharply reminded of when Thomasina’s father entered the parlor behind him with a wide smile.

“Good evening, my lord!” he said with a jolly laugh like all was right with the world. Jasper supposed it was, after all. Shelley was in no worse a position aside from the loss of Anne. A fact that didn’t seem to bother him as much as it did Thomasina and Juliana.

“Mr. Shelley,” Jasper said with much more coldness. “You have the paperwork, I assume?”

Shelley produced a pile of folded sheets from the inside pocket of his jacket and motioned Jasper to join him at the sideboard, where a servant had left quills and ink for the very duty they were about to perform.

Jasper looked over his shoulder. “Thomasina won’t be joining us?” he asked.

Shelley laughed. “Why would she? Anne didn’t join us the first time.”

Jasper pursed his lips. “Perhaps if she had, her hesitations would have been clearer and we could have avoided all this nonsense.”

Shelley shrugged. “In the end you have not made a bad trade, you know. Thomasina is much more biddable and pleasing than Anne.”

Jasper clenched the pen tighter as he swirled his name into the marriage agreement. Nothing had changed from the original document save Thomasina’s name. The settlements were the same, which was all that mattered.

Or should have been.

He straightened up as he watched Shelley join his name to Jasper’s on the paperwork.

“Why not offer Thomasina first if you believed her to be more agreeable?” he asked. “Or was it to prevent your wild child from ruining all your other options?”

At that, Shelley glanced up at him, and then he shrugged once again, as if he had put little thought into the matter. As if the young women were substitutable, even if they had different personalities.

That their father would think so was…disappointing. Heartbreaking. There was no wonder Thomasina seemed driven to please. To make peace. It was a survival technique and Jasper understood those, even if his own was far different.

“Thomasina is shyer than her sisters, more uncertain of herself,” Shelley explained. “And Juliana runs my household, so I would not wish to give her up until the very last moment possible. Anne seemed the best option for your bargain of the three and now it is Thomasina who fits the bill.”