‘You still went.’
‘I did,’ she admitted starkly, ‘and I would do it again in the same situation, but somehow I would find a way to take you with me.’
‘And poor Daniel would have had the weight of the law and his commanding officer’s fury to contend with as well as you demanding he marry you and never mind what Mama and Papa said,’ Viola the woman reasoned.
It was almost as if Viola had made herself forget the lonely child who pushed Marianne out of the door and shut it on her as if she truly hated her for leaving. She could still hear Viola’s sobs through the wood as she crept downstairs and out through the back door and into the night. And the sound of her little sister’s desolate sorrow at being the only Yelverton left at home haunted her all the way to Daniel’s latest posting.
Even when he finally agreed to marry her at the drumhead, since she had no intention of going away until they could wed without her parents’ consent, it felt wrong to do it without her little sister playing bridesmaid as they always dreamed she would when they planned their ideal weddings as little girls. ‘Forgive me?’ she pleaded now as she had back then, her last words to her sister as she slipped out of their shared bedroom and stole away into the night.
‘Of course, I am quite grown up now, Sister. Real love and a chance of such happiness are rare and should be grasped with both hands. I did just tell you I learnt to recognise true love when I see it, so forget about whatever I said back then—I was a spoilt brat who only thought about my own wants and needs. You did what you had to do, Marianne. Mama and Papa would never have let you wed a mere sergeant and I would have been very happy for you if Daniel had not taken you away and left me to worry about both of you as well as Darius living in the midst of so much violence and unrest.’
‘I was not in any danger,’ Marianne argued rather lamely but of course she had been once Daniel was posted to Portugal and then Spain. She shivered at the memory of the terrifying retreat to Corunna and the running battles even as the boats took the ragtag remains of Sir John Moore’s army off the shore, then she recalled Daniel’s fury when the army had tried to leave his wife behind. He had refused to let them and tears threatened now at the memory of him refusing to take no for an answer as he had marched her on board one of them and defied any man to make him leave his wife behind. There were other times they had been surprised by the enemy or just got lost in a storm and it had taken days of stubborn effort to find Daniel again.
‘Don’t lie to me,’ Viola demanded sternly and suddenly Marianne could see what a formidable teacher she was with any pupils foolish enough to try to get the better of her. ‘I am truly a grown-up now and I know you must have been scared and in peril time and time again in Portugal and Spain, whatever colourful comedies about your life on the march you sent back to make Mama and Papa feel better about you being there. You must treat me like an adult if we are to truly be sisters in spirit as well as fact once again, Marianne.’
‘Very well, then, I will—anything to avoid more of your icy glares.’
‘I have been working on them lately,’ her sister admitted ruefully and Marianne’s attention snapped back to the very grown-up problem of Sir Harry Marbeck and her sister’s true feelings for the wretched man.
‘You have?’ she said cautiously.
‘I have and do not allow that vivid imagination of yours full rein because it is Sir Harry’s great-aunt who has been on the receiving end of my iciest ones lately and not Sir Harry himself. If I did not stand up to the old tartar, she would have me running around at her bidding all the time instead of looking after my charges and trying to drum a few facts into their reluctant heads.’
‘She sounds like a nightmare to live with.’
‘No, I like her. She adds spice to the mix.’
‘You really are enjoying this position, then?’
‘Yes, and imagine how it would be for me as Mama’s last chick if I had stayed in Bath, Marianne. Teacher or not, I was dragged off to soirées and card parties and made to play silver loo every night of the week except Sunday when I had to go and live with them before you came back.’
‘So you left me to endure it and went back to live at school with a sigh of relief, then you took this post to make doubly sure you would not have to do it again, I suppose.’
‘Perhaps, but you have no idea how hard I had to fight for that post at Miss Thibbett’s. If not for Papa putting his foot down for once and insisting I was allowed to leave home and accept it, I would be a Bath quiz right now.’
‘No, you definitely would not,’ Marianne argued. ‘Not with that face and blue eyes and all that lovely blonde hair. You always were the family beauty, Viola, so do not even try to tell me you did not have dozens of offers before and probably during your teaching career.’
‘And it is ridiculous of you not to accept how truly lovely you are, Marianne. Even after Daniel adored you every moment you had together, and I have
