“Yes,” said Clover. She smoothed a fold on her black skirt. “But he’s always acted like it, too. Even—even when we’ve treated him so horridly. Do you remember when Ivy got lost in the gardens, when—when she was four?”
“Yes,” said Azalea slowly. She brought to mind the image of Ivy chasing after a hopping bird with a hatbox, pushing her way through the bushes one fall afternoon. They had laughed over it and returned to clipping flowers for Mother’s room. They thought nothing more of it until Ivy hadn’t shown for dinner. They all blamed one another for not watching her, then ran to the chill gardens to find her.
“She turned up, though,” said Azalea defensively. “She’s never far from the dinner table, you know that.”
“She turned up,” said Clover, “because—because Minister Fairweller searched the wood with his hound. I—I was at the back gate when I saw him leading LadyFair out of the mist into the meadow, Ivy huddled on her back. It—it was like a picture from one of Eve’s storybooks—except for the part where Ivy threw up all over him, when he helped her from the horse.”
Azalea opened her mouth, then shut it.
“And—and the Delchastrian doctor, the one who came last year—” Clover began.
“Oh, honestly!” said Azalea, grinding a dried leaf into the wood floor with her boot. “You’re not going to tell me he had something to do with that, too? We scraped to pay for those medicines!”
“Minister Fairweller,” said Clover, standing abruptly, “paid for nearly all of them.”
“He did not!” said Azalea, coloring.
“I—I heard him speaking to that doctor,” said Clover. “Late one night, and—and I had to send letters of inquiry to sort it all together. Minister made it a great secret—of course he had to! The King would never allow such help!”
Clover paced the gazebo floor, almost feverishly. Wooden planks creaked, and her skirts swished with her stride. She clenched her fists.
“Last year, Lady Caversham—you remember her? She found me in the gardens, and—and she told me she would give me a penny if I delivered a note to Minister Fairweller.”
“A love letter?” said Azalea. “How awful. Well, at least you got a penny out of it.”
“I did not!” said Clover, her blue eyes blazing. Her skirts snapped as she turned. “Of course I didn’t take her money. When she left I—I just stared at that horrid perfumed letter and—and I couldn’t bear to think of Fairweller with her! He was too good and noble and—and—” Clover’s fists shook. “And I realized I was in love with him! And I would marry him! Fairweller was mine!”
“Yes, all right, naturally,” Azalea squeaked. She cowered under Clover’s tirade, gripping the edge of the bench. A dozen tiny slivers embedded themselves into her palms. She suddenly knew how the tea set felt in its last moments. “What did Fairweller say? When you delivered the note?”
“Oh,” said Clover, calming a little. “Well…nothing, actually. I sort of…accidentally…tore it to pieces.”
“Accidentally,” Azalea echoed.
“And threw it into the fire,” said Clover.
“Oh.”
Clover tugged the ends of her shawl around her shoulders, and smiled bashfully. “Well,” she said. “He was mine, after all. And now he’s finally noticed me. I thought I would have to smack him across the head with a book or something.” She sat down next to Azalea, still beaming. “But he came around.”
In Azalea’s shock, something surfaced.
“Clover,” she said. “You’re not—not—”
“Stuttering?” Clover beamed. “I…still do. A little. But Minister has been so easy to talk to, and—well. He says I have a pretty voice,” she added shyly.
Azalea had nothing to say to that.
“He wants me to elope.”
“I heard.”
“Oh—but I can’t! He’s certain the King would never allow our union. If Mother were here, she could talk to the King. But—” Clover fingered the swirls of the watch at her waist, then brightened at Azalea. “Perhaps you could!”
“Definitely not me,” said Azalea.
“Oh, Lea!” said Clover. “Who else can do it? You’re the closest thing to Mother we have!”
Azalea pinched the slivers in her palm with her fingernails, biting her lip. The King would be up in arms over this. Fairweller, courting Clover, not only in mourning, but without the King’s approval or knowledge. There would be a duel. Azalea did not like Fairweller, but she did not want him hurt. At least, not a lot. All this pulled her down like heavy crinolines, adding to the burden of Keeper’s threat. Azalea closed her eyes.
“I’ll think about it,” she said.
Clover leaped up and threw her arms around Azalea, beaming to tears.
That afternoon, as the girls busied in the kitchen baking gingerbread ornaments for the tree, Azalea nervously slipped into the library. The door was already open.