Page 22 of A Mismatch Made in London

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he remembered Shelley saying that he would like to be married. Perhaps there was a way ... But he would not try to deceive his friend. No, he would be very straightforward and clear; no man liked feeling duped. But if he could see Juliet married to Shelley, a gentleman who would love and care for her, he’d be able to stop spending so much of his time worrying about her.

Shelley looked very thoughtful.

“If you would like to be introduced to her...”

“Miss Juliet and I have met,” Shelley said. “In fact, I’d been hoping to see her at a ball or dinner party while I was in London.”

“I’m happy to arrange it.”

How very fortunate he had run into Shelley today.

6

“Goodness!” Juliet said when her brother was gone. “What a to-do. I always thought that Johnathan Skeffington was a louse, and now I know why Jeremy never wanted me anywhere near him. He’s certainly a bad man to take advantage of our sweetest, prettiest maid. The good thing is that now we shall have my cousins to gad about with, and you will enjoy them very much, I daresay.”

An hour later, the Lynches arrived. They were not much older than Juliet and me, and I could instantly see that they were both very pleasant and agreeable.

“Thank you ever so much for coming on short notice,” Juliet said.

“We are delighted to be of service,” Marianne Lynch said. “Besides, it is so dull being always at home.”

“She means being always at home with my mother and father,” Robert Lynch said.

“Now, you know I love your mother and father very much,” Marianne scolded her husband lightly.

“Of course, but they are forever asking us to fetch them a shawl or bring them their walking stick, or one thing or the other. You would think they didn’t have servants aplenty for all of that.”

“I’m surprised they wanted to make the trek to London fromthe country. But I suppose they didn’t want to change their tradition of being in London for the Season.”

Eventually I ventured to ask, “Which of you is Juliet’s cousin?”

“We both are,” they said in unison. Marianne continued, “I’m their cousin on their mother’s side, and Robert is their cousin on their father’s side. That is why we are so close and get on so well.”

“Or we are just great people,” Robert suggested.

Soon it was arranged that we would attend a concert together that evening. “If I’d had the forethought,” Robert said, “I would have secured tickets to the opera.”

“Well, you couldn’t have known what would happen today and that we would all be together,” Marianne said.

“How glad I am that you are my cousins,” Juliet said. “You are so much more interesting and diverting than my brother.”

“You may not say that in about six or seven months’ time.” Robert arched his eyebrows at them.

“Robert, you shouldn’t be talking of such things,” Marianne said in a hushed voice.

Juliet gasped. “You’re having a baby!”

Marianne nodded.

The couple accepted our congratulations and well wishes, and I vowed then and there that I would have a marriage like Robert and Marianne Lynch’s—pleasant and lighthearted.

I’d always thought my parents had a good marriage. They were respectful and deferential of each other, but I rarely heard them say anything playful toward each other. But that was probably just the fault of their personalities. They always seemed much older than they were, now that I thought about it.

As we arrived at the concert that evening, two gentlemen stood outside the music hall. They turned toward Juliet and me with flirtatious stares.

“Do you know them?” I whispered to Juliet.

“A little. Marianne, will you and Robert introduce us?”