I touched her chin, moving her head so she looked at me. ‘Cara, I must still sell gems at court and the women were never part of it. You know that.’ But they had been a bonus, had they not? And one so often made available to me.
Cara‘Of course I do.’
I took her hand. ‘Come.’
In the dining room, we were seated as we had been the last time with Penny already beside Lady Sylvia, though she rose to kiss us. ‘Mama. Papa.’
I looked at Susannah. It would take some getting used to for both of us. ‘You and your mama look especially pretty this evening.’
Penny smiled and blushed just like her mother. ‘Thank you, Papa.’
After a supper of scallops in a rich butter and parsley sauce, a lattice-topped capon pie, loin of lamb with plums and a summer pudding, just as before, Susannah left with Penny
