An Inconvenient Arrangement

Chapter 52: Claire

It was to be a week of confronting her past mistakes, Claire mused bitterly as she stood outside the door of the guestroom her former friend occupied in the Rothburies' manor in Hertfordshire. A woman who now more than likely would refuse to see her. Claire was more likely to have the door slammed in her face than to receive actual help, she was aware of that, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Now that Claire had started to look back on her behavior with clearer eyes, less colored by her own biased lens, she saw that James was not the only relationship she had compromised due to her pride and her envy. There were many others, some significant, some less so. Just like the woman on the other side of this door.

Claire's breath rushed out in relief when the door cracked open by a measure and she saw the familiar face of Lady Whittaker, or Daphne to her friends- which Claire was sure she was decidedly not. Her thick raven black hair was bound in a thick, tight rope, falling over her shoulder and she was clad in a robe indicating that she was already prepared for bed. In her wish to be discreet, perhaps Claire had waited for too late an hour.

Claire could not help but feel a sense of foreboding as the curious look in Daphne's eyes was replaced by utter distaste as recognition dawned on her.

"You," she hissed, her face curling to a sneer.

"Yes," Claire swallowed the lump in her throat. "Me. I have brought some tea. For you."

"How unfortunate. I had hoped that you were out for a rendezvous and simply came to the wrong room, but knowing you, hell would likely freeze over before you allowed yourself to be anything but miserable, so I assume you're in the right place."

Claire bit back a condescending retort in her own defense, asking why the Rothburies would invite a woman of Lady Whittaker's reputation to a respectable gathering.

It would have been vindictive, mean, and entirely unproductive. Besides, it was not as if Claire had had a leg to stand on- she had been the one to place this animosity between them. In addition, Claire knew that Daphne had become very close with Lady Needham- their host's sister and the last thing she wished was for them to think lowly of her.

No matter that she deserved it.

Many, many years ago Claire and Daphne had been rather close friends. Daphne was a few years younger than Claire, at two and thirty, but their stories had been remarkably similar.

Daphne too had been forced into a union with a man many years her senior, thrust from a small village into the shark-infested waters of London. She'd shared Claire's struggle to conceive, she had shared Claire's struggles with loneliness and so Claire had taken her under her wing, a kindred spirit. They'd exchanged letters regularly when Daphne's husband had moved them across the Channel to Paris, and Daphne had even come to visit Claire several times over the years.

And then Daphne had become widowed, and everything had changed.

Unlike Northhaven, Lord Whittaker had left his wife with more money than even the most extravagant woman could spend in a lifetime. Daphne had embraced her newfound freedom with both hands, attending parties, taking lovers, and traveling wherever she wished. Daphne had fun. Daphne was the center of attention wherever she went, charming men and women alike with her humor, wit, and cheery disposition.

In short, she was everything Claire was not.

Daphne had come back to England after observing her mourning period and immediately tried to get Claire to join her in her adventures, Northhaven had already been permanently residing with Anette by that point and Daphne tried to show her that she needn't be stuck at home all day. Daphne had invited her for a Grand Tour of Europe, even offering to pay for Claire's excursion but Claire had refused to go. The fact that Daphne intended for her lover to join them was just a convenient excuse, Claire knew that now, but she had spun it into a much bigger deal than it needed to be, which had devolved into a large fight.