No Good Deed

[Emma Macmillan]

"Walter's fine," Emma said, which may or may not have been true for how many fucks she gave about Walter. Emma had really never liked either of her brothers, for all that she (sometimes) loved them. Minnie, meanwhile, had always been everything that Emma wasn't - soft and loving and excitable, and even Emma could not help be charmed by her even as a bratty child.

Now, Minnie needed a husband, a good husband, and Ned had qualities. They were not qualities that Emma appreciated, or even tolerated, but they were qualities. Supposedly.

"Minnie's doing the season again, of course - although I'm sure you've seen her just as recently as I have," Emma said.