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The earl, as Marcus had assumed, was indeed pleased, at least superficially. However, he did still have a slight sense of melancholia. His daughter, his only surviving child, was going to be married off to a young man who, though he apparently had noble intentions and was the son of one of his oldest and dearest friends, still had a reputation and criminal record on his head. besides, the thought of her not being around would most likely make his days with his wife that much more unbearable. Still, he raised his glass to the two, assuming a smile if only for their sake. "My best wishes to you both. Congratulations."

Terryn had also picked up on her father's underlying reluctance, and she had a feeling she knew his reasoning. Still, she was feeling better than she had in a long while, and she would worry about such things later. "Thank you. Hopefully I will be able to keep Marcus home long enough so as not to lose him to Russia again for a year." She had nearly slipped and said prison, but she was not about to spring that one on his grandmother.

"And I can go with you." Terryn said this rather assertively, as though it was not something that was to be debated. "I refuse to be a docile little house wife who simply sits around doing needlework and awaits her husband's return."

"It is unfortunate, I will never make a proper homemaker." Terryn feigned a disappointed expression. "Were I to hold a needle, I fear I might treat it as though it were a rapier."

Terryn sighed. "I am in no hurry. I would prefer to be a hopeless housewife than one who has contented herself to the banalities of childrearing and domestication. "She had a feeling this was not exactly what the duchess wanted to hear but she wanted to get it out in the open before it was too late.

"My mother was more than a homemaker." Terryn crossed her arms over her chest. "She was a noble woman who spoke with a bright head and commanded respect. She had no fear of watching a jousting tournament, or of pretending she was part of one. She did not fear taking a ride through the forest because she knew she could defend herself against thieves better than most men. And furthermore..." She nearly glared at the duchess. "She despised needlework."

"No, a homemaker stays at home all day and does nothing but tend to her husband and children. My mother and my father both raised us, and they both had lives outside of the home." Terryn glanced at the earl for a moment, her eyes full of a fire that startled even the old man. It had been years since he saw that look. "I daresay you wouldn't label my father as a homemaker, so why would my mother be?"

"Just because society did not accept her as a professional does not make her a common housewife. She was in charge of the manor's expenses until the day she died, and my father gave her a more than modest sum for her efforts. So if you wish to see it that way, then my father was her employer, and the money she earned would have normally been taken by frauds attempting to scam my ready to please father out of house and home." She glanced at the earl with slight embarrassment. "No offense, Father."

"None taken." He muttered quietly, keeping his eyes on his plate and becoming very interested in his chicken leg.