Lily plucked the paper from her fingers, grateful for a trip to the confectioner’s and an escape from the house. “Of course.” She squinted to read the tight handwriting. “E.C. Rich Crystal Ginger. Is that it?”
Rose nodded, but Fern’s jaw dropped open on a gasp. “Oh my word. Vi asked me what I used for the nausea when I—”
Rose’s identical gasp cut her off. “Do you think she’s—”
“But she doesn’t—”
“She could be—”
Lily held out her hands. “You’re having a twin conversation that I can’t follow. Translate, please?”
Fern released a sigh as though indignant her eldest sister couldn’t keep up. “Violet asked what helped me control the nausea when I was in my early days with this one.” She ran her hand over the back of Emily’s head, and the girl snuffed in her sleep. “If she asked Rose to get some ginger for her—”
Now it was Lily’s turn to gasp. “The way she and Callum have been behaving, I’m not surprised.”
“Neither am I.” Rose’s eyes glittered. “But we have to wait for her to tell us.”
“Of course.” Lily tugged at the bottom of her jacket and glanced out the window. The sun was still high enough for her to make the brief journey into Oxford and return before nightfall. “I’ll go now.”
Rose heaved a sigh. “Thank you, Lills.”
Lily’s own words of gratitude stuck in her throat, gratitude for their sisterhood, their care. More than anything at that moment, the chance to ride away from the confusion brewing inside her.
Chapter 10
“WhatAuntMargaretwants,Aunt Margaret gets.”
Lifting his booted foot high to step over a fallen branch, Philip chuckled at James’s statement, knowing the truth of it. The woman had been the least effective chaperone in the history of debutantes during his courtship with Lily but had threatened to convert him to a eunuch if he did anything to compromise her reputation.
On the elderly woman’s orders, Philip and Callum had led Ben, Timothy, and James into a copse of trees just north of the property to hunt for mistletoe and additional greenery for the house. Apparently this constituted an emergency, because the woman had ordered Callum to take up a rifle and start the search before Timothy and James had time to unpack.
“Is it normal for me to be terrified of her?” James asked, and Timothy gave him an affectionate grin.
“Aunt Margaret? Perfectly normal,” Callum deadpanned, squinting up into the branches obscuring the gray winter sky. “She’s fucking terrifying. Is that some?”
Ben peered through the binoculars he’d borrowed from the viscount. “I think so. We don’t have much wild mistletoe in Brooklyn. I didn’t know it was a tree.”
“It’s not.” James loaded the shotgun and handed it to Callum. “The seeds are sticky, so when birds eat them and defecate, the seeds stick to the upper branches of the trees. Hence our need to shoot it down.”
Philip winced. “Does that mean we decorate with…”
“Shite berries,” Callum grumbled, then aimed and fired. The blast shattered the muted winter air, and the clump of green branches and white berries tumbled to the forest floor.
Branches snapped beneath their feet as the men ambled forward through the low brush to their quarry. James gathered the mistletoe and put it in the large canvas laundry sack Philip was using to drag around the previous four bunches they’d collected.
“Did you have a chance to speak to Lily yet?” James asked in a low voice.
Philip tied the sack shut and heaved it over his shoulder. “I have, and it’s not a secret to these gents.”
“Good.” He brushed his hands off on his trousers. “How did it go?”
Callum snorted. “Based on the look she gave ye a few minutes ago, not well.”
Timothy clapped his hand on Philip’s shoulder. “We knew this would be difficult.”
“I know.” Philip’s chest tightened as he remembered how Lily had fled from their bedroom, and he wanted to kick himself for such a foolish, thoughtless remark about earning her forgiveness. But she wouldn’t have allowed him to take those liberties with her if she didn’t trust him on some level. Holding her,tastingher had been a revelation, had made the entire journey to break free of his dependence on opium worthwhile.
“Is that all you’re going to say about it?” Ben asked. “I know?”
