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The older woman appeared to shrug off the talk of wealth. ‘How much dowry do your sisters need?’
Melina told her.
She tilted her head back. ‘That’s all?’ She smiled. ‘My dear, I will quietly see to having the funds for you. I think I could arrange it within a few days.’
Melina shivered. To think, she could be on board a ship for Melos—with a dowry for both sisters.
‘What will my father think, spending the funds?’
The woman put her hand to her cheek. ‘Oh. It was such a horrible injustice to both my husband and me when my father died and left all his funds in the care of my cousin. And my relative, he is such a strange young man. He will not listen to a word concerning the accounts unless it is from my lips. I could throw every pence into the ocean and he would simply say, “It’s what your father wanted”.’ She smiled at Melina. ‘You know, I think it never occurred to my husband who might have suggested such a spurious arrangement to my father before he died. It was at a particularly rough time in my life, when I’d just seen a painting of you, my dear.’ She reached out and examined her gloves. ‘I do feel I owe you.’ Lady Hawkins stood. ‘I must get home, although my husband will not even notice I’m gone. He painted well into the night and woke early to catch the light. He found inspiration again—and the rest of the world is lost to him.’
Melina rose, and the woman moved close to her, looking intensely at her.
‘I can’t help but see my own children in your face.’ She shook her head. ‘And I never really thought to see you standing before me.’ Her features eased. ‘I didn’t know how I would truly feel if I saw you, but you’re a lovely woman.’
She looked at the harpoon again. ‘I’m sure the painting session will be nearly over when I return home. But...’ she touched her hand to Melina’s ‘...should you encounter a problem, I’d be pleased if you send a message to me. I will help you as my own daughter—quietly, of course. I’m not ready to explain the truth to my children. They have been sheltered, I think, from their father’s true nature. I would like as little upset as possible in the flow of my life.’ Her eyes had a malevolent glint. ‘I do like taking my husband’s secrets and keeping them from him.’
‘I understand.’
Her face softened again. ‘I would be pleased if you consider me a friend.’ She hesitated in the doorway. ‘In some deep part of my mind, I must have wondered since he returned with the painting of the three girls playing in the waves. That one.’ She looked to the wall. ‘Their faces were obscured.’ She winced. ‘Such a painting was not his usual style. And when I saw the portrait of your face...and then the mark...’ she touched above her breast ‘...like my own daughter.’ Her eyes wavered. ‘You were no longer a stranger to me. You were a part of my family. I only ask that you keep our ties private.’
When her father’s wife walked out through the door, Melina knew she had no reason not to return to Melos. She could take funds back to her sisters and buy the statue. But now the island felt lonely to her in a way she’d never noticed before. She would be returning to a gaol, locked alone with her heart—and dreams too secret to mention aloud.
Warrington had distanced himself from her and she knew he wouldn’t even let his thoughts linger on her. They were still taken by another woman.
Chapter Twenty-One
Melina sat in the children’s room, which for some reason smelled like linseed oil—possibly someone’s idea of a good cleaning solution. She felt an intense need to be near the little girl who had no true father and whose mother had died.
Willa chewed her doll’s painted shoe. The nursery maid slept, lips parted, in a chair beside the window.
Melina didn’t know if she should wake the woman up and tell her it was the children’s bedtime, or put the little ones to bed herself and let the nursemaid wake naturally.
Quietly, Jacob walked to his sister and snatched her doll from her arms. Willa lunged at him without a cry and her teeth went for his leg. He jumped aside, his hand at her hair, restraining her. All done in silence.
‘Give the doll back to her,’ Melina commanded. He did, shoving it between her mouth and his leg.
‘She bites hard,’ he said. He stepped back, staring at his sister. ‘Don’t you, Ratface?’
