‘Only until Charity is free.’ There was no point in delaying the big announcement. ‘She’s been given one of the lead soprano roles inThe Marriage of Figaroat Covent Garden. It will open in January.’ Hope tried to inject as much excitement into her sister’s brilliant achievement as she could as they walked into the house, understanding that Faith needed to hear it properly and Charity deserved the credit too. They were settled in a sunny parlour awaiting tea by the time she finished.
‘Why that is marvellous! I am so happy for her!’ And by the delighted look on her face, Faith was more than just happy at Charity’s success. There was something different about her. A radiance and vitality which she assumed was everything to do with Piers and her new-found happiness with him, and which she might well have glowed with herself less than a week ago when everything about her future had seemed rosy. ‘What else have I missed? As much as I have adored honeymooning all summer, I’ve missed you all horrendously. I don’t think our family have ever been apart for this long before.’
‘Well... I got a publisher for my book.’ How hollow that all felt now despite the beaming smile she forced. ‘Cooper and Son’s bought it, so I will finally be in Hatchard’s in the New Year. January as well, so that will be quite the month, what with Charity’s opening.’
‘Oh, Hope!’
Faith jumped up and bounded over, hugging her again, her usually slender waist considerably fuller than normal. ‘That is the best news of all! Though I never doubted you could do it. You have always been so driven—I suppose all three of us follow Mama and Papa for that—but I always envied you your single-minded determination and confidence in your own abilities.’ Clearly Hope’s veil of bravado was supremely convincing if her most similar sibling hadn’t spotted all the raging uncertainties swirling beneath the surface.
As she stepped back, a surprisingly stiff summer breeze through the open windows plastered the bold yellow muslin to her eldest sister’s body and her hand instinctively went to her stomach as Hope’s eyes dropped there. Then she beamed again, her gaze immediately going to her husband and the pair of them shared such a look of overwhelming affection the intensity of it actually hurt. The wave of longing for Luke suddenly so intense her chest ached.
‘As you can probably see, Piers and I have some news too.’ Faith smoothed her dress tight and the tell-tale shape of her bump was unmistakable.
‘You’re pregnant!’ Another pang of emotion floored her. Not just the overwhelming happiness for her sister, but a deep well of sadness for herself, mourning the sudden loss of something she hadn’t realised she wanted but which had been torn away when Luke had left her.
‘I am. Very. I’ve been holding out to tell you all in the flesh, Piers’s family too. So please don’t write to Mama and Papa about it till we all head back to London at the end of the month. I want to see their faces when they realise they will be grandparents.’
‘Our mother will be beside herself.’ Hope could picture it already. The fussing, the fawning. The proud shouting from the rooftops. ‘She’ll be counting the minutes till she can call herself Grandmama and will likely bankrupt Papa with all the shopping she will do. When is the baby due?’
Faith and Piers shared an odd look, before she shrugged and laughed. ‘January too. Once again, I fear the Brookes family of Bloomsbury shall have to endure another scandal as nobody is going to believe this little thing will be a good four months premature.’ She patted her stomach again, looking so blissfully happy, Hope was filled with envy. ‘The world will know we anticipated her vows.’
A habit which was clearly a Brookes family trait, seeing as she had too. Not that she held out any hope that she and Luke would now take any, because she certainly wouldn’t beg. And if the stubborn wretch had that little trust in her to have believed her guilt in the first instance, she wanted no part of him.
Perhaps, if she kept telling herself that, she would come to believe it.
‘But scandal is our middle name after all.’ Faith brushed it away as no matter, obviously no longer caring one whit what the world had to say about her. ‘Although according to Charity’s frequent and salacious letters, you’ve been the one causing all the scandal of late, Hope—and with a dissolute marquess no less. The one you allegedly pushed in the fountain at my engagement ball.’
That comment earned her a very knowing look over the rim of Faith’s teacup. One which made it plain Charity had told her absolutely everything she knew. ‘Our baby sister says he is big and tall, is as handsome as sin and looks like a pirate. She is utterly convinced he isthe oneand that, as unlikely as it seems when one considers that you have always been more cynical than I, Charity is adamant you are hopelessly in love with him. Is she correct?’ The familiar teasing tone caused a knot of hurt in Hope’s throat that would take all her legendary bravado to hide. ‘Are more wedding bells imminent?’
She tried to swallow past it. Tried to smile. But it was then, to her complete horror and shame, that the unsentimental, emotionless and pessimistic middle Brookes sister did something she hadn’t done in front of another living soul since the day she turned fifteen. She collapsed against her most level-headed sibling in an emotional and noisy heap, then cried her eyes out for over an hour.
Chapter Twenty-Three
‘So let me get this straight...’ Alone together in the drawing room after poor Piers had beaten a hasty retreat, Faith passed Hope yet another clean handkerchief to blow her nose in. ‘Somebody leaked the story to the newspapers and Luke thinks it was you. You are certain about that?’
She retrieved his tatty final missive from her pocket and passed it to her sister, then cried some more. ‘I didn’t even deserve the benefit of the doubt. Just a goodbye.’
Faith stared at the note for the longest time, then screwed up her face. ‘I see hurt here, Hope—but not goodbye.’
‘His leaving was the goodbye. His housekeeper said he packed up everything before they all left and instructed her to close up the house. He isn’t coming back.’
Her sister wrapped one arm around her shoulders and tugged her close. ‘He’s hurting. Men are at their most irrational when they are in pain.’
‘He should have at least talked to me. Looked me in the eye to make his egregious accusations.’ Given her a chance to make him see sense. ‘But Luke always thinks he knows best and then runs on ahead, half-cocked.’ Trying to do the right thing to protect those he loved most of all.
‘Who else knows about his mother’s past? Physicians? Servants? Former associates and acquaintances?’
‘I have no idea.’ And no clue where to start. She had hammered on the door of the newspaper the same afternoon Luke and his mother left, demanding to know who their source was, and had been kicked out on her ear.
‘Did you tell anyone anything? Is it possible you were overheard discussing it?’
‘Not with Luke...no. We were...’ She stopped herself before she said the wordsin my bedroom, but her sudden wince was all it took to convey that truth to her wily sister.
‘Ahh... Isee.’
‘We weren’t...’ She could feel her cheeks heating. ‘At least not then...’
Faith patted her hand and grinned at the confession. ‘It’s all right, Sister dear. You do not need to explain that to me. Not when I am the one who walked up the aisle apparently at least three months pregnant. With the right man, all propriety flies straight out of the window along with all your inhibitions.’ Then her eyes flicked to Hope’s stomach. ‘Is there a chance you could be...?’
