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Victoria opened the lid and beheld their mother’s diamond choker, the necklace she’d worn on her wedding day so long ago. “I would love to, Amelia, but Papa would be so hurt if I didn’t—”
“You will wear the pearls—in your hair. Now take this. I want you to have it.”
She shook her head. “I will only wear them today,” she compromised. “Mama bequeathed it to you specifically. You should wear it on your wedding day.”
Amelia’s eyes dimmed. “I doubt that day will ever come for me, Victoria.”
“Has there been no word?”
“I sent him a letter, but I’ve yet to receive any reply.”
“He is Julius’s best man and you are my maid of honor. You’ll have plenty of opportunity to—”
“Cause a scandal at your wedding by accosting a man who wants nothing to do with me? I think not. Papa would never forgive me.”
“My wedding is already a scandal,” Victoria said, laughing.
“All the more reason to avoid yet more,” her sister replied primly. “Besides, your intended already told me he’s spoken with him about what happened. He would say nothing more on the matter, only that the rest was up to me and Withington. Do you not think he would have approached me by now if he was still interested? But he hasn’t.” She looked down at the carpet and her voice grew suspiciously thick. “And he won’t. I burned that bridge behind me. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s vowed never to even speak my name again.”
Victoria took up her sister’s hands and squeezed them. “You won’t know that until you see him.”
“Don’t you ever concede?”
“I should think you’d know the answer to that by now,” Victoria replied.
The moment she finished breakfast, her world was launched into barely controlled chaos. She stood as Amelia and Hannah helped her into her gown and fussed over her coiffure—and the pearls.
“I shall be eternally glad that Papa didn’t think to cancel the order for my wedding gown,” Victoria mused, turning before the mirror to admire her reflection. Yards of rich amethyst-and-silver brocade were spread across panniers wide enough to please the queen herself. Her eyes picked up the color, making them appear lavender. “If I am to wed in disgrace, at least I shall look like a proper bride.”
“No one will say a word,” reassured Amelia, fastening their mother’s diamonds about her throat. “And so what if they do? If anything, you may attribute any malicious gossip to jealousy. Not only have you managed to bag a Cavendish, but yours is truly a love match.”
A knock sounded at the door, and they heard their father’s voice through the wood. “May I come in?”
“Of course, Papa,” Victoria said, smiling. Everything had changed between them. The forgiveness she’d extended to her sister had spread in her heart like a contagion to include him as well. Her smile dimmed only a little as she spied the box in his hands. Oh, no…
He paused upon espying the glittering jewels about her neck. “Your mother’s necklace.” He looked to Amelia. “I did not know—”
“It is only on loan,” Victoria explained, shooting Amelia a quelling look.
He pursed his lips and handed her the box. “Well, perhaps you’ll wear these later.”
She opened it, and sure enough, it contained pearls—unusual, dark pearls that shone with a deep amethyst-and-rose sheen. There was a necklace, a wide bracelet, and earrings—all perfectly matched. “They are beautiful, Papa,” she said. And this time she actually meant it. “I’ve never seen the like.”
“Pearls were your mother’s jewel of choice,” he said softly, reaching out to touch them. “She liked them better than any other, even diamonds. She admired their warm light and smoothness. Said they reminded her of the seaside where she was born and lived as a child, of happy times. When you were born she called you her perfect little pearl.”
Victoria felt a flush rise to her cheeks. Mama had called her that all the way up until she’d asked her to stop because it embarrassed her so.
“Every time I see you wearing them, it makes me think of how happy she was the day the midwife placed you in her arms. She bequeathed them to you, you know—her pearls. You were too young to witness the reading of the will, but I have followed her wishes faithfully and have on each birthday given you something from among her treasures. This is the last,” he said, gazing down at the box in her hands. “Fitting that her very favorite should come to you on your wedding day.”
Tears sprang into her eyes, and she swallowed past the lump in her throat. She hadn’t known…
The pearls—all of them she had received over the years—suddenly took on new significance. He had given them to her out of love and memory, not out of spite.
Reaching behind her with trembling hands, she undid the clasp on the diamond necklace and handed it back to Amelia. “I thank you for your thoughtfulness, but…”
Amelia smiled gently. “I understand.”
Victoria smiled back as her sister reached down, took the pearls, and helped her put them on.
