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“James, will you listen—”
“No. You listen, Beth. Please, just listen, and then if you ask me to I’ll go and never return.”
“Very well.” Beth tugged him toward the couch. “But sit down, James.”
He sat on top of a set of embroidered cushion covers, but Beth had always hated them so she remained silent. He wouldn’t let go of her hands. “I never expected to meet you. I was thinking of Rufus, and you sort of . . . crept up on me. I am so grateful I found you, Beth. I see now that my life has been missing a crucial component, an essential element, and without it nothing makes sense. Without you, Beth, nothing makes sense. Please, please, my love, say you will reconsider. Marry me. I swear you will never regret it.”
She waited, but he didn’t launch into any more impassioned speeches, and now it was her turn. While he had been speaking she had made a decision, and it was a decision she realized had been there all along, on the tip of her tongue.
“I know you meant well, James. When you told Rufus to persuade Averil to marry him, you were not acquainted with her, or me. But I still believe it was wrong, and if such an ill-considered idea ever pops into your head again, you must not let it past your lips.”
He nodded eagerly. “I won’t, Beth. I promise I’ll—”
“Hush, James. Whatever happens between Averil and your nephew is their own business. It is true that Averil is like a daughter to me and I will always do all I can to make her happy, but I have come to the conclusion that this is a matter between them. We cannot live their lives for them. They must sort it out themselves. You and I, well, that is a different kettle of fish.”
Another eager nod of the head, and a spark of hope in his wild eyes.
“James, we’re not young, and we must take hold of happiness when it presents itself and not let it slip through our fingers. I do love you and I want to marry you. These weeks away from you have been the most difficult I’ve ever known, and although I tried to pretend I could return to the life I had before, I can’t. I don’t want to.”
“Oh, my love,” he groaned and took her into his arms.
It was bliss, Beth thought, with a sigh. It really was. She couldn’t regret this, it just seemed so very right. At long last she had found the sort of happiness she’d dreamed of and she meant to hold on tight to it.
Averil saw the letter on the table inside the door, waiting for her, when she returned home after a long and eventful day. She had thought she might see Rufus again before she left but he didn’t come to the Home. Besides, what would she say?
I love you and I want you to marry me, even if it is for my money.
He might have played the hero today and saved her from whatever horrors Jackson and Sally Jakes had in store for her, and she might well love him, but she couldn’t swallow her pride and marry a man who only wanted her for her money. How could they live their lives happily ever after when that cold hard fact was always with them? And yet, Averil reminded herself, other couples married for wealth or bloodlines or family, and they managed to live reasonably happy lives.
For a moment she felt a spurt of hope but it soon faded. Others might live that sort of life, but it was not for her. The knowledge would eventually destroy her and any happiness she might hope for. And then there was the question of his honesty. Averil did not want a man who did not tell her the truth. Ever since she was a child, with so many questions and so little answers, she had made it her aim to be honest and to ask for honesty from others.
Averil sighed and picked up the letter. It was from Nanny Fredericks and she quickly opened it. Inside was a single sheet of paper, crisscrossed with the old lady’s spidery writing, and Averil took a moment to decipher it.
My dear Averil, she began, and there were several lines about how glad she’d been to see her, then there were more lines about life in the village, before finally she got to the point. I think there may have been a misunderstanding when you visited me recently. When you were leaving I said I thought I saw your mother, but I didn’t explain myself properly. It was the girl I saw, the young one you called Violet. She looked so like Anastasia it made me feel quite dizzy. I think, if you are looking for your sister, then you may have already found her . . .
“Violet?” she whispered. But Violet was Sally Jakes’s daughter. Wasn’t she? She lifted the locket from about her neck—she’d taken to wearing it all the time—and stared at her mother’s image. Was there a resemblance to Violet? They both had fair hair and pale blue eyes, but so did many other women.
“Averil?” Beth had come out of the parlor unnoticed.
“Oh.” She looked at the letter, about to tell Beth what she’d just read, but Beth wouldn’t let her speak.
“James Blainey is here, Averil.”
Averil finally noticed her companion’s flushed face and bright eyes, her smile that was in turn excited and guilty. And then James Blainey came up behind her, his face wearing the exact same look, and suddenly it all made sense.
“We’re getting married,” Beth blurted out.
“Married?” Averil gasped.
“Oh, my dear, I hope you don’t think I’m being disloyal.”
“Of course she doesn’t think that,” James said. “Averil only wants your happiness, my love.”
Averil realized that Beth was anxious because she might see her news as treachery. “Oh, Beth,” she said, and reached out to hug her. “I don’t think you’re disloyal at all! Of course you must marry James. Congratulations, and to you, too, James.”
James gave her a smile. He looked rather rumpled, as if he’d just arrived from Southbrook Castle, and that made her wonder if Eustace was in London, too, somewhere. And if Rufus knew.
“I must go back to the Mayfair house and tell Eustace the good news,” James said, answering one of her unspoken questions. He hesitated, not quite meeting her eyes. “Have you seen my nephew?” he asked tentatively.
