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The silence was her answer.
Of course, her friends wouldn’t try to reassure her. They agreed with her. All that had happened was Olivia’s fault. Maybe there was merit to society’s rules after all. If Olivia hadn’t said anything, her friends wouldn’t be at discourse, and Olivia wouldn’t feel humiliated. Again.
“I just wanted what was best,” Olivia tried again.
Annalise raised her head toward her. “It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. Caroline is obviously distressed. I feel I need to speak to her.”
“Just not on my account,” Lavinia said. “Please, if you speak with her, do not bring up my name. I have never had a hold over Kensington, and I never will. I don’t want my emotions to come between your friendship with Caroline.”
“Of course.” Annalise stood. “Do you want me to bring you anything to drink?”
“No.” Lavinia shook her head. “I just want to be left alone for a while.”
After Annalise left, Olivia hovered in indecision. Lavinia leaned against the sofa and closed her eyes.
“I… I am going to leave, too,” Olivia finally said. Lavinia opened her eyes and directed a sad smile toward Olivia. “I am sorry to have caused you pain.”
Without waiting for an answer, Olivia hurried out of the room and walked resolutely, not looking where she was going.
Somehow, she ended up outside of the house. She looked around, thinking of where to go next, what to do.
Olivia inhaled the scent of the fresh grass after the rain and headed for the gardens. Once there, she found a solitary bench, wiped it with her handkerchief, and sat.
She didn’t know how long she was sitting there when the sound of footsteps signaled someone’s approach. Olivia took a deep breath, fully prepared to leave when the intruder peeked from behind the rose bushes.
“There you are,” Jarvis’s jubilant voice sounded and immediately lifted her mood.
Jarvis had gotten up that morning with his mind made up. He was going to leave the house party. Watching Olive flirt and spend every waking hour in Bradshaw’s company wasn’t as easy as he’d hoped it would be. It was soul-crushing.
He needed to get back to the city, back to his investigations. To hell with Erebus and his threats. There was nothing he could do to scare Jarvis. Nothing he could do to make him stay inside. Not unless he had Jarvis killed.
With that resolution in mind, he went in search of Olivia. He couldn’t very well leave without talking to her first.
She was nowhere in the vast country house. She wasn’t on the patio or either of the drawing rooms, so he ventured outside.
To his luck, he found her fairly quickly, but what he saw when he found her made his heart constrict.
Olivia was sitting on the wet bench, surrounded by soaked flowers, her hair disheveled as if she’d tugged on her locks one too many times. She’d taken off her gloves and was nervously picking at her fingertips. She looked distressed.
But the moment she raised her head and beheld him, her eyes lit up.
“I’ve been looking all over for you,” he said in a carefree tone of voice.
Olivia’s lower lip quivered as she tried to speak. “You were?”
Jarvis frowned. What in the devil had happened? If that bastard Bradshaw had hurt her in any way, Jarvis would make certain to dump his coffin into the Thames. Preferably while he was still alive.
“Yes. I… do you mind if I sit?”
“No.” Olivia looked around. One fat tear fell from her cheek, and she wiped it without meeting his gaze. “Only there’s a small puddle next to me on the bench.”
“Not a bother.” Jarvis took one handkerchief and chased the water off the bench. He then wiped the seat with another handkerchief and sat down. “So, do you want to tell me what you are doing here, sitting on a wet bench surrounded by wilted flowers?”
Olivia let out a nervous giggle while another tear fell down her cheek. “I think I just lost my friends.”
Jarvis raised a brow. “How?”
“By being inconsiderate, rude, and insensitive. Just like I must always seem to everyone.”
