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“They came just after he was born,” she said in a low voice.
And what? They found him to their disliking? The boy was a rambunctious delight. He was half freckles and sunshine, half never-ending conversation and joy. Who would not like him? Though, Emily’s parents had met him as a baby. Perhaps he’d screamed all night? Still, that seemed a terribly shallow reason to never visit.
“Why haven’t they come again?” Dinah found herself asking. It was a bold question, but she and Emily had developed an easy friendship these past weeks, despite their great difference in dispositions. And after their most recent conversation with Aunt Beatrice, Dinah was feeling even closer to her sister-in-law.
Emily, lips pursed, turned back to her. “You must understand, the estate where I grew up was quite near Kingcup Estate, one of the Stanton holdings. I knew both Henry and David when they were boys. Still, my parents never approved of me marrying David. They always hoped Henry would...but...” She turned slightly pink.
Dinah knew a moment of painful jealousy; honestly, the thought that Emily’s parents believed she and Henry should make a match of it...well, it brought out something ugly in Dinah. Something she quickly shoved aside. After all, she was married to Henry, and Emily was not.
Then again, it wasn’t as though theirs was a love match. It wasn’t as though Henry reallywantedher.
“Regardless, David and I fell in love. And though I knew I was going against my parents’ desires, we were married. For a while, we still saw each other often enough. But their displeasure at my choice didn’t lessen. After a time, they visited me less frequently, and I didn’t return their visits as often as I should. We still wrote one another. But even that began to decrease after a while. There were a couple of years when more than nine months passed between our correspondences.”
“How terrible.” Dinah was in earnest; at least, her head was. Her heart was still reeling from the thought of Emily and Henry together. Perhaps Emily’s parents weren’t the only ones who had thought she and Henry would be good together. Had Henry cared for Emily? Wanted Emily?
“You think ill of them, don’t you?” Emily said.
“I think they should have respected your decision.”
“Perhaps, but they started writing me in earnest a couple of years ago, just after we all took up residence here in London. They said they were truly sorry for the way they acted and wished to make amends.”
“Oh?”
Emily looped her arm through Dinah’s, and they started walking again. “I was skeptical at first. But I knew I couldn’t blame all our estrangement on them if I wasn’t even willing to try when they were.”
“Have you exchanged many letters these past two years, then?” Dinah asked.
“Well over two dozen. I have to admit, I had not realized how much I missed having my parents in my life. I do truly believe they wish to put the past behind us. To make amends. When they suggested seeing me while they were in Town visiting a friend, I jumped at the opportunity.”
Sweet, delicate Emily; of course she had. “I hope the reunion proves to be everything you hope for.”
“Perhaps throwing a ball is going a bit far for a simple family reunion, but...” Her smile brightened. “I’ve never been able to say no to a party.”
“Me, neither,” Dinah said with a light laugh.
“Oh, heavens,” Emily cast her gaze upwards. “I so desperately want this ball to go perfectly.”
She seemed quite willing to forgive. Emily truly was a very kind woman.
Dinah knew a moment of guilt; being kind and forgiving had never been her strongest characteristic. Perhaps Henry was right to prefer someone like his sister-in-law over someone like her.
Emily squeezed Dinah’s arm. “I am so glad you have come to Angleside Court. It is a welcome change, having another woman in the house—I mean, one I can actually talk to.”
Dinah could well imagine.
“Ihavemet with a few childhood friends from time to time here in London,” Emily continued. “But that’s nothing at all like having someone I can speak to here, every day.”
“I can confess to having only ever seen one childhood friend here in London.” Mr. Collin, the boatswain who’d proposed to Eliza. Dinah had been worried for a time that her sister would accept the man; if she had, Dinah would have been forced to tell Eliza what she knew of him. And the things she knew were things she wasn’t supposed to know. Things regarding smuggling and the true reason he’d come to London.
Come to think of it...was that an angle that Henry had considered?
Dinah stopped and faced Emily directly. “I have just remembered something, something I wished to tell Henry.”
“He had business to see to in Town this morning, but I believe he is back now.”
Dinah absently nodded, her mind racing. All of Henry’s contacts were no longer safe to pursue—they were all either in prison or they believedhewas in prison. But Mr. Collin had once drunkenly admitted to Dinah a few names as well. Were they names Henry already knew? Or might these men—who possibly knew nothing of Henry—be exactly what they needed to continue searching for Steven’s killer?
“Yes,” Dinah said, “I think I will go see if I can find him now.”
