Diamonds & Deceit (29 page)

Georgiana clasped her hands together to stop their trembling as she sat in the pony trap, rattling up the drive toward the white cliff of Somerton Court. Of all her many escapades, she was sure this was the one that would land her in the most trouble. Breaking a window was one thing, climbing the oak tree at the end of the drive and getting stuck up there was another, but going to the worst parts of London with no warning, in a stolen car, and staying away a whole night? She felt faint at the thought of the reaction that awaited her. But she had had no choice. The longer she looked at it the more certain she was that she and Michael had done the right thing.

“Do you think my father is home yet?” she asked the groom anxiously.

“He is, my lady. Back an hour ago,” answered Jevins.

Georgiana swallowed. As they came up the drive she could see that not only was her father’s Rolls there, but several other cars as well. The wedding guests had begun to arrive. Ada would be under immense stress already, on the eve of the most demanding day of her life, and she had made it worse. She wondered how she would face her.

The pony trap drew up in front of the doors and Georgiana hopped down. The groom gave her an understanding grimace.

“Good luck, miss,” he said.

“Thank you Jevins. I’ll need it.” Georgiana turned miserably toward the house and walked up the steps. To her surprise there was no one in the hall. In the distance she could hear shouting voices, and a moment later recognized them as her father’s and Lord Fintan’s. A door slammed, and she caught a snatch of their words.

“…Never, as a father, have I ever been so enraged.…”

Georgiana stood stock-still, confused and nervous. What could be going on? As she listened, the servants’ door flew open and Cooper came out, almost at a run.

“Oh my lady, is it you?” he exclaimed, clearly flustered. “I thought James would be up here, and when I realized there was no one to receive visitors—”

“It’s quite all right, Cooper. I can see that everyone is under a strain.” Georgiana handed him her hat. “What is going on? Have the guests arrived?”

“They have arrived, indeed, my lady, but the family are—are occupied and not able to see them.” Cooper’s stammer told Georgiana he was hiding something. She frowned.

“Cooper, what has happened? You must tell me.”

“Well—to be honest, my lady, it’s all of a kerfuffle.” Cooper’s eyes bloomed with tears. “Things were proceeding in an organized manner, though that Mrs. McRory is a Tartar, and one or two of the staff have told me in confidence they’ll be giving notice as soon as the wedding is done, for they weren’t happy about what happened to Priya—and in all honesty neither am I entirely confident in my conscience about that young lady—but now there seems to be some disagreement between Lord Fintan and His Lordship.”

“Disagreement!” Georgiana was shocked, and at once conscious of how embarrassing this was, in front of her guests. “The settlement was arranged a month ago—but I shouldn’t be speaking of this to you, Cooper.” She remembered herself quickly.

“No, indeed my lady, and certainly not in the public hallway,” Cooper reproved her.

“Georgiana!” came Rose’s voice. Georgiana turned quickly. Rose was standing on the landing, and she came down the stairs with hasty steps as she spoke. “There you are at last.”

Cooper melted discreetly away. Georgiana steeled herself for a telling off, but Rose hurried on, speaking in a low voice as she reached her. “Have you any idea what is going on? Ada is locked in her room, Céline says she won’t even allow her in to dress her. Charlotte is locked in
her
room, and I am certain I heard her sobbing through the door. Father and Laurence seem to be having a dreadful argument in the library, the countess is beside herself, and I have been desperately trying to entertain two bishops and a lord, all of whom are most offended that Lord Westlake has not yet arrived to welcome them.” She put a hand to her forehead. “I just don’t understand what is going on.”

“Neither do I!” Georgiana was astonished—it seemed no one had even realized that she and Michael were gone, and no wonder, if things were in such a confusion.

“We must see Ada. If she is having doubts—” Rose hesitated. “I don’t know what is in her mind, but we must go to her. She needs us now more than ever before.”

“Of course we must!” Georgiana exclaimed. She took Rose’s hand and together they ran up the stairs to Ada’s bedroom.

Céline was standing by the door, tapping gently. “My lady,” she called softly. She looked up in relief as Rose and Georgiana came toward her.

“Thank you, Céline, you may leave it to us now.” Georgiana stepped past her to tap at the door. Céline retreated.

“Ada,” Georgiana knocked. “Ada, dear, it’s us—Georgie and Rose. Your sisters. Please let us in? We want to help. Whatever it is, we want to help.”

She listened to a long silence. Her heart trembled. What if Ada didn’t reply? What could be making her behave so strangely? But then she heard a soft footstep, and the sound of the door being unlocked.

She breathed a sigh and glanced at Rose. Together they opened the door and walked in.

Ada was standing by the window. She seemed to have been looking through some old letters, for she had a small wooden box, of Indian make, open before her on the dressing table. She closed the box and turned to face them. Next to her, the wedding dress on its stand, a massy, delicate cloud of ivory, seemed like a ghostly mirage, a headless version of Ada. She stood to one side of it, slight and pale. She looked as if she had been weeping.

Georgiana raced across the floor. Rose was right behind her.

“My dear Ada,” Georgiana exclaimed as she put her arms around her sister. “What can be the matter?”

Ada’s smile fluttered on her face for a moment.

“Dear Georgie,” she said. She sounded washed out as a day after rain, but she didn’t cry. “I suppose nothing is the matter, really—everything has worked itself out. At least, I understand a good deal now that I didn’t before, and I suppose that is for the best.”

“What do you mean?” Rose asked.

Ada shrugged. “Only that Laurence doesn’t love me. He loves Charlotte. I found them kissing in the conservatory.”

Georgiana was speechless. Then she gasped. “What! Oh no, it can’t be—it can’t be. He loves you dearly. I know he does.”

“I could never have believed it.” Rose sounded equally shocked. She put an arm around Ada. “You know I never quite believed he was good enough for you—but I never doubted Laurence loved you beyond all things.”

“I think he loves me in a way,” Ada said calmly. “But he isn’t brave enough to be honest with himself about what he truly wants, about who he truly is. He wants a version of me that doesn’t exist. He wants a version of himself that doesn’t exist. And I—I want the truth. Mirages won’t do for me. I have realized that now.”

Rose sat down suddenly on the bed. “But what are you going to do?” she said, looking up at Ada. “The wedding is today. Can you go through with it, knowing what you know?”

Ada was silent.

Georgiana turned to her. The entire horror of the situation now struck her. Do what she might, Ada was faced with a terrible choice. “Ada?” she said. “What are you going to do?”

Ada shook her head.

“I don’t know. I must have time to think.” She looked up at Rose. “You were right all along. I knew you were, but I didn’t admit it. I was as cowardly as Laurence, in my own way. I didn’t understand him, and I didn’t understand myself. I am sorry.”

“Oh, Ada, you must never apologize to me!” Rose got up and put her arms around her. Holding her close, she said, “I have so much to apologize for too. I was caught up in my own emotions, I didn’t see that you were struggling. I should have been there for you, I should have been a better sister.”

“You have always been the best of sisters—both of you,” Ada said warmly. She hesitated. “And…if I have been the cause of any misunderstanding between you and the Duke of Huntleigh, I am very sorry. I took my assessment of his character from Laurence, but now I—I think my source may not have been the most reliable judge.”

Rose shook her head sadly. “He’s gone,” she said quietly. “I made my decision, and it’s over.”

Ada looked at her in sudden surprise. “He proposed, then?”

Rose nodded. “I rejected him,” she said, her voice trembling.

“Oh dear, all these unhappy love stories!” Georgiana exclaimed. A few months ago, the season had seemed so full of promise, she had dreamed of beginning her own first season. And now…now it seemed that nothing was that simple. Love could end even though it was true love. Love could be false love, or the wrong kind of love, or love that came at the wrong time to the right people, or at the right time to the wrong people. She had thought it as solid and immutable as a diamond, but it seemed to be as changeable and varied as the weather.

“I must think,” Ada said. “I must be alone, I hope you understand.”

“Of course we do,” Rose said, and Georgiana echoed her. Together, they left the room silently.

Michael paced back and forth across the sickroom. He had had little sleep, and had been waking every hour to administer the medicine the doctor had left for Priya. All sense of time had fled from him, and he sometimes thought he was dreaming as he walked.

“Michael…” Priya’s voice was feeble and hoarse, but she had spoken. She was awake.

He threw himself forward, kneeling at her bedside. He pressed her hand. Her thick eyelashes fluttered like shadows on her cheeks. “Priya!”

“It’s all right,” she whispered. Even now, she was comforting him.

“Are you thirsty? Can I get you anything?” he asked. “The doctor will be back soon. You’re safe now, nothing will harm you again. I promise.”

He was desperate to protect her. Her fingers tightened on his. His eyes filled with tears “Priya, I want you to know that I’ll kill William.”

“No! You must promise not to.”

“Why should I?” He saw her flinch, and lowered his voice. “Damn it, I will, but I don’t understand why you want to protect the monster.”

“It’s not him I want to protect. It’s you. I don’t want to see you go to prison. I couldn’t bear that. Promise me you won’t do anything foolish.”

Michael could hear the fear and panic in her voice. He swallowed. “Very well, I promise.”

“Thank you.” Her head fell wearily back on the pillow and he saw her smile faintly. “We’ll have a little house, won’t we, Michael?”

He clutched her fingers. “Yes. With a garden for the child to play in.”

“And there’ll be fruit trees. And enough room for my parents when they grow old.”

“Plenty of room for all of them, and your brothers too.” He could see the house in his mind’s eye. The roses growing around the door, the hens pecking in the yard. Maybe a swing hanging from the apple tree…

A look of sudden pain crossed her face, and she groaned. Michael saw terror in her eyes. “The baby,” she gasped.

Michael leapt up and rang the bell. He threw open the door and shouted down the corridor: “Get the doctor! Quick! Now!”

Rose stood silently as Céline busied herself with putting the finishing touches to the delicate folds of her bridesmaid’s gown. To her right, Georgiana, being dressed by Annie, was just as silent, and Rose could see, when she glanced into the mirror, the furrow of anxiety between her eyebrows. She felt pained by it. Georgiana was too young, she thought, to be burdened like this.

Céline and Annie seemed to sense that something was wrong, for they hurried about their work silently. Rose could take no pleasure in the dress. All her thoughts were with Ada, all the thoughts she could not speak aloud in front of the maids. What would Ada do? What would she decide?

As if reading her mind, Céline murmured, “Perhaps Annie and I might go and see if Lady Ada is ready to be dressed yet, my lady. It will take some time to get the dress quite perfect.”

Rose hesitated. They had left Ada alone an hour, and it was now nine o’clock. She knew Céline was right, but she hated to hurry Ada. “I suppose you must,” she said reluctantly.

As soon as Céline and Annie had gone, Georgiana sat down on the bed, her face the picture of misery. “Oh, Rose, what will we do?” she asked in an undertone. “I don’t want Ada to marry that awful man now. Of course I don’t. But how can she refuse? The guests are downstairs!”

“Calm yourself. I’m sure Ada will make the right decision.” Rose went toward her and pressed her sister’s hands between her own. “And it—it isn’t always necessary, you know, to marry for love.…” Her voice failed her, and she could not meet Georgiana’s candid eyes.

“Isn’t it? Do you really think that?” Georgiana’s voice had a note of bitterness in it, and again Rose winced to hear it.

She knew Ada had a hard choice ahead of her. Could she truly marry Laurence under such circumstances? If she did not, how would the family escape Sir William’s debts? She longed for Ada to refuse to marry him, but she knew that even if the financial situation were not so pressing, Ada would have little support in such a decision. No one was so foolish, she had learned, as to think that in society one married for love.

“No,” she said in a low voice. “But if Ada chooses to marry Lord Fintan, we mustn’t judge her. We must support her.”

There was a quick knock at the door, and Céline came in. She looked frightened, and she held an envelope in her hand. “My lady, I could not find her,” she began. “She was not in her room. It seems that she has dressed herself, and perhaps she has simply gone for a walk, but…this envelope was on the dressing table.”

She handed the envelope to Rose, who took it. It was addressed to their father. A thousand thoughts rushed through her mind. Of course, Ada could just have gone for a walk. But then why leave a note? Her fingers trembled and the writing moved before her eyes. She looked down. Georgiana was gazing at her with wide eyes. “We must take this to Father,” she said, only just managing to keep her voice from shaking.

As she went out of the room, Rose’s foot knocked against something by the door. She looked down to see a corner of white paper, protruding from under the carpet. Georgiana and Céline were just ahead of her, and she bent to pick the paper up. It was a second envelope, and this one was addressed to her, also in Ada’s handwriting.

“Rose, are you coming?” Georgiana called back to her.

Rose slipped the envelope that was addressed to her into her pocket and hurried after them. Her heart beat uncomfortably fast as she went down the stairs. She could hear the raised voices of the guests as they milled in the reception rooms. The study door was ajar and she followed Georgiana in.

Laurence, a frightened, mutinous expression on his face, was standing behind Lord Westlake’s great desk, almost as if it were a defense. The earl and countess were having a furious whispered conversation by the fireplace. Rose heard the countess say, “…can make no difference,” and the earl reply, “My dear, have you no sensitivity at all to her feelings?”

“Father, Ada isn’t in her room,” Rose said, coming forward, holding out the envelope Céline had found. She kept the other hidden behind her back. “There may be a normal explanation, but…this was left on the dressing table.”

Her father’s expression showed at once that he understood what the note might be. He ripped open the envelope and read in silence. Laurence came forward anxiously and hovered at his side.

“My goodness, don’t keep us all waiting! What has happened?” the countess demanded.

“Here, read it—you may as well all know. I see no way of keeping this quiet.” Lord Westlake threw the note into her hands and clapped his hands to his face, rubbing his forehead hard. He sighed and paced away. “Damn it, I can’t blame her. I am an example of what happens when you marry without love.”

Georgiana and Rose exchanged a look and moved to read over the countess’s shoulder. Rose took in the few lines at a glance:

Dear Papa, Please forgive me. I have gone away to think. I will shall be staying with Miss Hannah Darford in London. Laurence should marry Charlotte. I think they will be happy together. Love, Ada

Rose could hardly repress a smile. She knew it was a catastrophe—knew that this could plunge her family into financial ruin—but she could not help it. She was glad, glad that Ada had rebelled against the life planned out for her, had followed her heart.

“Damn it, how dare she!” Laurence exclaimed.

“How dare
she
?” the earl roared at him. “Your behavior, sir, was scandalous, improper—”

“I don’t try to excuse myself, but it’s no reason to act in such an insane manner,” Laurence retorted.

“But what are we to do?” the countess interrupted, sounding as close to hysterical as Rose had ever heard her.

“Do about what? Ada appears to have done everything that needs doing; I see nothing we can do in response,” the earl replied.

“Do about the wedding, I mean! She simply cannot do this. She may not do this. I forbid it!”

“But she has done it,” Rose said. Her hand closed on the other note, the one addressed to her. There was something more to the story, she was sure.

“Well, she must be brought back again! I am not facing all our guests and telling them there is to be no wedding—”

“Is to be no wedding?” the Duchess of Ellingborough said, sweeping through the door. “But I distinctly understood that I was invited to the wedding of Lady Ada and Lord Fintan. Has something untoward happened?”