Enemy of Mine (22 page)

With that tiny glimpse at clarity, Erva turned back to the door, catching sight of a sneering Winny. Looking one more time at Lady Anne, she shrugged. “I have to see for myself.”

The lady closed her eyes, but released her hold on Erva. She nodded, and Erva walked toward the door, slightly hearing the cruel giggles of the girls behind her.

Well, Erva thought, she had wanted answers. And this was one hell of a way to get them.

Unlatching the door quietly, she snuck into the silent room. It was a library of some kind with floor to ceiling leather bound books. The library was also dark, and none of the windows were open, making it seem too hot and musky. At first, Erva didn’t see the three figures, but then she heard a woman’s soft whisper. They stood with their backs to her. Thank God, they were all dressed and not touching. Otherwise, she might kill someone. When Erva’s eyes adjusted she saw them standing like a triangle, as, Erva thought, what they were rumored to be—a love triangle. They leaned close together, whispering something.

Will softly whacked something small and rectangular against his leg, then held it up. Erva crept closer to hear him say, “I don’t have much money on my person, but I’ll go get more.”

Oh God. Oh no. Money was exchanged?

Her blood cooled then froze, making everything in her body hurt. She slapped her hand across her mouth to stop herself from screaming, but she may as well have. The smack to her lips was loud enough that all three turned to her.

“Erva,” Will whispered. He held his billfold in front of his flat stomach, open and showing several pound notes.

They were beautiful, Erva noticed, his mistresses. One of the women was tall, with dark hair and strikingly blue eyes, and the other was a honey blonde with vivid green eyes, staring at her with open shock.

“Lady Ferguson.” The dark-haired young woman curtsied.

The other stood still, her mouth a little ajar.

Erva wanted to run, just run from this moment, this reality. It hurt so much.

She took a step back, but Will rushed to her saying again her name, “Erva...”

“Lady Ferguson, please don’t go,” the dark-haired girl said.

Erva took another step back, but Will lunged for her, letting his billfold fall to the ground. “Please, Erva, I want you to meet someone.”

The craziness of the moment, of those simple words, as if it was acceptable to meet his mistresses, finally hit her. Hard. The only reason he might think it was okay to meet his mistresses was if he wanted to add her to his harem. Erva almost doubled over from her breathlessness and the etching pain in her stomach and heart.

In another life, her life, she had run away. When she’d caught her husband. Rather than yell and scream, Erva had run after she’d walked in on her husband and her own TA disrobing each other in her office. She hadn’t confronted either of them, and had simply asked the dean for another office, even a closet, if that’s all they had. She hadn’t said a word to anyone for months, until Cliff served her with the divorce papers. Then she’d called Ben who had come so close to losing his temper when she’d told him about the affair and about running away. In a heartbeat he’d calmed and said, “Sweetie, you know I love you, so I’m saying this with all the love and affection I have for you, but it’s time you start standing up for yourself.”

Yes, it was time.

Erva turned to Will, anger pounding through her aching body. She smacked his iron-like chest. “Meet someone? Meet someone? Meet your mistresses?”

“Oh, she’s heard that rumor,” the blonde said, her voice low and husky.

Erva pivoted to meet the girl’s eyes. At least the blonde had the decency to look down to the floor.

“It’s not true,” the dark-haired woman said, taking a tentative step closer to Will and Erva. She held her hands out, as if trying to tame a wild horse.

Well, Erva felt about as crazed as a bucking bronco. She huffed and looked at Will, smacking him again, this time on the shoulder. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Will opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He kept shaking his head.

The dark-haired girl took a few more steps closer, but when Erva turned to her, she halted, her hands raised again. “Will—”

“She calls you Will? You’re on a first name basis, then, hmm?” Erva demanded.

Will blinked.

“Yes,” said the brunette, taking another careful step closer to Erva, extending a hand to her. “Yes, I do.”

Erva wouldn’t shake the hand offered, but looked at Will again. “Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?”

He shook his head and kept opening his mouth, but no words came out.

The dark-haired woman—oh, she was so pretty up close with those intense blue eyes—took one last step closer to Erva and touched her shoulder. “Because, as Will has said to me over and over, it isn’t his place to tell. He
thinks
it isn’t his place to tell, I should say.”

Erva stared down at the hand on her shoulder, wishing for laser vision. Well, she didn’t exactly want to hurt the girl, just shock her into not touching her.

She kept talking though. “Lady Ferguson, I am Miss Emma Beaumont,” she swallowed and smiled slowly, “Will’s sister.”

Erva’s stomach hollowed then pitched uncomfortably. She was worried she might vomit. But, wait—the girl, Emma, had said
sister?

“Half sister, I should say,” Emma said with a shy smile.

“My father...” Will grimaced then looked at the ceiling then back at Emma. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said as much.”

Emma ruefully chuckled. “Will, you have a right to convey who I am. I can’t believe you didn’t tell her before now.”

“I told him he should have,” the blonde said who apparently was Miss Lydia.

Will shook his head. “No, I don’t believe—”

Emma interrupted with another giggle. “My honorable brother tries to save me from people calling me a bastard, but I know what I am. I’ve known all along, while my handsome brother knew nothing about me until a few months ago.”

Erva looked at Will who nodded. And then all the cogs fit into place and turned. Will’s will and testament gave so much money to Miss Emma because she was his sister. Only, because Will’s father hadn’t married Emma’s mother, Emma was illegitimate, which meant in this moment in time that Will didn’t have to acknowledge her at all. But he was. He was trying to give her money, the way a big brother would.

God, tears sprang to Erva’s eyes. Again! What was up with the waterworks?

The cynical side of her also leaped into action before she could stop herself. “It’s true? Miss Emma is your sister?”

Will nodded and smiled. “Can you believe I have a lovely little sister?”

Then, Erva saw their resemblance—the hair, the eyes, Emma even had a tiny cleft in her chin like Will.

“My brother wouldn’t say anything of it, because he tries so hard to protect me already, but our father met my mother during the Seven Years’ War. He was stationed here in New York, and my mother was quite infected with red fever, so shortly after I was conceived. My mother married another man, a nice enough man who was a father to me, but my mother always talked about my real father, a redcoated officer who was an earl, no less.”

“I was the one who thought Emma should meet her brother when we heard news of his arrival here in New York,” the blonde interjected, walking closer, giving Emma a cold look for a second, but then shifted to a small smile.

Emma beamed at her. “Yes, you did.” She turned back to Erva. “I suppose I was too scared to reach out to Will, too afraid he’d call me a liar. But eventually, thanks to Lydia, I summoned the courage to meet him.”

“I would have never let him call you a liar,” Miss Lydia said, then held Emma’s hand.

Emma smiled, her cheeks turning a delicate pink. “No, I suppose not.”

“Why, look at them, Lady Ferguson.” Miss Lydia instructed. “They are splitting images of each other, are they not?”

The more Erva looked, the more she saw how similar Emma was to Will in height, complexion, and the sweet shyness they both possessed.

“Except, of course, Emma is very pretty,” Miss Lydia said, her voice lowered.

Lydia and Emma stood very close, as if magnetized to the other. With a huff, realization set in. The way Lydia and Emma smiled at each other, the way they kept holding hands, the blush in Emma’s cheeks—they were lovers.

“You’re gay,” she blurted. Instantly, she chided herself for outing the young women and grimaced.

Lydia and Emma turned to her as one.

“I suppose we are,” Emma agreed. “It’s hard not to be happy when I have such a wonderful brother, and he is wonderful, Lady Ferguson. I’m so delighted for the both you. When I heard news of Will meeting a lady, a lady he’d taken a fancy to, I knew I had to do something, but what, I knew not. And then our hand was forced—”

Both Lydia and Will interrupted Emma. Lydia said, “Enough,” while Will actually stood between Emma and Erva, making her wonder all the more what on earth Emma was about to say. Or had already said.

“You—you’ve heard rumors about me?” Was the only question Erva could think of at that second.

Emma nodded and smiled around her big brother’s frame. “Aye,” she answered. “I know rumors can be false, but I hoped they were true, for I know my brother deserves love.”

Will closed his eyes for a brief moment, almost appearing to be wincing. That was when Emma snuck by and stole Erva’s hands into hers.

“He is a most noble man, always trying to take care of me. I’d forever wanted to know him while I was a child, and he’s exceeded all my expectations.”

“She’ll think I paid you to say as much,” Will said, which made both Erva and Emma chuckle.

Emma slightly pulled Erva closer. “Lydia thinks I need to restrain myself and not trust with all my heart, but I think I know your heart, Lady Ferguson—”

“Erva. Please call me Erva.”

Emma positively beamed then. “Now I know for certain. I will trust you with everything.”

Lydia rushed close and pulled one of Emma’s hands away. “No, she’s a stranger, Emma.”

Will’s shoulders slumped, and he sighed.

Emma spoke quickly before anyone could do anything else. “You’ve probably heard the sordid rumors about my brother and me and Lydia, that all three of us are lovers. Obviously, you know that to be false.”

“I do now,” Erva couldn’t help but say sing-songedly.

“Lydia was the first to think the rumors were a bright idea, but then Will agreed. I never did, for I have no fear of being called a bastard, Erva. Although I knew the man who raised me not to be my father, he was a better man to me than...well, probably better to me than Will’s and my real father could have been. Forgive me, Will, for admitting as much.”

Will shrugged. “You speak the truth.” He took a deep breath. “Emma, I don’t know if Erva is—”

“Nonsense,” Emma said, “I see it in her eyes. She has a kind heart and already loves you much.”

Erva glanced down at the elegant parquet floor, too afraid to spy Will’s reaction, and yet she couldn’t disagree with what Emma had said.

“So, we let the rumors fly that we were lovers, that Will was of a sordid character, and myself and Lydia too, for that seemed better than the truth.” Emma shook her head. “But I never liked the idea, never felt right to lie, for the actuality is, Erva, I love Lydia the way you love Will.”

Erva glanced up and nodded, waiting for more. But Emma just stared at Erva, her blue eyes narrowed.

“Did you not hear me, my lady? I love Lydia.”

Erva nodded again. “Yes, I heard you. You love her. So?”

Will snorted an odd laugh. “Erva, my sister is confessing that she’s...in love with Lydia. They are...”

While Will searched for words Lydia said, “I love her very much.”

“Good,” Erva said with a smile. “I can tell she loves you just as much.” After a few moments passed where everyone stared at her as if she were growing antlers, Erva chuckled. “Are you expecting me to have some difficulty wrapping my head around the fact that Emma and Lydia are lovers?”

“Well, yes,” Will admitted. “I had to take a day or two to think things through.”

Erva shrugged and reached out for Lydia, so she held hands with both young women. “My best friend is gay, er, that’s what we call it. Um, I can’t think of what it’s called here, now.” She knew homosexuality was a term that was not yet defined.

Emma glanced at Will, asking a silent question.

“Erva’s lived for an extended period in Prussia,” he said.

“In Prussia are they accepting of...gay people?” Lydia asked cautiously.

Erva had a hard time suppressing from laughing, but the cold hard fact was she was in a time when homosexuality could be punished if caught. Emma and Lydia could be chained to scaffolds, branded, or even executed. Erva had read of such an execution of a British soldier when General Henry Clinton became commander in chief, which was still in two years time.

Erva found herself smiling ruefully. “I don’t think so, but one day I hope you’ll never live in fear.”

“That is my sentiment too,” Will said. He glanced down at Emma with a sad smile. “Please take more money, buy yourself and Lydia a ticket for England where you will live on my estate, free from prying eyes—”