“I don’t need saving.”
“Yes, you do.” Will glanced over at Mel, who was still digging through the jewelry box. Clearly, she was looking for something. He only wished she’d informed him of her plan.
“Has Ben told you about Daisy? She loved him, too. And you know where she is? Stashed on a nearby ranch because she’s carrying his child.”
Mel dropped whatever she’d been rooting for. Ben looked in her direction. “Haven’t you found something yet? You’re a hard one to please. Grab something and get out.”
Mel walked back into their line of sight carrying what looked to be a brooch. She held it up to him. “What about this? It’s ugly as sin, but I think Celeste would like it. Tomorrow’s her birthday, and I didn’t get her a gift.”
“That’s Aunt Ina’s!” Rose jumped up and snatched it out of Mel’s hand, then turned to Ben. “Where did you get this?”
Ben leaned back in his seat. “Why, I got it from your sister, of course. She gave it to me to pawn so we could pay for our train tickets out of town. Only she didn’t show up when we were supposed to meet, and then I had family troubles. I couldn’t bear to part with the symbol of our love.”
The man looked positively wretched as he stared at Mary. “I know we had some larks together and you stole some things from your employers from time to time, but I can’t believe you’d steal from your own family.”
Will wanted to think Ben was playing some kind of game, but as he watched the devastation cross Mary’s face, he had to wonder if he’d made another mistake in trusting the wrong woman. Especially as Rose’s words seemed to confirm it.
“That’s how you were able to afford those spectacles for Bess? By stealing? Aunt Ina whipped me because I was the last one to dust her dresser before the brooch went missing. But it was you all along.”
Rose began to sob. “What other punishment did I take for you? Everything I’ve ever lost has been because of you.”
As the guilt washed over Mary’s face, Will’s gut turned over. He’d believed Mary to be everything good and honorable in a woman. Finally someone he could trust.
Apparently his instincts had failed him again.
Chapter Twenty-One
Rose’s theatrics were something Mary was quite used to. And yet, nothing tore at Mary’s heart worse than knowing Rose had been beaten for the loss of Aunt Ina’s brooch. They’d had an unspoken agreement about the beatings, her and Rose. When one of the little ones was at the end of Aunt Ina’s switch, either she or Rose would take their place.
She should have known someone would have been beaten for the missing brooch. She should have put two and two together and realized that because of the promise she and Rose had made, Rose had taken the punishment.
But Mary had been too busy being blindly in love to realize it.
“I didn’t steal,” Mary said as calmly as she could. “The money for Bess’s spectacles came from her Sunday school teacher, but she didn’t want anyone to know, so I said I took on extra work and bought them.”
Aunt Ina had taken a switch to her for that. She’d been irate to think that money that could have been used for one of her fripperies had been wasted on spectacles for a child.
Rose stared at her. “How do I know that’s not another one of your lies? You admit that you lied to me about Ben. You admit that you lied to me about your whereabouts when you were sneaking off to see him. How can I ever trust you again?”
If Ben hadn’t been smirking, Mary might have been tempted to tell her sister that she didn’t blame her. That she’d do whatever she had to do to earn her trust again. She’d admit how duped she’d been by the smooth-talking charlatan. And she’d promise to spend the rest of her life making up for her mistakes.
Instead, she looked to Will for guidance. Only, he looked at her as if he believed her to be the miscreant she was accused of being.
Even Will believed the lies.
Mary had been right to keep everything a secret. No one believed her now, just like they wouldn’t have believed her then. Ben had been right.
“Please, forgive me, Rose.” Mary had no other words, no other excuse she could offer.
It was just as well that the slowly developing feelings Mary had for Will would never be returned. She’d never allow herself to be blinded by her love for another person again.
“Never.” Rose glowered at her, then smiled, running her hand up and down Ben’s chest. “When Ben came looking for you, I knew what I had to do. You ruined my chances of happiness with the only man I will ever love, and now I have stolen yours.”
Rose’s eyes glittered in the gaslight. Her sister was a vain, spoiled girl, but the tears were real. Despite Rose’s bravado, she felt no joy in her victory.
Swallowing her own tears, Mary took a step toward Rose. “I think, then, you should reconsider your actions. I don’t love Ben. I broke it off with him before we moved here.”
She turned and looked to Will. “You wouldn’t happen to have that letter you confronted me with, would you?”
“No. It’s in my room at the boardinghouse.” He still wore the look of accuser, but as he continued, Mary’s heart hoped. “But I can verify the veracity of Mary’s statement. Her letter condemned what she called Ben’s scandalous behavior and stated in no uncertain terms that she no longer loved him and could not marry him.”
Will seemed to consider each word slowly, as though having to repeat them finally made him understand what she’d been trying to tell him all along.
But did it mean he believed her about not stealing?
His good opinion shouldn’t matter so much to Mary, but
