Rose tried again. “What will you do now that you…you know. Know.”
Her sister turned to look at her and shrugged, her hands twisting in her lap.
Poor Violet. Rose could scarcely imagine how she must feel. Kit’s deceit was devastating enough, and Rose had loved him only a few weeks. How much worse would it feel if she’d loved him for years? Shared a home and a life with him? Borne him children?
Good heavens, the children! Poor Nicky and Marc and Rebecca…and poor Rose, too. She’d hoped that focusing on everyone else’s woes would distract her from her own, but the tactic was failing utterly.
All through a tense dinner at Lily’s house, she’d speared bites of rabbit stew while imagining jabbing her fork into Kit’s lying face. She was sizzling with anger. How dare he talk to Mum behind her back? How dare the two of them scheme to influence her decisions? How dare they? She wanted to throttle them both.
Right after she told them the wedding was off.
When a little sniffle drew her out of her vengeful reverie, she looked up to see a tear sliding down Violet’s cheek.
“Oh, please don’t cry.” Rose moved across the carriage to sit beside her sister. She patted Violet’s shoulder a bit awkwardly, having never been especially good at comforting. “It’ll be all right, you’ll see.” When Violet didn’t react, she began feeling desperate. “You can come back to live at Trentingham, you know. And the children, too. There’s plenty of room for every—oh, wait!” Rose smacked herself on the forehead. “Mum lives there. That’ll never do.” She thought for a moment. “I’ve got it: We’ll live off my inheritance. We’ll buy a lovely house of our own and live there together, raising the little ones and doing just as we please—”
“Wh-what?” Finally showing signs of life, Violet looked completely baffled. “What on earth are you talking about?”
“You’ll have to go somewhere when you leave Ford.” Rose took her sister’s hand. “It might be hard at first, but I’ll take care of you, Violet. We can live quite comfortably on the interest from ten thousand pounds. I’ll even help with the children—in fact, I’d love to, seeing as I’ll never have any of my own.”
“Never have…?” Violet appeared more confused than ever. “You and Kit aren’t planning to have children?”
Rose gave a bark of laughter. “Gemini, I’m not marrying Kit! I’m not marrying anybody. I wanted to marry a decent man, but now I see my mistake—there are no decent men.”
“Oh, Rose, that’s not true. Kit’s a good man, and he loves you. He made a mistake, that’s all. Let’s get you back to Trentingham for a good night’s rest, and this will all look different in the morning.”
Rose pulled a face. “Mum is at Trentingham, and I don’t want to see her, given that I’m never speaking to her again. Perhaps I could come with you to Lakefield? Although that might be a bit uncomfortable, seeing as you’re leaving Ford—”
“I am not leaving Ford!” Violet shrieked. Shocked into silence, Rose held her tongue while her sister took several calming breaths. “Listen to me, Rose. I know you’re angry. I’m angry, too. But I’m not leaving my husband, and you’re not jilting Kit.”
“So you’ll just forgive him?” Rose retorted. “After he kept this secret from you every day of your marriage?”
Her sister winced. “No, I will not just forgive him. I cannot. I’m too hurt and too furious. Ford will learn what his mistakes have wrought…and he will regret them.” Hearing Violet’s tone, Rose almost felt sorry for the target of her sister’s displeasure. “Healing broken trust takes time and effort. But at the end of all that, yes, I will forgive him.”
“Why should you?”
“Because we’re a family.”
A jounce of the carriage suddenly sent the sisters careening into each other. “Perhaps you must forgive him, then,” Rose said once she’d righted herself. “But I don’t think he deserves it. Not after he hurt the woman he’s supposed to love.”
“Everyone hurts those they love.” Violet massaged a spot where Rose’s elbow had jabbed her. “We’re human, after all. Love is a powerful agent, and we don’t always apply it correctly.”
“Which philosopher said that?”
“Me, you goose.”
Rose rolled her eyes. “Save that one for the book you want to publish.”
But she considered her sister’s words. Everyone hurts those they love. Kit had loved his sister so much, he’d nearly destroyed her happiness. And Ellen had loved Thomas so much, she’d nearly destroyed herself.
And then there was Mum, who’d loved her daughters so much she’d betrayed them all.
“I suppose I cannot stay mad at Mum forever,” she muttered, mostly to herself.
“Indeed,” Violet said. “Though I expect you’ll punish her for a good long while. I certainly plan to.”
“As you should,” Rose said.
All at once, she felt incredibly drained.
Soon after, as the carriage stopped, she felt a hand on her knee. “And Kit?” Violet asked gently.
“What of him?”
“Will you stay mad at him forever?”
“I don’t see why I shouldn’t,” Rose scoffed. “He isn’t family.”
Violet sought her gaze in the semi-darkness. “He’s family if you love each other.”
Looking away, Rose studied Lakefield House’s unassuming front gate. Though she’d thought she and Kit were truly in love, had her feelings been manipulated by the clever ploys of a master matchmaker?
Violet sighed. “Think things through before you make any decisions, will you? And talk to Kit. You need to hear his side of the story.”
Rose shrugged noncommittally.
“Be well, sister.” Violet kissed her on the cheek. “And give Mum hell for me.”
SIXTY-THREE
IT WAS MID-morning, and Chrystabel paced her perfumery at Trentingham. On occasion she’d pause, select a vial at random, and inhale its potent fragrance. This would quiet her mind for approximately half a second, before it galloped off again in a dozen different directions.
“Mum?”
At the sound of Lily’s voice, she turned and seized her youngest daughter in an uncharacteristically fierce hug. “I didn’t hear you arrive.”
Lily pulled back. “Goodness, Mum, you look—”
