“I’ll wait out here,” he said when they arrived.
“I want you two to talk.”
“I’ll be here if she’s willing.”
Bent over a tray full of rings, Ellen looked up when the bell jingled. “Rose!” She came hurrying out from behind the counter.
Rose hugged her tight, then set her away. “You look good.” Actually, she looked as if she were in her element, fresh-faced and radiant in a simple peach gown.
“Do I? That’s funny, because I feel like puking.”
“Oh.” Rose stepped back in alarm. “Is there anything I can—”
But Ellen was already dashing away, throwing a “Be right back!” over her shoulder.
Though some truly hideous sounds traveled from the back room, Rose allowed her friend the privacy she seemed to want. Her worry mounting, she wondered where Thomas was and if he realized his wife had taken ill.
She was on the point of fetching him when Ellen returned, looking surprisingly cheerful for a girl who’d been retching only seconds before. “My apologies,” she said with a blithe gesture. “It comes and goes.”
Rose’s concern evaporated, replaced by awe. “You’re with child.”
Ellen’s grin was her answer, and Rose immediately pulled her into another bone-crushing hug. “Oh, Ellen, I’m so excited for you!” she cried, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “And Kit will be thrilled—”
Her friend stiffened and pulled away, her giddy laughter trailing off. “I don’t want him to know.”
“Oh.” Rose cleared her throat. “You know we’re betrothed?”
“Yes, and I think it’s wonderful.” Her smile was genuine, if subdued. “I hope you two will be happy.”
“You are coming to our wedding?”
“No.” She fiddled with the tray of rings on the counter. “No, I’m not.”
“Ellen, if you don’t attend, then someday you’ll be very sorry. You cannot refuse to speak to your brother forever.”
Ellen slid a garnet ring onto her finger, then pulled it off. “I cannot imagine that he cares.”
Rose waited until she looked up. “You know he does.”
“Then he should give me my dowry. He has no right to withhold it just because I didn’t marry to his liking.”
At this point, Rose suspected Kit would hand over everything he owned if his sister would just stop this nonsense. Neither he nor Ellen would budge first. She wanted to knock their two heads together.
But Ellen was just plain wrong. “He has every right. He earned that money.”
“I earned it, too,” Ellen shot back, her eyes as green as Kit’s when he was upset. “I suffered for that money every bit as much he did. More. My parents were dead, and my big brother left me with old Lady St. Vincent. True, I had enough food and a nice place to live, and I was taught to read and write. But I was also forced to wait on her hand and foot. She was nasty and cruel, and she hit me when I displeased her.”
“Oh, Ellen.” Rose touched her friend’s shoulder in concern. Though it was common for parents to beat misbehaving children, her own mother and father had never subscribed to the practice. “Did Kit know?”
Ellen shook her head. “Her ladyship said she’d throw me out if I complained. Whenever he bothered to visit, I used to beg him to take me with him, away from there, anywhere…” Her voice dropped, and she took a deep, shuddering breath. “He promised me that someday I’d live a better life, and I figure it’s my due.”
Kit considered the baroness his savior, but there were two sides to every story. To his sister, the woman had been a villain. Still, even if Ellen had informed Kit of the abuses she’d suffered, Rose couldn’t see where he’d have had much of a choice.
“What do you expect he could have done? How could he have cared for you? Supported you? He was a mere boy, with no money and no livelihood. And he certainly couldn’t have brought you along to school—”
“I know,” Ellen ground out miserably. Her jaw was tight, her cheeks pink. “He had no choice; I know it. But that didn’t make it easy for me.”
Rose made a sympathetic noise. “Of course it didn’t.”
“I earned that money. I mean to have it. He could dictate my life when I was a child, but not anymore.”
“How on earth do you expect Kit to understand what you’ve been through if you don’t talk to him? This is childish, Ellen. You’re a married woman, an expectant mother. Try to put yourself in his position. And you must come to our wedding. If not for Kit, do it for me.”
Tears welled in Ellen’s eyes. “I cannot. If he doesn’t love me enough to give me my dowry even though I defied him, I cannot.”
Rose’s gaze strayed out the window to where Kit was pacing across the street, clearly as miserable as his sister. She wished he would just give Ellen the money and end this painful stalemate, but unlike his sister, she could see his side, too.
Her heart went out to him. “I’m sorry, Ellen, but I cannot keep the news of your pregnancy to myself. I’ll not keep secrets from the man I’m betrothed to. I hope you’ll understand. And I hope you’ll change your mind about the wedding.” She gave the girl’s shoulder a squeeze and went outside to join Kit.
He whirled when he saw her. “How is she?” he immediately asked.
“Wonderful. She’s with child.”
Only a slight widening of his eyes betrayed his reaction. “Is she healthy?” he asked in a carefully neutral tone.
“Quite healthy, save for some expected sickness in the mornings. But she still doesn’t want to see you.”
His jaw tensed as he took her hand to start the walk back down the hill to his house, where Violet and Lily were waiting to take her home.
She squeezed his fingers. “Do you know, it’s possible Ellen’s pregnancy may be affecting her thinking and her feelings.”
“Whatever would make you believe that?” He didn’t look convinced—probably because Rose didn’t believe the explanation
