Vi sighed in relief and jumped up to Jack, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Do you feel that?”
He grinned at her and his schoolboy humor crackled between the two of them. She pressed a kiss on his lips despite their guests.
The band started playing with a long wail of a saxophone followed by a piano and then the low hum of the singers.
Another rush of cool air swirled through the air and their guests sighed in unison. It was followed by another crack of lightning and a good half-dozen of their guests crossed to watch the storm.
Jack set Vi on her feet and then pulled her into a dance, ignoring those who were flying around the ballroom on roller-skates. With the cool air, their guests spun into the music with the joy of children who’d been let out of school for the holidays.
The relief from the heat was possibly better than the holidays. The heat had been overwhelming for the last few days and Vi had sworn she could see heat waves in the air, but now, she could smell the rain in the air. The scent made her want to head back outdoors and dance in the rain rather than roller-skate in the ballroom. It wasn’t just rain, Vi thought, it was chilled rain.
She was pulled from dancing with Jack to Victor. Vi winked at Jack and spun into her brother’s arm, asking him, “Well?”
He knew what she was asking. “I’m bored, Vi. Out of my mind. I love my girls, but—”
“They’re babies,” Vi said. “They’re hardly challenging your wit except when you need to figure out why they’re fussy.” Her agreement gave him permission to feel the way he did.
“Yes.” He sounded grateful.
“It’s not Kate,” Vi said for him, bypassing the guilt that he would feel by even having to say such a thing.
He swung her out and then back towards him. “It’s definitely not Kate.”
Vi waited.
“It’s me. I’m in a mood.”
“Perhaps,” Vi suggested carefully, “managing the spirits company and being home most of the time isn’t something that you are enjoying.”
Victor frowned deeply before he admitted, “Perhaps.”
Vi started to reply but her gaze was caught by Jack and Ham stepping from the room with that Hollands oddball.
Victor followed her gaze. “Trouble?”
“I don’t think so,” Vi replied. The moment she finished speaking lightning cracked again, hitting a tree in the nearby woods. Vi frowned, hoping it wouldn’t start a fire. “It’s just the treasure hunter,” she said, distracted. “They’re probably making an agreement to meet him tomorrow and start the treasure hunt. Ugh,” she muttered and then tugged him with her to the window. She hoped no one was outside in that lightning. Kate sidled in next to them.
“Oh!” Kate said, nodding out the window as another crack of lightning hit.
A tree in the garden was hit. First there was a slow curl of smoke that was barely visible, and a scent that seemed nothing more than cigarettes across the green of the garden. Then a flicker of flame appeared in the tree. It grew from branch to branch and Vi frowned.
She had loved that tree. “Do you think—”
Before she could finish the thought, Vi saw Jack and Ham pour out of the library doors to the garden. Behind them several servants from the kitchens followed. They were conferring as they walked around the tree, and she stopped worrying what they should do about the fire. She’d happily dump the problem on Jack.
“Shall I go help?” Victor asked and then left before either Kate or Violet could answer.
Vi hadn’t realized that the music had come to a stop until it started again, and a moment later the happy chatter of the party continued.
“He’s restless,” Kate told Vi. Kate’s eyes were suddenly shining with tears, and Vi hooked their arms together. Kate laid her head against Vi’s shoulder. “Is he unhappy?”
Vi felt her heart in her throat as she debated answering. If Kate were any other woman, Vi would be fully honest. But Kate was married to Vi’s twin, and she wasn’t sure what the right course was. Did she tell Kate that she wasn’t wrong about Victor being a little off? She paused as she considered what she would want Victor to tell Jack if it were her.
Kate had glanced to the side, and Vi knew she had debated too long.
“I’m sorry,” Vi told her, and Kate paled. “No! Not about Victor. I’m sorry I delayed. I got caught in the ethics of being a twin. This is what I can tell you with utter sureness—”
Kate had turned back and recovered color to her face.
“It’s something in Victor, not you. He loves you as much as he ever has. It’s not the twins. It’s not the coming baby. He adores you with all that he is. I suspect that Victor has the same, but lesser, tendency towards grey days that I do.”
“But nothing bad has happened.” Kate’s voice was a plea, and it was painful for Vi to hear. Nothing bad needed to happen to trigger the grey days. They seemed to come when they would, regardless of the time and the location, though bad things did encourage them along.
Vi’s mouth twisted and her own eyes were shining with tears. “Having grey days doesn’t always have a lot to do with what’s happening around us. It’s worse, I think, when we know that we should be happy and grateful.”
“But why isn’t he?” Kate sounded helpless and Vi wondered just how often Jack had felt this way with her. How often had he looked after her, grey and lethargic, and wished for some way to help her feel better.
“I don’t know,” Vi said. “Not about why he’s having a bad streak or why I have them so much more often. I don’t understand it, and the most I can say is that being active—when I can muster it—helps.”
“It doesn’t make sense
