“You’re blaming me?” Rita had moved from inexplicably furious to a volcanic rage.
“You or your friends. Take your pick. I thought Hamilton would be a good influence on you.”
“Me?” Rita’s voice sounded like it could have come from Medusa. It was a monstrous betrayed fury that could only come from someone whose love had left her to a terrible fate.
Vi took a solitary step back, but it was too late. She’d been seen.
“Lavinia is pregnant, Rita,” he reminded her coldly, but Rita ignored him.
“Am I also to blame for your murderous friends in Scotland?” Rita’s voice had gone from cold to silky cool.
Her father didn’t bother to answer.
“What about Aunt Jean? Is that my fault too?”
It was ludicrous to say so, and the hurt in Rita’s voice had him flinching. “I thought I was going to lose Lavinia too. I can’t lose another loved one. I won’t.”
“So you lash out at me?” Rita demanded, her voice cracking. “You bought the house with the ruins and the tale of treasure.”
“It was amusing.”
“You made a big deal of the goblet. You brought this on us. You did this, and you blame me. Ham blames me. But you know what, it’s your fault. And if you lose Lavinia, like you lost Melody, and you lost Mama—that’s on you too.”
Rita slammed out of her father’s office. Phillip Russell slowly turned to face Vi.
“You shouldn’t have said that,” Vi told him heartlessly.
“I was upset.”
Vi nodded, but her expression didn’t give him the absolution he wanted. “Rita doesn’t need you.”
Mr. Russell’s mouth dropped open.
“She has me and Ham and Jack and our friends. She learned to get by without you while you were marrying someone her age, while you left her with her murderous aunt, while you focused on your business. I know you were afraid last night for those you love, but you should remember something—”
“Oh really, what’s that?” He didn’t like being called to account by a woman, especially one he didn’t like.
“You’re supposed to love her as well.”
Vi didn’t wait for his reply. Instead she followed Rita to the car and found her crying.
“I need to apologize to Ham.”
“Yes,” Vi agreed. “You were rather beastly.”
“I was horrible. He was afraid for me—for us—you could see it in his eyes.”
Vi winced and then told Rita, “Move.”
“Move?” she snapped.
“Let me be clear,” Vi told her. “We’re still on sides against the boys. You and me, my love, we’re winning this treasure hunt nonsense, and then we’re crowing about it for decades.”
Rita wasn’t impressed as Vi opened the automobile door and demanded she move to let Vi drive instead.
“First, however,” Vi added, “you’re apologizing to Ham, telling him you love him, swearing you always will, blaming the baby for your outbursts, and then hopping back into the auto with me to win this thing.”
Vi drove back to her house and blared the horn until Jack and Ham stepped out the front door. Jack stared down at her, hands on his hips, as she got out of the auto. There was enough of a smile at the corner of his mouth that she knew he wasn’t truly upset.
“Are you being careful?” he asked as Ham approached Rita.
She ran up the stairs to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Me? When am I not?”
His snort had her elbowing him and then she said, “I think Rita is a little mad from the baby.”
Jack waited and Vi glanced over at two of their favorite people.
“She might also be driving him away so he will get leaving her over with.”
Jack pressed a long kiss on Vi’s forehead. “I didn’t realize how lucky I was that you and Victor knew how to love before I came along.”
Vi winked before she said, “That doesn’t mean, of course, that I won’t be the one who wins this thing.”
“Oh-ho,” he groaned. “Denny has been whining you left him behind. He went to tell Victor all about your cruelty.”
“That’s all right. I’ll take care of it. Someone tried Philip Russell’s house as well,” she continued somberly. “They had an intruder. Russell lost all sense of reality and blamed Rita and us.”
Jack didn’t answer, but by his reaction, he wasn’t amused. They both watched as Ham carefully took Rita’s face in his hands, said something low, and then Rita nodded against his gentle clasp. A moment later Ham laid a kiss on each eye, each cheek, and then her lips.
“He learned that one from you,” Vi told Jack, who laughed.
“Maybe I learned it from him.”
Vi shook her head. “Anything that sweet requires love, and Ham has not loved before.”
Jack pressed another kiss on her forehead. A moment later Ham and Rita crossed to them.
“Where shall we start?” Ham asked.
Vi gasped in shock. “You would think that these boys would know where to start.”
“We know where to start,” Jack told her.
“That’s good,” Vi replied. “Because we’re already ahead of you. Come on, Rita. We have a stop to make.”
“What?” Ham’s mouth dropped and Rita patted him lightly on the shoulder and then kissed his cheek before stepping away.
“We’re still winning, silly,” Vi told him and then ran down the stairs to the auto, Rita on her heels.
“That’s my automobile,” Ham said. “And my partner.”
“We’re too criminal for you,” Vi shot back and made for the car. “We’re finding the treasure and wrapping it around ourselves. Like pirate werewolf queens.”
“Has she gone mad?” Ham asked Jack.
Vi cuckooed just to throw Ham off, and then hopped back into the auto and rolled down her window so he could hear the sound of her laughter as she sped down the drive.
As they turned onto the road, Rita glanced at Vi. “You made me apologize, which was entirely the right thing to do. Responsible even.”
“Don’t let it go to your head,” Vi said. “Victor isn’t feeling well and I think a treasure hunt and general madness will bring him back. And lighten the mood for all of us.”
“All right,” Rita said easily. “What’s
