And now look at them. Rebecca had been fitting in marvelously with the ladies of the group. True to their word the other day, they’d made a point of inviting Rebecca along to every outing, including her in their gossip and their games.
If they still found her pitiable and odd, like the rest of their family, they did not let on in the way they treated her. And Sebastian had been right. There seemed to be some truly kind people in the crowd of guests as well.
They were just a little harder to find.
Sally took a deep breath and tried her best to clear her head of any more thoughts of Sebastian. That was what this day was all about, after all. Only a few more days left at the manor and the doctor would arrive and she and her sister would be free to go.
You don’t need to rush off, Sebastian had said this morning as they’d stopped chasing one another up a hill long enough to lean over and catch their breath.
That right there was when Sally knew she had to take Rebecca up on her request to take a trip into town, so that she might get her head on straight.
It wasn’t so much what he’d said, but how he’d said it. The look in his eyes. A look she was growing used to.
A look she was growing far too fond of.
It was a look filled with affection and warmth and all sorts of feelings that had no place between them.
“Ooh, this is the shop I was telling you about,” Rebecca said, releasing her grip on Sally’s arm. “Let’s pop in for just one—” She stopped speaking so abruptly that Sally looked over. Alarm coursed through her at the sudden pallor in her sister’s face.
“Rebecca? Rebecca, what is it?”
But Rebecca’s attention was caught by something in the distance. Sally turned to look and saw nothing but a crowd full of people jostling about. “Rebecca, dear, whatever is the matter?”
Her sister gave her head a little shake, making her curls bounce. “It’s nothing, just…” She let out a huff of humorless laughter. “You’ll think I’m crazy.”
Sally gripped her hand. “Of course I won’t. What did you see?”
Rebecca licked her lips and finally met her gaze. “I thought I saw our mother.”
Sally’s jaw dropped but she couldn’t find a single word to say in response. Their mother. Like Sebastian and his family, their mother was a topic that was rarely brought up.
In fact, she was almost never mentioned. As far as the rest of the world knew, their mother was dead. Lost at sea in a tragic accident. But her daughters knew better. Their father did not discuss her much after he’d broken the news that their mother wasn’t coming home. That she’d chosen a life of adventure and excitement at sea over her own family.
They’d been young. So very young. But old enough to remember her. Old enough to miss her.
Sally glanced in the direction Rebecca had been staring.
They’d been old enough to remember what she looked like.
“I must have been mistaken,” Rebecca said. She squeezed Sally’s hand tightly. “Right?”
Sally nodded, but her stomach was churning with a sensation she could not name. She tried to smile for Rebecca’s sake. “It was probably just someone who looked similar.”
Rebecca nodded, but she was still pale and she didn’t seem convinced.
“Come, let’s go find you those ribbons you were after.” Sally led the way inside, more to help her sister recover from the shock than any great desire to be surrounded by notions.
But once inside, she let her sister roam as she stared out the window. Just in case. When they left, they were both far more quiet. Uneasy, even. Sally couldn’t shake the sensation of being watched.
Followed.
She straightened her spine and held her sister’s arm tightly as they headed back toward the earl’s carriage that had brought them here today. As if by some unspoken agreement they’d decided to cut their trip to town short.
Sally’s mind hadn’t stopped spinning since Rebecca had mentioned their mother, and through all the jagged fragmented thoughts and suspicions and attempts to discredit what her sister saw, there were some memories that refused to be ignored.
Her father’s words on the dock after Minerva had left. The way he’d been so unnerved. So uncharacteristically thrown. There was only one topic—one person—who’d ever had that effect on their normally staid and even-keeled father.
And then there was what Roger had said. That smuggling cad who’d held Abigail at knifepoint back in the caves had said ‘she’ when talking about the pirate leader who’d contacted him about the shipment.
Sally shut her eyes and shook her head. She was being ridiculous. There was no reason to think her mother was involved or in any way near. Their mother might as well have been dead at the bottom of the sea. That was where her memory belonged, as far as Sally was concerned.
Feeling slightly more resolved, she opened her eyes once more just in time to see someone step in front of her path.
Rebecca gasped and they stumbled to a stop. Sally couldn’t gasp. Gasping would have meant breathing. And facing their mother for the first time in nearly ten years on a crowded sidewalk in an unfamiliar town?
The shock of it knocked the air right out of her lungs. Winded and reeling, her head spun and her heart crashed against her ribcage.
“It’s her, isn’t it?” Rebecca whispered it and Sally heard her, even over the crowds who were grumbling their displeasure at having to move around the small circle of women.
Sally, Rebecca...and their mother.
“Hello, girls.” Their mother’s voice was soft and low. Just as Sally remembered it.
“What are you—how are you—” Sally cut off her barely formed words when Rebecca gripped her arm even tighter.
She had to pull herself together. Rebecca needed her to be strong. That was who she was. The strong one. The defender. The one who looked out for everyone else.
She narrowed
