Sarah giggled, hurrying over for her hug. “It is no longer morning. Mr. Stannis said you were exhausted, and we were to let you sleep. And Georgie, he made us oatmeal!”
Her heart lurching, she glanced around. “Is…is he here?”
Lizzie frowned. “No, he has left for London, remember?”
“I…of course.” Her throat tightening, she spent a few more minutes with her sisters before excusing herself to the kitchens. Once there, she stared out the windows at the young lad walking the horse across the lawns.
Let me simply be a passerby in your memory.
What did he mean by not even offering a rebuke for her ruse? Footsteps whispered over the stone floor, and she turned around, pressing the flat of her palm against her stomach.
“Lizzie,” she said with a smile that wobbled. “I thought you planned to take the girls outside for a lesson in geography.”
Her sister’s clear gaze assessed her with a measure of concern. “Your eyes are ravaged by tears. Is…is everything well?”
Georgianna took a moment to breathe past the emotions tearing through her. “The earl is never coming back, Lizzie.”
At first Lizzie seemed confused, then she gasped. She pressed a palm over her heart. “What do you mean?”
Even though Georgianna felt mortified, she held out the note he had left behind. Lizzie took it, her gaze scanning the contents. “He has recalled he is the earl!”
“Yes,” she said hoarsely.
Lizzie shook her head. “This morning when he bid us farewell, I thought he seemed a bit contemplative, but not distressed. Did he not confront or accuse you, Georgie? He just left?” Incredulity rang in her tone. “This is most astonishing and unexpected. I have been in dread of his reaction should he ever recall his identity.”
Georgianna closed her eyes, hating that her heart twisted at hearing those words. “Perhaps it would have been best if hehadbeen angry or given me a chance to explain…even though I do not know what I could have said. His indifference is…painful, extraordinarily so, and I feel wretched that I am affected in such a manner, Lizzie.”
Silence fell, and when she met her sister’s gaze, Georgianna flinched from the pity she saw there.
“Did you fall in love with him?”
“No!” She recoiled from the very idea of it. But she could not bear lying to herself or even her sister. “I was halfway there, Lizzie,” Georgianna whispered. “Foolishly, and against my good sense and better judgment, I was halfway there.”
Her sister rushed over and hugged her. It felt like a warm, soothing blanket was placed on her cold shoulders, and she returned her sister’s embrace, grateful for her love and understanding.
“Come, let us tell Sarah and Anna that he has left for better opportunities and should not expect his return.”
“It will break their hearts,” Lizzie murmured, shaking her head. “They were halfway in love with him, too, and were saddened when he bid them farewell this morning.”
Georgianna hardened her heart under the lash of guilt. “He has only been with us for three weeks. Not enough time to take root and indelibly change our lives.”
Liar, a silent wail ripped through her.I am forever altered.
“Still, let us give them a few days or perhaps allow them to ask about the earl before we explain he will never return to Crandell.”
She nodded, and Lizzie hesitated, anxiety darkening her eyes.
“What is it?”
“Are you worried the earl will seek some sort of retribution?”
Georgianna wiped her palms on the skirts of her gown and walked toward the kitchen windows. “I…I am not sure what to fear. Perhaps he will simply forget about us. That he left without any sort of word surely reveals that we had an insignificant impact on his life.”
That awful pain stabbed at her chest once again.
Her sister came to stand beside her, resting her head on Georgianna’s shoulders.
“We knew it would have ended, and we can only be grateful it was not concluded with any sort of animosity.”
