“Virginia?” came a shaky voice right behind her.
Her smile froze. Virginia would recognize that voice anywhere. It sounded just like her own. She turned on stiff legs. The night had only wanted this.
Before her stood three young ladies with red-brown hair and hesitant green eyes. Virginia’s sisters.
“Valeria,” she said evenly. “Vera. Viveca.”
Vera, the youngest, threw her arms about Virginia. “I missed you so much!”
Viveca and Valeria talked over each other in excitement. “Mother said—”
“Father insisted—”
“We thought you were dead!”
“It was horrible to lose a sister.” Vera’s eyes shone with tears. “The worst pain you can imagine.”
“When we saw the papers—”
“The announcement that Lord Ormondton was back, and marryingyou—”
“It was the miracle we’d never dreamed to hope for!” they said at once.
Vera threw her arms around Virginia. “Please say you’ll have us back. We love you so much.”
Virginia’s throat was too tight to release all the words trapped in her heart. “But… what about Mother and Father?”
Her sisters’ faces fell.
“I’m sorry,” Viveca said softly. “A fever took them several years back.”
Virginia braced herself for the pain of loss. It didn’t come.
Instead, something closer to relief swept over her. Her family hadn’t ignored and forgotten her all these years. The only two people who knew where she was, were gone. To her sisters, Virginia hadn’t been inconsequential at all. If they’d had any notion, they’d have come to her at once.
“We would love to be family again,” Valeria said with a shy smile.
The music changed, and Vera’s face lit up. “It’s a quadrille! Perfect for four couples.”
“Dosay you’ll join us.” Valeria squeezed Virginia’s hand. “I can think of nothing better than sharing the last soirée of the Season with every one of my sisters.”
Virginia could think of nothing better than starting the rest of her life reunited with her family.
Theodore appeared at her side. “Am I interrupting something?”
“You’re just in time.” She grinned at her sisters and took a deep breath. “We’re going to dance a quadrille.”
His eyebrows shot up and he proffered his arm at once. “Who do I thank for this miracle?”
“Valeria, Vera, and Viveca.” Virginia’s happy smile wobbled as she gazed at them. “I just realized I cannot make proper introductions because I don’t know all your new names.”
“I can’t wait to tell you everything that’s happened,” Vera gushed. “I’ve been keeping a list—”
“It’s not a list,” Viveca interrupted. “From the day you died, she began all her diary entries with ‘Dear Virginia.’”
“How do you know?” Vera demanded.
Valeria and Viveca exchanged innocent glances.
