“It’s not true, Lydia! You’re being cruel!” her sister cried, beginning to weep.
“Yes, it is. I’m telling you the truth,” Lydia said.After all this time, she added, but did not give voice to.
“But I saw them!” Elsie cried again. “Or at least, I saw Father. He was walking bent over, carrying something heavy. So I went to follow after him. He was walking in the hallway when—”
She was prevented from explaining further by Matthew emerging from the house in a panic. He ran over, mopping at his face with a cloth. “They’re not inside!”
“What?” Lydia gasped.
“Lockwood and Madame Saunier, their rooms are empty. Your uncle is gone as well, I don’t know where to look,” he answered, out of breath from running throughout the house.
“But they must be there, perhaps they… might they have gone to the kitchen for something to eat?” Lydia suggested. “Or to the drawing room to have a drink?”
“No, I’ve checked both of those places,” Matthew said, shaking his head and trying to catch his breath.
“But what will we do?” Lydia demanded fearfully. Servants were beginning to come out from the house through different doors, each looking scared and defeated.
“My Lord, I’m sorry, but there’s no sign of them,” a footman said. Suddenly, he stopped and pointed over Matthew’s shoulder. “There they are!”
Lydia turned to see Vincent and Madame Saunier running towards the house from the hillside. They joined Lydia and looked around at the people, wondering what all the shouts and ringing bells could mean.
“What has happened?” Vincent demanded, a genuine look of concern on his face. “Is everyone all right?”
“It’s a fire,” Matthew answered, glowering in Vincent’s direction, “and I cannot help but wonder how you come to be out here and not in your room when it began.”
“What are you accusing me of, Paxton?” Vincent roared, but Madame Saunier put a hand on Vincent’s arm.
“No,cherie. Do not be angry with him, zee question is to be expected,” she crooned softly, worry in her tone. Frantically, she then asked, “Lydia, are you and zee child all right?”
“Yes, madam. We’re fine,” Lydia answered slowly, still trying to understand it all. Suddenly, realization dawned on her. “You… and the Viscount?”
Madame Saunier looked away, embarrassed. She looked at Vincent, he finally shrugged in resignation.
“Yes,cherie, it is true,” she confessed quietly. Looking rather ashamed, she added, “It was not our intention, but we found zat we could not deny what we felt. We have been in love for a matter of months now.”
“So why were you out here?” Lydia demanded, surprised to realize that she felt nothing but relief and even happiness for them.
“We sought to steal away for a while,” Vincent admitted in a strained voice. He cast a quick glance to Elsie, and added, “Your sister has heard us speaking before and stumbled upon us a time or two. Fortunately, the child apparently remained asleep.”
Lydia’s heart sank with a flood of remorse. Elsie had indeed heard a man and a woman talking! Without knowing any better, she had assumed it to be the ghost of her parents, when in fact, it was two very real people. All the while, Lydia had been trying to convince her that it was nothing more than her wishful thinking and an eager imagination.
“But if you’re here and you’re safe,” Matthew interrupted, his voice somewhat kinder with the realization that Vincent was not attempting to win back Lydia, “where is Bronson?”
“I don’t know, and in truth, I don’t care to,” Vincent said, his anger returning. “This was all a plot against you, Paxton.”
“Me? Whatever for?” he demanded as Lydia looked around in fear.
Vincent softened his tone and his expression both as he stepped forward and came to stand in front of Lydia. “My dear, it was all about you.”
* * *
Lydia’s head swam as Vincent’s confession poured forth.No, she thought over and over.Make it not be true, make it stop somehow.
“Lydia, I am sorry to say that I never loved you,” Vincent began, his words appearing almost as painful to him as they were to Lydia. “Your uncle contrived for us to marry so that we might share your inheritance from your father.”
“And you were a part of it?” Lydia asked tearfully, unable to prevent her accusatory tone.
“I confess that I did, and I feel wretched for it.” Vincent looked to Madame Saunier, who smiled at him weakly before looking down in shame. “At first, it made sense. I am a Viscount with only a meager fortune to my name. What did it matter if I loved you when many of our peers marry for the merging of lands and titles? And if I had even half of your inheritance as a dowry, it would keep me in good stead.”
