He turns on his heel and lurches off, leaving James and Albert standing by the wall as the street slowly empties. They haven’t attracted too much attention, outside of the curious looks from a few flower sellers on the street and the waiting coachmen.
“Well, now you’ll have to come with us to Cowes, won’t you? We’ll need to come up with a plan.”
James turns slowly to Albert, apologies warring in his chest, tripping up his throat. “If I’d just told Bobby before—if I’d gone to your uncle, our uncle, maybe—”
Albert reaches out and squeezes his shoulder. “Raverson being a deplorable, scheming pissant isn’t your fault. You, me, Bobby, and the girls, we’ll figure this out at Cowes. Meredith loves a challenge, and Beth and Gwen will die for the chance to put him in his place.”
“They don’t even know him,” James argues, his throat tight all over again.
“He’s hurting two of ours, that’s all they need to know. More than that, though,” Albert says seriously, taking James’ other shoulder in hand so they’re staring at each other head-on. “If I don’t report back to Lady Harrington and promise her I showed you a great time in Cowes, she’ll have my hide. I can’t let my mother-in-law be my death, it would be too pathetic.”
James lets out a startled laugh, something unknown letting go in his chest. “What?”
Albert turns them, wrapping his arm back over James’shoulders to lead him to the hired coaches. “She was so worried you would be out of your mind with embarrassment, and she couldn’t tease it out of you.”
“She wasn’t... upset?” he asks, the feelings of fear and panic and mortification he tamped down hard on his horse ride back from the country roaring in his stomach.
Albert opens the door for the first hired coach, gesturing for James to hop inside. James goes, surprised when Albert gives the driver the address for the Foundling Hospital.
“We’re picking up Gwen; she took a shift,” Albert explains as he swings inside and closes the door. “And no, Lady Harrington was only upset she interrupted you and thatyouwere upset.”
“We shouldn’t have been—” James breaks off, unsure of how to finish the sentence in a gentlemanly fashion.
“She went snooping. Serves her right,” Albert says easily. James gapes across the carriage at him and Albert laughs. “Honestly, she’s seen worse with me and Meredith—a story for another time,” he says. James feels his eyes widen. “Suffice it to say, she wants you to have fun for the rest of the season, and made it my responsibility. So you’ll come to Cowes with us.”
James can do no more than nod, watching as Albert smiles and then looks contentedly out the window. Instead of yelling, instead of demanding answers about Raverson and his bribes, instead of taking James to task for running away, he’s just... protecting him.
That warm, soppy feeling takes over again and James slumps into the hard seat behind him, feeling dazed. Raverson’s out for blood, but all Albert seems to care about is that James is... happy. Even after he ran out on Bobby, on all of them...
How can anyone ever forgive him? How can he ever forgive himself?
He has a swirling mix of grief and a massive bubble of unease in his stomach. Raverson’s made it very clear he’s coming after them whether James and Bobby are apart or together. No amount of subterfuge or even distance is going to stop him. Nor is it ever going to stop the world.
Bobby or not, society doesn’twantJames as he is. Will never want him as he is, no matter how much he pretends. He can be the picture-perfect viscount, but they’re going to keep hating who he is at his core—all of them small-minded, and frightened, and prejudiced.
Except for Albert. And Gwen. And Beth, and Meredith, and hell, even Lady Harrington, it seems. His aunt, his uncle. And... Bobby.
The weeks of regret, of pain, of grief—it was all for nothing. Instead of allowing himself and Bobby to face Raverson united, happy, whole—James made them both suffer, horribly.
They can’t change the world, but maybe they can face it together. All of them can face it together. He needs to make things right, right now.
He opens his mouth, unsure but willing tostart, and then they pull up to the front of the Foundling Hospital. He follows Albert’s gaze out the window to where Gwen is crouched at the base of one of the arches, talking to a little girl holding a teddy bear, lip caught between her teeth. The little girl is a tad gaunt, but wearing a fresh dress and cap.
Albert hops out to help Gwen up and James can just hear Gwen’s murmured, “I promise, Beth and I will be back in a week to play with you.”
The girl’s eyes water. She can’t be much older than two. Gwen squeezes her shoulders and then stands as a woman steps forward to take the girl’s hand. Gwen waves to them both andthen lets Albert help her into the carriage. She wipes at her eyes with her apron as Albert swings back into the coach and settles beside her.
Throat tight, James taps the ceiling and they lurch off, giving Gwen a moment to compose herself.
“Sorry,” she says, laughing a little. “She’s just too sweet.”
“Lady Ashmond will take care of her,” Albert promises.
“I know. She’s very good with them, surprisingly,” Gwen agrees. “You know, she and Thomas Parker are working on a bit of a project,” she adds, looking across at James.
That pulls him from his panic. “How on earth do they know each other?”
“Oh, he’s been a guest at a few of her salons,” Gwen says with the most casual shrug. “She says Parker has promised to introduce her to some enterprising young men for her entrepreneurship program. I assume you are one of those young men?”
