She shook her head. “No. He’s at our house in Knightsbridge. His office is in London. He usually leaves early Monday morning and returns Friday evening.”
“Every weekend he comes home?”
She nodded.
I grinned at her. “So he’s here on a Wednesday to make certain the American stranger you invited to the house doesn’t steal the Burleigh jewels.”
She returned my grin, but asserted, “Don’t be offended, Vivi. It’s not like we don’t ever have visitors, or guests who stay over. Temperance has a lot of friends. So does Battle. We have house parties. We entertain all the time.”
I noted she didn’t include her and Chastity in having “lots of friends.”
She continued, “It’s just that, to him, you were an unknown, and no matter how stridently I vouched for you, as you’ve learned, he’s protective.”
I’d sure learned that.
“I would be too if this was my legacy and I had three younger sisters,” I replied.
Though they were younger, they weren’t young.
One thing I knew about Prudence, because she told me, was that she was around my age, thirty-one (I was thirty-two). But in my research, I learned Chasitity was twenty-eight, Temperance was thirty-three, and Battle was thirty-six.
I went back to the chafing dishes, because under one was English sausage, bacon, and black pudding, and I’d vowed to myself I was going to stuff as much of that in my face as I could while I was in the country. And for the four days I’d been there, I’d succeeded in besting this challenge.
I wasn’t about to fall down now.
After I filled my plate, I returned to my seat, seeing Prudence had a coffee cup aloft and was staring blankly across the room.
I didn’t know whether to leave her to her thoughts or ask after them.
When in doubt with a plate of food in front of you…
I started eating.
It was the right choice.
Prudence jolted and then said, “Sorry. Miles away. Thinking about the attics and hoping we find Aunt Harmony’s letters from Charlie there.”
“Were you able to find a journal of hers?” I asked before taking a bite of sausage.
Oh yes.
Yum.
“No. Though, we did find Marie’s. And Harmony’s sister, Unity’s.”
That made my heart skip a beat, because Marie was Saint’s wife and Harmony’s mother.
“Really?”
She smiled thinly at me. “Just to warn you, I had a quick scan, and Marie didn’t say much of anything, ever. Just a few lines in each entry, mostly about household things, meals they had, etc. And I don’t think Harmony shared her love affair with her sister. Then again, Unity was much younger. She couldn’t have been more than thirteen at the time. Probably not a planned pregnancy. So also probably not a confidante.”
“Well, I’ll have a good look to make sure.”
“Of course.” Her smile grew without bad news to impart. “It must be terribly exciting to embark on a new book.”
“Best feeling ever.”
“I’m so excited to be a part of it, even a small one.”
