How had her aunt known this, but Joseph had not?
“When I realized you had gone I set about telling everyone you were ill. There were of course rumors, but I never believed that you had run off with another man, and so I asked your father. He would not tell me at first, but eventually I wore him down and he confessed that it was he who forced you to flee. I never spoke to him again, even though I did not know all the details.”
“On, Aunt Beth, surely not.”
The small cluster of berries perched on the side of her aunt’s hat wobbled as she nodded.
“It is true we never really cared for each other, so I did not feel the loss. Indeed, I rarely saw him anyway, as he had tucked himself away at his estate in Devon.”
“I thought about you often, but I feared to make contact because I had no wish to bring trouble down upon you also.”
Her aunt’s face twisted into a fierce expression.
“I could not forgive him for taking you from me.”
“And now he is dead.”
“Yes, God rest his black soul. I looked for you constantly, Millicent. I never stopped.”
As the first tear fell down her aunt’s cheek, Milly gripped her hands hard.
“You should have come to me, Millicent. I-I would have helped.”
“I could not risk it.”
“What is the risk?”
“No, Aunt. It is done with now. It is best left in the past.”
“Very well.” Her aunt sniffed.
“He, my father, left me money, Aunt.”
The look on the elderly woman’s face was once of surprised pleasure.
“As he should. But let us talk of him no more, for now we will go home, and you can tell me of your life over the last four years.”
Milly could not tell her aunt everything; some of it would upset her too much.
“So much has happened, Aunt, I barely know where to start.”
“And yet you are back, and for now that is all that matters, my dear, sweet niece.”
And for now, Milly realized it was. Closing her eyes, she let her aunt hug her again.
She prayed the danger had passed, but with no idea who the threat had come from, she could not be completely sure. Dare she risk staying in London for long? Could she really stop looking over her shoulder?
“Come home with me now, Millicent, and we shall take each day as it comes. Small steps toward the future. Let us be a family.”
“Yes,” Milly said, and for the first time in a long while she thought that maybe, just maybe, there was a future for her now.
Restless after yet another disturbed night’s sleep, where once again Milly featured in his dreams, Joseph rose early and called for his horse. A hard ride would clear his head.
His only contact with her over the last month was when someone arrived on his doorstep wanting his signature. She had purchased a modest town house in London, which he had heard her aunt now shared with her, furnishings and clothes, and a carriage, but nothing out of the ordinary.
He had heard the house was purchased for her aunt, but Joseph had no idea what was the truth. He knew Lady Mowbray had been reliant on her late husband’s family for her security, so maybe this was why Milly had done what she had.
Had she decided to make London her home? He had no idea, especially considering the vehement denial she had issued when he had asked her just that.
