Gabriella breathed a sigh of relief. As desperate as she was to find her sister and discover what had happened to her, she also needed a reprieve from Raphe, however brief. Leaning back against the squabs, she closed her eyes and tried to focus on bringing her racing heart under control. They were here to see Victoria—to figure out what had happened to her. Now was not the time to be letting her feelings for Raphe distract her. She had to stay calm, for her sister’s sake. The carriage door opened again, bringing Raphe’s face into view. “I have found her.” The sympathy in his eyes was no comfort. He held up his hand. “Come. Let me take you to her.”
Discarding her internal struggles for now, Gabriella placed her hand in his and allowed him to help her alight, the acrid stench in the air immediately assaulting her senses and making her flinch. “Dear God,” she murmured, her feet slipping slightly against the greasy cobblestones.
“Here,” Huntley said. He offered her a handkerchief with one hand while steadying her with the other.
Thanking him, she placed the pristine piece of linen to her nose, savoring the sweet scent of lavender trapped among the threads. They started forward, his arm protectively at her waist as he steered her toward a crooked building with blotchy walls. A couple of scraggly women, one carrying a wailing infant, stopped to stare as they passed. Raphe offered them each a coin while Gabriella gave them a smile. She only received dejected grimaces in return.
“Don’t take it personally,” Raphe said as he pulled her away from the women and toward the building’s door. “They belong to a harsh world.” He rapped twice on the door before opening it and ushering her inside.
Gabriella blinked, her eyes adjusting to the gray interior. This place was like a deep well, absorbing all light that fell into it. A second passed, and then she saw her. Standing to one side, Victoria looked like a wraith—a mere shadow of the woman she’d once been—and Gabriella’s heart broke, her eyes stinging at the sight of her beautiful sister looking just as disheveled and drawn as the women she’d just seen on the street. Rushing toward her, she flung her arms about her and pulled her close, embracing her with equal measures of love and pity. Dear God, this was so much worse than she’d ever imagined. How on earth had it come to this? She felt so scrawny, so devoid of the sparkling happiness that had always defined her.
“What happened?” Gabriella asked as she took a step back and looked into Victoria’s eyes. They were so horribly bleak.
“Let us sit,” Victoria said, her voice achingly frail as she gestured toward the plain table and the two chairs that stood on either side of it. “I can make some tea if you like.”
Gabriella shook her head. “Thank you, but there’s really no need.” Averting her gaze, she took a moment to compose herself, not wanting to add to her sister’s troubles by starting to cry for all that she’d lost. Her chest was heavy, making breathing difficult. Briefly, she eyed Raphe, who gave her a discreet nod of encouragement. Moving to one of the chairs, she sat down, while Victoria claimed the other.
“I’m sorry to involve you like this,” Victoria began after a brief moment of silence, “but I didn’t know what else to do.” Her voice broke and she looked away, eyes cast toward the floor.
Reaching out, Gabriella took her hand and gave it a light squeeze. “You did the right thing, Vicky. I just wish you would have done it sooner.”
A quivering breath escaped Victoria’s hunched over frame. “I was such a fool, Gabby.” She shook her head. “Connolly—” She laughed grimly. “I don’t even know if that was his real name.”
“What do you mean?” A chill had driven its way to her bones. Gabriella shuddered, only slightly comforted by the light pressure of Raphe’s reassuring hand against her shoulder.
“He wasn’t the man we thought him to be, but by the time Papa discovered the truth about him, it was too late. Connolly and I had already been discovered in a compromising position at the Marsden ball.” Victoria’s lips trembled as she clasped Gabriella’s hand. “He said he loved me—promised to give me the world. Except he wasn’t the rich entrepreneur he claimed to be.”
Realization struck Gabriella with the force of a battering ram. “He tricked you.” She shook her head, disgusted that such a thing had happened to someone as good as Victoria. But it was that goodness that Connolly had prayed upon. “He tricked us all.” The man had been so likeable, so charming and flattering and . . . perfect. Everyone had liked him.
“It was all very deliberate,” Victoria went on. “After my ruination, Connolly met with Papa and demanded he pay him fifty thousand pounds in order to make him marry me. Naturally, Papa was furious with me for putting him in such a difficult situation, but he saw no other way around it.”
“Oh, Vicky!” Fifty thousand was more than twice the amount of Victoria’s dowry—an astronomical sum.
“Naturally, Papa attended the wedding so he could make sure that it took place. But he didn’t count on Connolly’s deceitful nature. The despicable man left me at the inn where we spent our wedding night. When I woke the following morning, I found a measly five pounds on the nightstand, along with a note that read, Good luck. I realized later that day that the ship we were supposed to take together had departed earlier than he’d told me it would. He went to America without me, Gabby.”
It was all too awful to contemplate—a gently bred lady, forced to endure a life of poverty. “Why didn’t you come home?”
“I think you know the answer to that,” Victoria told her mildly. “Papa would have thrown me right back out. My pride could not allow that to happen. So I took a job at the inn I just mentioned. A few weeks later, I realized that I was with child—married, abandoned, and pregnant. It felt as though I was drowning, but at least my wages allowed me to afford this place. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to work since Lucy was born, and with no income at all to sustain us—” A sob shook her rigid shoulders. “I’m sorry, Gabby. I never wanted to drag you into this mess, but I simply didn’t know what else to do.”
Appalled by the fact that their elevated lives had made it so impossible for her sister to return home—the idea that her parents would reject her because they cared more for appearances than for their daughter—filled Gabriella with an unquestionable amount of anger. She made a conscious effort to calm herself for Victoria’s sake and forced a smile that she did not feel. “Where is Lucy now?” she asked, deliberately drawing attention to the only positive outcome in all of this. “Can I meet her?”
“She’s sleeping just over here,” Victoria said as she rose and stepped toward a sheet that hung from the ceiling, dividing the room into two sections. She drew the sheet aside and gestured for Gabriella to approach.
Moving to stand beside her sister, Gabriella spotted the tiny bundle that lay swaddled in a wooden box on the bed. She felt her heart clench. No child should have to grow up in a place such as this. “Here. Take this,” she said, handing Victoria her reticule. “Make sure you eat well so you can feed her properly. I will speak with Papa, and—”
“No.” Victoria’s eyes widened with fear. “You cannot tell him about this. Please, Gabby, promise me that you will keep this between us.”
“I—” Gabriella cast a wary gaze in Raphe’s direction before looking back at Victoria. “You cannot remain here, and with your daughter in mind, there is a good chance that Mama and Papa will welcome your return. Surely they will want to know their first grandchild.”
“You didn’t see how furious Papa was when we parted. I’ve never seen him like that, Gabby.” Victoria practically trembled.
“Perhaps I can help,” Raphe said before Gabriella could comment.
“I cannot possibly ask that of you,” Gabriella said, unwilling to involve him any further.
“You helped my sisters,” he said, ignoring her comment. “Allow me to help yours.”
“It is good of you to offer, Your Grace,” Victoria said, “but my sister is right. It would be wrong of me to rely on your generosity, especially since I have little hope of ever repaying such kindness. I wouldn’t be comfortable with it.”
