Longing to make things good with her mother swelled inside. “Mama? I’m so sorry.” She released Bex like he was fire. “I have given you such concerns.” She tried to smooth her wrinkled dress. “But nothing has happened.”
“Horatio,” Papa said, “Bex said he didn’t defile her. They both say nothing has happened. We can still go on with our plans. We can buy his silence.”
With her hand to her hip, Mama stared at each of them, her head snapping back and forth between them like the clicking minute hand of a grandfather clock. Her forest-green eyes were black ice. “Silence, Josiah. You threatened the duke’s daughter to learn of Ester’s plans. You think one of the duke’s maids didn’t hear? You don’t think Clancy won’t accidentally say the wrong thing? What about one of those fancy servants who saw your angry tirade when we discovered Ester missing? No, this story will be out, and she’ll be ruined like Ruth, but at least she won’t be pregnant and deserted like her sister.”
If eyes could explode—splat on the wall from shock—Ester’s might. Hers stretched so wide they hurt. “No one ever said Ruth eloped and that it didn’t work. She has an arranged marriage, doesn’t she?”
Papa lifted his gun again and aimed toward Bex. “I don’t want my daughter to marry an actor. Actors are the lowest class.”
Seeing Bex endangered again, Ester linked arms with him, and he whimpered for she’d chosen his injured one. “Sorry,” she said to him before turning back to her father. “He’s not any actor. He’s the best. Mama knows. She’s read about him in her papers.”
Mama clasped her father’s arm and made him lower the gun. “The scandal papers.” She shook her head. “She’s chosen him, Josiah.”
Papa stomped his feet. His big arms looked as if they’d break through his great coat. “I’ll not—”
“Yes, you will Josiah. You owe me. I told you that you’d honor one request from me if I forgave you for your sins. This is my one request. Let them elope. Let us take them to Gretna Green and see that it is done. She won’t be jilted and used up like Ruth.”
“Mama, tell me about Ruth.”
Her mother’s hand waved, the jeweled rings flashing as if she’d thrown fire. “Silence, Ester. You have brought shame to the family. I don’t want to hear anything from you.”
“We’ve too many secrets, Mama. Just tell me.”
Her mother looked up at her father. When he nodded, Mama said, “Your sister Ruth had no wedding. The blackguard bedded her and tossed her aside. Your father made up the story of a strict husband that forces her to live in the country to explain her baby.”
“That is why she’s banished, because she’s disgraced?”
“Yes. Because she didn’t value what we have, what your father and I have worked for, just like you.”
Ester turned to Bex. “They said my sister eloped. They lied again.”
Bex wiped at his mouth. “They had their reasons.” Even his voice had lost its confident swagger. Papa’s happy trigger finger would do that.
Pounding her skull, Ester couldn’t take it. “Is anything true?”
“Your sister eloped, too, but the man used her, then dumped her like trash. Papa had to rescue Ruth from a brothel, where her beau had left her. Your sister didn’t trust that we knew best. Ruth learned the hard way that she did not know best, either.”
Ester reeled. Another lie had been spun about the Croomes, and Ester had been shielded from the truth. “Why didn’t you tell—”
“Hush, daughter. I’m waiting for your father to answer. Josiah, this is my request. You promised me.”
Papa raked a hand through his thick jet-black hair. “Can’t I just kill him?”
Bex retook Ester’s hand. His palm felt warm against her freezing fingers. Shock must do that, too. “I’d rather you not shoot. I want to marry your daughter if you will allow me. If Ester—Miss Croome will have me.”
“Josiah, if you hurt that actor, the magistrate you think you’re cozy with will string you up faster than you can blink. Then those same sympathetic people you do business with will try to use the courts to take away your legacy. Or worse, they’ll come for me. A widow with half your money is still a prize.”
“You win,” he said under his breath and put his gun in Mother’s hands. “You always had a way with reasoning.”
“No one could ever call you stupid, Josiah. Go down to the carriage and wait while I speak with the lovebirds.”
Papa looked cornered, with his neck swiveling between Mama and Bex. He didn’t look at Ester.
“Don’t take too long, Horatio.” With his head lowered, Papa thumped from the room.
Ester moved to her and put her arms about her mother’s stiff form. “Mama, I’ve never seen you stand up to him.”
“You’ve never had to. Your father and I know our responsibilities. Your father’s not perfect, but he is a good man.”
