“Shall I do it again?”
“Yes, but on the other side of the birdbath.”
Her smile became a little bigger. She picked up another rock. This was a round piece of gray slate. She flung it and again it skipped the surface of the water, like a gull. The trajectory matched the last but on the left of the birdbath like he’d asked.
He clapped his hands. “Wonderful. This is your pile of rocks and you practice often?”
“Must have party tricks. My son likes it here the best. Doing something with my hands helps when I have to be out here.”
Son. The baby or the little boy? Time to find out. He leaped up. “While you are smiling, let’s find your parents.”
“No. Wait. Just stay and watch the ripples in the small pond. Sometimes, you’ll hear a frog’s moan.”
Her mood had changed again. What a puzzle she was. Well, that hadn’t changed. She had intrigued him before, and he’d fallen for her before he’d even known it.
“I can’t decide if you want me to leave, Mrs. Wilky, or if you want me to stay. I have rather large shoulders to comfort you in this turmoil.”
“That you do.”
Was that a smidgeon of appreciation for him? Ruth used to tease him for being tall and lanky. He picked up her lenses, thin brass like the ones broken at Blaren House but made with slimmer glass. “Tell me why we’re procrastinating.”
A small grin bloomed then disappeared.
A check of their surroundings—Mrs. Bexeley and a few other women edged closer. “Talk to me Mrs. Wilky, before we have an audience.”
“They know. You’re the only one who doesn’t.”
Crossing her arms, she held on to her elbows as if she were cold, but even her vacant eyes brimmed with fire, something akin to defiance. “For four years everyone wanted me to forget Adam. They wanted to take my memories away. They wanted Adam to be a lie. He wasn’t.”
“I know.”
“You can’t know. He was a flesh and blood man who loved me more than he loved himself. You’re here at my parents’. You will tell them the truth. Perhaps they will believe you. Why not? You’re a man. A peer. Why wouldn’t they?”
“Use me for your advantage.”
Her hand popped up, palm wide, fingers stretched.
“Four years of branding me a liar are ready to magically disappear. You think the pain goes away, too?”
Wycliff put his hand to her wrist and lowered it. “You know Adam was a person. You’re no liar. You’re a truth teller.”
“But I want to forget everything. I wish I was a liar. I’m disappointed in how my life has gone. Then I feel guilty, for that means denying Adam, a man who died for me.”
She pressed at her temples. “I want to feel justified, but what if you’re not believed? What if we never find the other half of the document? What if I never have a legal, valid way to show I was loved and honorable? These are my fears. Please, sit with me, not moving. I need another minute before this sliver of hope is put at risk and destroyed.”
Wycliff wanted to confess right now, to honor what she’d suffered. This was his fault, thinking that taking the registry would keep her safe.
Yet, his admission now would make her seem more of a liar or foolish for having him here at her party. She needed him to be Wycliff, the eccentric peer, not Adam the fool.
It was good she still thought him dead. A dead man couldn’t be a live friend.
Wycliff pulled her hand to his chest. “If Adam had known how you would suffer, he would’ve done things differently. He should never have headed to London. He’d been warned. He knew better, but he still went. It’s his fault.”
“See, you weren’t even there, and you know the fault is mine. He wanted to head to Scotland. I should’ve let him. He made the choice to please me.”
“You weren’t responsible. Adam made up his own mind. Even if he valued your opinion, he still made the decision.”
Ruth picked another stone. This time, when she tossed it, she hit the birdbath dead center. A piece of tile chipped. The bowl moved. The rock fell with a big splash into the pond.
