Something in my chest pinched.
“You didn’t make her leave,” I said softly.
He shook his head. “No. But I didn’t make her feel safe either. Not last night.”
I felt Noah shift beside me, his gaze flicking to my face. I did not look at him. I kept my eyes on James.
“You love her, right?” I said.
He gave a short, humourless laugh. “OfcourseI love her. She is the only person I know who tells me when I am being an idiot and then brings me coffee anyway.”
We picked up the pace again, heading down the gently sloping path that curved behind the house. The vines stretched out on either side, leaves catching the growing light. It should have been beautiful. All I could think about was the unlocked terrace door and the empty bed.
An argument cut across the lawn behind us, sharp enough to slice through the mist.
“This is all your fault, Emma!”
Margaret. Of course.
Emma stiffened, arms folded as she turned. “Please,” she said, sounding tight and emotional. “I was trying to protect her.”
Margaret swept forward, pearls trembling with outrage. “Protect her? You kept secrets from her. She ran off because you couldn’t be honest!”
“Margaret,” Richard said quickly, stepping between them with the exhausted skill of a man who had been refereeing this marriage since 1989. “Shouting at Emma is not going to bring Caroline back.”
“She lied to her, Richard,” Margaret snapped, her words cracking just enough to betray real fear beneath the fury. “And now our daughter is missing!”
Lady Victoria responded, dry as kindling. “We all have secrets at that age.”
Another voice joined in, calm, balanced, and completely out of step with the rising hysteria.
Elaine.
She stepped to Richard’s side, not challenging him, just… supporting the sanity in the room.
“Margaret,” Elaine said firmly, “Emma is doing her best. We all are.” She carried the kind of reassurance that didn’t demand attention but earned it anyway. “Blaming her won’t help Caroline. It won’t help any of us.”
Margaret turned towards her, startled, not used to being addressed so directly by someone outside her social orbit.
Elaine didn’t back down. “She’s strong,” she continued. “And sensible. Until we know more, we need to stay calm. For her, and for James.”
Lady Victoria lifted one eyebrow, faintly impressed. “At last,” she said, “a voice of reason.”
I stopped and turned. They were closer than I’d realised.
Emma stood a few metres up the path, her oversized sunglasses hiding her eyes but not the way her composure had slipped. It was like she’d been holding in far too much for far too long, and it was finally leaking through the cracks.
And beside her stood Margaret, radiating the kind of disapproval usually reserved for wilted table flowers or subpar Champagne. She seemed personally offended by the entire morning, the landscape, and possibly the concept of feelings.
Cleo hovered near the edge of the group, clutching two untouched coffees, her eyes darting between Emma, Margaretand Elaine with the unmistakable look of someone desperate to understand what on earth was happening.
I walked back towards them all, Noah and James on my heels.
“Emma,” I said carefully. “You said you were trying to protect her. From what?”
She froze. Even behind the dark glasses, you could see the way her whole body stiffened. She glanced at James, then looked away so sharply her ponytail practically snapped in protest.
“Crap,” she muttered. “Look, I didn’t tell her.”
