Page 65 of Forgotten No More

“Have I not trusted you these last eight years? Shared my deepest secrets—good and bad—with you, my dearest friend? Everything that is mine is yours.”

Ruby’s head dropped in shame. “You deserve better than the horrid friend I have been. I will pack my things and depart for the country.”

“You would leave, just like that, rather than confide in me? That is by far more hurtful than anything.”

“I cannot burden you with my problems. I hoped to be strong enough to solve my own troubles without bringing you and Brock into it. Once you know me, who I actually am, you may not want to be my friend any longer.”

“What about what I want?”

Ruby didn’t know how to respond.

“I want to be the kind of friend to you that you’ve always been to me,” Vi said. “If you will let me.”

Ruby turned in her seat, forcing herself to face her friend. She hung her head. “Things could not be any more of a disaster.”

“What is such a disaster?”

“My life.” The words were simple, but seemed to encompass everything.

“Start from the beginning, perhaps?” Vi suggested.

“I have no idea where that even is.”

“Well, you were in great spirits at my wedding, and you seemed happy to be back at home, and close to Brock and me at Haversham House.”

“I was,” Ruby conceded.

“And you were adamant that you did not want to join me in London.”

“That was true.”

“But then you arrived the day I was to leave, requesting to accompany me.” Vi stared at her, guessing correctly when all the trouble had begun. “What happened?”

Ruby sighed. “It was not what happened, but what I found.”

“Go on…”

Ruby wiped a stray tear from her bruised cheek. “I did not want to burden you with all of this and cause undue strain.”

“I am with child, not ailing of a heart condition,” Vi comforted her. “I am not an invalid, and find myself tired of you and Brock coddling me. Please tell me.”

“I was searching for the trunk that held the lovely dresses your father bought me last season. I was in the attic, covered in dust and sneezing all over the place, when I stumbled upon a book.”

And then, she told her—she told Vi all about her mother’s journal and the damning entries detailing her mother’s affair.

Her friend listened without interruption until Ruby had told her the sordid details of her dubious birth. “So, you came to London to confront your mother?” Vi asked.

Ruby shook her head. “No, I came to find my father—to learn who I am.”

“But you know who your father is: he is the man who raised you, doted on you. Nothing can take him away from you or change the fact that you belonged to him.”

“I wish it were that simple.” Ruby sighed, longing for what Vi had always known about herself. “You know who you are and where your family came from. I don’t know—or didn’t until recently—if I had another family, possibly siblings… A parent who would cherish me.”

“But you know now?”

She laughed, unsure what else to do. “I do.” So many emotions rushed through her, as they had on her journey home. “My father is alive and I have at least one sister, that I know of.”

“That is wonderful! What is his name? Was he happy to see you?”