Chapter Twenty-Eight
I t was almost morning. Seth had disappeared relatively early when another guest slipped and hurt her foot. Hermia had told Ada that Aunt Bessie was most displeased at her rogue private game, but Ada was too sleepy to care. After Puck and Titan had carried Silvers off, they had promised to inform Aunt Bessie’s solicitor. The money was hers, Ada thought with relief. But how much was there?
She let herself into Aunt Bessie’s room and pulled a throw pillow to the dressing chair behind the paravan room divider in the far corner. Only a few minutes, Ada thought. She’d rest her eyes for only a few minutes and then slip away before anyone knew she was there. Alfred was surely worried about her but she couldn’t venture back alone in the dark. Not after a masquerade ball, it was too dangerous for a girl alone. And where had Seth gone?
A few hours later, Ada awoke with the familiar click of the opening door.
“Dr. Alfred Stein,” Titan said.
Alfred? Other voices mumbled something, but Ada couldn’t make out the words. She pulled her legs up so that she couldn’t be seen behind the room divider.
“Alfred, this is the girl you will marry.” Aunt Bessie sounded furious. Ada held her breath. Her pulse throbbed in her throat.
The voices spoke but Ada’s cracking heart overpowered them. She’d known their love was too good to be true. She couldn’t be so lucky as to find love and a groom in not even two weeks.
“As lovely as she is—and I’m sorry, Miss—I refuse.” Alfred’s voice woke Ada from her stupor.
Ada heard the clinking of porcelain. Aunt Bessie had set down her cup. From her position cowering on the settee, shaking with fear that she’d be discovered, Ada couldn’t see much. No, that wasn’t it. She was trembling with sorrow. Alfred was going to marry the other, faceless voice she’d heard speaking, and Ada would be just this, a hidden memory. Everything had been in vain.
“Dr. Stein, you jest.” Aunt Bessie’s voice trembled with wrath. How could Alfred have thought to defy her? And why had Ada allowed him to do so? Was she truly so naive as to think Aunt Bessie would let him out of the deal if he said he’d already given his heart away?
“First, you allege that my matches are biased toward the Ton, then you storm out of here with enormous wins against the house, and now you refuse to accept the match I deem fit for you per our agreement? Have you any inkling what you are doing to your life? Have you gone mad, boy?”
Ada’s mind went blank. She heard nothing, felt nothing. And just when she thought she was falling apart, Aunt Bessie ruled, “Kiss!”
“No!” The girl protested. “I don’t want to!”
“Kiss him now. You weren’t this squeamish last night.”
Was it possible? Alfred and this other woman? Last night? Ada leaned to see between the panels of the room divider but the morning sun was too bright to see clearly; everyone was in silhouette with the light blazing through the windows behind them.
“Alfred! Stop!” The door slammed open and hit the wall with a bang.
“Seth?” Ada heard the confusion in Alfred’s voice. Her head began to buzz and swim as she grew dizzy and her throat grew tight.
Not now. Not another episode of breathless terror. But her lungs refused to take in the air she needed. Again.
“Get your hands off her!”
“Mr. Cavalier.” The other woman’s voice collided with Aunt Bessie’s outburst and then Ada heard a dull “Wham!”
“What was that for?” Alfred’s voice sounded forced. He’d been hit. Ada gasped, slipped off the settee, and knocked the room divider over. She wasn’t breathing.
“Ada?” Alfred straightened, still clutching his stomach. Seth held the young woman in his arms. Aunt Bessie was fuming.
She gasped, but no air moved into her lungs. Alfred rushed to her and took her face in both hands.
“Slow and deep!” His eyes locked with hers and shakily, she inhaled. Air filled her chest and relief spread through her limbs.
“You… you…” Aunt Bessie growled and wagged her index finger. “And you!” Her voice was a low growl.
“Aunt Bessie—I didn’t mean—to eavesdrop,” Ada spoke through coughs. “I fell asleep and then I heard Alfred.”
“Alfred?” Aunt Bessie’s eyes darted from one to the other. “You and the Cavalier?” She propped her hands on her hips as if she’d known all along. “I gave him two weeks to gamble here. But not with a Jewish name, I’m no fool.”
Seth and the young woman stood together facing Aunt Bessie. Alfred reached his hand out and Ada took it.
“Neither are we,” Alfred said. “Let’s settle this once and for all.”