Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
“They’re still hot, so be careful.” Silas picked up an egg cup and passed it to her.
“Thank you.” Helena took the cup and picked up a spoon.
Silas watched her eat, doing his best to keep from smiling from ear to ear. Waking up once again in her bed, after a night spent just sleeping, was a novelty, but one he felt he could quite get used to.
Having breakfast with her this morning, in companionable, sleepy silence while it drizzled outside, was not something he’d ever thought to dream about but now that he had experienced it… he could not imagine anything better.
He was trying not to stare but he couldn’t help how his eyes kept sliding towards her. She was wearing a warm woolly gown over her shift, her jet-black hair spilling down her back in unruly waves, her deep blue eyes at half mast, as she grazed sleepily through her breakfast.
“I should have brought you breakfast in bed, it seems.”
She raised a lazy eyebrow at him, “Why?”
“Clearly, you’re still tired.”
“I…” She gave a small laugh. “At the St. Margaret’s, I’d have been up at six, cleaning the cold stone floors of the corridors outside my room regardless of how tired I felt.” Her lashes swept downwards, hiding her eyes. “This is nothing. Just a lazy morning.”
Silas hardly knew what to say to that. He knew that if the late earl had heard his daughter say that his heart would have broken.
Silas leaned towards her, taking her hand in his and looking in her eye. “I promise you, I shall get justice for you and your father.”
She nodded. “I know you will. I trust you.”
He felt the weight of that trust like a promise.
“Have you made any progress at all?” she asked as she buttered some bread.
“A new suspect. An apothecary named Moses Adams, though we suspect that is not his real name. Have you heard of him?”
She frowned, thinking hard, and then shook her head. “I didn’t know much about my father’s business dealings…or Uncle James’. They kept us away from everything.”
He nodded. “Well, I’ll soon have to go to London myself, if I am to do my job.”
She nodded. “I’d like to come with you.”
He considered her. “There isn’t much you can do.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. I’m not helpless. I can be useful.”
“Why? Why would you put yourself in harm’s way?”
“Because he was my father, and it is my life that has been ruined. Also, I have to protect my brother.” She held up a hand, “And yes, I know you’ve pledged to help us, but I would prefer to do for myself. I have learned the hard lesson that leaving things to other people can be catastrophic.”
Silas sighed. He could understand Helena’s point of view even though he could not help but be slightly offended that she wasn’t willing to just sit back and let him rescue her.
He nodded, “Very well. You can come with me to London.”
Her eyes lit up with excitement. “I can?”
“Yes. I think I at least owe you the chance to be involved. But hear me, Helena. You do exactly what I tell you, at all times. If I ask you to stay back, you obey without question.”
She nodded emphatically. “I understand.”
He smiled. “Good.”
Lounging about on the grass, reading a book and enjoying a plate of honey cakes, Helena sighed, unable to focus.
Her attention kept getting pulled from her book to a crow on a nearby tree which seemed to be eyeing her plate hungrily. When she wasn’t keeping an eye on the crow’s movements, she was ruminating over what Silas had said to her at the breakfast table.
She was having trouble believing that he would actually let her accompany him. She didn’t know whether to be happy or terrified. A treacherous voice in the back of her mind couldn’t help but whisper insidiously that he was letting her go to London with him in order to get rid of her.
After all, how easy would it be to allow her to be captured by Uncle James or his associates?
He said I was to obey him if he ordered me to stay back, she argued with the voice.
But, the voice whispered back, what if staying back is what gets you killed?
She shot to her feet, pacing back and forth in confusion, having managed to tie herself in mental knots. Her breath was shortening, coming in pants, bosom heaving.
“Helena?”
She stopped and turned to see Amelia skipping down the steps of the verandah and then running towards her. “What’s the matter?”
Helena shook her head. “Nothing.”
Amelia frowned. “You seemed… agitated.”
Helena shook her head again, closing her eyes. “I was just…” She put her hands up to her temples, rubbing gently. “I’m just…”
“What, Helena? What’s wrong?” Amelia reached out, touching Helena’s shoulder tentatively as if afraid to hurt her.
“Nothing’s wrong. I’m…” She huffed. “It’s nothing.” She dropped her hands, and gave Amelia a sheepish smile.
Amelia frowned. “It didn’t look like nothing.”
“Well…sometimes, I can work myself up over nothing. It’s silly.”
Amelia’s frown deepened. “Is it Silas? Did he do something?”
She shook her head slowly. “No. He’s been… he’s been a perfect gentleman.”
“Is it… me?” Amelia said in a small voice.
“God, no.” She reached for the younger girl, pulling her close and embracing her. “You have been nothing but wonderful. This is nobody’s fault but my own. But I’m better now. Thank you for pulling me out of that downward spiral.”
Amelia closed her hands around Helena, hugging her tightly. “You’re welcome.”
They stayed there, swaying slightly, just holding onto each other.
“Did I say how glad I am that you’re my sister now?” Amelia said eventually.
Helena laughed softly. “Yes, several times. But I enjoy hearing it anyway.”
Dinner with Helena and Amelia was particularly loud and boisterous. The women both seemed to be rather excited.
Silas wasn’t complaining. He could not remember a happier dinner being had at this table since the death of their parents.
Amelia was animated, regaling Helena with stories about her childhood.
“This one time, I decided to run away because Silas wouldn’t let me go to the fair.”
“I was trying to protect you. Fairs are full of vagabonds.”
Amelia waved off his interruption. “I completely lost my temper with him, so I went downstairs, packed up some biscuits in a kerchief and took off on foot for the village. I had decided I would run away to the circus.”
Helena giggled nervously, staring at her with wide eyes before she gave Silas a disbelieving look as if to confirm the story. He gave her a half shrug and she gasped, turning back to Amelia.
“How old were you?”
“I was about ten, I think. In any case, I was trudging along and it began to rain. I was getting very tired because I was not used to walking and I was beginning to regret not taking a horse.”
Silas held his chest in horror. “God forbid. You were not tall enough to ride. You could have broken your neck.”
He turned to Helena. “I found her curled up on the side of the road, fast asleep, as the sun was setting. We had looked for her everywhere.”
“That must have been quite harrowing for you.”
Silas nodded, opening his mouth to agree but Amelia interrupted that with a scoff. “Harrowing? What of me? Soaked through from the rain, bone-tired and hungry and hauled back home like a recalcitrant child.”
“You were a recalcitrant child,” Silas retorted. “Still are,” he continued in a lower tone.
“I was upset,” she hissed in annoyance.
“All right,” Helena said. “Enough of that. Did you ever get to go to the fair?”
Amelia shook her head sadly. “No, they never returned.”
“Oh, well… now that I’m here, I’d be glad to take you, should they return.” Helena reached out and grabbed Amelia’s arm consolingly.
Amelia sighed. “It’s all right, it was a long time ago. I have gotten over it.”
“Have you?” Silas raised an inquiring eyebrow. “It was one of the first memories that came up when you were telling Helena stories about us.”
“That’s because my life is boring, and it’s one of the most interesting things that has ever happened to me.” Amelia stuck her tongue out at him.
Silas laughed, shaking his head. “I have a feeling that whatever I say, I will turn out to be the villain, and so I shall just close my mouth and eat my food.”
“You can’t eat with your mouth closed, don’t be silly.” Amelia retorted, making Helena laugh.
“Watch me,” Silas said and then forced bits of carrot past his closed lips.
Amelia screamed with laughter, shaking her head at her ridiculous brother. Helena watched them both indulgently, her eyes fond yet sad.
Silas gave her a keen look, reaching out to squeeze her hand. “Why are you looking so sad?” he asked with concern.
She shrugged one shoulder. “I was just… thinking about my own brother. He was just five years old when I left home. We didn’t have much time to build memories.”
He squeezed her hand again. “You will.”
She smiled sadly. “I know.”
He took a deep breath, casting around for a change of topic, but Amelia got there before him by gasping out loud. “Oh heavens, what if when Charlie comes to stay here we fall in love? Will we get married too?”
Silas looked at Helena, whose eyes had widened in horror. “Can we please not even imagine it? Charlie is a child. He’s eleven.”
Amelia giggled, “I know. But if we got married, that would make you my sister twice!”
“I don’t think I can be any more your sister than I am now, dear.” Helena said dryly.
“We’ll just have to wait and see,” Amelia replied loftily.
Helena just shook her head in utter bemusement. She gave Silas a disbelieving glance as if to say, “are you hearing this?”
Silas just grinned at her.
Helena dismissed Patricia as she lay luxuriating in the tub of hot water. She was more than capable of drying herself off and putting on her shift and didn’t see why she should trouble her lady’s maid with the task.
Patricia and the other maids worked hard enough lugging all the hot water to her tub, making sure the fire was lit, the room warmed, her nightgown laid out, and then helping her off with her dress.