Chapter 9
“So how did you come to work at the orphanage?” Agnes asked that evening over dinner.
Miss Wetherby smiled. “It’s a long story, and not a very interesting one,” she said. “I’ve been doing work there since I was young. But when the day came that I had to leave my father’s house, I needed somewhere to go, and the orphanage seemed like the perfect answer.”
“Why did you have to leave your father’s house?” Agnes pressed.
Reeves frowned at his sister. Even though he wanted these answers too, she was being very blunt in the way she asked the questions, and he didn’t approve.
What he didn’t want was to give Miss Wetherby the excuse to say that he and his family were ill-mannered in any way.
He wanted their behavior to be above reproach.
If Miss Wetherby minded the questions, though, she said nothing about it.
“My father wanted to see me married,” she explained.
“I spent a few Seasons in London, looking for a potential match, but it came to nothing. That wasn’t acceptable to my father, so he told me to find a new situation for myself. ”
“That sounds awful,” Agnes breathed. “Anything might have happened to you!”
“Oh, no, I was never in danger,” Miss Wetherby said. “I knew at once that the orphanage was the best place for me. And had it not been, there was always my cousin’s house.” She glanced at Reeves. “I believe you’re friends with her husband.”
“Do you?” This was news to Reeves.
“The Duke of Desford,” she said. “You mentioned him when we were at the orphanage.”
His eyes widened. “The Duchess of Desford is your cousin?”
“I’m more than just a girl who works at an orphanage,” she told him coolly. “I have a whole life you don’t know about.”
Clearly. He reviewed what he knew about Prudence in his mind.
She was the youngest daughter of the Baron of Highgate, but he didn’t know much more than that about her family of origin.
If Miss Wetherby was her cousin, she was probably from a family of similar rank, he speculated.
That was interesting. He had been thinking of her as just a poor girl who worked at an orphanage.
Not that this knowledge changed anything, but it explained how Leonard had come to know where Emma was.
It hadn’t even occurred to Reeves to wonder about that when his friend had first told him that Prudence had received a letter from the orphanage, but now he put the pieces together.
Prudence’s letter had come from her cousin.
“Well, but this is wonderful,” Agnes enthused. “It’s as if you were a friend waiting to happen! But tell me, a lovely young lady like you, why did you never marry? I would have thought the gentlemen would be lining up for a chance.”
“Agnes,” Reeves admonished. “This isn’t any of our concern.”
“I don’t mind,” Miss Wetherby said with a smile.
“I never found anyone who interested me—and to tell the truth, I don’t think I ever captured anyone’s interest either.
I had no suitors. Prudence always says I could have had them if I had made more of an effort, and maybe she’s right—I don’t know.
What I do know is that I wasn’t interested in making more of an effort.
Seeing me married was always something my family cared about much more than I did. ”
“Oh, I can understand that,” Agnes said. “I’m not married either. It’s never held much interest for me. Imagine shackling yourself to a man who had dominion over you and could tell you what to do day in and day out. I would loathe that.”
“This isn’t dinner conversation,” Reeves said, glancing at his daughter.
She so deeply admired both of the women sitting at this table, and he didn’t want her running away with the idea that there was something unpleasant about marriage.
It was something he hoped she would have one day.
Though his own marriage had been short and not a matter of love, he had valued it, and he didn’t want his daughter to miss out on a good thing because her aunt had convinced her there was something wrong with it.
And he certainly wouldn’t have Miss Wetherby convincing her of that.
He cleared his throat. “That’s enough intrusive questions for our guest for one night,” he said.
“I’m just trying to get to know her,” Agnes protested.
“You can do that another time. Right now, I want to hear from Emma. We need to know what happened that led to her arriving at the orphanage.”
Emma froze. Her eyes were glued to her plate.
Agnes went quiet at last. Miss Wetherby’s eyes narrowed in disapproval, but that didn’t matter. Reeves didn’t need her approval. He focused on Emma.
“I know you haven’t wanted to speak,” he told her, keeping his voice calm.
“I understand that that has been hard for you. But it’s time to tell us what happened, Emma.
We need to know, all right? Whoever took you that night might take other little girls if they aren’t caught and brought to justice.
We need to make sure they’re punished for what they did. ”
Emma shivered.
“Look at me,” he told her.
She didn’t. She kept her gaze fixed on the plate in front of her, as if she thought that ignoring him might get him to stop talking.
“Emma,” he said, allowing his tone to grow a bit sharper.
“We don’t have time for this. You need to let us know what happened.
This is very important, all right? I know you can speak.
You spoke to us before, back at the orphanage, remember?
I need you to do that again now. Once you’ve told us who that bad person was, you can go back to being quiet, but right now I need some cooperation. ”
Miss Wetherby put down her napkin. “That isn’t going to work,” she said, her voice quiet but firm.
“You can’t just scold her into talking to you, as if she were being naughty.
That isn’t what this is. She’s dealing with pain over what happened to her, rather than disobeying you.
She isn’t talking because she can’t, not because she’s trying to defy you. ”
“But she can talk,” Reeves argued, frustratedly. Why were they indulging this? “We heard her talk just yesterday.”
“Physically, yes, she can. Emotionally, she isn’t ready, and that’s obvious,” Miss Wetherby snapped, clearly growing frustrated herself.
“This is why you brought me along, Your Grace. We agreed that I might be of help to your daughter as she recovers from what happened to her. But that is only going to be true if you let me help. You have to listen to me and take my advice. If you can’t do that, having me here is not going to do Emma the slightest bit of good. ”
“And what if you’re wrong about all this?
What if being soft on her is teaching her that she doesn’t have to be strong?
That she doesn’t have to find a way to move beyond what happened to her?
” Reeves asked. “I don’t want to make it difficult for her either, but allowing her to sit in silence is going to make this worse.
And besides, we have to find out what happened the night she vanished.
That’s important information. We aren’t going to get anywhere until we have that answer. ”
“Well, it isn’t her responsibility to give you that answer.
” Miss Wetherby’s eyes had grown bright with anger.
“She’s a child. She’s been through an ordeal.
You’re a man who wants to hunt down the criminal who hurt your family, and that’s all well and good, but you can’t force her into helping you with that.
She shouldn’t have to help you with that. She’s suffered enough.”
“I’d think she would want to see the kidnapper locked away,” Reeves retorted, rising to his feet. “Surely, we’ll all sleep a little better once we know that man is no longer out there. I know I will, and I’d think she would too.”
“Perhaps, but you still have to wait until she is ready to have this conversation,” Miss Wetherby said firmly.
“You presume to sit here in my house, at my table, and tell me what I have to do? You don’t command me.”
“It isn’t a command,” she shot back, standing up as well.
“It’s simple reason. You cannot force her to speak before she’s ready, and you will only upset her if you try.
You have to stop. You have to wait until she shows us that she’s ready to talk about what happened.
Until then, forcing the issue will only make her retreat. ”
“You think you know her so much better than I do? You’ve known her for a week,” Reeves growled.
“You may be good with children. I wouldn’t know.
But we’re not talking about children. We’re talking about my child.
I admit she’s taken to you, but no one in this world knows my daughter better than I do, and I’m not going to listen to anyone who claims they know more than I do about what she needs. ”
Miss Wetherby threw up her hands. “Then why did you bring me here in the first place?” she demanded.
“I want to help you both, but I can’t do that if you refuse to let me.
If you won’t even listen to me when I tell you what I know needs to be done.
You are doing her more harm than good by badgering her to talk before she’s ready.
You’re going to make it impossible for her to ever open up to you about this.
You have to go at her pace, and if you can’t do that, I’m not responsible for what will happen. ”
“Well, you’ve said one true thing,” Reeves laughed bitterly. “You aren’t responsible. None of this is your responsibility, because she isn’t your child and this isn’t your family. I’ve allowed you to come here, and you’re already making me wish I had left you at the orphanage.”
“Stop!”
The high-pitched voice interrupted their bickering. Both Reeves and Miss Wetherby turned to see that Emma had clapped her hands over her ears and screwed up her whole face, as if in terror.
Miss Wetherby opened her mouth to say something, but Agnes jumped in.
“Emma is right,” she said quietly. “I don’t know what she needs, exactly.
I don’t know how best to take care of her after all she’s been through.
But I do know that she shouldn’t have to sit here on her first night home and listen to the two of you fighting. That isn’t the solution.”
Miss Wetherby sank slowly into her chair, her cheeks flaming. “You’re very right,” she said quietly. “I’m so sorry, Emma. Thank you for telling us. We’re stopping now. We won’t do that again.
So, she can be wrong about something.
Emma huddled in her seat, but she slowly opened her eyes. Both Miss Wetherby and Agnes were turned toward her, fussing over her, trying to ensure that she was all right and knew that she would be safe here.
Well, I’m hardly needed.
He hated to leave the room, but his sister was more than capable of caring for Emma, and he thought Agnes was probably right about keeping anger away from her. And he didn’t trust himself to let go of the volatile feelings he was currently experiencing.
He had not expected Miss Wetherby to get under his skin this much. Everything she said seemed to agitate him, and he wasn’t sure what he could do about that.
He strode out of the room, intent on spending the rest of the evening in his study unless anyone called for him for any reason. But from the way things had been going since he’d found Emma at the orphanage, he was fairly certain no one would.