Chapter Twenty-Three #3
It was an odd request. ‘Leave? To go where?’
‘I wish for you and me to view the sunset from Spring Hill.’ Prudence closed her eyes, and a serene smile lit her face. ‘Do you remember we’d go there as a family when we were little, and we’d walk through the woods?’
Helene felt a pang of emotion, of loss and happier days. ‘Yes, dearest. I remember it well. You and I would take off at a run, kick at leaves, and chase rabbits.’
A teardrop rolled down Prudence’s sallow cheek. Helene suffered a stab to the heart over seeing her sister so visibly upset. She gently thumbed the tear away.
‘We’d all sit on a blanket atop the hill, and together we’d watch the sunset. The sky looked as if an artist had used brush-strokes in a palette of reds and oranges. So beautiful. Magical.’
Helene refused to read the ominous signs of her sister’s flagging health. ‘Then we shall watch another magical sunset tonight,’ she said with cheer. ‘I’ll ask Robert to chaperone us.’
‘No. Not Robert.’
‘Father, then?’
‘No. I should like to meet your Scottish laird, Lachlan.’
Helene gave a laugh. ‘He is not my laird, but it would give me great pleasure to have the two of you meet, and I’m sure he will most heartily oblige your request.’
Prudence’s lips lifted in the briefest of smiles. ‘Good. It’s settled, then.’ Her breathing slowed. Long, dark lashes rested on pale cheeks, and she appeared to be on the cusp of sleep. ‘I have . . .’ The words were a faint whisper.
‘It can wait. Rest now. All will be well. You’ll see, Prudence. All will be well.’ Helene bent to her sister’s hand and pressed a kiss to the soft skin.
‘A secret . . .’
Helene stilled and waited, her ear close to her sister’s mouth. A secret?
‘To confess.’
This last word, spoken on a breathy rasp, sent Helene’s heart racing. She drew back to look upon her sister’s face, wondering if Prudence had spoken the words in a confused, dreamlike state, or whether she’d been lucid enough to speak her truth.
Moments passed in which Helene remained in the quiet of the room, her sister’s hand in hers.
A secret? A confession? What could Prudence possibly mean?
Helene searched her mind for answers and came up with nothing.
Instead, she wallowed in self-loathing as her memory punished her with the events of that fateful day long ago.
If only she could go back and right the wrong she’d done to her sister.
If only she hadn’t fought with Prudence over a damned doll.
Helene pulled her thoughts together. The only way forward was to be strong for Prudence. That was the least she could do. That, and to see her sister received the very best of care to ensure her strength returned.
Helene exited the bedchamber and made her way downstairs to her father’s library. The three men rose to their feet upon her entering the room. Sighting Lachlan was like imbibing a tonic that promised to cure her of all her angst and woes. He was her stalwart pillar of strength.
Concern for her lay bare in the creases around his eyes and in the grim set of his mouth. He seemed ill at ease, which made Helene question what the men had discussed during her brief absence from the library.
Helene glanced at her father. His stance looked altogether defeated, if not apologetic, with his arms limp at his sides and shoulders pulled low.
Her gaze flicked to Robert. Where once her brother would have taken every opportunity to lord it over her with his jutting chin and arrogant superiority, he now bore an expression suggestive of guilt and repentance.
Lachlan approached and stood before her. ‘Are ye all right, lass?’
No. She wasn’t. She held herself like a tightly coiled spring and wanted nothing more than to lash out and rail against her father and brother.
Had they not committed Prudence to a psychiatric hospital, where she was in danger of being treated in horrific ways, then she wouldn’t appear as if she were on her deathbed.
Helene had spent her life atoning for her crime against Prudence.
How would her father and brother atone for their part in her failing health?
‘Yes,’ she stoically lied.
‘Then, if ye dinnae mind, ’tis time for me to take my leave of ye and yer family.’
Without thought, she stayed him with a firm hand on his arm. ‘Leave? For Scotland?’
‘Nae, lass. To my uncle’s residence. Viscount Sutton. He too lives in Grosvenor Square.’
Helene’s hand flopped by her side, and she breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Of course. Agnes and Cuthbert’s father.’
‘Aye.’ He looked at her with kind and caring eyes. ‘Yer sister, Prudence. Was she pleased to see ye?’
Helene thought it odd he didn’t enquire after Prudence’s health. Perhaps her father had already apprised Lachlan of those developments. She ran a condemning gaze over her father and brother. There’d be time enough to deal with them, but not in front of Lachlan.
‘Yes, she was most pleased to see me, and as a matter of fact, she expressed her wish to meet you this evening. She would like to view the sunset from Spring Hill and asked if you’d accompany us in the carriage?’
Robert spoke up. ‘I don’t believe she’s in any condition to travel. She—’
Helene cut him off with a sharp glance. ‘If Prudence wishes to see a sunset, then a sunset she shall see. I will ensure her every comfort.’ Her gaze slid back to Lachlan.
He placed one hand over his heart. ‘It would be my absolute honour.’
‘Thank you. Since the sun sets late in the evening, we’ll head out after the dinner hour. Say, seven o’clock?’
‘Aye.’
Helene smiled her thanks. ‘I’ll have Grayson retrieve your belongings and the horses.’
‘Nae, lass. I’ll speak to Grayson. Thank ye all the same.’ He gave a nod in her father’s direction. ‘Ye have some catching up to do with yer family. If ye should need me before this evening, nae matter the reason, just send word. I’m not far away.’
There was so much Helene wanted to say to Lachlan.
She wanted to throw her arms around him, feel his solid strength against her body, and press her lips to his, but with her father and brother looking on, she simply said, ‘Thank you for everything. I’m most grateful and forever in your debt.
If there’s anything I can do for you, anything at all, you only need ask and I shall oblige. ’
Helene yearned to lean closer and whisper three heartfelt words in his ear.
Lachlan bowed. ‘Until this evening.’
She watched him leave the room, and when he’d closed the door, Helene sat in the chair he’d occupied. Bathing and a change of clothes could wait. She stared pointedly at her father and brother and gestured for them to sit.