Chapter 1 #3
“Yes,” Evelina said, and yet she felt dread not anticipation of that fact. A deep fear that Blackburn hadn’t been lying. That the very small shreds she had left from her life with Harry were about to be burned at last, disintegrated on a fire of humiliation and lies and pain.
The carriage slowed as it turned into the drive in front of Arabella and Silas’s new home. Evelina exited the vehicle without waiting for assistance and hardly looked up at the lovely white brick-faced home with its latticed terraces and brightly painted shutters.
She pushed past Barnaby, Arabella’s longtime butler who had gone with her to the new home, and strode down the hallway, Julia at her heels, saying her name, though it sounded like it was all underwater. Far away.
The door to the one of the parlors was partially shut, but there was bright light flowing from it into the hallway and Evelina went to it.
She pushed inside and found her sister perched on her new husband’s lap, fingers threaded through his thick hair as he looked up at her in pure, unadulterated love and passion.
Evelina flinched and dropped her gaze. Walking in on something sensual was one thing, but intruding upon such connection felt wrong. It also made her chest ache, like she’d lost something, though she didn’t know that she’d ever felt such naked affection as what she saw on her sister’s face.
The couple glanced toward her and there was no embarrassment on their expressions.
Not that there ever could be. Silas and Arabella were like two sparks who had come together in explosive flame.
They gave very little care to how others saw them and were known to passionately kiss on the street, race in the parks and cackle at bawdy jokes they whispered to each other no matter the company.
Evelina had never been so happy for her sister, but at that moment she had to shove all her complicated feelings aside as Arabella slowly got up from Silas’s lap and tilted her head.
“Evie? And Julia. What in the world are you doing barging into my parlor at eleven at night?”
Silas’s gaze flitted over Evelina’s face and any softness he’d exhibited toward Arabella fled. “What’s wrong?” he asked, coming to his feet, his posture suddenly on guard.
Evelina swallowed. She’d come here to confront Arabella, but now that she was standing before her, she didn’t know how to formulate the words. How to demand answers that she didn’t truly want. That she didn’t think she could bear.
“Is it true?” she asked, and hated how her voice shook and barely carried.
“True?” Arabella repeated with a blank expression. She stepped forward slowly and reached out to take Evelina’s hand. “I don’t know what you mean, dearest.”
“Is it true?” Evelina repeated, this time sharper. “Is Harry with the Countess of Blackburn? Has he been with her since long before we parted? Is he…is he planning to marry her when this nastiness of the divorce is over?”
Arabella caught her breath as Evelina asked every pointed, painful question. She glanced at Silas and their eyes met, and in that moment Evelina had every answer she’d sought. She felt her knees give out a fraction and Silas leapt forward to catch her elbow, steady her.
She yanked away and took a long step back. “You did know!”
Arabella let out a shaky breath. “I-I had heard a few whispers in the last few days. I’d heard he had someone new and that there were hints of a scandal about it all. But—”
“And why didn’t you tell me?” Evelina interrupted, fisting her hands at her sides and wishing it made them shake less.
“Because he hurt you,” Arabella said. “And I didn’t want to hurt you further until I could meet with Simone and get all the information available.”
Evelina flinched. Simone was the courtesan who had helped Arabella and both her sisters when they entered into the life years ago. She was a true friend and one of the sharpest people Evelina had ever met. Of course, Arabella would look to her for the truth.
She reached out to steady herself on the nearest chair before she collapsed into it with a thunk.
She stared at the fire rather than her sisters and brother-in-law.
“Could it be true? That Harry could really be with Lady Blackburn? That he was with her behind my back all the while he told me I was the true love of his life and that he would only marry for duty?” She flinched as she thought of Lord Blackburn’s crestfallen expression earlier in the night.
“Could it be true that he would do something so horrible to his friend, a man who I never saw be anything but kind and supportive to him?”
Arabella dropped down to her knees before Evelina and cupped her cheeks. They held gazes for a long moment and she could see how much her sister hurt for her. That had always been their way. Their pains were shared, they protected each other, sometimes to their own detriment.
“I will go to Simone first thing in the morning,” Arabella said. “I’ll detangle her from the arms of whatever lover she’s entertaining at present, and I will find out.”
Evelina looked past her sister to the fire again and shook her head. “No. No, I need to find out myself. I need to do this myself.”
“Evie, that cannot be wise,” Arabella whispered. “It could only hurt you more.”
Evelina blinked down at her. “Nothing could hurt me more, could it? There must be an end to it at some point.”
Her sister’s expression softened, but even as Arabella embraced her, as Julia joined their sisterly hug and Silas went to pour her a very strong drink, Evelina already knew the answer in her heart. Just as she’d known it when Blackburn told her, no matter how strenuously she denied it.
She just couldn’t understand it.