CHAPTER 18 #2
Caroline kept her eyes trained on the cold slice of tongue on the plate before her. Tears pricked her eyes as shame choked her. She should have said something—anything—but nothing came out.
“Ah,” Valeria smirked. “I fear I am partially to blame. I have been a rather taxing house guest.”
“Weren’t you waiting for a doctor? You look as if you’re feeling much better.”
“At the moment,” Valeria shrugged, “But I could take a turn for the worse at any time.”
“Her doctor is in Scotland tending to another patient and will be here when he can,” she said, looking to Valeria, whose eyes were trained away from her. For the first time, she considered the flimsy excuse wasn’t true.
“Caroline,” Diya said. “Why don’t you get a plate for your guest?”
“No need,” Valeria responded. “However, I will take a glass of wine.”
Caroline’s brow furrowed as Valeria went to collect a wine glass and a carafe of red wine that was almost empty. In all of her weeks here, she had never once seen her eat or drink anything. As Valeria poured the red wine, she thought it looked a little…thick.
“You know, red wine sounds good. Why don’t you pour some for me as well?” Caroline asked.
Diya frowned. “You hate red wine.”
Valeria held the carafe upside down over her wine glass as she watched the last of the liquid drip into her glass. “Unfortunately, I can’t seem to spare any of it, but if you call Mrs. Thomas, I’m sure she’ll be more than happy to open another bottle.”
“That won’t be necessary; I only want a taste.”
Valeria’s eyes flashed, which made her want to dig her heels in further. Even though Diya’s eyes jumped between them and she knew she should stop before she realized everything that was happening between them, she couldn’t seem to stop.
“Oh, but I wouldn’t want to waste a single drop. Besides, I’m not sure if this is to your taste and I would hate for you to drink something you regret.” Valeria paused to drink before smirking. “Though I think it may be worse if you try it and find that you do have a taste for it.”
She shivered. Valeria was drinking blood at her dining room table. Her only hope was that it wasn’t anyone from her household. Though she didn’t like the thought of anyone’s blood being in that glass.
“If you want wine, you can have some of mine, Caro,” Diya said.
“No, it was just a bit of teasing between friends. Thank you, though.”
“Are we friends then?”
Caroline glowered at Valeria as she smirked in return. She wanted to kick her beneath the table, but her leg wouldn’t reach.
“Yes,” she said through clenched teeth. “What else would we be?”
Valeria’s eyes flashed, and Caroline knew at once she had said the wrong thing as Valeria took an angry sip from her glass. “I suppose you could say we are very, very close friends.”
“It’s interesting you’re such close friends, yet I never heard Miss Blythe talk about you until you appeared at her engagement party.”
“Are you jealous of our friendship, Miss Evans?” Valeria asked, cocking her head.
“Of you and my sister?” Diya snorted, shaking her head. “Of course not. I’m only surprised you’re still here. I thought you would spend a day or so here before moving on. Especially since Miss Blythe never mentioned you again.”
Diya sounded cordial, but Caroline could hear the underlying anger. She didn’t know how to explain that it was safer if Diya didn’t know about Valeria.
“I wonder why our Miss Blythe has kept us a secret from one another, because I haven’t heard about you either.”
“I’ve been busy with wedding preparations.” Her face heated as she stumbled over the clumsy lie neither believed.
“Interesting, because you had eight years to mention me to Miss Evans.”
“Eight years!”
Caroline rubbed her temples. She wished she could kick them both out, but it wouldn’t solve her current problem, as there was no way either would leave. Her best friend and…Valeria looked at her expectantly, and she sighed.
“You remember when my family toured the continent, and we spent the summer in Italy.”
“Of course.”
“Her family owned the vineyard where we stayed, and we became fast friends. For twelve weeks we were inseparable.”
Her eyes were fixed on her plate as she spoke. Doing this in front of Valeria was embarrassing, but she needed Diya to understand that she truly cared for Valeria. Even if this all ended in tragedy, she wanted her best friend to know her feelings were real.
“It was fourteen weeks.”
Her eyes snapped to Valeria, who was still draped over her chair with the same bored expression, but her eyes had softened.
“But just those fourteen weeks. I wrote every day for months after I returned to England, but not a single letter was returned.” She cleared her throat, turning her attention to Diya.
“I think that’s why I didn’t tell you. It was embarrassing and heartbreaking, and I didn’t know how to tell you without feeling foolish. ”
Diya reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “That’s why you should have told me.”
“Do you think I didn’t write because I didn’t care?”
Caroline pulled her hand away before glaring at Valeria. “What else was I supposed to think?”
“You were on vacation. And sure, you spoke such sweet things in my ear, but what would happen once you returned to real life and responsibilities? When you came to your senses and realized we had no future. You were always going to need a husband to help you run your estate and give you a dozen little Blythes running around to keep the cycle going.”
She wanted to deny it, but she was engaged to Edgar and still planned to marry him despite Valeria’s reappearance in her life. Her family’s future mattered more to her than anything—even her own happiness.
“Excuse me,” Valeria said, standing up with her wine glass in hand, “I’m afraid I’m not feeling well after all and need to retire to my room.”
Diya’s eyes tracked Valeria as she walked from the room until the dining room door clicked shut behind her.
“Are you together?” she hissed.
“No.” She shook her head, feeling empty at the denial. “It’s complicated between us, but she’s right. There was never any future for us.”
“Are you still marrying Edgar?”
“Of course, Edgar will return, and Valeria will move to America with her new family. Nothing will change.”
Diya nodded, though she didn’t look convinced.
Mercifully, she didn’t push the issue, and their dinner continued.
The conversation was stilted as Caroline pushed herself through the motions because no matter what was happening, she couldn’t stop thinking about where Valeria had gone.
And if there were any bodies left in her wake.