Chapter Ten
Tobias’ thighs were burning by the time the children’s nursemaid came to take them away for their afternoon meal.
He could pretend that he had stayed and played with the toy soldiers for so long because he didn’t get to spend much time indulging in such innocent pleasures with Lotte, but lying to himself was a pointless endeavour.
Grace’s reaction to Lotte was a simple joy that touched something in him he had long thought dead and buried and he had not been able to tear himself away from it.
Grace may not smile all that much in his direction, but whenever Lotte spoke to her, Grace’s whole body lit up and Tobias wanted to bask in the shadow of the warmth of it.
In the noise of four children leaving the room, Tobias managed to push himself to standing without anyone noticing his quiet groans as his muscles protested at being held in a position of stress for so long.
But the time he took to shake the cramp out of his legs cost him his favourite armchair.
His sisters-in-law had already indicated that Grace take it and the less comfortable wingback was once again his.
‘I cannot thank you enough for this afternoon,’ said Grace as Tobias’ footmen brought in trays of sandwiches and cakes.
‘The pleasure has been ours,’ said Emily. ‘It has been a delight to see you and Lotte together. Does she remember you, do you think?’
A cloud crossed Grace’s features. ‘I do not think so.’
‘There will be plenty of time for you to become reacquainted,’ said Emily robustly. ‘You are welcome to see her here at any time.’
Tobias curled his fingers into a fist. Since becoming Freddie’s countess, Emily had taken on the role of hostess.
It saved Tobias from the cumbersome effort of voicing invites himself.
She had also taken over some of the responsibility of talking, when perhaps the situation required him to do it.
He never regretted it. Or at least, he hadn’t until now.
He wanted to be the one offering reassurances, to be the one who made their guest feel welcome.
Grace nodded slowly at Emily’s words, before placing a sandwich she had been about to eat back onto her plate. ‘You might not be so welcoming when I tell you more of my story.’
‘I am sure…’ began Emily, but this time Tobias was ready.
‘Why not start from the beginning, Mrs Wilmott?’ he said.
His brothers glanced at him in surprise. It might be unusual for him to speak, but surely not so much that they needed to look that shocked.
‘Yes, well. I am not sure where the beginning actually is,’ said Grace, turning her gaze to his. ‘I suppose I shall begin right at the very start, but do stop me if it gets too much.’
He nodded once.
‘Very well.’ She turned her plate round, several times, appearing to stare at the food.
Tobias doubted she was truly seeing what was in front of her.
‘I was born to Jebadiah and Alice Ashby. I was two years older than Clare. My parents were… not pleasant.’ She traced the edge of her plate with her forefinger and Tobias guessed that a lot was going unsaid.
‘They wanted sons, I believe, but they were not blessed with them. They were keen to move up the social hierarchy and they decided that one of the ways to do this was for Clare and me to make good marriages. They controlled every aspect of our lives.’ She shuddered and Tobias’ fingers flexed against his pantaloons, the strange urge to comfort her almost overwhelming.
‘When I was eighteen they arranged a marriage for me to an Ichabod Willsden.’ She swallowed and a wave of fury washed through Tobias, although he could not pinpoint exactly why.
‘In the beginning, I was grateful to get away from my parents,’ Grace continued.
‘Ichabod was kind in those early days and Clare came to stay with us often. We were happy then, the two of us. Then Clare met Sebastian and it seemed as though our future was perfect. They were very much in love. I wish that…’ She dipped her head.
‘I really wish that you could all have seen that.’
She dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief and Tobias’ rage became white-hot; seeing Grace in tears was almost unbearable and he wanted those who had caused it to pay.
‘At first, my parents were not pleased with the union. They’d had no control over choosing Sebastian and had wanted someone else for Clare.
When they discovered that he was related to a duke and that he was becoming increasingly wealthy, they came around quick enough.
’ She smiled, although the gesture lacked any humour.
‘By the time Clare married Sebastian, I had woken up to the true nature of my husband. Ichabod was the worst sort of bully and was very much in the same mould as my parents. Living with him became intolerable. Sebastian was welcoming and I stayed as often as possible in his and Clare’s home.
When… When Ichabod…’ She shook her head.
‘Around their first anniversary, living with my late husband became unbearable and I moved in with Clare and Sebastian on a permanent basis. Ichabod was drinking a lot and, after a marriage where he tried to control every move I made, finally did not seem to notice or care that I was no longer by his side. My parents did, however, and they became increasingly…’ she waved her hand around as if searching for the appropriate word ‘…exasperated that their plans were not working out the way they had hoped. By this time, Sebastian was refusing to acknowledge that they were in any way related to him or Clare and by extension, me. Their attempts at wresting back control of us became more unpleasant.’
A tear rolled down her cheek, followed by another.
‘Would you like to take some time to compose yourself?’ Tobias asked as much for himself as for her. Watching her misery was torturous. Not going to her side to offer comfort was twisting his stomach, the pain worse than anything he had felt for a long time.
‘No, now that I have started, I need to finish.’ She sucked in a shuddery breath.
‘Clare fell pregnant with Charlotte and Sebastian began to talk about returning to England. At first, I thought he meant to take Clare and the baby, but I should have known that they would not abandon me to Ichabod and my parents. He and Clare were both so kind, so loving.’ She smiled softly.
‘Sebastian had many investments and hundreds of employees. He could not walk away from it all easily. It took months to sort and in that time Charlotte was born and Clare and Sebastian realised it would not be easy to travel with her so young. I think Sebastian thought he was being discreet, but with enterprises as large as his, it was impossible to hide his intentions. My parents and Ichabod got wind of what was happening and the three of them were enraged. It must have dawned on them that if Sebastian took us away, they would never have any control over Sebastian’s fortune. ’
Grace descended into silence. The uneaten sandwich was still on her plate and she stared at it as if it held the answers to a secret.
It was obvious now where her tale was going to end.
Tobias almost didn’t want to hear it. He’d waited years to discover the truth and now that it was nearly in front of him, the idea of knowing, of truly understanding what his brother and his wife had gone through, what Grace had also witnessed, was almost too much.
But he would not stop her from speaking.
If she was able to continue, then he would have to listen. Sebastian’s truth needed to be told.
‘The behaviour of the three of them became erratic. There were accidents that could not be explained away. Sebastian feared for our safety and booked us passage to England. A week before we were due to leave, he and Clare were… killed.’
She said that last word so quietly that it was only audible because hardly anyone in the room was breathing.
‘It definitely was not an accident?’ Tobias’ stomach twisted as he questioned her. He did not want to push her, not when the distress was clear in every line of her body, but he also had to be sure.
She shook her head and then, as if realising he needed to hear the words, she said, ‘It was not an accident. I am sure that my parents arranged it. They could not control Clare and so they ended her life.’ Tears were falling down her face now, too quickly for her to brush them away.
‘The world will always be poorer for the loss of them.’
The urge to wrap his arms around her, to offer comfort, was almost overwhelming. But he knew that he could not. They were not alone, and, even if they had been, he would still not have been able to. She was not his to touch.
Emily stood and put her arms around Grace’s shoulders.
She murmured something that no one could hear and Grace shook her head.
‘I need to get to the end.’ She took a deep breath and continued.
‘By the time I was made aware of what had happened, my parents had already taken custody of Charlotte. For months, I was in such a state of shock, I could not make any decisions or focus on anything other than my grief. Clare had been my world for as long as I could remember and without her, I was adrift. When I finally regained control of my senses, I realised something was terribly wrong. My parents were trying to get control of Charlotte’s inheritance.
I knew that Sebastian had named his brothers Charlotte’s guardians should anything happen to him.
At the time, I believed that their deaths were a tragic accident, but I did not like the way my parents were treating Charlotte as they had Clare and me.
Even though she was only a baby, they were already planning her future.
They began spending wildly, using credit against Charlotte’s name.
When it became clear that my parents had no intention of following Sebastian’s will, I took Charlotte and brought her to England. ’
Tobias sensed there was a lot more to that story than the simple delivery suggested.
From the look Freddie shot Edward, he obviously thought so too.
There would be time in the coming months to ask Grace more about it.
For now, it was better to stick to the basic facts.
The sooner the retelling was over, the sooner Grace’s distress would end.
‘Once I knew she was safely with you and that you had accepted the terms of Sebastian’s will, I returned to America.
I had left all of Sebastian and Clare’s belongings in a safe place and I wanted to make sure that none of it fell into my parents’ or Ichabod’s hands.
Leaving America for a second time was… difficult.
’ Again, there had to be more to this story, but Tobias did not want to add to Grace’s discomfort by asking her about it.
‘But I am here now and I intend to stay. There is nothing for me to return to in America and every sight and sound in Boston reminded me of my sister.’
The Blue Lounge descended into a cavernous silence.
‘Did you…?’ she began again, when nobody said anything. ‘Did you send someone to investigate?’
‘Yes. We sent a Mr Hornel,’ said Tobias. ‘He has been sending us reports.’
‘I thought you must have done. A man was asking questions about Sebastian. An Englishman. I tried to speak to him on a few occasions, but he was never available. I heard word that my parents thought I had returned to America, so I decided to hurry up my departure.’
Tobias remembered that Mr Hornel had mentioned a woman had come looking for him but that he had been out at the time of her arrival.
This fitted with what they already knew.
Something else he remembered from the investigator’s letters, something that had come up towards the beginning of the man’s arrival in America, and which had been bothering him for some time.
‘Do you know of a Gabriel Ashby?’ he asked.
She shook her head. ‘I am not aware of such a person. Why?’
‘According to Mr Hornel, a man of that name tried to take money from Sebastian’s account not long after Sebastian died. He claimed to be his brother-in-law, but when this Gabriel was refused access, he did not insist.’
‘I do not have any brothers, so this person is of no relation to Clare or me.’ She paused, studying her plate intently and nodding slightly.
‘Ichabod did sometimes refer to himself as Gabriel, which was his father’s name.
It is possible that it was him, although we will never be able to find out the truth about that.
He died over a year ago in a bar brawl.’ Her skin lost what little colour she’d had and she returned her plate to the table, her food untouched.
‘My family have done your family a great disservice and there is nothing I can do to make up for Sebastian’s loss, however I want you to know how terribly sorry I am. I would give anything for you to have your brother back and for Charlotte to have her father.’
‘It was not your fault, Mrs Wilmott. None of us blame you.’ He’d thought his words were reassuring, but when Grace covered her face with her hands and began to cry in earnest, he thought perhaps he had done wrong again.
He looked at Emily, hoping to convey with his eyes that she needed to offer comfort.
Tobias need not have worried; Emily was already back at Grace’s side, as were his other sisters-in-law.
It couldn’t matter that Tobias wanted to be the one to comfort her; she would not welcome him coming anywhere near her.
Although it would hurt him to do so, he would leave her to her privacy.
Glancing at his brothers, Tobias nodded towards the door.
They could do nothing more now and there was much they needed to discuss.