Page 41 of Zenith
I had no such qualms, and I studied him unashamedly. I watched him carefully slice each piece of bacon with his knife and then dip his fork into the beans before devouring. He was very precise and neat, and I shook my head. Just another thing he loved to control it seemed.
We enjoyed a companionable silence as we ate, which was an entirely different experience for me. I hadn’t imagined life with Edward Rochester could be so full of contentment. Just this one glimpse had my anger rising at the fact it could all be taken away from us before we had the opportunity to really enjoy our time together. There were still a great many things we had to address—one of them being Bertha Mason and her continued confinement at Thornfield—but answers to those paradoxes would come in time.
With a shake of my head, I picked up the newspaper and read the headlines before opening it. I scanned the inside page, and when I saw a familiar set of faces, I had to stop and study it again. It was printed in full color, the image quite large, so there was no mistaking who the pair were.
Blanche and Georgiana stood together, wearing pink and purple ball gowns, their hair and makeup done to perfection. They looked the best of friends, and my heart sank. The caption read, ‘Blanche Ingram and Georgiana Reed together at the Thompson Foundation ball.’
Georgiana and Blanche were friends? I set the paper down and stared off into space, attempting to discern the nature of their relationship. I did not know they had even met. Perhaps it was possible if Georgiana had gone out into London society.
“Jane?” Edward asked. “Are you well?”
“Her lawyer…” I said, realizing the connection. It was so obvious. I didn’t know how I’d overlooked it all this time. “Her lawyer’s name was Farnham.”Briggs, Farnham, and Associates.
“Briggs’s associate?” Edward asked, looking confused. “What does he have to do with anything?”
“A great deal, I’m assuming.” I handed him the paper, and he scowled when he saw the picture.
“This is your cousin?”
“Yes.”
I’d wondered on Blanche’s interest in me at the opening and why she sought me out to gloat. I had little for her to target at that moment, being estranged from Edward as I was, but now I saw she knew more than she had let on.Oh, dear. You still have a great deal.
She knew about my inheritance, and once she was done with Edward… I was next.
“She knew all this time,” I muttered. “Farnham is Georgiana’s lawyer. That’s how Blanche knew about my money, it has to be.”
“What cause would your cousin have to leak the information about your inheritance?” Edward asked, looking thoroughly annoyed. “Doesn’t she have a fortune of her own?”
“Her fortune was squandered by her brother,” I explained. “He gambled it all away before he committed suicide. He must have left behind a devastating debt that crippled Aunt Sarah’s estate. It’s the only reason I can see…”
No, that wasn’t quite true. When we’d reconnected last winter, she was delighted to find me amicable and wished to be my sister fully. Her words came back to me clear as day—‘I wish to know you, Jane.’ Then I remembered how upset she had been when I called her after I’d left Thornfield. She’d felt it a mortal blow that I’d left and not told her my whereabouts.
“I must go see her,” I said, folding up the newspaper. “I must reason with her. I must apologize.”
“Apologize? What on earth for?”
“I’ve wronged her,” I replied hastily, rising to my feet.
Edward scoffed at my proclamation. “You’d reason with your treacherous cousin? What good did that family ever do for you, Jane? Let her rot with the rest of them.”
“She is still my cousin,” I snapped. “She is the last of her name, she has no family, and I see in her a great deal of what was forced upon me as a child. She wanted my love, and I turned from her, albeit, I thought I was sparing her heartache, but it was the wrong thing to do.”
“What’s done is done. I won’t let you go,” he said, his voice rising as he stood to face me. “Not with the lingering threat of exposure over my head. You are in danger still, and I won’t see you harmed.”
“Can’t you see, Edward?” I asked, taking his hands in mine. “If I let this go on, then I am no better than the people who have done the same to me. I will go, and I shan’t be ordered. Not even by you.”
He tugged me close and embraced me, his lips pressing against my forehead. “You stubborn creature,” he whispered. “How you vex me.”
What I didn’t tell him was my plan to convince my cousin to join our cause against Blanche. If he knew what I plotted, then he wouldn’t allow me to leave so easily. Edward Rochester was still as brooding and changeable as he always was, and no amount of endearments would alter his core personality.
“Only as much as you vex me in return,” I answered.
* * *
The journeyto Gateshead was a sight quicker when a car and driver were involved.
I watched the moors pass by, the countryside morphing into fields and cities as I was borne closer and closer to my cousin.
