Page 52 of A Lady Igniting Wicked Passions
“Mr. Travers?”
“The butler at this residence, Your Grace.”
“Yes, if you could. Thank you, Jenkins.”
Jenkins left and Arabella rose, her anxiety returning. She found herself pacing the room until Violet Waverley walked in, beaming, and holding out her arms to her niece. Violet had hair coloured a flaming red and wore a rainbow-coloured silk shawl draped over her arms.
Her dress was well made, but plain, looking to be home-spun wool. She had similar features to Arabella’s mother but older and more care-worn. Her smile was genuine though and the embrace she swept Arabella into was fierce.
“Arabella! I have missed you so. I was so thrilled to hear from you that you were getting married. Don’t worry, I did not expect an invitation, your letter before the day was quite sufficient to gladden my heart.”
“Aunt Victoria. Welcome to my new home!” Arabella enthused. “Please sit.”
“I imagine that your father spared no expense. Was it a lavish ceremony?” Victoria asked.
“No,” Arabella replied. “It was rushed with a special license. And it was only attended by mother and father, acting as witnesses.”
Victoria arched a dark eyebrow, coloured as was her hair. This was a new look for Victoria. The last time Arabella had visited her, she had sported hair that was blue, achieved with the application of dye.
“Are you…in the family way, perhaps?” Victoria said with characteristic bluntness.
Arabella flushed. “No. I was seen kissing in the street by a few tens of dozens of passersby.”
Victoria clapped her hands together in delight. “My dear, you should have come to live with me. You are more of an O’Neil than I am.”
Victoria referred to the name under which she and her sister had been born. The O’Neils came from Ireland where, legend had it, they had once been princes. Victoria claimed cousins on both sides of the Irish Sea who were colourful to say the least.
Arabella’s mother had long ago forbidden conversation on the subject of their Irish ancestry. Arabella had always found it fascinating, ever since being taken as a child to visit a number of distant cousins at a horse fair, in Somerset.
“And the man I was kissing was promised to Helena,” Arabella added.
Victoria let out a bark of a laugh and slapped her knee. “You are incorrigible, child!”
Arabella grinned ruefully, blushing. “I would not have done it if it could be helped. I suppose you can never tell who you will fall in love with. I did not set out to sabotage Helena’s engagement.”
Victoria dismissed the notion with a wave of her hand. “I know you well enough, child, to know you do nothing out of malice. Out of sheer lack of forethought, yes. But you don’t have a malicious bone in your body. Am I to meet your new husband, then?”
Arabella hesitated, feeling unaccountably embarrassed suddenly. “I do not know where he is,” she said.
Without warning a feeling of utter despair welled up within her. Tears filled her eyes. She tried to hide them by getting up, taking an empty plate.
“Forgive me, Aunt Victoria. I have offered you nothing to eat. What would you like?”
“I should like you to be honest with me, child. No forgiveness needed if we have honesty. Tell me,” Victoria said, kindly but firmly.
Arabella put the plate down, head lowering, and she clamped a hand to her mouth, squeezing her eyes shut. She felt Victoria put an arm about her shoulders and guide her back to the table.
“Tell Aunt Victoria all about it,” she said with a motherly tone that Arabella had never heard from her own mother.
“I don’t know. Last night was the most wonderful…I mean…oh, you know what I mean,” Arabella stammered.
“But this morning he is nowhere to be seen. He left me before I woke, left the house. And I think he is hiding something from me. Something to do with money, I think. Oh, I don’t know! It seemed so perfect, despite how it started and now I feel like its falling apart.”
“I’m sure it is not, Arabella. This is nothing but post-wedding jitters. Some people get the jitters before the wedding. You are suddenly worrying after it. I imagine your father whirled the two of you to the altar as fast as he could manage? Yes, I thought so. And know you’ve had a chance to think about it and you’re panicking. It is perfectly natural.”
“But look at this house!” Arabella cried.
“It is half furnished, there is evidence everywhere of things missing. Sold, I presume. I met his uncle who was trying to hide a ledger book. I don’t know what I have let myself in for and I think my husband is already wishing he had never met me!”
