Page 27 of Lady in Ruby
“What is it?” Caroline asked.
“I’ve just remembered! It’s that…you were wearing the ruby necklace when you went through the ice. And I don’t remember seeing it after we pulled you out.”
Caroline halted, seeing the whole horrible scene again, but as if from outside her own body. True, she had been wearing the necklace under her heavy cloak. And no one had taken it off her after she got back home. It certainly would have been remarked on.
Oh, Lord. It was clear enough what happened. In the chaos of her fall through the broken ice, her thrashing about and the pull of freezing water on her garments had snagged the necklace and pulled it off along with her cloak.
The priceless rubies that she’d so recently received, and so blithely promised to protect for the next generations, now lay at the bottom of the pond.
Caroline was wrecked by this realization, and sobbed in a way that she hadn’t over her own danger. How could she have been so thoughtless? Wearing the necklace had been a lark, a silly thing to make her feel special. And this was the price.
“Oh, it will be all right!” Estelle said, trying to soothe her. “I’m sure they can be recovered somehow. Oh, I’ve undone everything. You were feeling better and now it’s terrible again.”
“It’s not your fault, Estelle. You tried to warn me…”
“Please don’t cry! I’d rather have you alive than a pile of rubies. Caroline, it will be all right!”
But tears flowed hot and salty down her face. Mittens woke up and looked at her, concern in his feline eyes.
“What’s this?” a new voice said from the door. Francis stood there, a bouquet of hothouse flowers in his hand. “Why are you crying, darling? Are you unwell?”
“Francis, where were you?” Caroline asked through her tears. Estelle stood and backed up to the fire, looking rather trapped. She could not in good conscience leave Caroline alone with a man, but she clearly wished to fade into invisibility.
Luckily, Francis scarcely noticed Estelle. He all but flung himself at Caroline’s feet, offering her the flowers. His gesture startled Mittens, who hissed and jumped off her lap, stalking out of the room.
“I don’t know what I was thinking, Caro. I must have run the wrong way. I meant to go to Hollydell, but I was out of my mind with worry for you. I found myself by the saint’s fountain, if you can believe it. When I finally made my way back here, your father told me you were being cared for and every treatment imaginable was being tried. Oh, Caro, if you died I don’t know what I’d do.” He took her hand and kissed it passionately.
Caroline tugged it free. “I’m fine, truly.”
“Then why the tears?”
“I…I…” She couldn’t tell him about the lost rubies, not yet. It was too raw a truth. “Nerves, I expect. All the events kept my emotions bottled up, and now it’s all coming out.”
“Poor Caro. If there is anything I can do, I am at your command. You know I’d die for you.”
“There’s no need for such a sacrifice,” she told him, growing rather alarmed at his attitude.
“Caroline must rest now,” Estelle said, stepping forward again. From her expression, she also was upset by Francis’s theatrics.
“Of course, of course.” Francis got to his feet and bowed to Caroline. “I’ll see you tomorrow, darling. Put the flowers in water for her, won’t you, Estelle? Good girl.”
He walked out, pulling the door shut behind him. Estelle regarded the flowers with an oddly disdainful look. “Hmph. He said he’d die for you, but when you were at risk of actually dying, he was nowhere to be found!”
“He apologized.”
“He didn’t, in fact. And he should, for he was the one right next to you on the pond. It might have been his weight that made the ice crack.”
“Estelle! It was an accident.”
“I suppose I’ll find a vase for these. And then go to bed. Unless you want me to stay here with you?” she asked.
Caroline smiled, thinking of the many times they’d shared a bedroom, giggling long into the night. But she said, “It’s probably best for you to get to your own bed, Estelle. I may toss and turn tonight—after taking just a little of that formula, I’m still feeling wakeful.”
Estelle told her to call if she needed anything, and left with the bouquet.
Caroline had been feeling alert, but as she sat there in solitude, a drowsiness pulled her eyelids downward. She really ought to go to bed, but it was so comfortable here. A log snapped, revealing glowing embers.
An echoing sound from behind her made her look over her shoulder. There it was again, a short knock.
