His Lordship's True Lady (True Gentlemen #4)(93)
“I am sorry, Lily,” Annie said. “I am so very sorry, but I wasn’t much older than you when I married Lawrence. I’m not proud of the decisions I made when I was seventeen, though I’d do the same again if it meant I could have these past ten years with Lawrence in Scotland. I hope you’ll give me the rest of our lives to put matters right between us.”
Seventeen for a pampered London heiress wasn’t much older than fourteen, and Annie had been much closer to Mama than Lily had been.
“I must think on this,” Lily said. “I am angry with you, though I don’t want to be. I have wished…”
Hessian took her hand without her having to ask.
“I have wished,” she went on softly, “that I was dead, that Uncle was dead. I have also wished that you were alive, Annie, and of all my wishes, I’m glad that one came true.”
The realization gave Lily some peace, and Hessian’s hand, offered freely and before others, gave her strength.
“And yet,” Annie said, “I never questioned Tippy’s reports when she claimed you were thriving, even though I knew Walter Leggett better than anybody. I am your only family worth the name, and I’m not worth the name.”
Lily rose, keeping Hessian’s hand in hers. “Not so, Annie. We share an uncle and a cousin, both of whom have played us false. I’m told I’ll be biding with the Countess of Rosecroft for the nonce. Perhaps you might pay a call on me there later this week?”
Delmar helped his wife to her feet, and Annie seemed to need his support.
“You don’t want to be seen in public with me,” she said. “I understand.”
“No, you do not,” Lily said. “Uncle thinks you dead, and if you and I should be seen together, our resemblance is striking. Walter Leggett must not have any warning that his plans have come to an even sorrier pass than he knows. He has disrespected Mama’s memory, her in-laws, both of her daughters, and her legacy. We were young, without resources, and did the best we could, but Walter Leggett has no excuse.”
“That is generous of you,” Annie replied. “Also the truth. Mama’s inheritance was sizable, and if Walter has frittered the lot of it away, he’s the next thing to a thief, as well as a bully and a charlatan.”
She looked like she was about to cry, as did Delmar. Hessian looked as if he wanted to call out both Noddypoop the Elder and Noddypoop the Younger.
What a fine man was Hessian Kettering.
“We won’t let Uncle get away with this,” Lily said, hugging her sister. “He’s had everything his way, no matter the cost to anybody else, and somebody must hold him accountable.”
The embrace was careful and brief, but it was a start. Lily watched Annie go, wanting to call her back for another hug, and also relieved the initial encounter was over.
But what to do about Walter? Perhaps Hessian had a few ideas. He was ever one for developing sound and detailed strategies.
*
“That went well,” Lily said.
It hadn’t gone awfully. Hessian had managed to keep foul oaths behind his teeth, for example. “You were kind,” Hessian replied. “You have much to consider.” Too much to consider, which was why he wasn’t on bended knee importuning Lily for her hand. “There’s more, Lily.”
“If you tell me I have a brother… but I do have a brother. His Grace of Clarendon doubtless has an heir or three. More family who know nothing of my existence.”
She turned and wrapped her arms around Hessian, and he indulged in the need to hold her too, despite their relatively public location. Lily had been so composed, so fierce, with her sister, even as she’d withstood one revelation after another.
“Whether your paternal family continues to be kept in ignorance is up to you,” Hessian said, stealing a kiss to Lily’s cheek. “Though Clarendon’s offspring are cousins to your sister, and thus have a connection to you regardless of who you decide to be.”
Lily peered up at him, and Hessian could see mental gears turning. She drew away and wandered toward the path.
“You seem to think I have a choice. If I admit that I’m Lilith, Uncle can have me arrested for fraud. If I don’t admit that I’m Lilith, he’ll likely have me arrested anyway. He’ll be the injured party, taken in by his sister’s scheming by-blow, and that’s assuming you can get that farce of a wedding annulled, and then there’s the small matter of Mama’s fortune having gone missing, and if I lay eyes on Oscar again, I will do him a violent injury, which would mean assault charges, and—”
Hessian grasped her by the wrist, lest she work herself into a temper. “Your Uncle Walter is in no position to make demands, Lily. On the way north, I was thrown much into the company of my footman, Kendall.”
“He’s the African?”
“And a canny young fellow, also very much in love. I have Worth making discreet inquiries, but I suspect dear Uncle Walter has tried to make a fortune off enslavement of others like Kendall.”
The puzzle pieces fit neatly, particularly when Hessian added tidbits of remembered gossip to hunches and suppositions.
“Enslaving others is illegal,” Lily said, sinking on to a bench. “Please tell me… but then, Uncle Walter is no respecter of the law. We know this. I hope he lost every farthing, if that was his idea of how to manage funds.”