Remember Love (Ravenswood #1)(38)

She looked more closely at him. “What is wrong?” she asked. “You look as if you have not slept at all. You haven’t, have you?”

“Come with me,” he said instead of answering her question. And they went together into Owen’s room. Ben was in there, standing with folded arms to one side of the door.

“You too, Ben?” Stephanie said in a whisper. “He is going to be awfully cross if we wake him. He was up half the night talking and laughing with Clarence. I heard them. I would have come and thrown pillows at them, but it would have been two against one. It would have been a massacre.”

Young Cousin Clarence was still fast asleep in his own room next door. Ben had checked.

“Owen.” Devlin touched his brother’s shoulder and then shook it gently. “Wake up for a minute. I need to talk to you and Steph.”

Owen tried to shake off his hand while growling a protest. “Wadduyouwant?” he asked crossly when the hand did not go away. “Lemmealone. Goway.”

“Wake up,” Devlin said, and his brother opened his eyes, looked from one to another of his visitors, and yawned hugely without covering his mouth. Then he looked more alert.

“Oh, I say. I suppose this is about the vase,” he said. “It wasn’t me who smashed it, Dev. But we were all in a group, and there was a bit of horseplay going on, and . . . Well, the vase got knocked over and smashed. I knew Mama would be dreadfully upset because it was worth a fortune and she liked it, but the middle of a ball didn’t seem the right time to tell her. That’s why I hid the pieces. I would have told this morning. And I’ll take the blame. It was as much my fault as . . . Well, as his. I am not going to say his name. I promised I would not.”

“It is not about the vase,” Devlin said. “I have come to say goodbye. It is still very early, but I did not want to leave without telling the two of you.”

“Oh, you are going somewhere,” Stephanie cried. “Where? How long are you going to be gone? Can we go too?”

“I am not coming back, Steph,” Devlin said. “I am leaving.”

“What?” Owen was awake now and sitting up. His hair, flattened on one side, stood up in spikes on the other. “You cannot do that, Dev. You are the heir.”

“There was a bit of an upset last night,” Devlin said. “A bit of a quarrel. And I am going away.”

“But—” Stephanie stared at him openmouthed for a moment. “But you never quarrel with anyone, Dev. Owen and I are the only ones who do. And sometimes Pippa. You cannot leave just because of a quarrel. What was it about?”

“I caused a bit of a scene at the ball,” Devlin said. “No, it was more than a bit. I caused a big scene, which you will no doubt hear about in the coming days. I do not want to talk about it now. But Mama told me I must leave. So I am going. Now, in the next few minutes. I came to say goodbye first.”

Owen was on his feet. “Mama told you to leave?” he said. “That is a bouncer, Dev. She would never say any such thing. Not in a million years. You cannot go. Papa needs you here. Ben needs you here. Tell him, Ben.”

“I am going too,” Ben said. “I am going with Dev.”

“But you can’t,” Owen cried, a bit wild-eyed now. “You can’t both go. Everyone knows the two of you run the whole estate. Everyone knows Papa could not manage on his own. What are we going to do? And Nick will be leaving in a couple of months.”

“You will manage,” Devlin said. “Papa will find a decent steward, and you and Steph and Pippa will love one another and mind Mama and Papa, and you will all manage. Oh, devil take it.” He looked down suddenly and slapped one palm against the other a few times. He could not collapse now.

“No,” Owen cried. “No, this is not right. Whatever you said or did, Dev, you need to apologize. You cannot just go. I’ll hate you forever if you do. I’ll never forgive you. And you too, Ben. I thought you were our brother. I thought you cared.”

He dashed for the door, barefooted, creased nightshirt flapping about his legs, and yanked the door open. He dodged Ben’s reaching hand and ran out before slamming the door behind him.

Stephanie looked as if she had been turned to stone. Until she inhaled audibly and looked first at Ben and then at Devlin.

“I don’t want you to go,” she said, and her eyes were suddenly huge in her face as they filled with tears. “I don’t want Ben to go, and I don’t want you to go. De-e-ev.”

He gathered her into his arms and held her tightly. He kissed the straight part at the top of her head as she wailed and cried the great gulping sobs of a distraught child. He closed his eyes so that he would not see the expression on Ben’s face.

“I don’t want you to g-g-go,” she said again when she finally could. “Don’t go. Please don’t go.”

“I have to,” he said. “I have to go. Steph, I love you. I will carry you here forever.” He pressed a hand to his heart. “And Owen too. Tell him that.”

She shook her head slowly. “I don’t want you to go,” she said, her eyes red, her cheeks blotched with color. “I want you to talk to Mama. Whatever you did to make her so angry, she will have cooled down by now. And she cannot want you to go forever. She cannot. Go and tell her you are sorry. Go and tell her you do not want to go away, that you will make amends. Go and tell her we cannot do without you. That I cannot. De-e-ev. Don’t go. Go talk to Mama.”