Winterberry Spark: A Silver Foxes of Westminster Novella (The Silver Foxes of Westminster #2.5)(17)

“Where is Ruby?” he demanded of Tim, marching up the aisle between desks.

Tim glanced up from the piano he was playing to one side at the front of the room. He played a few sour notes, then stopped and stood. “Gil. What brings you out on an afternoon like this?” The dozen or so children surrounding him, including James, kept singing for a moment as Tim spoke.

As friendly as he and Tim were, Gil’s scowl didn’t budge as he marched through the curious children to the piano. “Where’s Ruby?”

Tim’s smile crumbled. “Did you hear about the trouble this morning?”

He answered with, “Anyone who has trouble with Ruby has trouble with me.”

The pile of children glanced from Tim to Gil as though watching a play of their own.

“Those women were mean to Ruby,” James said, breaking away from the others to zip to Gil’s side. “They pushed her.”

“What?” Gil demanded of Tim while resting a hand on James’s shoulder.

Tim sighed, his shoulders dropping. “Certain rumors have gotten around town,” he began. “A group of mothers decided they didn’t want Ruby around their children.”

“And you let them push her?”

Tim shook his head. “It was mostly all over by the time I got there. Ruby left willingly. I said I’d make sure James got back to her or Winterberry Park.”

“You let her leave like that?” Gil was beside himself, but twining with his anger was guilt. “Where did she go?”

“It was better to let Ruby go her own way than to force her to stay and endure the ill behavior of certain people,” Tim said, sending a cautious look to the students, who were now riveted to their drama.

Gil forced himself to take a breath. He was willing to give Tim the benefit of the doubt. His school was his livelihood, and if he alienated the parents of the students he relied on, it could spell disaster for him. “Do you know where she went?” he asked, trying to stay calm.

“I’m sorry, I don’t.” Tim shook his head.

Frustration roiled through Gil’s gut. “Come along, Master James,” he said, reaching for James’s hand. “We’ll find Ruby, and then we’ll take her home.”

“Good,” James said as he walked with Gil back down the aisle to the door, where James’s coat and winter things were stored. “I love Ruby.”

Gil let out a breath, some of his tension draining. “I do too,” he mumbled.

There were only so many places Ruby would have gone if she hadn’t stayed at the school. She didn’t have money for the shops, and, Gil realized with a start, she didn’t have friends in town. In fact, he wasn’t certain she had friends at all, besides him. And the gnawing feeling that he hadn’t been much of a friend to her wouldn’t leave him.

“Where are we going?” James asked when they’d been standing just outside the school for a full minute.

“I don’t know,” Gil admitted, glancing one way, then the other.

“We should go to Clara and Arthur’s house,” James said with a smile. “They have biscuits.”

Gil send an indulgent smile James’s way. He was on the verge of dismissing the idea, but realized it would be easier to search for Ruby if he could drop James at the vicarage. It was too long a walk to take him all the way back to Winterberry Park.

“All right, little man,” he said, starting off in the direction of the church. “We’ll visit Clara and Arthur.”

As it turned out, James’s idea was the right one. Moments after he knocked on the Fallon’s door, Clara opened it, revealing the blessed sight of Ruby sitting on the sofa in the cottage’s main room, a cup of tea in her hand. She wore a bright smile and appeared to be laughing.

Gil’s relief at seeing her safe and sound morphed quickly into frustration. “There you are,” he said, stepping into the house with a scowl. “I’ve been worried about you.”

His tone must have been harsher than he intended it to be. Ruby’s laughter stopped abruptly, and a mixture of shock and offense replaced the smile she’d worn. She set her teacup aside and stood. “Gil.”

He wanted to run to her and sweep her into his arms. He wanted to fall at her knees and beg forgiveness for the cruel way she was being treated. He wanted to promise her that everything would be all right, that they would find a way to get through everything together.

But instead, the overabundance of emotion swirling through him burst out with, “How can you sit here giggling with Clara when James was at the school all by himself?”

“He wasn’t by himself.” Ruby blinked, her shoulders bunching. “He had Mr. Turnbridge and all the rest of the students with him.”

“Anyone could have walked into that school and snatched him,” Gil roared on, even though every fiber of his being shouted at him to stop. He shouldn’t have been angry with her. He was relieved, not angry, but anger blossomed to the top of the storm of emotions that confused him. “You’ve no right to socialize when you’re supposed to be the one responsible for Master James.”

“Gilbert,” Clara cautioned him in a soft voice.

Ruby wasn’t so subtle. “How dare you?” she said with surprising strength. So surprising that Gil took a step back as she approached him. “How dare you assume that I would ever leave Master James alone, especially after what happened last autumn?”