Evermore (Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Trilogy #3)(36)

"Come, girls, time for dinner. Good night, Mr. Moreau."

I gave Louis an apologetic wince. "I tend to agree with Celia," I said. "Our lives are here."

"There's nothing for us there." Celia might as well have driven the point home with a blunt axe, so brutal were her words.

I am there, Louis might have said. But he did not. He stood and gave a shallow bow. "I won't keep you from your dinner. Good night, ladies." He let himself out.

Celia waited for the sound of the front door closing then walked off, her strides long and purposeful. I thought she'd gone to the dining room, but when Cara and I entered, she wasn't there.

"Why won't she even think about going to New South Wales or Victoria or wherever it is?" Cara asked. "She didn't even let him tell us about his house or nothing!"

"I don't know." My sister was certainly not herself to behave so rudely to a guest. "Perhaps she's still upset on Mama's behalf. Louis did leave her behind, with no word, and now she's gone he can never make amends."

Lucy entered carrying a tureen. "Mr. Moreau didn't stay for dinner?"

"No."

"I wish he were my father," Cara said. "Then I'd go with him to the colonies."

I kissed her forehead. "Then I would miss you greatly, my little aunt."

***

It was difficult not to summon Jacob. I desperately wanted to know if he was still in the Waiting Area. But part of me was too afraid of discovering that he was not, and the other part was afraid that summoning him would weaken him. I couldn't bear it if I were the cause of further pain, yet I could hardly bear not seeing him.

It was a hint of how the rest of my life would be. Alone. Jacob gone forever, never to return.

I did not like it.

George arrived in the morning to take me back to Grosvenor Street where he'd left Theo watching the house. He looked like he hadn't slept in a week, rather than just one night. His clothes were crumpled, his jaw lined with stubble and his eyes red-rimmed.

"Oh George," I said on a sigh. "Spending the night in the coach wasn't quite as much fun as you'd hoped, was it?"

He removed his glasses and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "It was a living nightmare. I froze to death, my left leg went numb, and I cannot turn my head further than..." He turned to the right and winced. "Further than that. To top it off, Hyde slept like a baby. He snores, by the way. I think that's something you should know if you're planning on marrying him."

I tried to stifle a laugh but it escaped as a snort. "How fortunate that you're a gentleman and not a woodsman or soldier. You would be quite miserable sleeping out of doors or in a tent." I leaned across the gap between us and fixed his crooked necktie. "You cannot even dress yourself."

He stretched his neck out of his collar. "Thank you. I admit I'm lost without my valet."

"So did anything happen? Did Mrs. White leave the house?"

"No. I wish she had. The excitement would have given us something to do. As it was, we were bored out of our minds. Well, I was. Hyde managed to sleep for hours."

We arrived at Grosvenor Square on the opposite side to Grosvenor Street so as not to be seen. Dew glistened on leaves and grass as the sun peeped demurely through the gaps between the buildings in the east. Carts rattled past, stopping at each house to make deliveries or for the driver to talk to the maids sweeping the steps. There were no ladies or gentlemen out at such an early hour. Only those with work to do had to be up early, and the owners of the houses surrounding Grosvenor Square did not need to work.

Our carriage pulled up near Theo. He leaned against the fence enclosing Grosvenor Square, his arms and ankles crossed, his gaze intent on number twelve just visible through the trees. The laconic pose suited his boyish handsomeness and my stomach did a little dip when he saw me and smiled. To think, he was courting me, a nobody with a very un-English heritage and strange line of trade.

"Good morning," he said, climbing into the carriage. He rubbed his gloved hands together and eyed the basket I'd set beside me. "If that's what I think it is, I'll have to kiss you, Emily Chambers."

"Steady on," George warned.

"It's Lucy's doing," I said. "Perhaps you should kiss her."

"I'll kiss Culvert if there's hot tea in there."

"Lucky George." I lifted the cloth covering the basket and pulled out a teapot that Lucy had packed firmly into the corner so it wouldn't move. "There is indeed warm tea. And bread, cheese, and cold beef."

The two men ate their breakfast as if they'd never tasted anything so good, while I watched the house. The gap in the trees gave me the perfect view of the wide colonnaded fa?ade, including the entrance to the basement service area. If Mrs. White left the house without her charges, she would exit that way.

By mid-morning, the sun had burned off the dew. George slept quietly in the corner, his glasses in his lap. I told Theo about my evening with my father without taking my gaze off the mansion.

"I'm glad he accepted your...talent," he said. "I know how important it is to you."

"It is, and he did, thank goodness. I'm not sure how I would have reacted if he'd been more like Lord Preston."

"Your father seems like quite the remarkable man."