“And at least she’s not trying to kill you,” Julius added whimsically.
Christin looked at Julius with wide eyes. “What? Your mother tried to kill you?”
Julius nodded.
Aaron stilled. Julius had not told the other women that story. So why Christin? And why now? Was it simply the fact that Julius also thought Aaron should forgive his mother?
Aaron sighed and drew their attention. “I don’t blame my mother for this. I know that Hiram tricked her. She’s innocent of this.” But he couldn’t speak to anything else where his mother was concerned.
Christin wrapped his hands in dry linen and drew them close to her. “Aaron.”
He looked into her eyes.
Hers pleaded with him. “Forgive your mother. If not for her then for yourself. You’re so… angry. I worry that you’ll do something that will truly get you into trouble one day.”
“I won’t—”
“And then you’ll be forced to leave me.” She spoke over him with tears in her eyes. “And I’ll be the one to feel abandoned.”
He broke his hands from her hold and grabbed her arms. “I’ll never leave you.”
“Please,” she begged, tears spilling down her cheeks. “If you don’t forgive her, you’ll simply continue down this road of destruction.”
“She’s probably right,” Julius added.
Aaron glared at Julius. “And do you forgive your mother?” he asked, sure he’d cornered his friend into giving the answer he wished.
“Perhaps I would if I had a beautiful woman who loved me begging me to do so,” Julius shot back.
Aaron was shocked but then turned back to Christin. “I would give you anything in the world, Christin, but I can’t give you this.”
“Then try,” she countered. “I know that these things don’t happen in a day, but perhaps in time...” She covered his hand with her own. “Try and do so quickly before she leaves.”
“She’s leaving?” Aaron’s heart beat sporadically.
“She thinks that because of Hiram, you’re lost to her forever.”
Aaron glared at the man. He’d not let Hiram take his girls or his mother from him.
He stood. “I’ll go speak to my mother and… try—”
Christin shot up from the floor, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him to a passionate kiss that included tongue and hot desire.
Hiram grunted.
Christin stepped back and looked down. “Oh! Forgive me. I forgot you were there.” She smiled and backed away from Aaron.
Aaron looked at Julius. “Get rid of him.”
Julius looked at Hiram and then at Aaron before nodding.
“What are you going to do with him?” Christin looked at the men with a worried look.
“That depends on Hiram,” Aaron told her. Then he bent down and spoke to his cousin. “Come near me again, and I’ll finish this.”
Hiram whimpered.
Aaron stood.
Christin grabbed his hand. “Go to your mother.”
Aaron kissed her and then left.
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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
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Christin waited for Aaron to close the door behind him before grabbing yet another clean linen and reaching for Hiram. She’d barely had the groaning man on his back before Julius spoke.
“Leave him. He doesn’t deserve your kindness or your pity.”
Christin ignored his instruction and poured another bowl of water. “Hardly anyone deserves kindness or pity. That is what makes the act what it is, don’t you think?”
Julius moved over toward her and sat on the floor at her side but didn’t stop her. She’d only hesitated for a moment, believing he would, but when he simply sat there, she went on cleaning Hiram’s face. The man jerked away from her touch even though she was being as gentle as possible.
“What if I told you that we planned to kill him?” Julius asked her. “Would you forgive Aaron for it?”
She looked at Julius and found his vivid violet gaze to be quite arresting. “Since I was prepared to find his cousin dead before I came into the room, I’ll have to say yes.”
“Because you love him?” The way he looked at her told her that her answer would be important.
“Yes, and because I feel I’ve done things that don’t deserve forgiveness as well.”
“Have you ever killed anyone?”
She shrugged and wrung the water out. Hiram painted the bowl redder than Aaron had. “No, I’ve not.”
“Then surely you don’t believe you’ve done anything entirely unforgivable.”
She wiped sparingly at Hiram’s nose, though it was clear from his strangled noises that it was broken. “We should get Taygete to see this.” She remembered the woman had been a nurse before she’d married Hugh.
Julius touched her elbow, forcing her to stop and look at him. “Do you believe you’d done such a thing that no one could forgive?”
Christin felt an intense feeling that her answer might affect more than just the flow of their conversation. Perhaps it would change Julius’ life.
And her own.
Christin thought long and hard before she replied. “Julius, anything can be unforgivable under the right circumstances. It is not the act that matters as much as the person the act has been done to.”
He looked away and stared at the closed door before letting her go. “I suppose you’re right.”
She wanted to touch him, but her hands were soiled with Hiram’s blood. “Julius,” she called.
He looked at her.
“It is love and mercy that move people toward forgiveness, presenting the wrongdoer with a gift that holds too high a price that a mere man could afford.”
“I didn’t think such a thing could be,” he confessed while holding her eyes. “Not until you.”
Christin froze.
He smiled, and his gaze became wicked. “Don’t worry. I won’t attempt to ravish you.”
She relaxed and returned it. “Good, because I would hate find you in the same position as poor Hiram here.”
Julius looked down at Hiram and chuckled before looking at her again. “I misspoke. What I meant was that I’ve compelled my friends to hold a secret of mine that if it got out could affect their marriages.”
Christin wondered if this ‘secret’ was the one Lorena had been inquiring about out in the garden. She tried to recall all the many stories she knew about her friends and how they’d each found love with one of the Brothers. She then thought of the man Aaron was and shook her head. “Did you hurt a child or an innocent woman?”
“No.” He sounded mildly offended by the suggestion. Then he thought about his answer for a moment and smiled again. “Well, I’ve never hurt an innocent woman physically, though I’m sure I’ve broken more than one heart.”
Christin was sure he had as well. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it can be forgiven. Love will be tested, but I can’t imagine anything breaking the bonds between the Spinsters and their spouses.” And Christin was more than sure that the women would be willing to break more than a few laws themselves in order to hold onto that love.
“I hope so.” He ended his statement with a sigh and then looked at her in a way that made Christin feel as though he were seeing more than what she presented.
The door opened, and Frank came in.
Julius stood and together they carried Hiram out the door and then out of the house.
Christin didn’t know where they were taking him and didn’t ask. She didn’t want to know, really.
Unsure of what else to do, she began to clean up the linens and then looked up when a pair of hands began to assist.
Zed Sudworth offered her a hand. “Allow me.”
“Thank you, Sudworth,” she said, even though to her the man had never looked like a Sudworth.
He looked nearly… aristocratic at times and she often caught him standing like a man who thought himself better than those around him. He had compelling blue eyes that seemed to burn a dark shade at times. His hair was a rich black and his lashes long, nearly sweeping his cheeks when he blinked.
He’d never been a good butler, but as a valet he was phenomenal, nearly always at Lorena’s side no matter what.
“How is Lorena?” she asked him.
He sighed and gave her a hand to help her to her feet. “As well as expected. As you can expect, she cried with Lady Jeanshire, trying to keep the woman from packing her trunks.”
Christin’s heart sank. “She’s leaving?”
“I left right after Lord Jeanshire arrived, so I’m not sure.” Zed looked away before turning to Christin again. “And Lord Darvess? How was he after this incident?”
She was surprised Sudworth would ask after Julius and smiled. “I… don’t know. We had a lovely talk.”
“About his past?” Sudworth asked.
Christin frowned. “Do you know about it?”
Sudworth smiled and backed away. “As a servant, I hear many things, though in your line of business, I’m sure you already know this.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll go see that these things are washed.” He bowed and then left Christin quite confused.
But she put those thoughts to the side before heading out the door. A loud crash from upstairs forced her to run in that direction. She could hear Aaron’s voice shouting at someone.
She ran down the hall and toward the private apartments before stopping to find a crowd in front of Lady Jeanshire’s door. The Spinsters and the Brothers were there.
Christin pushed through the crowd and made her way into the room. She looked across the room and saw that a trunk lay against a wall. A large hole sat just above it, breaking into the wallpaper. Clothes tumbled from the confinement. Had someone thrown it across the room?
“You can’t leave,” Aaron told his mother.
Lady Jeanshire was in tears. “But I’ve ruined everything! I put the girls in danger. I couldn’t keep them safe.” She covered her face. “I couldn’t keep you safe either. I was never good for you. I hated those fights your father forced you and your brother into.” Then she looked at Aaron with wide eyes. “And where is Dan now? Dead. Because of me.”
“No.” Aaron moved to his mother and took her shoulders. “That was not your fault. I warned Dan not to play with Lord Reyes.”
His mother shook her head. “He’d not have listened to you. Your father wanted the fight. I knew, and I should have stopped it.” The look she gave Aaron was that of a woman condemned. “I never should have returned. You were right. You don’t need me.”
He shook her. “Damn you, I do! And so do the girls. You can’t leave.”
Lady Jeanshire’s head flew back and her eyes widened. “Aaron, do you forgive me?”
He glared, and the room was silent.
Christin wrung her hands together as she waited for his response.
“I… want to,” he told her honestly. “But I won’t if you leave.”
His mother’s lips trembled before she burst into tears all over again.
Aaron wrapped her in his arms, and Lady Jeanshire clung to the son she’d probably not held in years. Aaron turned his head away from the crowd but not before Christin saw the tears in his own eyes.
Christin turned to the group and whispered, “Let’s leave them alone.”
The Spinsters started from the room.
Lady Jeanshire’s voice stopped them. “Wait.” She moved from Aaron’s hold and said, “I want to thank you all for your loyalty to Aaron. I was not here for him, but I’m more than glad to know that someone was.” Then she smiled. “It’s not easy to be a mother, though I’m sure that all of you will make better mothers than me.” She turned back to Aaron and then turned to the group once more and said, “Oh, and congratulations, of course.”
Lorena tilted her head. “Congratulations?”
Lady Jeanshire’s eyes widened. “Your babies.”
Lorena frowned and then laughed. “Oh, you must mean Taygete. Yes, she’s with child though no one knows how many she’ll have—”
“No,” Lady Jeanshire said with furrowed brows. “All of you are pregnant.” Then she looked at Christin. “Except for Mrs. Potter, of course.”
Christin touched her stomach and realized she very well could be. Her eyes caught Aaron’s, and he didn’t even have the decency to hold back a smile at the possibility. Her cheeks pinked.
“What?” Sophia grabbed her stomach. Her hair and dress were in a slight disarray, a testament to her activities with Morris. “I can’t be pregnant.”
“None of us could be,” Genie said. “We took… precautions.”
“Oh, you mean that tea?” Francis asked his wife. “Your procurer hasn’t sold you that weed in months. We switched it long ago.”
The Spinsters gasped.
“I’m pregnant?” Sophia asked Morris.
Her husband smiled at her softly.
“How dare you!” Lorena pointed in her brother’s face.
“How dare you?” Emmett countered, stepping in front of Francis to glare at his wife. “You’re lucky we left that man who pretends to be a florist alive. You didn’t even discuss it with us.”
Lorena looked away. “The Spinsters are not the only ones hiding secrets.”
Those words stole some of Emmett’s fire but not all of it.
“I’m pregnant,” Sophia said with conviction.
The other wives, Genie, Alice, and Florence all looked amazed.
Taygete, who was likely to give birth within a week, leaned into Hugh’s side with a wide grin.
Alice looked over at Christin and asked, “Did you know?”
Christin’s eyes widened. “I… suspected, but I wasn’t sure. My mother was a midwife and you all presented the symptoms of pregnant women.”
“Yes,” Taygete agreed. “If I hadn’t seen you all drinking the tea myself, I would have seen it.”
“You’re all pregnant,” Lady Jeanshire told them, moving toward the circle with a smile. “I would know. I was pregnant twice. The continued hunger, the feeling of extreme heat, the obsession with certain flavors. You’ll probably all give birth one right after the other.”
“Excellent,” Taygete said.
Sophia was still staring at Morris, and he got to her just as she broke into tears.
Morris looked startled as his wife clung to him.
“I don’t know how to be a mother,” Sophia said through her tears. Her own mother had abandoned her for her career in the theatre.
Morris wiped her cheeks and kissed her gently. “You’ll do well, Sophia. I believe in you.”
Lorena was flicking her own tears away as if protesting their appearance.
Emmett touched her shoulder, and she shrugged away. Then he grabbed her, dragging her to his side, and she buried her face in his shirt and made not one sound.
Rollo held his hand out for Florence. His wife shook her head but then went willingly. They disappeared down the hall.
Calvin had caught Alice in a corner and was whispering something in her ear that forced a smile on the woman’s face. Christin was sure his words were as salacious as his wife’s gaze.
Christin looked at Aaron, who was speaking quietly with his mother and took the opportunity to move her friends out of the room.
She walked down the hall and into the nursery where Patsy had just finished rearranging Mary’s hair.
“They wish to return to the party,” Patsy told her.
“If that is their wish.” Christin gave them all a smile and was pleasantly surprised when each little girl gave her a hug.
Mary asked, “Are Uncle Aaron and grandmother going to be all right?”
“Yes, I believe they will be.” Christin rubbed her back.
Lily asked, “Are you going to marry him so that you and Tina can live with us?”
Christin s
miled at her. “Would you like that?”
Lily nodded. “It would be the best birthday gift ever.” She smiled at Tina, and Tina grinned back.
Christin’s heart warmed. It wasn’t something a person gifted another simply because it was their birthday, but Lily could have asked for the moon, and Aaron would have found a way to give it to her. Instead, she wanted Christin and Tina, which in turn ensured that Tina would never feel unwanted again.
She bent over and kissed each girl on the cheek. “Nothing would make me happier than for us all to be a family.”
There were more hugs and then they all left the room.
Aaron returned with his mother just in time to see the guests away. The party had been a great success, and the girls had fallen to sleep shortly after thanking Lady Jeanshire for all the love she’d put into the party.
When none but the Spinsters and the Brotherhood were left, Lorena stopped at the door and said, “No more secrets.” She gave Emmett a meaningful look before looking at each of the other men in turn. “I want to know why Morris and Calvin went to Oxford.”
“Soon.” Emmett placed a hand on Lorena’s shoulder and tried to steer her toward the door.
“But—”
“Lorena, not tonight,” her husband said with a touch of authority and weariness in his voice.
His countess stared at him and then nodded. “Soon.”
He nodded and held her eyes before she looked at the other men.
Morris inhaled deeply and took Sophia’s hand. “Soon. I would rather they hear it from us than from anyone else.”
Hugh nodded as did Rollo.
“You won’t like what you hear,” was William’s response.
Julius kept silent, but Christin didn’t need to know his thoughts because for some reason, he’d shared them with her.
“We don’t have to like it,” Sophia said. “But we need to know.”
Their friends left.
Aaron stood beside her and placed a hand on her lower back, and Christin turned to him. “If you wish to wait to announce the engagement until you know about our past—”
“I know who I’m marrying,” Christin touched his jaw. “I love you.” And if she had to remind him of it every day for the rest of their lives, so be it.
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