“You’re so kind,” she began, and her brother cut her off with a quick slash of his hand.
“Kind? Damnation, Lilah, you’re my sister!” There was true pain in his eyes, and Lilah regretted that she hadn’t called on her siblings for support. “I can’t believe Mama would do that to you. Whyever didn’t you write to me? I didn’t hear of this until Amber learned from her father about that business at the Lyon’s Den.”
Amber’s father ran the jewelry store beneath the Lyon’s Den. She’d forgotten that he would be well aware of whatever happened in the gaming hell. And naturally he would share the news with his daughter.
“I am fine,” she said. “Clara and I get along wonderfully, and she needed help with this ball.”
“But we’re your family,” Amber said. “We’d never abandon you.”
Lilah looked down at her hands where they were clasped one by Amber, the other by Elliott. So many feelings rushed over her, but most of it was relief. They hadn’t abandoned her. They called her family. She was loved, and she had resources even if she’d gone to Clara first and not them.
“I am so grateful,” she said, tears blurring her vision. “I hadn’t wanted to burden you. Not so soon after your confinement.” She released a soft laugh. “I cannot believe you’re even here.”
“We are. We came for you,” Amber said.
“We can’t stay long tonight. The baby gets fussy whenever Amber isn’t around,” Elliott said. “But I should like you to come ’round first thing tomorrow. I can send a carriage, and we’ll discuss what’s to be done.” He sent a scowling look at Aaron. “I’m grateful that you found a place to stay, but it doesn’t look good living here.”
By which he meant that even with Aaron sleeping at his club, people would wonder if Lilah was Aaron’s mistress. Which she had been—at least for one night—so she couldn’t fault anyone for that assumption.
“I’ll be working tomorrow,” she said firmly. “But I would love to come by tomorrow night. I want to hold my nephew.”
“So it’s true,” Elliott said, resignation in his tone.
“There’s nothing wrong with a woman doing respectable work,” Amber said in an undertone to her husband. “You let me work, too.”
Lilah lifted her chin. “It is respectable, and I enjoy it. A very great deal, so if you mean to dissuade me from my job, we will have a difficult discussion indeed.”
“You create art,” Elliott said to his wife, but then he lifted a hand in surrender. “I want to see you happy, Lilah, no matter what you want to do. We can talk about it tomorrow.”
Lilah smiled and pressed a fond kiss to her brother’s cheek. He returned the embrace with his customary strength, but then he stiffened. And when Lilah pulled back, she saw why.
“Mother,” he said coldly.
And sure enough, the dowager countess Byrn had joined their little group. Lilah hadn’t even heard her announced, but here she was standing to the side. She had a death grip on her reticule and her gaze shifted nervously between them.
Ever kind, Amber greeted her mother-in-law, but didn’t say much beyond hello. Which left Lilah to face her adoptive mother with uncertain emotions. On the one hand, the hurt from the woman’s ultimatum still reverberated with pain. She’d thought she’d gotten past it but seeing the woman again brought all the fury back. On the other hand, she was mature enough to realize that if the lady hadn’t tossed her out, then she would never have found her future. In a backwards way, she was grateful for what had happened.
Which left her tongue-tied. What could she say to the woman who had been her mother and yet had shut her out when she’d become disobedient? Nothing, apparently, because the lady herself spoke first.
“I was wrong and I’m sorry. Please come home.”
Lilah stared at her adoptive mother, startled to hear her speak her apology so baldly. The lady never apologized like that. And while she was still reeling from that, Mama continued.
“I didn’t think you’d really leave, and now you’reworking!” Her tone was so horrified, she might have said Lilah had become a bootblack or worse. “Your father would be ashamed of me, and I can’t bear it.”
“Ashamed because I’m working?”
“It’s not the future he envisioned for you. We recognized you! He wanted—”
Lilah cut her off. “Father is gone. Whatever he wanted for me is gone.”
“It’s not just him. I tried to get you married. I tried—”
“I know.” Because they’d both tried, but it wasn’t to be. For all her faults, the woman had truly worked hard to see that Lilah got the future she wanted. Not the one Lilah wanted, but the one the dowager countess thought would be best for her. It was done from love, even if it was limited and short-sighted. “I know you tried,” she said.
Tears slipped from the countess’ eyes, and she surreptitiously dabbed them away. She was not a woman who cried in public and certainly not at an earl’s ball. And yet here she was showing an excess of emotion. “I’m sorry I failed,” she whispered. “I tried so hard to see you set up.” She took a shuddering breath. “Please come back. I’ll give you whatever allowance you want. We’ll find a way to get you married. We’ll—”
Lilah abruptly stepped forward and hugged her. The gesture was impulsive, but it was also heartfelt. They’d both tried to make it work, but it wasn’t to be. And she found it easy now to forgive the woman’s imperious ways. It was, after all, how the countess was made, and anger served no one. “Thank you, Mother,” she said in the woman’s ear. “Thank you for trying.”