Page 66 of Forgotten No More

“I have not met or talked to him, although he is well aware of me.” And he hadn’t sought her out. She knew at least of bit of the rejection and pain her mother had lived through in the days after learning of her pregnancy. “But I did meet my sister.”

“Oh!” Vi exclaimed. “Tell me about her! Is she older, younger, as beautiful as you?”

“She is much younger, and a pickpocket and blackmailer.” It was almost too much to believe. If she hadn’t seen it firsthand—and been the target of her sister’s deceit—she wouldn’t believe it herself. “But she is very smart and resourceful, for lack of a better term.”

“Oh, dear heaven!”

“Exactly my thought. Her name is Ellington.”

“And your face?” Vi asked. “Did you anger someone?”

The conversation, and a chance to be honest with Vi, had distracted her from the throbbing of her cheek. “That was an accident caused by my careless and naive behavior.”

“Hitting a woman is never an accident.”

“Oh, but this was most certainly an accident—and my fault. You see, I was at White’s—”

“You were where?”

“Let me explain.” Ruby turned on the bench, holding up her hand to silence Vi. “After the other night at dinner, I thought if I got a look at the betting book at White’s I would be able to find my father. Perhaps locate a wager about a man around that time who was connected to my mother.”

At the look of horror on Vi’s face, Ruby continued. “I know how ludicrous it sounds now, but with my other plans failing, I truly believed I could get into the club, search the book, and find some sort of information without anyone the wiser.”

“And how did you gain entrance to White’s?” Vi stuttered.

Ruby didn’t want to implicate Alex in her plan. “I borrowed a livery uniform and slipped in the back door.”

“The bruise? Were you found out?”

“I was found, but they do not know who I am,” Ruby confessed. “Well, except Rodney.”

“Rodney?” Vi fumed. “That insufferable cod…”

“Oh, the man who hit me was just as surprised to see him.”

“Someone else hit you? Please tell me this is all a farce and you stumbled into a door or some such nonsense.”

“I wish I could, but I was punched squarely in the face by a fist intended for Lord Haversham’s beloved cousin.”

“I am at a loss for words.”

Vi stared at her for a long few moments. Ruby nearly laughed aloud at her friend’s wide eyes and the absurdity of the entire story, now that she’d revealed just a few of the sordid details.

“That is just as well, because I have so many more for you.”

The words poured from her as if she sought to unburden her very soul.

Ruby rambled on about her ill-conceived plan to find her father, her list of potential men, and the homes she’d searched. It was harder to share her failures with Vi than she’d expected, and with those failures came Harold and Ellie’s involvement in her escapades.

“You were caught in a compromising situation with Harold?” Vi laughed. “It is impossible to picture Mr. Jakeston in such a position.”

“But it is easy for you to see me there?” Ruby asked, wounded.

“Of course not, I only mean—”

“It does not matter. I fear the situation was not as compromising as Lady Ellington would have people believe.” She couldn’t tell Vi that if Ellie hadn’t barged in she would have kissed him, possibly run her fingers though his hair, and definitely stared into his eyes for the remainder of the evening. Or that she’d since daydreamed of a life with him, their children, and the home she would create. “I tripped and Harold caught me.”

“Funny that Brock has mentioned nothing of this,” Vi mused. “Maybe Harold is as tightlipped as you have been.”