Page 10

Well, if they wanted to distance themselves from scandal, Emily would make certain to stay as close to them as possible. It wasn’t as if Emily had anywhere else to go. It wasn’t as if Emily could even walk far with her aching ankle. So, she sat right there on the doorstep, her elbows on her knees, her chin propped in her hands, refusing to leave even when the butler came out to shoo her away.

She refused to move even when minutes ruthlessly ticked the day away. And even after the sky opened up and rained down upon her.

Bernard’s laughing face played before her eyes, the memory as fresh as if it had been yesterday.

They had been perched on a log, near a tranquil stream, their hair tousled by the warm, gentle breeze. As Emily’s unruly locks had danced in her face, Bernard had reached out, brushing them aside, his lips graced by a radiant smile.

“I shall marry you someday, Emily Fitzwilliam,” he had declared with unwavering certainty. “You’ll see.”

And she had believed him wholeheartedly, with every fiber of her being.

Idiot.

Emily brushed the wet, short locks away from her face and shivered, soaked to her bones and extremely cold when the door opened once more and someone tentatively stepped out of the house.

Bernard?

Emily raised her head, but her excitement dimmed as she saw Astrid, Bernard’s younger sister instead.

Emily watched Astrid, her friend of many years, and wondered if she would twist the knife in her heart that Bernard had left there.

Astrid let out a sigh and gingerly sat next to Emily, dragging the silk skirt of her gown along the wet, dirty step.

“I am sorry about everything that happened,” she said simply.

Emily blinked, not certain what her reply should be. “Thank you,” she mustered through her dry and scratchy throat.

“The rumors…” Astrid paused. “Mother said even the servants were talking.”

Emily blinked away the rain. “About me?”

Astrid nodded with a grimace. “About your incident with the duke.”

“The rumors are lies; you must convince your brother.” Emily took Astrid by her shoulders in desperation. “I was nearly run down by a carriage and the duke saved me, knocking me onto the ground. I had never met him before, surely Bernard knows that. He knows me! If I just talked to him and told him the truth—”

Astrid covered her hands and squeezed, before gently moving them away from her shoulders. “The truth is… inconsequential. The rumors are all that matters. My parents will never accept you. They pressured Bernie to sever his associations with you, threatening to cut him off.”

Emily’s brow creased in confusion. She pulled back her arms, curling her fingers into fists on her lap. “He doesn’t need their money. He has a well-respected job. If that is not enough, I can work, too! If he marries me, that would counter all the rumors and we can weather it all. But my ruination affects my family, my siblings!” My future.

Astrid grimaced and looked away. “He is not going to marry you.”

Emily’s lower lip trembled, and she had to bite it to keep from crying. Astrid’s words were so final they broke Emily’s heart.

She stared at Astrid with a glassy gaze while in her heart she wanted to scream and wail, and even shake Astrid until she took her words back.

Bernard loved her. She knew he loved her. He was probably hurting and didn’t mean anything he’d said. He was going to look past the ugly rumors and accept the person he loved. Astrid had just misunderstood him, surely.

But Astrid spoke again, softer now. “After he sent the farewell note to you, he immediately sent flowers to Miss Bertha Godfrey.” She cleared her throat and lowered her voice once more. “He is going to see her today. He is going to start courting her.”

Astrid might as well have pulled out the knife with Emily’s heart still attached to it.

Miss Bertha Godfrey. She’d heard that name from Bernard before. A respectable, agreeable young woman. A baron’s niece with a sizable dowry.

The sharp pain in Emily’s chest, the terrible headache, and the lack of oxygen in her lungs rendered her speechless. Astrid continued speaking, but Emily didn’t hear her anymore.

What am I to do?

Emily dreaded going back home and telling her family that all was indeed lost. And that there was no way for her to fix that.