Page 30 of Legacy of Roses

“The outcome?” Dimitri asked, still mystified.

“Triplets!” Wyatt proclaimed, clearly enjoying having a new audience for a tale the whole town must know. “And boys, the lot of them! Three sons to match the three daughters in one fell swoop.”

“Triplet boys?” Dimitri asked slowly, a cold trickle of dread seeping down his spine.

“Aye! Three daughters and three sons. Any family with that number would be at risk, but doubly so given he was a merchant. O’ course being a merchant is why the Legacy forced them into it in the first place.” Wyatt shook his head sadly. “Not much poor Clifford could do after that. He held on for a good long while, but the end was inevitable.”

“Inevitable that his house would burn down?” Dimitri asked. He wanted to ask the names of Clifford’s children, but he already knew the answer. He had thought Rosalie’s younger brothers looked close in age.

“Oh, that was only the start—or perhaps I should say the end.” Wyatt pushed back his plate and turned more fully toward Dimitri, settling in for the story. “The one mercy was that he got his two older daughters safely married before the Legacy struck.Pretty girls they both were, and kindhearted too. Although the youngest is the true beauty—as youngests usually are.” He shook his head. “But at least her sisters were settled and gone from Thebarton—and generous bequests settled on their new families—before it happened.”

Wyatt’s words gave Dimitri a stirring of hope that Wyatt wasn’t talking about Rosalie and her family.

“I suppose Clifford and his remaining children went to live with the older daughters after their home burned down, then?” he asked, trying to hide his strong interest in the answer.

But Wyatt shook his head. “Didn’t want to risk turning the Legacy’s attention in their direction. And didn’t want to leave Thebarton, neither. As I said earlier, he’s a fine man is Clifford. Always did right by Thebarton, though he used to have the funds to move somewhere grander. Afterward he had to move his family to a cottage just outside of town. Hardly big enough for three thirteen-year-old lads that one, let alone a grown daughter as well.” He sighed and shook his head again.

“And what about Clifford himself?” Dimitri asked.

“Travelin’ last I heard. He’s home whenever he can be, but he’s gone for long stretches. Has to do himself what he once paid others for.” Wyatt heaved a sigh and took a long drink. “Used to employ plenty around Thebarton, so it wasn’t just Clifford who lost out when it all happened.”

“What exactly did happen?” Dimitri asked, having to remind himself to keep eating. He was too absorbed in his companion’s words to think of his food, despite the enjoyable flavor.

“He’s a careful man, Clifford,” Wyatt said. “But he has a weakness when it comes to his children. And it was Mistress Rosalie that brought the trouble. Not,” he said firmly, “that anyone blames her, mind.” His expression turned dark. “There are some who know how to use the Legacy to their advantage, and there are some whose situations make them vulnerable to it.Youngest daughter of a merchant with equal sons as daughters.” He shook his head. “What hope did she have?”

“What happened to her?” Dimitri asked, trying to keep the urgency from his voice.

“A newcomer arrived in town,” Wyatt said dramatically, clearly still enjoying his role of storyteller, despite the sad nature of the tale. “Mighty pretty he was. Mighty pretty.” He paused and peered at Dimitri before bursting into hearty guffaws. “Much like yourself, come to think of it. Could be his twin! I hope you haven’t come here to bamboozle Thebarton’s young ladies.” Given his humor, he clearly thought the manor’s owner was above such behavior. And he didn’t seem to have considered the possibility that Dimitri was merely impersonating the missing heir.

Then Dimitri remembered Rosalie and Daphne’s conversation. Obviously, they weren’t the only ones who considered the state of the manor’s garden to be convincing evidence of his claim on the estate.

“What was the newcomer’s name?” Dimitri asked, although he had an unpleasant inkling he knew it. He had already met a young man with similar coloring to himself and a history with Rosalie.

“Jace.” Wyatt practically spit the name, and Dimitri’s heart sank the rest of the way.

“Pleasant young man he seemed,” Wyatt continued after a moment. “Had a few conversations with him myself. And very taken he seemed with young Mistress Rosalie. Everyone noted it, and no one was surprised. Some thought she was a bit young, but then so was he. And she was both beautiful and wealthy, so it was natural enough she might catch any young man’s eye. Plenty of the boys here liked her too, but knowing someone from the cradle don’t give them a lot of allure.” He gave a heavy sigh. “Can’t be surprised she was beguiled by a newcomer.”

The story kept getting worse, but Dimitri had to know how it ended. “What did he do?”

“Courted her, o’ course,” Wyatt said. “Won her over easily enough as well. Her father wouldn’t let her get married right away—said she had to be at least eighteen for that.” He nodded approval of Clifford’s principles. “But he did find the boy a position in his business. Said the boy would be family soon enough and made him a clerk.” He sighed. “Pity. Great pity.”

“Why?” Dimitri asked.

“Turned out the only part of Mistress Rosalie that appealed to Jace was her wealth. That, and the fact she was the youngest daughter of a merchant with equal sons as daughters. He knew her family situation meant the Legacy’s bamboozling ways would aid him. Like I said, Clifford was a careful one, but he counted that Jace as one of the family, and the Legacy helped obscure his theft.”

“He cheated the family’s business?” Dimitri asked, in a tight voice.

“Aye. Cleaned out everything he could get his hands on. Left them with nothing but what they had in their house. But once he cheated them, it triggered the rest of that particular sequence of the Legacy. Their house burned down the day after they discovered his treachery.”

“And Jace?” Dimitri asked, although he already knew the answer. He had clearly not been apprehended for his crime.

“Slipped away before anyone even realized. Abandoned Mistress Rosalie and left her family with next to nothing. Didn’t dim her spirits any, though,” he added in an admiring tone.

Dimitri looked down, noting distantly that his hand was fisted so tightly around the handle of his fork that his knuckles had turned white. It was a good thing he hadn’t known the whole story two days before, or he might not have managed to restrain himself around Jace.

But while he hadn’t known Jace’s history, he knew the story had a new chapter unknown to Wyatt. After everything Jace had already done to Rosalie, he had dared to return and abduct her. And having done so, he had talked to her as if…

Dimitri drew a long breath, attempting to calm himself. If he dwelt on how Jace had acted toward Rosalie, and what he had said to her, he might say or do something inappropriate for the dining room of the Mortar and Pestle.

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