Page 90 of The Last Debutante
Daria wanted to throttle the girl. She was the most obstinate female she had ever met—
“Aye, I’ll think of something,” Bethia said.
“Thank you,” Daria said. “Thank you so much, Bethia.”
Daria grabbed Charity’s hand as Bethia went out. “Help me. Help me think what to do.”
“There is only one thing you can do,” Charity said. “You must go to your parents and force them to tell the truth. It is the only waymyfamily will ever have justice.”
“That would mean... that would mean returning to England with them.”
“Is there any other way?” Charity demanded angrily. “Do you know how many lives the earl has ruined? Andcontinuesto ruin, clearly! By your own admission, your grandmother has been made mad by him. Do you not want to see her avenged?”
“Even if it means turning on my parents?”
“You are not turning on them, Daria. You are the only one who can help them now.”
Tears began to burn in the back of Daria’s throat. She did not want to return to England.
“It’s maddening, I understand,” Charity said earnestly. “You must think you will never be in society, but that is not true. You’ll always be welcome at Tiber Park—”
“That’s not what saddens me, Charity. It’s Jamie.”
“The laird? Oh, poor Daria.”
“You don’t need to persuade me to leave, if that’s what you think. I could no more burden him with who I am now than I could you. I am a bastard child with criminal connections,” she said bitterly.
“Just like Catherine,” Charity responded, referring to her daughter.
“Charity, I didn’t mean—”
“But it’s true,” Charity said curtly.
Daria thought of Charity’s daughter, that sunny little girl, her future so hazy because of the circumstances of her birth. And that finally opened the spigot of her tears. She’d finally found the excitement she’d sought, the taste of living beyond the ivy-covered walls of her home. She’d finally found the man who sparked her imagination, who had captivated her on first sight.
And in one afternoon, she’d lost the only love she’d ever really known, lost her name, her parents, and her future.
Charity wrapped her arms around Daria, weeping, too. They held tightly to each other for a long moment until Daria sucked in her breath and lifted her head. “No more,” she said. “There is too much to be done.”
“Perhaps,” Charity said, wiping the tears delicately from beneath her eyes, “perhaps your parents don’t need you so?”
“What are you saying?” Daria cried. “You’ve said the very opposite for two days.”
“Yes, I know what I’ve said.” She winced as if the memory pained her. “Do you know how I have envied you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You are the darling of society, Daria, the one everyone wants at their table. When I first came to Tiber Park, I was envious of you. No one wanted me, not with a bastard daughter. And that’s why I have urged you to go home, Daria. I thought perhaps you didn’t understand how fortunate you were.” She shook her head, and closed her eyes a moment.
“I endured a family tragedy which colored everything.Everything!My brother and I lived in squalor. I was forced to learn about the ugly side of life at a very young age. It made me a very lonely woman, Daria. I can’t tell you what I would have given to have had love in my life—any love, if only that of a friend. I wanted desperately what you have found here at Dundavie, and yet, I’ve advised you against it. What sort of friend am I?”
“The very best of friends,” Daria said tearfully. “You were right all along, Charity. I could never fit in here. I don’t belong with these people. And my parents’ deception, the ordeal they have put my grandmother through? I could not dishonor Jamie so.”
Charity sighed. But she did not agree that Daria was right.
Twenty-seven
JAMIE COULD NOTmake sense of what had happened. He couldn’t grasp what had put up a stone wall between him and Daria so suddenly. He’d come back for her. He’d risked all for her. And now, he couldn’t even see her.
