Page 70 of Margins of Love
Several minutes later,the trio walked down the stairs to the study. Most of the guests had left, and servants were moving chairs in the great hall that had fit over a hundred people for a ball. Rachel noticed what a mess had been left behind.
Arnold filled Fave in. “Uncle Gustav and Aunt Eve rattled Carol completely and now she’s gone wild. I think you did it with all your talk of fairness.”
Fave looked worried.
When they got to the bottom of the steps, Lizzie stood alone in front of the double door. Her face was stained with tears, her hair plastered on her forehead with perspiration.
“Lizzie? What happened?”
She looked up at Fave and Arnold, then made a most unladylike snort that turned into sobs.
“She… she… argh!” Lizzie dissolved in tears.
Her eyes fell on Rachel, and Fave took her hand, letting Lizzie see his gesture. Her eyes darted to his, questioning.
“She is one of us now,” Arnold supplied helpfully.
Lizzie’s eyes widened and she swallowed her sobs. “R-Rachel?” She looked at her disheveled coiffure. Then she looked back at Fave.
“Why are you here alone?” Arnold asked.
“They sent me here to wait,” she responded, her voice still hoarse from sobs.
Rachel’s gaze sank and her hand searched for Fave’s.
Arnold rushed past them and opened the doors. “You left Lizzie alone to cry in the halls with servants around and—”
“What’s this?” Fave stormed to his father, who was hunched over a small table covered in gemstones and one very large emerald.
He took the magnifier that Gustav handed him and examined the emerald. Then he straightened again and looked around the room. His mother and Rachel’s mother stood on either side of Bustle-Smith, each holding down one shoulder of the Fury.
Rachel rushed to Ilan’s side, who was clutching a paper.
“Tell me what happened?” Fave asked, his gaze on Eve.
“It appears, my son, that in a single swoop, our hostess has ruined your sister’s prospects, our business, and the whole…”
“Vas hastu getan?” What have you done? Ilan wailed in Yiddish.
Rachel deflated beside him.
Gustav looked up, then walked to Ilan.
“What did you say?” Gustav demanded.
Fave came to his side.
“Pardon my outburst, Milord. It is just that… it had all been arranged.” Ilan tried to find the right words.
Fave looked at Rachel and she could not hide the pain in her heart.
“Papa?” she asked.
But he waved her off, he could not look at her. She had entered the room holding Fave’s hand and by the looks of her hair, she’d been compromised. In Ilan’s world, this meant a breached contract and the need to move again, to find another path for Sammy… she had ruined it all.
Fave came closer, but she could not bear his touch. She’d hurt her father and began to see what had happened.
“Fave, be a dear and give me my gem back.” Bustle-Smith rose and the mothers let her go.
