Page 83 of The Lover's Eye
“Yes.We’ve only returned this afternoon.”Giles was relieved when the hint was taken, and Reverend Gouldsmith removed a hand from his pocket.The blank lover’s eye necklace coiled in his palm, its smooth surface glaring up at Giles.
“The coroner told me you wished me to keep this, and while I appreciate your generosity, I cannot.”
“I would much rather you keep it,” Giles said.
“No, I cannot.I understand if you do not wish to have it any longer, but perhaps it could be repurposed.It is of great value, to be sure.”
Reverend Gouldsmith placed it into Giles’s outstretched hand.The metal was unnervingly warm where it had been stowed in the vicar’s pocket.Giles switched to letting it dangle from his finger, wishing to touch it no more than necessary.“If you insist,” he said.
“There is one other thing.I feel poorly even thinking of it, and I fear I will only feel worse for speaking it, but I must.You are the only one I can ask.”
Giles did not react.He did not want to give even the barest hint of encouragement to whatever might follow, for he felt a sick foreboding settling in his stomach.
“You know Abigail,” said the vicar.“She has been with us since we moved here; she has been all but a mother to Aurelia.Well, she … she has suspicions, Trevelyan.”
“Reverend,” Giles hastened to say, “I feel certain I cannot be of assistance to you, whatever the matter is.”
“Please.Please listen.”Reverend Gouldsmith moved a step nearer, his lower lip trembling as he spoke.“Abigail said there were … well,signs.”
“I do not understand,” Giles said, even though he was petrified that he might know perfectly well what accusations were about to be levelled against him.He needed distraction, some reason to look away from those bloodshot eyes.He strode over to the desk, unlocking the bottom drawer and dropping the necklace inside.
“I know I should not ask.I know it cannot change anything.But Trevelyan, was I going to be a grandfather?Did I not know it?”
Giles closed his eyes, exhaling a heavy breath.He could hear the tremor of tears in the vicar’s voice.He hated every damned thing about this.None of it was right.None of it was fair.
“I won’t be angry with you.Do not think that is my purpose.I-I know my daughter was a passionate girl, and I know you loved each other very much—she took pains to tell me all the time.So you see, I understand.It would not be unnatural—”
Giles opened his eyes to see the lone lock of hair in the drawer.He picked it up and returned to the vicar’s side.“Reverend, I am terribly sorry for what happened to your daughter.She deserved far better.But I’m afraid this is all I can offer you.We mustn’t speak of this again.”
Reverend Gouldsmith took the keepsake and his face changed, as if he had found an unexpected pocket of peace.His shoulders sagged and he smiled tremulously.“Oh.Oh, my.Her hair.You’ve kept it.”
“It did not seem right to dispose of it, but as you know, sir, I am a married man.It is not a thing I should keep, nor do I want to.”
Far from seeming offended, the vicar nodded convulsively.“Thank you.Thank you.”
“Now if you will excuse me,” Giles said, angling a glance at the door.The vicar took the hint at once, heading for the exit and still cradling the lock of hair in his upturned palms.“And Reverend?”
He turned back.
“I hope you understand how harmful such talk can be.I ask, not for myself, but for my wife, that we allow these matters to stay fixed in the past.”
“Yes, Trevelyan.Of course.”With a bowed head, he left the room.
It took several minutes of sitting in silence for Giles to collect himself.The fact that six months of reclusiveness—and taking awife—had not eased the pressure of the past was both dumfounding and infuriating.It felt like a shadow that he could not outrun.
From his seat behind the desk, Giles could still see the lover’s eye necklace spooled in the bottom of the open drawer.He slammed it shut with his foot.He had a plan to divest himself of the bauble, and by God if that plan didn’t work, he would toss it into the sea himself, its worth in gold be damned.
Giles wound his way up to his bedchamber to bathe and prepare for bed.He was exhausted, both physically and mentally; the promise of finishing his night with Isobel was the only thing keeping him moving.
He was worried about her.She had been rattled by whatever gammon Lady Sempill had spewed, and he had every reason to believe it pertained to his prior engagement.He only hoped his reassurance had been enough to make her believe in his total loyalty to her.
By the time he got to Isobel’s chambers, Smooch reluctantly following at his heels and claiming a seat on the chaise, her candle had been blown out and her book set aside.She was curled up on her side, her face in shadow.
“I’m sorry I’m so late, darling,” Giles said, slipping into bed beside her.He was greeted by her warmth and her powdery rosy scent, and suddenly, he thought everything might be all right.
“Did you have a lot of business to attend to?”she asked, her voice muffled by the pillows.
He sighed, positioning his body next to hers and running his fingers up and down her arm.“Not overmuch.But anything that keeps me from you is more than I should like.”He pressed a kiss to her shoulder.
