Page 139 of The Dravenhearst Brides
Babette licked her lips. “I have to go, Ruth. I can’t stay in this house another day, not with the baby. Alastair loves me. He’ll take care of me.”
“I loved you before he did. Beforebothof them. We’ll run away together, you and me.”
Babette tilted her head. She brushed her fingers down Ruth’s cheek, tucked a lock of escaped blonde hair behind her ear. “I know you love me.”
“But?” Ruth’s voice cracked.
“But he can give me more.” Babette pulled away.
“He’s not even here,” Ruth spat, gesturing to the empty rickhouse. “He didn’t come for you.Idid. I came here with you twelve years ago, when you asked me,beggedme. I’m still here, and now I’m the one who’s asking. I’m asking you to choose me.”
“He’ll be here,” Babette replied confidently. “He loves me.”
Ruth flinched. Her black gown glittered in the lanternlight, and her eyes bled with betrayal. And pain, so much pain.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Babette snapped. “I owe you nothing, Ruth.”
Her jaw dropped. “How can you say that? How can you say that after everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been to each other? A decade of our lives, Babette. It’s been you and me from the start.”
“I’m after a fresh start.” Babette narrowed her eyes. “And I’m not taking anything with me. I don’twantto take anything with me.”
Ruth tipped her head back and laughed. The sound rang through the rickhouse, echoing amidst the rows. Margot recognized something very dangerous in that laugh.
Ruth moved forward, a steely glint in her blue eyes. “I could ruin you. You know that, don’t you?”
“If you do, it will prove you never truly loved me. That more than beingwithme, you wanted tobeme. Always clinging close, ingratiating yourself in my life. My circle. My world. Do you fancy yourself the next Mrs. Dravenhearst?”
Ruth paused and tilted her head, considering.
Babette chuckled under her breath. “Don’t fool yourself. You could never carry it off.”
“Looks like you’re the one who couldn’t, turning tail and running away,” Ruth baited. “Your husband, your life—I could make it mine in an instant. If I truly wanted it. You have all of this”—she gestured at the distillery around them—“because Iletyou have it. And helped you keep it.”
A flash of fire in Babette’s eyes. “You didn’tletme have anything. You have a place here becauseIallow you to stay. When I’m gone, you will be too. And unlike me, you have nowhere else to go.”
“I always land on my own two feet, and they’re strong enough to hold me up. But you?” Ruth’s gaze darkened, twin irises of molten destruction. “You’re a disgrace, a leech. Only as strong as the people around you, propping you up. Maybe someoneshouldstep in here and make things right. Maybe you’ve been the curse on this house all along.”
Babette threw the first slap, stinging and loud. Straight at Ruth’s cheek.
But then Ruth’s hands were at her throat, wrapping around the heavy pearl collar of the wedding gown. Tightening. Cutting off air.
Margot opened her mouth to scream, knowing it would be fruitless. That what had died here could not be saved. “Stop! Stop it!”
Horrified, watching the color drain from Babette’s face, Margot stepped back until her spine slammed into a barrel. A freestanding one, lined up in the aisle. She blinked, seeing the copper whiskey thief on top. The oneshe and Merrick had used mere hours ago. She blinked in confusion and looked up. All the barrels suspended in the ricks had vanished. The entire first floor of the rickhouse was empty.
The imprints of Babette and Ruth were gone.
Margot shuddered, nauseated by what she’d seen. She could not, would not believe it. Didn’t want to.She had befriended Ruth. Drank tea and gin rickeys on her porch. Had been saved and reassured by her the night Merrick was poisoned. Trusted her…
No.
No, no, no.
She stumbled toward the rickhouse door. The weight of the past bore down upon her, threatening to snap her neck, to cut off her air supply. Margot couldn’t breathe—
“Noose, dearie?” Eleanor appeared suddenly, offering a length of rope.
Margot reared back and screamed.
