Page 24 of The Highland Heist
Grace blinked at the directness of the question and then at the twinge of uncertainty swiveling up through her middle. Did she? From the talk she’d had with Frederick’s Aunt Lavenia, she didn’t feel any of the symptoms usually prescribed to a pregnancy. “I don’t know.”
“I will help you tend to the baby when it comes.” Zahra nodded, her face as sober as usual. “Then you will want me to stay.”
Grace sank to her knees, her heart tightening painfully. She clasped the little girl’s hands in her own. “Zahra, we are your family now. That means we want you to stay whether you help or not. We’ve adopted you.”
“Adopted?” Zahra echoed, frowning. “You say this word, but I do not know it.”
Grace’s heart ached. What a woeful mother she was turning out to be! She hadn’t even considered that Zahra might not understand the depth of whatfamilymeant. To Zahra, “living” with Frederick and Grace likely felt no different than the transient stops she’d endured before: a mother’s fleeting care, the streets, the orphanage. Merely existing under their roof, without any promise of belonging.
“Adopted means Frederick and I are your new parents,” Grace said gently. “It means we’ll care for you whether you’re good or bad, whether you need us a little or a lot. It means you’ll always have a home here, and more importantly”—she placed a hand over her heart—”you’ll always have a place in here. Only you can fill it.” She touched the little one’s cheek. “We want to love you.”
Zahra’s brow creased as she studied Grace in silence and then, as if the conversation had never happened, she dipped her chin with a nod. “I will go help Miss Cox with the baby.”
And back down the hallway she dashed.
Grace whispered a prayer heavenward for guidance and rose to her feet, brushing down her skirts. When she reached the main room, Frederick was striding toward her from the opposite hall.
“The message has been sent,” he said. “But I doubt we’ll hear from the Clarion until tomorrow.”
Grace nodded and looked toward the stairway where Zahra had disappeared. “I do believe we need to talk more to Zahra about us being her parents. I don’t think she fully understands that we’re not sending her back to Egypt.”
Frederick’s expression softened as he followed her gaze. “Time and consistency will help. She’s had little of either.” He exhaled and turned back to her, his tone shifting. “But first, a more difficult conversation awaits. Do you want me to join you when you speak with your sister, or would you prefer to handle it alone? She and I have not really spoken since …”
Since he’d found out Lillias was trying to trick him into marrying her to cover up an unwed pregnancy and since learning of Father’s actions to salvage a debt. A painful twinge pricked in Grace’s chest, but she couldn’t identify it, which always was worse than knowing what the feeling truly was. None of them had truly reconciled since Grace had taken her sister’s place as Frederick’s wife—Grace, the second choice. Second in beauty, second in charm.
And the marriage had not only meant to secure Frederick’s estate’s future with Grace’s dowry, but hoped to move the family’s dark reputation to more sure footing. With Father’s debt and now Lillias as a possible murderess, Frederick had lost on both counts. And despite his sweetness toward her, the double sting had to hit so many things he valued. His home, his legacy, and his family’s reputation.
“Would it be easier for you if I spoke to her on my own?”
The slight tension in Frederick’s posture eased. Was he dreading the meeting as much as she was? Her heart twisted. He had so much to bear already, and here she was adding to it.
“I will go wherever you need me, darling.” Yet the endearment held the same tenderness it always did. Could he continue to hold that sweet love for her after all these failures began to sink into reality?
Well, she certainly wouldn’t add to his discomfort. She could face her elder sister alone. She’d done it before. Not often, though. And the last time had been to call her out on the entire marriage-pregnancy deception.
But she could do it alone.
“I think it’s better if I face her alone,” she said, more to steel herself than to reassure him. “Tomorrow will bring enough strain with the detective’s interview after he speaks to Miss Steen.”
“Very well.” He held her gaze, nothing uncertain in those dark eyes. “But if you need me, I will be close.”
She basked in his tenderness and drew in a breath. “Perhaps, you’d like to investigate the scratch marks we noticed on the floor from earlier while I meet with Lillias. They lead down a hallway to the outside.” She gestured in the direction she’d come. “It seems that someone dragged Tony from there to place him quite obviously in the middle of the entry room.”
Frederick’s brows knit together, his gaze sharp. “An odd choice for your sister.”
“I know. Which either means the murderer knew the house well enough to plant Tony’s body in such a way as to frame Lillias or …” Grace hesitated, biting her lip.
“Lillias has an accomplice.”
A thrill rose up through her at his choice of the wordaccomplice.He must have noticed her smile because he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Detective talk and all that.”
His tender whisper only twisted her guilt tighter. She caught his arm, her words spilling out. “Frederick, I’m so sorry for all the trouble this has brought to our door. So sorry for the deception and lies—and now scandal. I know I made light of our very first mystery together being about your family—”
“Grace.”
“But now mine has caused an even darker situation! And we’ve lost funds for improvements to Havensbrooke, and—”
“Grace.” His voice cradled her name, but the situation only kept getting worse.
