a platter of cold sliced meat.
“Not much time at all, dear. Less than a fortnight. ‘Twould be sooner if I could arrange it.”
Ten days, by Gina’s reckoning, counting this one. Yes, she was painfully aware of the ticking of the clock. Ten days to find Henley. Ten days to avenge Cora and reclaim her own future.
“And we must look to the future. I will scarce be settled at home when I will have to come back here. March, will it not be, Bella?”
“M-March?” Her sister colored a most interesting shade of fuchsia.
“Oh, do not deny it,” their mother smirked. “I know my daughters. Your husband did not waste much time getting an heir on you. You shall have an early spring babe. And I know a girl wants her mother at such a time. Never fear, Bella. I shall be here for you.”
Bella looked at Gina and Lilly for help, but as Bella did not deny their mother’s conclusion, there was nothing they could say.
“And Lilly, you shall not be far behind, I think. From the look of that strapping husband of yours, I would not be surprised to welcome twins by summer.”
“Mother, we have been married little more than a week!”
“Aye, it does not take long. My girls will be no less fertile than I. And your husband looks no less virile than Bella’s. Boys, I’d warrant. A great pity your father will not be here to see it. He always wanted sons.”
“Then perhaps you should stay rather than go and have to return so soon,” Bella offered. “Andrew has often said you are welcome to stay as long as you please.”
“Aye, but we cannot leave our home in Belfast vacant so long. The servants will be stealing us blind. No, we must return as soon as may be, and Gina will have to stay there when I return in the spring. Someone must watch over the house.”
Lilly raised her eyebrows and leaned forward as she spoke. “But you cannot leave Gina alone, Mama. A single woman …”
“Faugh! Gina is a spinster now. Both older and younger sisters are married. No one is like to offer for her now. She may as well make herself useful.”
Gina was astonished. It had never occurred to her that her own mother would consider her little better than an unpaid companion.
“And she is scarred, besides,” Mama continued. She turned to look at Gina with a frown. “You were never clumsy before, child. Falling on the stairs and cutting yourself with a broken glass—why, I never heard of such a thing happening before to any of my girls. And now you must cover it whenever you go about in public. I am certain you would much rather not leave the house. Yes, you will be more comfortable at home. In Belfast.”
Gina’s hand went to her throat as it always did at any mention of her scar. The story they’d told their mother about how it had happened was a bit flimsy, but she had believed it, nonetheless.
“Mama!” Lilly protested. “Gina is in her prime, and the physician said the scar will fade with time.”
Bella nodded. “Lady Sarah has said that Gina is a great success in society. Why, a few young men have asked after her. If you must return to Belfast, you should leave Gina here with us.”
She was warmed by her sisters’ defense, though she doubted Bella’s veracity. Who would have asked after her? She’d only danced with a handful of young men.
Mama shrugged. “What? Leave her with you? And no one to guide her? Why, Mr. Hunter and Mr. Farrell are hardly the sort to look after a young girl.”
A young girl? Moments ago she’d been a spinster. Gina sighed as the simple truth dawned on her. Mama did not want to be alone. She did not want the last of her daughters to be out of reach. And Mama was likely to do anything she could to keep Gina by her side and at her beck and call.
“Mama—” Lilly began.
“Gina is coming home with me, and that is an end to it.” Mama waved one hand in dismissal of the subject.
The remainder of lunch was punctuated with sighs and awkward spurts of bland conversation while Gina felt as if she might jump out of her skin. The future her mother had mapped out for her was never one she would have chosen. One, in fact, she found abhorrent and, in its own way, terrifying. But given her circumstances, and if she could not find the answers she sought, it would be the only course open to her.
She wouldn’t give up yet, though. She still had ten days and she would make the most of them. Regardless of Mr. Renquist and the Home Office, she would just have to take matters into her own hands.
Her mother excused herself, declaring that she was quite fatigued and needed a nap. The table fell silent until they heard a door close somewhere above them.
“Gina, did you know what she planned?” Lilly asked.
She shook her head, still a bit stunned.
“We must find some way to divert her,” Bella mumbled.
“It is hopeless, and you know it. When Mama has made up her mind, nothing can change it. Nothing will do but that she have her way.”
“But you have not …”
“Escaped?” Gina smiled and looked down at her plate, largely untouched. “Perhaps I could learn to bear that, but I cannot resign myself to the thought that Mr. Henley will not pay for what he has done. That is the one task I cannot leave undone.”
Bella’s eyes darkened as she sat forward. “I’ve seen that look before. What are you planning, Gina? “
“I hardly know. I have made some headway amongst the ton, but progress is slow. I am to meet with Mr. Renquist tomorrow for his report. And …” she hesitated, reluctant to tell them about the little key “… and there has to be more I can do. Other ways to learn what I need.”
Lilly dropped her napkin on her plate and glanced over her shoulder before lowering her voice to a whisper. “If you are game, Gina, I may have an idea. There were some street urchins—lads, Devlin called them—who helped find the evidence against the Brotherhood. They are quite engaging little pickpockets and, for a few coins, they could discover anything.”
“I vow I am not going to turn any source away.”
Lilly nodded and stood, determination in her voice. “I know just where to find them on a Sunday afternoon. Bella, you stay here and if the men return, tell them Gina and I have gone for a stroll through the park and shall be back presently. Gina, fetch your bonnet and shawl.”
Gina glanced around the square at Covent Garden, almost as busy as Hyde Park on a summer afternoon, unable to shake the feeling that she was being watched. “How will we ever find them?” she asked Lilly.
“Just dangle your reticule from your wrist and they will come along. Walk slowly and smile as if you have nothing more on your mind than meeting friends. Ned will find us.”
“What will your husband say?”
Lilly laughed. “He would likely ask how much we paid them, and then tell me it was too much.”
“He
