“Now.”
No announcement about scandal. No performance. Guests were told there was a family emergency and asked to leave.
Vanessa returned with a wool wrap but did not place it over the girl’s shoulders until she asked permission.
The child nodded.
“What’s your name?” Vanessa asked.
“Lucy.”
Henry closed his eyes.
Eleanor had once said that if she ever had a daughter, she wanted to name her Lucy after Henry’s mother.
He had forgotten that conversation until the name brought it back whole.
“How old are you?”
“Nine.”
Eleanor had vanished eleven years earlier.
Henry looked at Evelyn.
She did not meet his eyes.
A physician among the guests cleaned Lucy’s cheek and said she needed warmth, food, and a proper examination but did not appear seriously injured. Henry asked the housekeeper to prepare a quiet sitting room and told Vanessa to bring dry clothes from the emergency guest supplies.
Lucy would not release the bracelet.
Henry noticed.
“You can keep it.”
“It’s mine.”
“I know.”
Her chin lifted defensively.
That hurt him more than anger would have.
He sat across from her rather than beside her.
“Can you tell me who Nora was?”
Lucy wrapped both hands around a mug of warm milk.
“Nora Bell. She said she was my guardian.”
“Where is she now?”
“She died in May.”
“And after that?”
“People came to the house. They said I had to go into care because I didn’t have family.”
