Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

H yacinth had always been beautiful, and now she was dry, even more so. The shy innocence he'd once seen in her was now gone, and in its place was a silent, composed woman. Her topaz eyes were cool and wary, but he'd seen the flare of emotion briefly when Ellen had walked into the agency. It had gone in seconds, but Leo was sure there had been longing.

He knew Ellen and Hyacinth had been friends, because that's how he'd met her. His sister, like him, had walked away from her. He'd never given thought to how she'd suffer when they left. He thought she'd just move on after mourning what she'd lost briefly, but her anger the night he'd saved her from the Thames suggested otherwise.

Leo realized the depth of his love for Hyacinth had been as deep as he'd been capable of then, which was not very deep at all. Shame washed through him. He'd left and thought only of himself and his family's suffering, not hers.

"Seeing as your hand is sore, Cyn, I will pour," Lewis said.

Alex placed his package on the table.

"Surely you can find a plate for that," Ellen snapped .

Heaving a weary sigh, Alex regained his feet and went to hunt out a plate with Lewis directing him.

"So, my lady, what is it you do here?" Ellen asked.

"We are an agency that helps young ladies seek gainful employment," Lewis said when Hyacinth didn't answer straightaway. "Not a brothel like Lord Seddon insinuated when he first arrived."

"I did no such thing," Leo protested. He hadn't said it, even if he'd thought it.

"I beg your pardon?" That got a reaction out of Hyacinth. Her lovely eyes fired to life. "How dare you think such a thing."

"I did not say you ran a brothel."

"But you thought it," Lewis said.

"I concede I wasn't sure what it was you were doing here," Leo said. "But seeing as the man who showed us next door said they were struggling to lease the property we looked at, I did wonder why, considering the location is desirable."

"He is the untrusting Nightingale," Alex said around a mouthful of food as he reentered the room.

"Can you not swallow before you speak?" Leo snapped.

His brother ignored him and took another bite of bun.

"And while I know that even saying the word brothel makes you uneasy, my lord," Cyn said in a frosty tone, "let me assure you it is not the desired choice of occupation for many who are forced into that line of work."

"I'm sure," Ellen soothed.

"A woman's lot in life is not to be scoffed at," Hyacinth added.

"I did not scoff," Leo said, trying to remain calm.

"You really must meet my wife," Alex said. "You two would get on swimmingly is my guess. She's a wonderful woman with a fiery independence and is part of the suffragette movement. "

Leo heard the love and pride his brother had for Harriet.

"Hello!" Another voice could be heard outside.

"I'll go," Lewis said, rising.

"It is I, Mr. Williams!"

Leo was watching Hyacinth, so he saw her stiffen. Clearly, whoever Mr. Williams was, she was not pleased to see him.

"Where are your children today, Lady Lowell?" Alex asked, still eating. "I remember Lord Lowell. He was a good man, so I'm sure any progeny of his would be the same."

Her expression softened. It was a slow thing; her lovely mouth eased out of its line, and the edges tilted upward. The cold expression in her eyes softened too.

"They are well, thank you, and yes, the very best of children."

"What are their names?" Alex asked, slowly drawing her out, which he was good at. He could get anyone to tell him anything.

Leo often envied the ability Alex had to be comfortable around others. He could walk into any situation or meet anyone for the first time, and he was relaxed. Leo had never been that way and often came across arrogant, especially when he was in a situation that unsettled him.

"Simon is sixteen and Margaret is twelve."

"Great ages. Is your son to attend a school?" Alex asked.

Leo saw the uncertainty on Hyacinth's face, but before she could answer, Lewis returned.

"I'm afraid he is waiting until you have time to see him," he said to Hyacinth. "Apparently Mr. Williams must speak to you directly, and I cannot pass on the message."

She wasn't happy about that either.

"Then we will leave you," Leo said, shooting his family a look they understood meant it was time to go. Alex rose and bowed.

"Good day," Hyacinth said, sounding relieved at their departure. At least she was more civil with him today than she had been after he'd saved her from drowning.

"Take care of your hand, my lady," Leo said, bowing before her.

"Yes, I will, thank you," she added.

"Goodbye, my lady," Alex said, elbowing Leo out of the way. "It was lovely to see you again."

"Yes, it was," Ellen said, nudging Leo even farther to the side so she could stand in front of Hyacinth. "I hope we meet again soon, especially if we take the lease next door."

Leo watched Hyacinth hesitate, and instead of answering, she said, "Goodbye, Mrs. Fletcher."

"Good day, my lady." Leo took his sister's arm and waved Alex before them, and then after a final look at the woman who should have been his wife, he left the room.

They walked out to the entrance area and found a man standing there dressed in a black suit.

"Good day." He frowned at them, clearly wondering why they were here. "Are you in need of the Phoenix Agency's services?" Mr. Williams asked.

"I'm not sure what business that is of yours, sir," Leo said in his best viscount voice. Clearly Hyacinth had not been happy about the prospect of seeing this man.

"I am a close friend of Lady Lowell's. As a widow, it is important she has someone watching over her interests," the man said in a pompous tone.

"She has plenty of people watching over her," Lewis said in a hard voice from the door, where he was holding it open for the Nightingales.

Mr. Williams blustered but said nothing further.

"Good day," Leo and his siblings said to Lewis as they left the building.

As Mungo had just pulled up, they all climbed into the carriage. Leo took the seat beside his sister .

"That went well," Alex said, always the one to speak first in any situation.

"She hates us, I'm sure of it," Ellen said. "I never thought the day would come that Hyacinth would hate anyone, as I did not believe she had that in her, but it seems I was wrong."

"Don't be dramatic. She does not hate us," Alex scoffed. "She was polite and yet distant, and why wouldn't she be. You are now strangers, Ellen, as is Leo. She once loved him desperately, and then he left, and that, too, has to leave a scar, along with likely everything else that has happened in her life. Her husband was old enough to be her father, after all. That cannot have been a desired match."

"Her family must have forced her to wed him," Ellen said.

"You have no idea what happened, so there is no need to speculate," Leo said, but he agreed. Hyacinth had likely been forced to wed Lowell, and he hated that that was probably due to him.

"She's exceedingly pretty," Alex said.

"And you're married," Leo snapped.

"Don't get testy with me. You know I need to vocalize everything," Alex said.

"It's your most irritating trait."

"Surely not. There must be others." Alex smirked.

"She was polite yet cold," Ellen said. "Angry no doubt because we both left her without a word."

"There was little time to send out goodbye letters, sister," Leo said. "We were under a cloud of disgrace. Our father had just killed himself, and we were facing ruin—I think we had other things to worry about."

Ellen turned watery eyes on him. "But even though she had family, they were not close, Leo. We were to be the family she had always wished for."

"What?"

"You never knew what her life was like, but I did. She wanted so badly to marry you, the man she loved and adored, and that I would become her sister only added to that."

He stared at Ellen. He hadn't known Hyacinth was lonely.

"She didn't talk to you like she did to me. Hyacinth was raised in a strict family. Yes, they loved her, but her life was spent being seen and not heard. She was younger than her sister by ten years, and they had not expected to have another child, but then there was Hyacinth. They had little time for her."

His chest felt tight suddenly as he remembered back to the times he'd spent with her. He'd known she was devoted to him and accepted that as his due back then. Arrogant sod that he was. He was Lord Seddon; therefore, he should be worshipped by the woman he had chosen to wed.

"We had no choice," Leo whispered, but they heard.

"We thought we had no choice, but perhaps we closed ourselves off to what we left behind?" Alex said. "The devastation and shock stopped us from seeing that there were those that had been our friends and more. Those that deserved at least a note from us."

Hyacinth had waited for them at every social occasion. Leo would arrive with his family, and she'd find him; it would never be the other way around. She was always doing things for him. Getting him a drink at a ball or bringing him sweets if he took her driving. The memories he'd locked away were leaking out, filtering information through his head.

I have this for you. I know you have wanted to read it for some time.

He'd called at her house to take tea, and she'd arrived with a book in her hands, and it had been the exact title he'd talked of only two nights before.

"She deserved more from both of us," Ellen said softly.

He'd not asked Hyacinth questions about herself. Not asked what her favorite color was or food. Leo had talked about himself. Closing his eyes, he felt shame wash over him again.

"She is a different woman from the quiet, shy one I remember," Alex said.

"Very," Ellen agreed. "That Hyacinth we just left bears no resemblance to the woman I once knew."

His siblings talked, and Leo thought about that time in his life that he could only term as hell. He'd believed that keeping his family safe was to be his only concern, and then when his uncle and aunt arrived and loaded up the entire family and took them to the country, all he could think was relief. Leo was leaving London and the hell that awaited them if they dared to step outside their front door.

I never gave her a second thought.

"I had a vision while we were in there," Ellen said.

"Are you all right?" He hadn't noticed because Hyacinth had held all his attention.

"I'm well." Ellen waved away his concern. "It doesn't always make me feel unsteady. I saw Hyacinth standing in a room, staring out the window, and she was weeping. No noise was coming from her, but that she was devastated was clear to me. And then I saw her standing with a child on either side of her at a grave. Her husband's grave."

It hurt to hear those words. He didn't like to think of Hyacinth in pain, and yet he'd inflicted that and more on her.

"And now I should likely tell you who visited me while we were in the Phoenix Agency," Alex said solemnly. "I did not say anything, as I am sure she is not ready for that."

His brother was never solemn, so the hair on the back of Leo's neck rose.

"Who?" Ellen demanded.

"Her husband was there," Alex said. "He kept showing me the triquetra. "

Leo frowned.

"You remember, Leo, that was the Celtic symbol that the Baddon Boys gang had tattooed on them when Gray was investigating George Nicholson's murder."

"Why would the late Lord Lowell be showing you that?" Leo asked.

"I have no idea," Alex said. "He is also showing me a bird, but it's up high, like on the side of a building or in a window or sign. The words he is filling my head with are trouble , bird , and triquetra . He feels a bit frantic, which is nothing like the Lord Lowell I remember, even though I did not have a great deal to do with him. Good Lord," Alex whispered seconds later.

"What?" Ellen demanded.

"Now, you'll not judge me?—"

"Just tell us," Leo snapped.

"The Avis Men's Club that is basically a gambling establishment for those that are barred from more reputable ones?—"

"You were barred?—"

"We are not talking about me," Alex cut Leo off. "Avis is on the same street as a brothel called the Bird of Paradise."

"Avis is bird in Latin," Leo said.

Alex clicked his fingers. "By Jove, you are correct. The bird Lowell is showing me is the bird of paradise Uncle Bram told us about. You remember, he has that book with a picture in it from his travels."

"Is the brothel near the Baddon Boys' club also owned by them?" Ellen asked.

"I've never asked, but my guess is yes if Lowell is showing me these things. I'm just not sure where Hyacinth fits into all this, and why he is showing it to us, other than he wants us to look out for her."

"Do you remember when Gray did some investigating into the Baddon Boys when all that business with him being kidnapped went down," Leo asked. His siblings nodded. "Did he tell you that he'd found out that the Baddon Boys are actually quite wealthy and own a lot of real estate and businesses?"

"Yes, that's right." Ellen clicked her fingers.

"The Phoenix is also a bird. It could be that you are seeing, Alex," Leo added.

"No, I'm sure it's the bird of paradise," Alex said.

"Do you think perhaps the Phoenix Agency is a front for something else?" Ellen asked soberly.

"Hyacinth would never do anything illegal," Leo said. "It's not in her nature, and I doubt she has changed that much, especially considering Lowell was well respected and she is raising his children." He knew this deep in his soul.

"Agreed. Then why is Lowell showing Alex these things if there is no connection to Hyacinth?" Ellen asked.

That he didn't know, but he would make it his mission to find out, because he'd wronged her, and perhaps helping her would put that right for both of them.