The Ruby in the Storm

Chapter 3: Stretched on Your Grave

Chapter 3: Stretched on Your Grave

"You still haven't told me what happened with Fredrick," Lydia reminded Lucy for the thousandth time. "I thought we had agreed we would be honest with one another, Lucy."

It had only been about a day since Lucy had read Uncle Robert's letter, detailing his desire to have her and Fredrick betrothed for her own safety. She had not wanted to keep the letter, mainly because the idea of her uncle manipulating her life infuriated her, and the idea of her being with any man but Ross made her stomach churn. She liked Fredrick a great deal, but they did not love one another in that way, or held any such desires to be married. Lucy knew that love had little to do with anything these days, but if both the parties were not at all interested in the prospect of marriage, there were no benefits to be had from the union.

Still, Lucy now wished she had kept the note. But Fredrick needed it if he was to pen a proper reply. Lucy trusted him when he said that he would take care of it, but that didn't stop her from worrying about Lydia's reaction. But Lucy knew what came of being untruthful to those she loved, so honesty was her best bet at the moment.

"Uncle Robert wrote Fredrick with orders," she said, sitting down at the chair by the window. "He said that the Magistrate has not said anything yet, but in the event that he does, we need to be protected. Mainly me."

Lydia nodded. "What were his orders?"

"That Fredrick and I..." Lucy paused, watching her sister carefully. It was no secret that Lydia fancied Fredrick, so Lucy was not sure how she would take the news.

"That Fredrick and you what?" Lydia asked. "Get married?"

Lucy's jaw dropped. Of course, Lydia had always been astute, incredibly so. She could tell if someone was lying just by their expression and know a person's intentions almost instantly. It was a trait that she had clearly inherited from their father, and a trait that she probably honed and shined to perfection in London.

"It makes sense," Lydia continued while Lucy's brain was whizzing. "When the Magistrate starts circulating our family's deepest secrets, all eyes will be us, especially you. If you are already married to a man like Fredrick, or at least betrothed, then that will at least mean protection for you, and for me."

"Being betrothed to Fredrick will not stop the rumors."

"But it will make them irrelevant," Lydia replied. "It will make them archaic, like someone's sick ploy to stand between you and your own rise," she sat forward. "Do you remember when Benjamin Greystone was courting me back in London, and how your friend, Marianne, fancied him a great deal. The moment she thought he had serious eyes for me, she circulated that rumor that I had been married twice already, a fact that she claimed she had on 'good authority'? It's what people do, Lucy. Our secrets may not be mere petty rumor, but Uncle Robert is clearly trying his best to make it seem so, and I think it's genius!"

"You and Benjamin Greystone never married," Lucy reminded Lydia.

"Not because of Marianne, whatever she might say on the contrary," Lydia snorted. "No, it ended because mother did not approve of his father's past as a habitual gambler. The rumors were irrelevant then and they will be now so long as we do what Uncle Robert wants."

Lucy didn't like that. She wanted to fix this herself. There was so much that happened that wasn't her fault, but still so much as well that was.

She often thought about James's death. That night would haunt her for the rest of her life. She couldn't sleep at night because the nightmares would come, with the wide and various range of interpretations of what would have happened had Ross not intervened. She liked to think that she could have fought James off, but there was no telling. The chances were great that she would not have, and now he was death. A mother lost a son.