Her 20-Year Silence Ended When Her Daughter Came Back for Revenge novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: The Groom at Dinner

Gareth Wincott comes to dinner, sees Nesta's face and slips her his card while Lavinia watches. That night the medal is missing from its case and Lavinia calls the new girl out in front of the whole staff.

On my third night, Gareth Wincott came to dinner.

Lavinia had the maids polish silver for two days.

She put me on the wine because, she said, I had steady hands.

I did not feel steady.

I stood against the dining room wall with a bottle wrapped in a napkin and watched my father cut his lamb.

He was a tall man with a tired face, and he said "thank you" to every plate that was set down.

He did not look at the maids, but he thanked them.

Lavinia sat at the head of the table, glowing.

Rhys sat halfway down on her left, with his tie loose and his wine untouched.

"The Foundation dinner is in two weeks," Lavinia said. "I thought we would announce the Adela Lorrimer Scholarship there."

I held the bottle so tightly the neck creaked.

"Named after her?" Gareth asked.

"Why not? She was my dearest friend. Whatever she did, she was one of us."

"She was mine," Gareth said, quietly. "Fund it, Lavinia. Whatever it costs."

"You are too good."

"I'm not," he said, and put down his fork. "I was never able to find her. I hired men for ten years, and nobody had seen her leave the city. You keep telling me not to look anymore."

"Because it hurts you, darling."

"It does."

He said it flatly, to the lamb.

Rhys watched the two of them and said nothing, but his jaw moved.

I came forward to fill Gareth's glass.

My hand shook once, and a drop of red wine fell onto the cloth.

"I'm sorry, sir."

"It's nothing."

He looked up to say it, and he stopped.

He looked at my face for a long moment.

I kept pouring. I did not know what else to do.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Nesta, sir."

"Where are you from, Nesta?"

"Dock Street. I worked in a laundry there."

"Garraty's Laundry?"

My stomach went cold.

"Yes, sir."

"I sent my shirts there once," he said, slowly, "after the fire. A woman there took my money and wouldn't take a tip."

"That was Maud. She raised me."

"Did she?"

His eyes were gray, the same gray I saw in the mirror every morning.

"You have good hands," he said. "Hard-working ones. The woman I was going to marry had hands like that."

He had said it out loud without meaning to.

I knew exactly whose hands he was thinking of, and he did not.

Under the table, Lavinia's gloved fingers stopped moving on her napkin.

"Gareth," she said, brightly. "You'll embarrass the girl. She's just a maid."

"I'm sorry. It's a trick of the light." He rubbed his eyes. "You remind me of someone."

"Everyone does at this hour," Lavinia said. "Nesta, take the plates, dear."

I took the plates.

When I reached the swinging door, a hand pushed it open from the other side.

The housekeeper stood there with a tray.

She looked past me at the table and at Gareth, and her gloved hands were holding that tray so hard the cups rattled.

Then she looked at me.

She took one hand off the tray and touched my arm, once, and put it back.

It was quick and light, and I did not understand it, and she was gone down the hall before I could say anything.

Gareth left at ten.

At the door he stopped by me, while Lavinia looked for his coat.

"Here," he said, and pushed a card into my apron pocket. "If Mrs. Mercer ever fails you, or if you only want to talk about the laundry. I think I know your face from somewhere."

"Yes, sir."

"I'm sure I don't."

Lavinia came back with his coat and kissed his cheek.

She smiled at me over his shoulder.

It was a perfectly kind smile, and she held it a moment too long.

I was in the pantry, drying glasses, when the bells began.

They rang from the east hall, one after another, the little brass servant bells that nobody had touched all week.

Rhys came through the kitchen at a run.

"What happened?" I asked.

"The memorial room." He did not stop. "Come on."

The east hall was full of staff in nightclothes.

Lavinia stood in the open glass door of the little room with the coat, one hand pressed flat to her chest.

The case was open.

The velvet cushion where the Founders' Medal always lay was empty.

"Every one of you," Lavinia said, and her voice shook with grief, "has served this house for years. Every one except the new girl. Where is Nesta?"

Everyone turned.

I was standing in the doorway with a dish towel in my hand.

← Chapter 2 · All chapters · Chapter 4 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend