The closer they came to London the more excited Lucy was, and the more tense Zoë became. Would her sisters be pleased with how she had turned out? Had she done well enough in her lady lessons?
And the big question was where and with whom would she live?
Both her sisters had invited her to live with them, but they were both married now, and would their noble husbands want a bastard half sister living with them? Cramping their style? She would hate to cause difficulties for either of her sisters. And though she’d lived in Lady Scattergood’s house before, the old lady was no relative of hers—she was her half-brother-in-law’s great-aunt, or something, and she’d originally stayed there as a guest, invited by Clarissa.
“There it is, London at last.”
Their carriage had crested a hill, and there was the dome of St. Paul’s just visible on the horizon rising above the tall buildings, along with several church spires wreathed in a faint veil of yellow-gray mist. In minutes they were in the city, the carriage slowed by carts and hawkers, horses, dogs and people of all kinds cluttering the streets.
Zoë, leaning out the window, breathed in—and there it was, London, the smell she didn’t realize she knew so well, the smell of home. Not a pretty smell, but home, all the same.
The home of her childhood, not where she was going to live now, wherever that would be.
Finally the carriage pulled up outside Lord and Lady Tarrant’s house in Bellaire Gardens. Lady Tarrant was Lucy’s godmother and Gerald’s aunt, and their plan was tostay with her and her husband. Gerald would have to return to France, but Lucy intended to remain with Lady Tarrant until her baby was born. She was the closest that Lucy had to a mother, and she, her husband and his three little daughters had become Lucy’s only family.
But although Zoë knew and liked the various members of the Tarrant family—they lived across the garden from Lady Scattergood—she wasn’t part of their family.
The front door was flung open before the groom had even let the carriage steps down, and three little girls hurtled from the house to greet them, followed in a more stately fashion by the butler and several footmen. Alice, Lady Tarrant, the girls’ stepmother, waited in the doorway, beaming with pleasure.
She was increasing again, Zoë saw.
Gerald helped Lucy and Zoë to alight, then, since they were surrounded by the excited little girls, he ran up the stairs and kissed his aunt. It was a joyous, noisy and chaotic welcome, and Zoë couldn’t help but laugh and feel touched as she was drawn warmly into the group.
“Come inside, out of the cold,” Alice said, laughing. “Girls, let Lucy and Zoë catch their breath. You can ask them everything after they’ve gone upstairs to freshen themselves and have come down for tea.”
Was she to stay here, then? Zoë wondered, following Alice and Lucy upstairs. But when she came downstairs a few minutes later, there, waiting at the foot of the stairs were her two half sisters, Clarissa and Izzy. They hurried forward and embraced her warmly.
“Lady Tarrant sent a footman over with the news the moment you arrived,” Clarissa explained, hugging Zoë for the third time. “Oh, I’m so excited. And look at you, all grown up and so elegant and lovely. My little sister.”
“And mine,” Izzy said, hugging Zoë again. “Welcome home, Zoë darling. We’ve missed you.”
The exuberant affection of their welcome deprived Zoëof words: she was deeply moved. Any doubts she might have had about her welcome vanished in an instant.
“Oh, I’m so, so happy you’re finally with us again.” Clarissa wiped tears away. “Don’t mind my tears, Zoë dear, I’m increasing. Apparently it turns people into watering pots, even when they’re happy.”
“You’re increasing, Clarissa?” Zoë exclaimed in delight. She knew from Clarissa’s letters that she had been hoping to conceive, and it seemed she’d finally succeeded. “Congratulations. When is the baby due?”
“Oh, sometime early next year,” Clarissa said vaguely.
Izzy said, “You’ll have to come over and see my beautiful babies later.” In the last three years Izzy had given birth to a boy and a girl.
Gerald appeared. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said after greeting Izzy and Clarissa, “but where shall I have Zoë’s luggage taken? I have to warn you, there’s mounds of it. My wife went mad, shopping in Paris for Zoë’s come-out.”
“How exciting! I’m so glad she did.” Clarissa clapped her hands in delight. “I’m looking forward to Zoë making a real splash when she comes out in society. I can’t wait to see all her lovely French clothes.”
A real splash?Zoë didn’t want anything of the sort.
“Yes, I want to be there for the unpacking, too,” Izzy said. “And who is that?”
Zoë followed her glance and saw Marie hovering uncertainly in the background. She’d been traveling in the second carriage with the baggage. “Oh, poor Marie. She’s my maid,” she told her sisters, “but she doesn’t speak any English yet.” In French she explained to Marie that these were her relatives and that she didn’t yet know where they were to live. She turned back to her sisters. “Where will I be living?”
Izzy and Clarissa exchanged glances. “It hasn’t been decided yet,” Clarissa confessed, and Zoë’s heart sank a little. She didn’t want to cause any problems.
“Now, don’t look like that, silly,” Izzy said briskly. “We both want you, of course.”
“But so does Lady Scattergood,” Clarissa said. “In fact, she insisted we bring you straight over to her the minute—”
“Theveryminute!” Izzy said with a wry grin.
