A Darker Shore: A Lady Evelyn Mystery (The Lady Evelyn Mysteries Book 2) by Malia Zaidi

Author:Malia Zaidi [Zaidi, Malia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: -
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2016-12-21T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 33

On our way back to the hotel, I am tired as though I had been running circles round town instead of spending much of the day seated in relative comfort. Adela’s revelations have disturbed me as much as they have drawn me closer to the woman, whom I would otherwise uncharitably have perceived a caricature of the American socialite. She has still not told me how she came to be in America, and I have not asked.

We walk in companionable silence, each adrift in our own thoughts. I worry that I have not conveyed enough sympathy or made Adela feel even worse. To think of her situation in those days, not much more than a child and expecting one with a man she was pushed into marrying. I am under no illusions that she is neither the first nor the last to whom this has happened. Even the violence, when it came, was probably not unusual enough to gain her parents’ support. I have observed even in my own circles women with bruised wrists, heavily powdered marks beside their eyes; no one says anything, yet we all know what is the cause. How can I place blame at Adela’s feet, when she acted to save her own life? Still, I think of Fleur, the child she abandoned to a man who was prone to violence, who may have turned his fists on his daughter, angered and resentful. Drawing up a face in my mind, I borrow her mother’s features. Soft, dark-blonde curls and lively eyes. Or has the light that shines in her mother been dampened, extinguished even? Motherless myself, I wonder who the young woman has become. It is true, my ersatz-mother, Aunt Agnes, was not as warm spirited and energetic as I remember my own parent being, still I was always safe with her. Her husband, Uncle Brandon, treated me with kindness and care and I never wanted for anything material. We always desire what we do not have, and so I yearned for my true family. In hindsight I understand that everyone around me tried their best to fill the void. Where Agnes was stern and distant but dependable as winter, Aunt Iris was the sunny contrast. Briony and her parents added their love and care and I was, on all sides, provided for. I feel this is the reason I have moved forward with some success, while Daniel, I fear, is mired in the misery of his past. He had no one after they died, or he let no one get close enough. Except Caspar, who is now gone, too. Did Fleur have such people in her life? Did she have someone to braid her hair for school, practice her letters, bake her a birthday cake? Did Adela’s parents punish the child for the daughter’s sin?

I glance at my friend. She is pale, but walks with familiar ease, and smiles as a puppy’s lead gets tangled in her legs. In profile, I notice faint lines at the corners of her eyes.

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