The Unexpected Wife - Jess Michaels Page 0,80

before that night in the parlor.

“Abigail, you are Owen’s prime suspect in the murder,” she burst out.

Abigail jerked her head up. “What?”

“He would be angry at me for telling you, but I think we must all be honest now. His focus has landed on you.”

“Oh God, I feared that might be true. There are so many reasons to suspect me. And the secrets I’ve hidden will only make me more the suspicious.”

“And that’s why we’re not going to tell him those secrets,” Celeste said, grabbing Abigail’s hands with hers and squeezing gently. “Not unless we have to do so. But to save you, we’re going to have to determine a way to prove it wasn’t you. Perhaps we’ll find the true culprit on the way to that, but the most important thing is to make Owen see that you are not the killer.”

Pippa stared at Celeste for a moment, then finally looked evenly at Abigail. “I’m angry with you,” she said softly. “But I don’t want you to be accused of something you didn’t do. I agree with Celeste that we must protect you.”

Abigail got up and slowly crossed the room to Pippa. When she reached her, she gently touched Pippa’s hand. Celeste held her breath as the two locked eyes for a moment. Pippa turned away and Abigail’s shoulders rolled forward in defeat.

Pippa walked toward Celeste, her eyes sparkling with tears. “Out with it, then. What do you have in mind, Celeste?”

Celeste nodded. If they could save Abigail, she and Pippa would have some resolution to reach for. “If this Rosie Stanton was Erasmus’s first love or first…conquest, it follows that she might have some knowledge about him. Perhaps even a reason to want him dead. I say we determine if she is in London and call on her.”

“She is in London,” Abigail said, her tone a little flatter now, a little softer. “She returned shortly before you came here, Pippa.”

Celeste cocked her head. “And how do you know that?”

“I’d saved a portion of my pin money over the years,” Abigail whispered. “And I used it to gather information. Rosie Stanton has a very small house she lets near Lambeth. It isn’t the finest neighborhood, but it isn’t Seven Dials either.”

“We’d be together,” Celeste said with a nod. “And we would look out for each other.”

“I have a…gun,” Pippa whispered. “We will take that.”

“Why do you have a gun?” Celeste gasped.

Pippa shrugged. “You never know when you need protection. I came here alone, didn’t I? I’ll fetch it and then we can make our way.”

After she had stepped from the room, Abigail let out her breath in a gasping sigh. “She will never forgive me, will she?”

Celeste crossed the room to wrap an arm around her. Abigail had always felt like such a large presence, so certain of herself and what to do. In this moment she felt small.

“Forgiveness is a tricky thing, isn’t it?” she said. “Pippa is hurt now. She can picture paths that never came to be, ways out of this situation that she is currently convinced would have existed if you had only…only…only…”

“I picture them, too,” Abigail whispered. “I have since the moment Ras died and the world spun off its axis.”

“She’s in shock right now,” Celeste continued. “But it’s obvious you had the best of intentions and that does matter.”

“Except that the outcome remains the same, no matter my intention: I hurt Pippa. I hurt you. And Ras died perhaps because of what I did and didn’t do.”

“Ras died because he was a blackguard who flew too close to the sun,” Celeste said. “You were a victim of his chicanery, not an architect. Give Pippa some time. She will forgive you.”

“And what about you?” Abigail asked softly. “Will you forgive me?”

Celeste smiled at her. “I am not like you or Pippa. I was never heartbroken by Erasmus Montgomery’s wicked ways. I never loved him.”

“But you do love Owen Gregory.”

It was a statement, not a question. Celeste bent her head. “I do love him. Very much. I have no idea of our future, but I am happy to have been able to know him and love him as I do, no matter the outcome.”

“He’ll be angry that you went behind his back to visit this woman, I think. And that you told me I am his main suspect.”

Celeste worried her lip. “Perhaps he will. And I grieve that. But just because I love him doesn’t mean I must always follow his path. I must do