The Chase: A Novel (21 page)

Lionel dug into the pail.

“What are you feeding them?” Rachel asked warily.

Lionel opened his fist. In it lay a beautiful goldfish. It was alive.

“Can I? Can I?” Hannah asked excitedly.

Warning bells went off in Rachel’s mind. “That fish is alive. And it’s a goldfish. Surely you don’t feed these swans goldfish!” she cried.

The fish began to flop in Lionel’s palm, gasping for air. “Here,” he said, ignoring her, handing it to Hannah. “This swan will eat anything, even your fingers, so throw it toward him carefully. He’s very fast. He won’t miss the fish.”

Hannah was giggling, and before Rachel could react, she threw the tiny red and gold fish at the swan, which dove into the water for it. A moment later the big bird came up, the fish between its beak. It snapped the fish in two, then dove back into the water for the latter half of the fish.

Rachel looked at Lionel in shock. His eyes seemed to be laughing at her and Hannah both. She felt ill. Somehow she broke free of his gaze, and she grabbed the pail. Inside it was an assortment of beautiful, exotic, dying fish. “You took these out of an aquarium,” she cried.

He shrugged. “So? Lady Ellen will buy more.”

“They’re your mother’s fish?” Rachel gasped.

Lionel took the pail from her, reaching in. Rachel watched him take out a beautiful pale blue fish with yellow and orange fins. He tossed it to the waiting swan. “She’s not my mother,” he said calmly. “She’s my stepmother.”

Rachel jerked the pail from his hands and scooped it into the lake, filling it with water and trying not to lose any of the fish. She was relieved when she saw the colorful fish start to swim about in the pail. Slowly, she looked up.

Hannah had realized what was happening, and she was now grave. Lionel had his hands in his pockets, and he was watching her carefully.

“Here.” Rachel extended the pail toward him. “You can put these back where they belong.”

Lionel stared. “You do it,” he said. And he turned and walked away.

CHAPTER 8

“Look at this dress! How can I wear it?” Sarah wailed dramatically.

Rachel was in Sarah’s room. Like Papa’s, it had views of the river and the old castle poised on the opposite bank. The view was stunning: a sweep of green hills and the river winding through. But Rachel didn’t know where to look first, since Sarah’s room was one of the most beautiful she had ever seen. The walls were painted a dark yellow, and all of the furniture was upholstered in yellows, blues, and greens. The four-poster bed was canopied, and there was a huge fireplace on one wall. The curtains were a dark green brocade that pooled on the floor. It was a room fit for a princess, not Sarah Greene.

Rachel’s room was next door. It, too, was beautiful, all pale pink and mint green. The fact that the three sisters would all have separate rooms was also amazing.

Rachel turned away from the window to study her sister, who looked ready to cry. She was holding up a pale blue dress that was practically new. “That is a very nice dress,” Rachel remarked calmly.

“It is not an evening gown, and I hate it,” Sarah snapped. “How could Papa bring us here if we do not have the proper clothing?”

Rachel folded her arms. “That’s quite enough, Sarah Greene. Don’t you dare berate Papa now. You know how sad he is and how much he still misses Mama.”

Sarah gave her a look and threw her dress onto the four-poster bed. The underside of the canopy was pleated in gold silk, while the rest of it was pale blue. “They will think we’re farmers,” Sarah said.

“No, they will think we’re honest, hardworking, middle-class folk,” Rachel returned. But now she was thinking about her conversation with Lionel. What they would really think is that they were Jews.

“Well, I suppose I have no choice if I wish to have supper with everyone,” Sarah sighed. “At least the maid pressed the dress.”

Rachel walked over to her as Sarah fingered the blue silk dress. “You will be beautiful in that dress, with Mama’s pearls.”

Sarah looked up. “Do you think so?”

“Yes, I do.” Rachel smiled. Then, with worry, “Why did you and Harry go so far ahead of us? What were the two of you doing?”

Sarah began to smile. It was a somewhat smug and secretive smile. “We were just walking. And talking. He was telling me about his life. He is so interesting!”

Rachel folded her arms. “And handsome?”

“Did you notice?” Sarah gushed, her eyes shining.

“Sarah, he is not for you!” Rachel was now very alarmed. Her sister had stars in her eyes.

“Why not? Because we’re poor and they’re rich? Mama married Papa.”

“And look at what it cost her. It cost her all of her family, Sarah. She had to give up her parents and her brother in order to marry Papa. And you know it!”

“But she loved Papa, and she was happy. You know that.”

Rachel did know that Mama had loved Papa. But their arguments over the Elgins echoed in her mind—there had been too many of those arguments, just as there had been too many tears. And what about all the times that Mama, Rachel, and Sarah had been doing the dishes after dinner? Or cleaning the house? And what about Sunday, which was wash day? So often Mama had been so tired, and maybe so sad.

But she had never complained. Now, seeing how her mother had once lived, Rachel couldn’t imagine how she couldn’t have had some nostalgia for the life she had left behind. But if there had been regret, Rachel had never noticed it. “Yes, she loved Papa very much,” Rachel said quietly.

“Harry thinks I am beautiful. I can tell by the way he keeps staring at me when he thinks I am not looking.” Sarah gave her back to Rachel, who began to unbutton her dress.

“And what about Saul?” Rachel asked, referring to Sarah’s new beau.

Sarah stepped out of her dress. “Truthfully, I have not given him a single thought since we arrived in that little village today.”

“But you’re in love with him,” Rachel said, hoping it was true. Now Saul didn’t seem like such a bad choice, and in any case, he was safer, because he was Jewish and at least he and Sarah came from the same world.

“Not anymore,” Sarah said after a pause. She sat down and undid her garters while rolling down her hose. “Aren’t you going to get dressed?”

“Sarah.” Rachel ignored the question, kneeling before her. “Harry will one day be a baron. He is an aristocrat and a gentile. He will never be serious about you. No good can come of this flirtation.”

Sarah flushed. “Mama married Papa.”

Rachel stood, incredulous. “Is that what you are thinking? To marry Harry? So he can be disowned? So you can both be disowned? Papa will disown you, too!”

“I hadn’t even thought about it,” Sarah said fervently. “But maybe we will fall in love, and if that is the case, then so be it!”

“No,” Rachel said, shaking her head. “Sarah, there are hundreds of boys to choose from. Please don’t choose this one.”

“It’s too late.” Sarah looked her in the eye. “He kissed me, Rachel. And it was my first real kiss. Not a silly little peck on the lips. It was deep and dark and wild.” Her eyes changed. The light in them was one Rachel had never seen before.

She stared in horror at her sister, whom she no longer recognized. Before her very eyes, Sarah had changed. Finally, she had become a fully grown woman. The girl on the verge of womanhood was gone forever.

“He didn’t kiss you,” Rachel said, thinking of what Lionel had said. “You kissed him.”

Sarah smiled at her and shrugged.

Rachel followed Sarah and Hannah down the winding spiral staircase. Papa was waiting for them in the hall below, and he was so handsome in his black suit that Rachel smiled. His eyes brightened as he gazed at his daughters, his pride evident. “How lovely you all are,” he said in a hushed and reverent tone.

Rachel glanced at Sarah, who was breathtaking and so very much like Mama, and at Hannah, who was so pretty that she looked angelic. Her heart swelled, and she wished Mama was there.

Elgin strode into the hall in a white dinner jacket. His trousers had satin seams. He wore a blood-red signet ring on one hand, and he looked every inch the wealthy and blue-blooded aristocrat. His wife trailed behind him, wearing even more jewels than she had earlier in the day. Her dress was an amazing combination of gold lace and gold silk. It was also scandalously low-cut and full-length. Her hair was upswept, and her lipstick was red, but she still looked impossibly young. Rachel was beginning to wonder if she was even twenty. Sarah now appeared the elder and more sophisticated of the two.

Rachel realized her anxiety was soaring. Her family was shabbily dressed in comparison to the Elgins. She could not even imagine what Lady Ellen’s dress had cost.

“And how was your afternoon?” Ellen asked, smiling brightly.

“We fed the swans,” Hannah chirped before Rachel could reply.

Rachel felt her smile vanish and her heart lurch. Images she wished to forget assailed her. She took Hannah’s hand and squeezed it warningly. Then she smiled at her hostess. “Your swans are lovely. Your home is lovely. And the gardens! It was a wonderful afternoon.” She refused to think about the mocking look in Lionel’s eyes that afternoon.

Ellen smiled happily. “My family used to summer here. I am so glad to be back.”

At that moment, Harry walked into the hall. He took one look at Sarah and he flushed. Sarah sent him an enticing smile.

Their soaring interest and attraction to each other were only too plain. And Rachel was not the only one to notice; Papa saw, and his expression turned incredulous. Ellen noticed as well, and her eyebrows shot up. But mostly, Elgin saw. Their host stared wide-eyed, and then the dark flush of anger crept over his refined features.

Sarah must have sensed his dismay, because she smiled brightly at him. “I do so love your home, my lord,” she said softly to her uncle. “I cannot thank you enough for having us. Coming to the country is no small thing for my family. Truly, the air is so much fresher here!”

Elgin started. Then, gruffly, “It was what Helen wanted.”

Sarah appeared bewildered. “Helen?”

Rachel coughed and whispered, “That was Mama’s name before she converted.”

Sarah blinked at Rachel. “I never knew.”

“You look just like her,” Elgin said abruptly.

Everyone had always compared Mama and Sarah. They had the same hazel eyes, the same oval face, and even close to the same hair, with Sarah’s being just a shade or two darker blond, with more curls. “I beg your pardon?” Sarah said.

“I cannot get over it,” he said grimly. “You are Helen’s exact image. The dark blond hair, the eyes, even your features are the same. Helen spoke the way you do, too. She was always happy and far too forthright. It is like being thrust back in time, or like looking at a ghost.”

For one moment, no one spoke. Lady Ellen seemed genuinely surprised by her husband’s remarks. Even Harry looked a bit taken aback. Perhaps, Rachel thought, Elgin rarely expressed his feelings.

Ellen smiled then, her expression remaining bewildered, and she tucked her arm in her husband’s. “I do wish I had known my sister-in-law,” she said gamely. “I have heard so many wonderful things about her.”

At this moment Lionel entered the hall, also clad in a white dinner jacket. He was actually more handsome than Harry, but Harry’s sunny nature far outweighed his younger brother’s good looks. “Really?” Lionel murmured, his lashes sweeping down over his gray eyes. “And to think I thought we never dared to utter her name, much less speak about her.”

Rachel gaped, appalled, but then realized she had been the only one to hear his aside, as he had come to stand directly beside her. He shot her an odd smile, and all she could think was how he had fed the swan those two beautiful fish.

But Elgin had heard and he turned red. “It is too late now for regrets,” he said flatly. “Shall we?” And he gestured toward the dining room.

Both oversize mahogany doors were wide open, and through them, one could see a vast table set with crystal, silver, and china, and a huge chandelier above. “Are we really going to eat in there?” Hannah asked in breathless wonder.

“Yes, we are,” Papa said gently but grimly.

Rachel moved closer to him. She sensed he needed her loyalty now. He was still, clearly, unhappy and hardly impressed with the wealth of Mama’s family.

Elgin spoke. “Lionel, you may escort your cousin Rachel in. Harry, you may do the same for Hannah. Sarah?” He held out his arm.

Rachel was not quite sure what to do, and she saw that Sarah was also uncertain. But then she saw Papa take Lady Ellen’s arm, tucking it against his side as if he were a real gentleman and leading the way to the dining room. Relieved, Rachel watched Sarah smile at their uncle and tuck her arm in his. She made a comment, and although Rachel couldn’t quite hear, Elgin did smile. Then she realized that Lionel was offering her his arm.

Rachel shivered, thinking about the poor fish. Reluctantly, she looped her elbow in his.

“I don’t bite,” he said calmly, walking with her across the hall. “Only mad dogs—and swans—do that.”

Rachel shot him a glance. “I prefer not to think about the swans just now, thank you.”

Lionel smiled. “Perhaps you should take a lesson or two from your sister Sarah. I doubt feeding the swans with Lady Ellen’s fish would so bother her.”

He was right, but Rachel was prepared to deny it. “Of course she would be bothered by an act that is wrong.”

“And what was so wrong with feeding the swans?” There was laughter in his eyes, but it was too sardonic to be pleasant.

Rachel pulled her arm free. “You stole the fish,” she said in a very low voice so no one might overhear. “They did not belong to you.”

He smiled with real mirth. “They will not be missed,” he said with an indifferent shrug.

Rachel paused by the long table, no longer paying attention to her cousin. She noticed that a small, fancy name card was in front of each place setting. Lionel was pulling out a chair. Clearly it was for her. She checked the name on the card, which was scripted in gold, and took her seat. Her host was on her left and Lionel was on her right. Sarah and Harry were seated together, across from them, with Papa next to Harry and Hannah on the other side of Lionel. Lady Ellen graced the foot of the long table.