The Infamous Bride (34 page)

Juliet followed him into the parlor, where Annabel was tending to Susannah, who appeared deeply asleep now.

He said, puzzled. "Did you give her a sleeping draft?"

"Yes. She is overwrought." She looked up at him. "Shall I give one to your wife, too?"

"Thank you, but I don't need one." Juliet did not want to sleep. She wanted to see the truth clear all the doubts in R.J.'s eyes.

"Of course you do." Annabel said softly, soothingly. "You are going to go to sleep, nothing more, Juliet." She glanced more pointedly at R.J. "I told you that you should not have married her. I hope you will let me handle matters now. We can return our family to as it was. No harm done."

Juliet tried to stand up and then was caught in horror as she could not. "Have you poisoned me?"

"It is a gentle poison, like the one that took Drusilla from us, never fear. You will feel no pain. "The woman's face twisted, and her voice grew ugly for a moment. "You deserve worse, but you are fortunate to escape your true desserts, my dear."

Juliet met R.J.'s eyes. Was he horrified, or relieved? Her world went black before she could decide.

* * * * *

R.J. saw her slip into unconsciousness and wasted no time scooping her up in his arms. There was only one place he could think to take her, and he remembered nothing of how he got there until he stood in Phineas's office, Juliet in his arms.

"Annabel has run mad. She has poisoned Juliet."

Phineas led him to the surgery and quickly forced a thick brown syrup down her throat. He gently cradled Juliet's face with his hands, too much like a lover for R.J.'s liking. "Juliet. Juliet? Can you hear me?" He lightly slapped her face. "Juliet?"

As if R.J. was not in the room, the doctor took Juliet from his arms and held her against his chest. His eyes were stricken. "Why would Annabel have done such a thing?"

R.J. took Juliet back from the man with a hard glare. "She has had the news of your wife's death. The news of your betrayal. And Juliet's." He glanced down at Juliet, who lay pale and barely breathing.

"I hope you are not such a fool that you would believe that of your wife."

R.J. did not answer. He did not want to believe it. But that meant little.

"Fool." Phineas wiped his hands on a towel and shook his head. "When she begins to retch, hold her so that she does not breathe in any of her aspiration," he ordered. "I must send for the police."

"No." R.J. did not look at him. He could not. "My father will not want the scandal. We will see that Annabel harms no one ever again."

Phineas drew a deep breath to argue, but Juliet began to retch. "Take care of her." He rushed out of the room, leaving R.J. to hold her while she expelled the poison from her body.

Juliet felt well enough to rise and dress herself two days after Annabel's attempt on her life. But she moved slowly, numbly, as she washed her face and prepared herself for the day.

A knock at her door made her jump. "Yes?"

Phineas Abernathy entered, with a tray of toast and tea. He frowned to see her up and dressed. "You must not strain yourself. Your body has had quite a shock."

"Has R.J. come for me yet." She did not want to exchange pleasantries. She just wanted to go home. To rest in her husband's arms. To hear that he believed none of Annabel's lies.

"No." He set the tray down. "He will come soon. He must ensure that Annabel will not harm you again. They have arranged for her to be sent away. To a place that treats women like her."

"Women who have lost their minds? How can they bear the scandal? I suppose they will say she is visiting a friend." She could not help the bitterness or scorn in her tone. It had been two days, and he had not come to her. He had left her with Phineas. He must have believed Annabel's lies. What would he do?

"He loves you, Juliet. I am certain of it."

She looked at him sharply. "I know he loves me. I just don't know if he loves me enough to bear the scandal out, to face it down. And even if he does, what shall I do here now? I was not accepted before. I will never be accepted now."

"In time —"

"I am not a patient woman, Phineas. That is why I find myself married to a man who may even now be regretting he ever set eyes on me." She smiled at him sadly. "That is why I must go to him. Now. So that I know what my future holds."

"I had not wanted to tell you this so soon, but I share your feelings. I am not so strong as you to face the judgment here, though."

"You will leave the orphanage? The children?"

He smiled. "I will leave the orphanage. Let someone else mind the leaks and creaking stairs as I will not miss them. But the children will come with me."

"All of them? Come with you to where?"

"West. I have used Drusilla's money for the good. I will accept a position as doctor in a small western town known as San Francisco. I will set up a new household for them there. But I will not call it an orphanage. I will call it a home. A permanent home, with me as their father."

Juliet wanted to cry, both in joy and sorrow. "I will miss you. But the gift you make of Annabel's fortune makes me feel selfish to say so." She hesitated, but then asked in a rush, "And Susannah? What does she think of your plan?"

He shook his head. "I have not told her. I hope that you do not. I did not mean to lead her into heartbreak by allowing her to believe she could become a doctor. I fear I am not a friend to her now that R.J. and her father know of her plans."

"They are an unforgiving pair, are they not? But surely Susannah's heart is not hardened against you?"

His eyes flashed hard and bitter for a moment. "Then that is a pity, and I hope she learns to damn me with her morning tea."

Juliet thought of R.J., who might very well be damning her with his morning tea. "I will hope she does not. But I cannot feel too hopeful about the promise of any Hopkins forgiving anyone, since I do not know how my husband will greet me when I return."

"I shall call the carriage for you, then, and send you home." He paused. "Would you like me to accompany you? To speak with R.J.?"

"No, thank you. I must not trouble you any further than I have. I will go alone." To R.J.'s home, Annabel's home. Not hers.

* * * * *

Before the carriage door was fully open, R.J.'s father appeared to block her exit. He did not seem happy. "You are not welcome here."

"It was not I who caused this tragedy, it was Annabel — "

"I have handled Annabel. She will harm no one again. But that will not erase the rumors of your betrayal of your husband."

"It is not true." She looked past him, wondering if R.J. waited for her. If he planned to dismiss her, or forgive her?

His father, however, would not be deterred. He put out a hand to hold her there. "No matter whether it is true or not. It will be believed. I will not have you in my house a moment longer. I warned R.J. I will not have scandal in my household."

"What do you mean, you warned him?" Juliet stilled, looking into his eyes, so like R.J.'s and yet so different.

"I made it clear to him that he was responsible for your behavior and if he did not keep you from creating yet another scandal, I would no longer know him."

No longer know him
. How could a father say such a dreadful thing? But she should not be surprised at those words coming from a man who would lock his mad wife up rather than risk a hint of scandal were her true crimes to come to light.

She felt incredibly tired, as if some of the poison still lingered in her system. "He did not tell me." She frowned at the tiresome man, feeling a fierce anger well up at the way he had set an impossible standard for his son to meet. And for her. "No doubt he wanted me to come to like you. I never would respect you if I'd known you'd said something so horrible to your only son."

"I beg your pardon?" He drew himself up to his full height. But she no longer found him intimidating.

"Have you sent him away then? Where has he gone?" She would find him. He would forgive her. She would find a way.

The old man blustered under her glare, but then ground out. "I have not. He has not told me his mind on the matter of you. He refuses to discuss it, but only goes about business as normal. As if the business is the only thing that matters when Annabel has run mad and Susannah wishes to dress like a man and go to medical school."

Like father, like son. Juliet thought of R.J. and his terrible choice. Choose the wife who may have betrayed him, or the family and business he had worked his entire life to earn. She could not let him do it. She had taken the choice out of his hands that first night, but today she would give it back to him. "You are a bitter old man. A fool who does not recognize the value of your son. You do know the tale of Romeo and Juliet, do you not?"

"Don't say that name."

"Why not? It is his name. It is a beautiful name. His mother, who loved him, gave him that name."

"Foolishness."

She countered. "No. Foolishness is not forgiving your son for one mistake."

He scoffed, "One mistake?"

"Yes. Me. He tried to stop us from losing our heads that night. But I wouldn't let him. I've never let him." She grabbed his hands. "Please don't turn away from him."

"I gave him my word — "

"Forgive him."

"Forgive — " He looked as though forgiveness were a sin, not a virtue.

"Don't make the same mistake that Capulet and Montague made. The same mistake Annabel made."

"What mistake was that?"

"If she had not felt the need to protect Susannah when she didn't want to be protected, none of this would ever have happened."

"Perhaps you don't understand the scandal you have caused."

"I do." She closed her eyes against the tears that came, making it hard for her to speak. "It is all my fault. Place the blame on my head, where it belongs. No one in Boston will argue with you. Except perhaps Dr. Abernathy, who knows the gossip is not true."

"Abernathy — " He growled in anger.

She held her hand up to stop his words. "No. He has already paid a terrible price. Soon he will leave Boston behind. Don't blame anyone but me."

"How shall that erase the scandal?"

"It will not. But the rumors will have nothing to hang upon if I go back to England, and you never hear my name again. Do not punish R.J. He is the best person to run your business. You cannot disinherit him because of me. He does not to be treated so poorly."

"That means divorce, I suppose." He sighed. "Another scandal." But his tone had moderated. He was considering her offer.

"Not too much scandal, not when he is your heir and such a powerful businessman."

"You have a head on your shoulders, girl. Too bad you couldn't keep yourself out of scandal."

Juliet nodded, her heart breaking but her mind quite firmly set. "R.J. is not to be disinherited or I will come back to Boston and create a scandal such as you have never seen."

"What nerve!" He stood staring at her, spluttering as the carriage pulled away.

But he would keep his word. She could see it in his eyes. The very same color as R.J.'s eyes.

What had she done?

* * * * *

Juliet was not at the orphanage when he went to collect her. The doctor was. His friend, once. A friend who had surely betrayed him, with his sister, if not his wife.

"Phineas." He nodded. "I have come for Juliet."

Phineas Abernathy greeted him warily. "She's left."

"Left? To go where?" Panic flared in him. Had she found a way to go home? To the duke and duchess?

"Back to you, of course." Phineas looked at him sharply. "Don't be a fool R.J. Annabel lied. Juliet has never betrayed you. Not with me. Not with anyone."

R.J. barely heard what he said.
Back to him
. He should have known she would. He had left it too long and she'd had to take matters into her own hands. His stomach clenched as he thought of her arriving to an empty home, looking for him. He straightened. No. The home would not be empty. His father had been so overset by Annabel's madness that he had not been at home since he had sent Annabel off with the nurses, muttering and crying that she would see everything right, if only he would give her back her little bottle of poison.

"Thank you, Phineas." He strode off without a backward glance. R.J. did not believe she had been having an affair.

It had been a shock to see her in Abernathy's arms. If not for the note he would never have thought — But the embrace had not been lover like.

Halfway home he had realized that she had simply, as usual, offered her brand of kindness to a man in the throes of grief.

No. She had not been having an affair. But she had still become the focus of a scandal that would never go away. He should care about what that scandal would mean for them, but all he could think of was how pale and still she had been, how fragile as he held her while she rid herself of the poison. He had nearly lost her. And yet he had spent the time of her recovery working and trying to think how he would tell his father that he was leaving. He'd tied up all his affairs, cancelled all his meetings.

He hurried into the cab and rapped sharply to indicate the cabbie should hurry. But what good would all his preparations do, when Juliet did not know what he had done.

He glanced out the window of his cab and saw her climb back into her own cab. He was not close enough to stop her as her cab rattled back into traffic and away from him.

His father stood on the stoop, with a disgruntled expression on his face.

"Where has she gone?"

Jonathan Hopkins waved his hand dismissively. "Home."

"This is her home."

"Not anymore." His father sounded almost approving as he spoke the devastating words. "She's the one caused the scandal; she's willing to pay the price alone."

R.J. looked at his father in astonishment. "Did you think I would allow such a thing?"

"Can't have scandal stirring things up."

Annabel had murdered to protect Susannah from scandal. His father did not blink an eye. Juliet was the target of vicious gossips for something untrue ... ''I'm going after her."