Mr. Breese lifted his paper and glanced over it. “Are you going to keep us in suspense, my dear?”
“I shall read it when I am ready … I am ready now.”
“I am glad to hear it, my dear.”
“Which do you wish to know first, who it is from or where it is from?”
“I suppose you will tell us both, whether I want to know or not.”
“It comes from Twin Oaks. A country picnic and dance is to be held this Saturday in celebration of Captain and Mrs. Rhendon’s son’s homecoming.” She wiggled and her mobcap went awry. The girls were bursting with smiles and exclamations.
“How thrilling.” Mr. Breese yawned.
“It says here that Daniel Rhendon has returned from a long stay in England and wishes to celebrate. I imagine everyone has been invited. Meaning those of good social standing like us.”
“Why do you suppose that, Mother?” Rachel winked at her sisters, her blonde curls, amid a wide blue ribbon, toppling over her slim shoulders.
“Because, my dear, we are people of quality, and it is only proper the Rhendons would invite us.”
Darcy wondered, Why now? “They never have before, not in all the years we have lived here.”
“That is true. Perhaps an acquaintance mentioned us.”
Mr. Breese blew out a breath. “It would displease your dear departed mother to know you approve of the Rhendons, my sweet.”
Mrs. Breese arched her brows. “How so, my dear?”
“Have you forgotten, she was a loyalist during the Revolution?” Darcy’s cousins turned their heads in unison and looked at him with wide-eyed interest. “Their neighbors convinced your papa to join the militia at a ripe old age. Remember?”
Mrs. Breese shrugged. “I do. And Mama said rebellion was an evil thing. She grieved that Papa thought differently and took up arms against the King. I recall her wails that he’d be hung by the neck along with the rest of the traitors—which meant the Patriots.”
This sparked Darcy’s interest. Her aunt shared so little about her family. “Did their difference of opinion cause them to love each other less, Aunt?”
Mari Breese shook her head. “Not one whit. Mama swore she would not abandon Papa for his misguided politics, and she never did. His stint in the militia did not last long. He was too old to cope.”
It pleased Darcy to hear that love had won out over all odds. If only it had been that way for her parents. She knew something dark had happened between them, with the little she could remember, but she had never dared to force the information from her aunt and uncle. They never offered to reveal anything. And so, she left well enough alone.
Darcy shut her eyes and forced back one memory—that of her mother lying still and pale. She could not see Eliza’s face, only a flow of dark hair. She remembered the firm touch of her father’s hands, the sound of his voice, and the words—You’ve heard of Hell, haven’t you? Well, that’s where your mama will be.
She had vague memories of her father, some that were nightmarish that she kept to herself, others of a loving parent who pampered her. Her heart ached recalling him and her mother, whose faces were a blur in her mind.
“This gives me pause to think of your own parents, Darcy,” her aunt said. “Such negligence by your father to have left for the West the way he did, leaving you with us without a forwarding address of any kind. But I should not have been surprised.”
“I do not remember him well enough to know, Aunt. And I doubt there are forwarding addresses into the Western territories.”
“I would say it was more that he did not wish the responsibility of raising a girl,” said her aunt.
You see, if you are a bad person and sin—that is where you will go. That is where your mother is going … forever.
Those words came back again, causing her heart to sink. She gazed at the evening light pouring through the window and wished it could erase them from her memory.
Night was falling and the crickets in the garden were chirping. Aunt Mari stood and pushed the window wider to allow the breeze to pass into the room. Then she sat back down and looked over at Darcy. “Oh, it has troubled you for me to mention them. Would it help if I told you that your papa loved your mother? That much I can say with certainty, Darcy.”
Darcy raised her eyes to meet her aunt’s. “Do not worry