Today is another snippet from my upcoming novella: Hidden Love. My harassed heroine is forced to take tea at the Hall, during which, one of the visiting men from the local “bachelor pad” reveals that he served with her brother.
“I was under the impression that Harold Gibbins was wealthy and didn’t need to go back to sea. Isn’t there a family heirloom that would make his fortune?”
“I served with your brother. It’s why I asked your aunt if I could come.” A cold flush ran from the crown of her head down her body like ice water on her skin, tumbling down to pool in her lap and then drip down her knees. Harold had been gone for years. His loss was one of many, though the hardest and most painful. Her adored, venturesome brother. Having worked to forget him, she had revived his memory that afternoon when speaking to Mr. Brown. “Wh…what ship?” she managed to ask. “The Comet.” Another shiver shuffled through her body. “You were captured by the French then.” She felt, rather than noticed, the others craning their heads to listen. “We were both freed in Portsmouth in September of ‘03.’“ Her voice came out unsteadily. “That’s the last time I saw him. He came to visit, just a handful of days. I’ll treasure those hours.” Sarina shook herself not to get lost in memories. That was before life took such a demanding turn. She pinched her leg to refocus; she sat in the Baylis’s drawing room, and it wouldn’t do to discuss the past, one Aunt Hypatia had forbidden. A glance to her right revealed her aunt’s silent watchfulness but angry breathing. She needed to change the subject. “And you sold out? Are you ….” Leonard Shalbrook ignored the question. “Your brother and I had weeks in Portsmouth, more like a month before we had new orders. He only visited you for … hours? Wasn’t that how you put it?” She couldn’t be rude and ignore the question; however, Sarina sensed her aunt’s irritation with their monopolizing the conversation. “Harold stayed with us for three days.” “Who’s us?” Leonard’s gaze made her feel unsafe. “My aunt Meg, Aunt Cullen. She raised Harold and I after my mother passed away.” “Was he as bored as I? Waiting to get back to sea?” She frowned at the question. It seemed misplaced. “He was excited during the visit.” She permitted herself to recall her brother and let memory blossom. “And happy. I can’t say that he wanted to sail again; but it was the only thing he knew. My father ….” Aunt Hypatia had endured enough of these two’s dominance. Her aunt’s hand pressed against her leg, and Sarina snapped her teeth closed and left off discussing her father’s youthful death. “I am surprised,” Leonard had all eyes on him. “I was under the impression that Harold Gibbins was wealthy and didn’t need to go back to sea. Isn’t there a family heirloom that would make his fortune? He spoke about it on those long nights on watch. I was surprised when he returned to sail again in ‘03.’“ Sarina didn’t dare speak. Instead, she took in the other’s reactions. Her cousins stared down at their hands. Her uncle and aunt exchanged glances. The family secret was not a secret. Sarina dared to look at her aunt. Hypatia bristled with nervous energy at a stranger daring to provoke a discussion about a forbidden topic. In icy tones, Mrs. Baylis said, “There was an heirloom necklace from an ancestor. However, it was broken up and most of it has been sold. I’m not certain it’s worth much.” “Oh!” Leonard Shalbrook seemed to pull back, not so much in surprise as in exhaustion, and he slumped in his seat. “I suppose that Harold’s last words to me about the subject won’t be of any interest to the family then.”
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