Chapter 2 - The Name No One Was Supposed to SayEmily heard it.
So did Richard.
Victoria did too.
“Eleanor?”
Victoria turned sharply toward the elderly woman.
Lady Margaret Hale stood beneath the archway with one hand over her mouth.
She was seventy-six and had known the Whitmore family longer than almost anyone still alive.
Her face was white.
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“Margaret.”
Lady Margaret ignored him.
She walked toward Emily.
Her eyes filled with something that looked dangerously close to tears.
“May I see it?”
Emily stepped backward.
She was still dripping.
Still shaking.
Still trying to understand why a necklace worth perhaps fifty dollars had suddenly brought an entire courtyard to silence.
“My necklace?”
Lady Margaret nodded.
Emily slowly lifted the pendant.
The older woman reached toward it but stopped before touching.
“There should be something on the back.”
Emily turned it over.
Three tiny letters had been engraved into the silver.
E.W.W.
Lady Margaret closed her eyes.
Victoria’s patience snapped.
“Would someone please explain what this ridiculous performance is?”
Richard looked at her.
“Kneel.”
“I am not kneeling to a maid.”
Emily finally found her voice.
“Mr. Whitmore, I don’t want her to.”
Richard turned.
Emily swallowed hard but continued.
“I just want to leave.”
For one moment, Richard looked almost ashamed.
Then he faced his daughter again.
“You nearly drowned a woman in front of fifty people.”
Victoria crossed her arms.
“She broke a crystal tray.”
Emily stared at her.
“That’s why?”
Victoria looked at her as though the question itself were offensive.
“You work here because my family allows you to.”
Richard’s expression sharpened.
“No. She works here because you hired through an agency without bothering to check who she was.”
Victoria blinked.
“What does that mean?”
Richard looked again at the pendant.
“E.W.W.”
Lady Margaret spoke quietly.
“Eleanor Winifred Whitmore.”
The courtyard went silent.
Emily frowned.
Whitmore.
The same surname carved over the castle entrance.
The same surname on Victoria’s invitations.
The same surname embroidered onto the household linen.
Emily gave a nervous laugh.
“There must be some mistake.”
Lady Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
Richard’s voice was low.
“That necklace belonged to my sister.”
Emily stopped breathing.
Victoria stared at her father.
“You never had a sister.”
Richard’s eyes moved to her.
“Yes.”
The word landed heavily.
“I did.”
Victoria looked around as if she expected the guests to laugh.
No one did.
Richard continued.
“Her name was Eleanor.”
Emily tightened her grip on the pendant.
“My mother said it belonged to her mother.”
Richard turned toward her.
“What did Anna tell you about your grandmother?”
“Almost nothing.”
“Why?”
“She said the past was dangerous.”
Lady Margaret’s face twisted.
Richard looked down.
Victoria’s anger shifted into uncertainty.
“Dad…”
Richard raised one hand.
“Not here.”
He looked toward the servants standing beside the courtyard doors.
“Close the gates.”
Emily stared at him.
“What?”
Richard turned to the security staff.
“No one leaves.”
Several guests murmured.
Victoria’s expression hardened.
“You cannot imprison people because of a necklace.”
Richard ignored her.
He looked at Emily.
“Please come inside.”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
His expression softened slightly.
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
Her voice cracked.
“You watched your daughter almost drown me, and now suddenly I matter because of jewelry?”
Richard flinched.
Victoria rolled her eyes.
“Oh, for God’s sake.”
Richard turned on her.
“You will say nothing else.”
Victoria stared at him.
Something in his face finally frightened her.
Lady Margaret moved closer to Emily.
“Your mother was Anna Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“What year was she born?”
“1981.”
Margaret looked at Richard.
Richard’s face changed.
“Impossible.”
“What?”
Richard took one step back.
“Anna would have been…”
He stopped.
Lady Margaret finished.
“Twenty-three years younger than Eleanor.”
Emily looked between them.
“What are you saying?”
Neither answered.
Her chest tightened.
“My mother died three months ago.”
Richard closed his eyes.
Emily continued.
“She left me this necklace and one envelope.”
His eyes opened.
“What envelope?”
“I haven’t opened it.”
Victoria’s head snapped toward her.
Richard stared.
“Why not?”
“My mother told me not to open it unless someone recognized the necklace.”
A silence heavier than before settled over the courtyard.
Richard looked toward Lady Margaret.
Lady Margaret whispered, “She knew.”
Emily felt cold despite the warm summer night.
“Knew what?”
Before anyone could answer, a man came rushing from inside the castle.
It was Thomas, the family’s longtime estate manager.
His face was tense.
“Mr. Whitmore.”
Richard turned.
Thomas hesitated when he saw Emily.
Then he leaned close.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
Thomas spoke quietly.
“The portrait gallery.”
Richard’s expression hardened.
“What about it?”
“The Eleanor portrait.”
Richard went still.
Thomas swallowed.
“It’s gone.”
Lady Margaret gasped.
Victoria looked confused.
Emily stared at them all.
And Richard asked the question no one else dared to.
“Who removed it?”
May you like
Thomas looked directly at Victoria.
“Your daughter ordered it burned this morning.”
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