Dearest William,

I saw him today.

I am afraid he chose not to see me.

Would you be so kind as to give him a good beating should fate allow it?

Your friend,

Lady Weis

*****

"Do not be embarrassed, dear boy," Lady Alice said, staring at Wakefield as though she saw the same sight every day. "It does not bother me, truly. As a matter of fact, you did manage to come out better than poor Cole did in this time." She looked around the table to give her sons a scowl. "But I must admit I am very much disappointed at all of them—"

"I did not lift a finger," said Maxwell.

"As did I," Benedict added beside his wife.

"Well, I did not lift a finger, but I was certainly hoping I did," Ralph droned, causing Ysabella to scowl beside Wakefield.

"Ah, next time then," Nicholas said, following it with a laugh when their mother glared at them.

"But no beating from here on, of course," Lady Alice said to Wakefield. "You are family now."

Her statement was met with groans and grunts from five men around the table.

This time, Ysabella managed a satisfied smile.

Wakefield managed a smile that did not hurt his swollen face. "Thank you, my lady. I hope you did have a marvellous time with my mother."

"She and your brother were terrific, dear. As a matter of fact, I have accepted their invitation to spend a fortnight in Bertram after the wedding."

"They talked about baby names," Emma said with a snort. "I believe they came up with nearly ten names."

Wakefield suddenly found it hard to swallow. Ysabella lightly patted his back when he started to cough.

Ralph and Nicholas guffawed.

"I want the first boy be named after me," Maxwell said, surprising everyone.

"I am the eldest," Benedict disagreed.

"No one is—" Ysabella started but Levi spoke for the first time, eyes hard on Wakefield, "I am the best friend."

Everyone fell quiet. Maxwell, Ralph and Nicholas shrugged. Ben shared a look with Margaret.

Wakefield cleared his throat and smiled at the rest of the group. "It is settled then."

"And while I also enjoy names," Lady Alice said, her tone suddenly serious. "We must talk about how we shall announce the engagement."

Margaret frowned. "We can simply do it the usual manner, Mother."

"You are saying you shall deprive me of my fun, dear?" Lady Alice asked, eyes filled with malice. "I wish to do this in a grand way."

Ysabella groaned beside Wakefield. She leaned to whisper in his ear, "I did say we go to Tiny Town, did I not?"

He chuckled under his breath and stopped when he saw Nicholas and Ralph glaring at him.

"What do you suggest then, Mother?" Emma asked, back straight with excitement. "I would love to see the reaction of the ton. Have they not made fun of you, Ysa?"

Ysabella started to shake her head. "Truly, I do not wish to—"

"Ah, never mind her, Mother," Emma said with a wave of her hand. "She is too eager to get to the wedding day to think of the engagement."

It was time for Wakefield to pat Ysabella's back when she sighed and dropped her shoulders with resignation.

"When do you ken your bruises will heal, William, dear?" Alice Everard asked, her face too serious and nonchalant all the same that Wakefield swallowed the laughter in his throat.

"Uh—"

"A week the least," Cole replied for him. "Mine took more than a fortnight."

Ralph and Nicholas chuckled with contentment but stopped when Margaret sent them a darting look from across the table.

"Very good, then!" Lady Alice clapped her hands together. "And while we all—"

"What is it, Blair?" Benedict's alarmed voice stopped their mother's next words, forcing everyone to look at Agatha with concern.

Benedict's wife was wincing, as if in pain.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Lady Alice said, jumping to her feet. "Charlotte! Charlotte!" she shouted and a middle-aged woman who appeared to be the housekeeper came rushing in. "It is time!" The housekeeper's eyes widened and she immediately walked out of the dining room, shouting names and orders.

"What is it?" Ralph and Nicholas asked, jumping to their feet, looking at Agatha.

Maxwell was also making his way toward Agatha. "The doctor, Jefferson!" he cried at the butler.

"Take her to her chamber, Ben!" Margaret said, jumping to her feet. "When did the pain start, Agatha?"

Agatha winced and closed her eyes in pain. "This morning."

"Bloody hell, Blair!" Benedict cried out, scooping his wife in his arms. "That is why you have been awfully quiet than your usual. Why did you not say anything!"

"No, I can walk—truly, I can—"

"No!" Nicholas, Ralph and Maxwell cried out, walking behind Benedict as he carried his wife out of the room.

Lady Alice went to find Charlotte. Margaret followed the brothers. Emma and Ysabella stood in front of their seats, quite lost.

"It is time for a new babe, sisters," Levi wryly explained the obvious.

"Oh Sweet Mr. Jones! Of course!" the two ladies cried out, jumping to follow Margaret and the others.

Wakefield, Levi and Cole were left in the dining room.

Levi sighed. "Perhaps it is time to pour Benedict some brandy," Levi said. He looked at Cole and Wakefied, brows arched. "Well? Are you not joining me?"

"I still have trouble assessing whether or not you are serious, as you can see," Wakefield said, pointing at his swollen right eye.

His friend glared at him. "Do you want to find out what it would feel with both eyes?" Levi asked.

"No, of course not," Wakefield said, standing up with a grunt.

Cole patted his shoulder as they followed Levi to the drawing room. "Be thankful they are not depriving you of the good brandy," the man muttered beside him.

*****

Agatha's labour was not merely excruciating for the entire family, but it also did cause everyone to worry. She had lost the first child and Benedict and the others could not help but wonder if she was handling the process well.

Margaret had emerged from the room merely once to tell everyone that Agatha was doing great. But that was five hours ago.

Wakefield stayed with Ysabella and the others and watched as Benedict paced around the room, refusing the brandy offered by his brothers. He had tried to join the rest of the ladies earlier but he was kicked out.

Levi and Cole who had gone through the same process dared not say a word. Ralph and Nicholas, however, were more impatient, checking the door once in a while, whining about the doctor and suggesting time and time again that they ought to call for another one, to which Maxwell merely rolled his eyes.

"Do tell me something to take my mind off the worry, please," Ysabella begged Wakefield. He watched Mrs Beagle bounce off Emma's lap to follow Benedict's pacing in the room.

"Well, I do not have anything in mind at the moment."

She groaned. "I am starting to believe our life together will be such a bore."

He scoffed and stopped himself from laughing for it was not the perfect time. He took Ysabella's hand in his. "I did receive a message this morning," he said. "I was not planning to give it to you tonight for I know it might upset you—"

"What missive?"

"Perhaps I should give it to you on some other day. After the wedding. This is truly not the time."

Ysabella stood up and pulled at his hand. "Well, you have already mentioned it. Come to the garden. We can talk there."

"I am going with them," Emma snapped at the brothers before they could protest.

Minutes later, the three of them were in the garden. Wakefield looked at Emma and Ysabella. "Aurora left Wickhurst this morning."

They remained silent and noncommittal. "And she left the two of you a note."

He saw the hesitation in Ysabella's eyes. Emma was the one who held out her hand to receive the paper Wakefield had produced from his pocket.

*****

Dear Ysabella and Emma,

You were the best friends I will ever and never have. Do not forgive me for I do not deserve it. Forget me if you must.

I wish you all the best.

Aurora

"Well," Emma said, folding the paper, "at the very least she knows we were the only best friends she could ever truly have."

Ysabella was quiet and she could sense Wakefield's gaze on her.

"You must probably be wondering how she came to be under my protection," Wakefield started.

"I was nearly at my wit's end thinking about it," Emma admitted beside her.

Wakefield allowed a smile for Emma's honesty. "Nearly three months ago, while your family were spending the holidays in Devonshire, I found her on the side of the road, nearly dying with deep cuts and bruises." Ysabella snapped her head to look at Wakefield, eyes wide with surprise. "I thought she was dying, see?"

"You have spoken about it in one of your letters."

He nodded. "Yes."

"That was her?"

"Yes."

"But what happened?"

Wakefield shrugged. "She had refused to tell me all the details. All I know was that her former lover did it. I do not even know his name for she would not tell me. She insisted that he was coming for her and I took it upon myself to offer her protection."

Ysabella's mouth fell open. "But—I never knew she had a lover."

"I believe that there are many things about Aurora Randolph that we do not all know about, Ysa," Wakefield said.

"Yet you still helped her?" Emma asked.

"She could have come to us for help! We would have offered help!" Ysabella said.

"I learned to believe that she despised her secret life as a mistress more than anything else," Wakefield offered. "She never wanted to talk about anything but that her life is in great danger. She wanted to find a husband who could offer her a lifetime of protection. She was desperate for it."

"But her family—"

"She could have been lying to us about them," Emma snapped. "Of course, she did, did she not?"

Wakefield shook his head. "I truly cannot say. All I know is that she had solicitors coming to her door, demanding for payments for her parents' debts. She never talked about them with me. We never talked about many things, as a matter of fact, for all I was concerned about was her fast recovery. I found her an estate merely weeks ago so she could feel utterly safe. Her maid had reported that she had been feeling unsafe in her previous apartment."

"You could have told us."

"I gave her my word." He studied Ysabella and added, "Her situation warrants our pity, Ysa, but that does not change the fact that she played with us all. She used your friendship to her selfish advantage. She became desperate, too dependent on me that she chose to risk even your friendship. Do not force yourself to forgive her simply because you pity her."

Ysabella brushed the tears with the back of her hand. She wanted to hate Aurora, but she also hurt for the woman. She hated to think that the innocent smiles and laughter Aurora let out in the Theobald party or even when she dipped into the lake for the first time were all but true.

"Well, I do despise her for what she did to us," Emma said, "especially to Ysabella. Ysa trusted her." Silence reigned for a few seconds before Emma added, "She does remind me of Faye, actually."

"Faye?" Ysabella asked, wondering why her sister would think that Margaret and Cole's adopted child would remind her of Aurora. "Faye never did anything remotely close to what she did!"

"I was not talking about the betrayal, Ysa," Emma said. She turned to Wakefield who was frowning with confusion. "Faye was a servant who escaped slavery before Margaret and Cole adopted them," she explained to Wakefield. "And when she came to our estate, she was quite desperate for protection from the bad men she claimed to be looking for her. Maggie had shared that the young girl begged her. She was willing to work for naught but Margaret's silence and protection. She was desperate. Pride had abandoned her."

"But Faye was a child—is a child. Aurora isn't. She knows what is good and bad!" Ysabella insisted.

"Perhaps you are correct," Emma said with a shrug. "She could be truly just plain evil, but I cannot help but think—and I do hate myself for thinking this—that mayhap Aurora did the things she did for the very same reason you did the things you did—for love. We do not know her fully well."

Ysabella fell silent.

"It could be love for money and comfort or something else entirely," Emma added. "Love for herself as well. She loved herself too much she dared not think of our feelings."

"We could have helped her. She would not have been judged!"

Wakefield sighed before them, drawing their attention. "Of course she could have asked for help. But to some people, asking for help means laying bare your weakest point because for them, asking is begging. You could have helped her, you could have not and that was not the kind of risk they are willing to take." His words were filled with meaning. He truly believed his own words for he had always felt it toward his brother. "Not all family is the same as the Everards. To most of us, even families have their own limits and boundaries. They know they cannot rely on people, even one of their own. Aurora knew that as do a lot of people in the Town."

"And here we are debating about her when she has chosen to leave without even begging for our forgiveness," Emma said, giving Ysabella the note. "I would rather think she never did the things she did and she simply went away for a long vacation."

Ysabella agreed with her sister. Aurora left them with many questions they may never get answers to. It might as well she followed her sister's decision and think that Aurora left as a friend. If there was anyone who would carry the burden of the painful memories, it would not be her but Aurora.

Whatever or whoever Aurora truly was, Ysabella had thought her a good friend. That would have to suffice.

*****

Ayah's birth into the Everards was the talk of the town. Even a week after the beautiful green-eyed girl was born, she was the topic of many conversations. They talked about the meaning of the unusual name which the Everards were happy to announce as miracle, for the babe was indeed a miracle for both Benedict and Agatha who had lost their first child. Some were even dramatically at awe to have seen Benedict Everard smiling from ear to ear on one occasion after the birth of his child.

Ysabella and the rest of the Everards, even Wakefield, would also have to agree that Ayah was indeed a blessing for the scandal that revolved around Ysabella was suddenly forgotten. People, after all, would still want to hear the good news over the bad. None even took notice that Aurora Randolph had left Wickhurst.

Wakefield and Ysabella also rejoiced to the fact that the town was currently occupied with the growing Everard family tree, unaware of the hushed secret of yet another family tying itself with the said tree.

For a few days, they were able to postpone the announcement of the engagement much to their mothers' utter thrill for the idea of surprising the ton with yet another big announcement was indeed a matter the two women were looking forward to. They had been inseparable of late that their children started to grow concerned, dreading whatever they were brewing in the midst of their tea parties.

Lady Hayward, of course, did the honour of throwing a lavish ball where everyone they knew of was invited, including all the most influential gossipmongers around town. In fact, most of the guests had been whispering that mayhap Wakefield would finally announce his marriage to the mysterious servant girl who had proven herself to be Lady Weis. The same servant who, after a few questioning, Wakefield found out had left Wickhurst as well.

Such matter about Lady Weis had been debated by all members of both families, but Ysabella eventually won with the decision of not exposing the truth about Lady Weis. She was a secret and she would always remain as such.

The ton could bloody go to hell and wonder all their lives, she had said to her brothers who were adamant she clear her name as the desperate impostor Aurora had painted her to be.

But keeping Lady Weis' identity a secret was proving to be quite a challenge especially when the ton was looking at her with expectation when she came to attend the Hayward ball with her family. Of course, they were expecting her to make another scene, one that would surpass the one at Seymour.

Ysabella dreaded the ball. Merely months before, she had fantasized about the ton looking at her and Wakefield with amazement while they danced and kissed in the middle of the dance floor. But that had changed now. She did not wish for their courtship be feasted upon in the same way her one-sided courtship was.

"What seems to be the problem, Emma?" Ysabella asked her sister to distract herself. Emma had been awfully quiet the entire way to the ball and she was certain it was not about Mrs Beagle having gone missing once again. Something was bothering her sister.

"What? Oh, do not mind me. I am simply wondering when Wakefield would come out and announce your engage—"

"Do be quiet!" Ysabella hissed. "They might hear and Mother would not be pleased should the guests know about it before her planned announcement."

Emma stared at her and scoffed. "You do look as though you are about to faint, Ysa. Whatever happened to the brave woman who had crossed countless balls to beg Wakefield for a dance?"

Ysabella rolled her eyes. "She had gone for a long respite, I believe, until the wedding is over."

Emma was shaking her head when she paused, frozen at the sight of something behind Ysabella.

"Oh, bloody hell, Ysabella, he is here."

Ysabella frowned. "Who?"

"Wakefield!"

Ysabella's heart began pounding against her chest and she found that she could not move. "What is he doing?"

Emma kept her eyes at the scene behind Ysabella. "He is walking toward us. Everyone is looking. Bloody hell, Ysa, I believe we ought to run."

"Should we?" she asked in panic. She changed her mind. To be seen dancing with Wakefield in front of everyone would render her unconscious.

"Dimwit, of course, we should stay," Emma snapped. "But I must say," her sister said, lips curving into a smile, "Wakefield is looking quite pleased to be crossing the ballroom to get to you. It is quite a refreshing sight."

"Where is Margaret and Mother? The brothers?" Her sister rolled her eyes. Ysabella knew everyone was not about as they had all spread out to meet friends and acquiantances. "Em, I cannot move."

"Then pretend not to notice him. Make it as natural as you can. But move if you can manage it for you look like a stone figure."

She drew in a long breath.

"They must be mocking me. They must think he is merely on his way here because he feels bad after what happened at Seymour. Or worse, that he pities me."

Emma gaped at her incredulously. "Did I hear you correctly, Ysa? Since when did you care what the ton would think?"

"Since I won Wakefield! They must later think I won because I seduced him—or that because our brothers forced him into this."

"As I recall," Wakefield's voice said from behind her, "Ysabella Everard never cared. As do I, of course."

Emma pushed her so she was forced to turn around and face Wakefield.

"Smile, Ysa, for they might think I am issuing a threat," Wakefield said. "Now, that is better," he added with satisfaction when she managed to move her lips.

And suddenly she forgot about everyone. She was seeing him—just him.

And as he reached out to check her dance card, he frowned. "No dances?"

She swallowed. "All are reserved, my lord." Her wicked smile reappeared and her breath came back to her lungs. Her heart started to calm.

She was seeing him—just him.

He tore the card and pushed the pieces into his pocket. "Now, can I have this dance, my lady?" he asked, blue eyes glinting with gentleness and mirth and everything she had dreamed of.

And as though the musicians had heard him, the music changed into a waltz.

"Ah, a waltz!" Ysabella said with a laugh. "I am the best at it, my lord. Have you heard?"

Wakefield chuckled as he tucked her hand at the crook of his arm. "Someone has confessed otherwise, my lady."

Ysabella looked over her shoulder at Emma before she let Wakefield whisk her away to the dance floor. Her sister waved back with a smile.

Emma was the only person near she cared to see. The rest, as she had thought before, could bloody gawk.

She would survive this night.

And she would most definitely survive the wedding.