He nodded before getting down to help her from the curricle. He put out his gloved hand and she rested her fingers in his, allowing him to guide her to t
he cobbled pavement. Tucking her hand into the crook of his arm, he led her to the door. It opened almost immediately after Drake had banged the large brass knocker against the door.
"Yes?"
The butler's stooped appearance and gray hair did not detract from his air of proper authority.
"We are here to see Lady Upworth."
The elderly servant stepped back to usher Drake and Thea into the hall. "Whom shall I tell Milady is calling?"
Thea's throat closed. To be so close to her aunt, the one member of her family still living that knew of Thea's existence. The opulence of the house, the foreignness of things that should be familiar because she'd heard about them her entire life, overwhelmed her, and she could not make any words get past the thickness in her throat. She threw a desperate glance at Drake, and he answered the servant.
"Please inform her that Miss Selwyn and Mr. Drake are awaiting her convenience."
She had no time to collect herself before the butler returned. "Milady will see you in her private parlor."
He led them on a ponderous procession up a flight of stairs. Opening a heavy ornate door to the left, the butler indicated they should enter. Thea could not seem to make her feet move. Drake took her arm and gently pulled her into a lady's sitting room.
The furnishings were exactly as Lady Upworth had sketched them. Matching chairs with needlepoint cushions sat opposite a fainting couch near the fireplace. The smell of furniture wax and dried flowers permeated the room. The escritoire her aunt had been so thrilled to find at a shop on the Pall Mall resided near the window. It looked exactly like the sketch she had sent, except it shone in a way that a charcoal sketch could not catch.
And next to the small desk sat an elderly woman dressed in the first stare of fashion. Her aunt.
"Is it really you?" Lady Upworth's voice came out in a choked whisper.
Gripping the edge of the escritoire, she stood and the skirts of her black gown fell in graceful folds toward the floor. The sound of rustling silk accompanied her movement across the floor.
She appeared so fragile, her step halting. Thea had not realized. Letters did not show age or infirmity. Her aunt's obvious weak condition hit her like a blow. Had she waited one more year to make her trip to England, would it have been too late?
Taking Thea's arms in a grip astonishingly strong for such a frail-looking woman, Lady Upworth pulled her into a tight embrace. Thea stood unmoving, unable to respond for all of ten seconds, then her arms lifted of their own volition and wrapped around her aunt. This was her flesh and blood. Family. She was no longer alone in the world. She hugged her aunt fiercely. They stayed that way for long moments, Thea's heart full at the thought of being part of a family again.
Finally, Lady Upworth pulled away. "Let me look at you."
Then she did just that. Eyes the same blue as Thea's own stared at her, seeming to soak in her every feature.
"You are the twin of your mother." A shadow crossed the older woman's face. "I will always regret sending her to the West Indies."
Thea shook her head. "Had you not, she would have lost me."
The older woman's eyes filled with pain. "One never knows what would have been, but she died out there. She never saw Jared again and your father…" Lady Upworth's voice trailed off.
Thea knew what her aunt meant to say, and didn't want her to. Not in front of Drake. She did not want him to know the full truth of her father's wickedness. It shamed her. She cast him a sidelong glance. Had he noticed the reference to her brother?
"Do not think of that now," she said to her aunt.
Lady Upworth nodded, but tears sparkled in her eyes. "You are right. That is water under the bridge. You are here now. I truthfully did not think I would live to see the day."
Guilt flayed Thea as her aunt's words confirmed her initial fears upon seeing the older woman. She was ill.
Drake offered his handkerchief to Lady Upworth.
She took it and dabbed at her eyes, inhaling a deep breath. "Thank you—Mr. Drake, is it?"
Remembering her manners, Thea made the introductions.
Lady Upworth looked thoughtful for a moment. "You're a relation of Lady Boyle, aren't you?"
"Yes. She's my great-aunt."