Romance: Detective Romance: A Vicious Affair (Victorian Regency Intrigue 19th England Romance) (Historical Mystery Detective Romance) (116 page)

Her heart beat hardest at the thought of the final blow in her deception. She had signed the letter as “Angela Davenport” rather than Angelica DiAntonio. The last name in itself would give the whole thing up.

Lilly’s sense of guilt washed over her as she berated herself for the entire scam. How would Angelica react? Would she even go through with it? It had been three weeks since the death of her father. She was back to working but was only doing that – living, existing. She had no vibrancy left, other than her outer beauty. It never reflected her inner sorrow, except when she was crying.

She had stopped crying about a week ago and was now just moving around, doing her work, eating, sleeping and the like.

Lilly wanted it to stop. She’d answered the ad the day after Mr. DiAntonio’s death. The letter of response had just arrived. She opened it immediately and was thrilled to read he was interested and had even sent a ticket for “Angela” to take, dated five days hence.

She stopped at the door of their boarding house and looked up at the windows that belonged to Angelica’s rooms. Her friend was not in the window and could not
be seen
from where Lilly was standing.

Lilly’s heart pounded. Regret washed over and then a sense of determination filled her. Her mixed up feelings continued to battle each other as she pushed open the door and went through. By the time she reached the second floor and was standing in front of Angelica’s door, she was out of breath. Her anxiety was making her feel faint. She knocked on the door and then opened it, putting her
head through
.

“Angel? Where are you?”

“In here. Come on in, Lilly.”

Lilly closed the door behind her and hurried into her friend’s bedroom, where it appeared Angelica was going
through her clothes
to see what she wanted and what she didn’t. She’d
been given
all of her sisters clothes that had not burned in the fire but
where
kept in a separate building. These were all clothes meant for the
wintertime,
and they were of
very fine
quality.

“These are beautiful!” Lilly said. “What do you plan to do with them?”

“I am giving them to some of the women in town who have
very little
.”

“But you should sell them. You don’t have to give them away. You need money.”

“I do not want to sell them,
amicamia
. I want the women to have them. I do not want the money they have.”

Lilly understood. These were women who made their money with the men in
town,
and they never seemed to have enough
money
. Angelica didn’t want to take what little they had, nor did she want the money they made that way.

“I want to talk to you, Angelica.” Lilly dropped herself on the bed and reached out for Angelica’s hand. Angelica took it, pulled herself from her sitting position on the floor and joined Lilly sitting on the bed.

“What is it?”

“I think…I know we need to make a change in our lives. Do you agree with that?”

“Si.”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“I have done
something,
and I want to tell you what I’ve
done,
but I don’t want you to be angry with me for it.”

Angelica immediately felt a sense of anxiety flow through her. She swallowed and looked at her friend closely. “What have you done?”

“I answered an ad
from
a man in the West requesting a bride.”

Angelica’s eyes opened
wide,
and she found herself short of breath. “What?
You are
leaving me? What will I do? Where…”

“No, no.” Lilly cut her off, patting her hand. “I answered it…for you
…
as you. Do you understand?”

Angelica looked terribly confused. “No.”

Lilly pulled in a deep breath and wrestled with her anxiety. “I…answered it from you, like I was you. I signed it with your
name,
but I gave you a more American last name so…you’d have more chance of
being chosen
if others responded to it.”

“What….what did you say? I am
confusa
.”

“Confused. I am sorry, Angelica. I know you will understand if I just have the right words to help you. We need to make a change. I wanted to make sure that you would be able to travel with
me
if the ad
was answered
. I didn’t
want
to leave you behind. So I
answered the ad
to make sure you would
be chosen,
and I will pay
for
my
own
way to wherever you go. I will go with
you,
and when you get there, I’ll be
nearby,
and I will make my
own
way.”

Angelica understood what Lilly had done and felt amazed, excited and worried all at the same time. “You…will make your
own
way?”

“I’ll be nearby. I can get a job housekeeping like I always do. And I have some money saved, more than I’ll need for the ticket, so I should be able to get by for a little while.”

“I am worried
for
you.”

“Don’t be. We’ll make it, you and me.”

“May I read the letter?”

“Oh!” Lilly felt silly for forgetting the letter. She pulled it from her skirt pocket and gave it to Angelica. “Do you think you’ll understand it?”

Angelica smiled wide. “I have been working hard on my English. I am better able to read than speak.”

“You are doing
really
well, Angel. You
really
are.”

Lilly already felt a sense of relief. Perhaps it was
truly
what God wanted. She prayed that she had made the right choice for both of them.

They were packed and ready when the carriage arrived to take them to the station. They were grateful to Miss Bess, who had provided her private driver and carriage for the girls to get to the station. They were nervously holding hands the entire way to the station. Both were tense and quiet, thinking about the fact that they were traveling to an unknown place to meet strangers who may or may not accept them the way they were.

Lilly was
praying
hard, sometimes with Angelica, that the man they would meet would understand their situation and not judge them harshly. Lilly had sent a telegraph that Angela would be arriving but made no mention of herself.

That fact weighed heavily on them both as they boarded the train and settled themselves in one of the cabins. What if they were both sent back? Or simply sent away? What if the man was not accommodating and wouldn’t accept them at the train station?

Fear and anxiety gave them both headaches. They sat
silently
as the train made its way across the country. They went to get food once and did so without a word. Other passengers watched them curiously. Lilly wondered if they made such a strange pair that people would feel the need to stare at them in such a way.

When they were back in their seats, Angelica whispered, “Lilly, let me see the letter again, please.”

Lilly handed it to her without a word. She’d kept it tucked in her pocket and often would touch it to make sure it was there.
She
wanted to have it to prove Angelica was the one he had
sent for
. She had already decided to let Angelica go to him alone and that she would go immediately into the building to retrieve a newspaper. She would need to find a boarding house right away.

She watched Angelica read through the letter again, her eyes focusing on the name at the beginning, “Angela
.”
It was only a different version of her
own name
and she felt she would be able to get used to it.
She
had worked hard on her English, harder than she ever had before, just in the last four days. She wanted to make a good impression.

Please, God, help me be what he wants. She prayed, folding the letter and clutching it tightly in her hand. “I will give him the
letter
,
Lilly,
” she said.

Lilly pulled in a deep breath and pressed her lips together. She felt shaky and faint. Every mile took her closer to being more alone than ever before. She did not regret letting Angelica take the place of the bride for the man. But she hadn’t
really
thought about how alone it would leave her. Alone 4000 miles from anywhere she’d ever known.

A sense of dread covered her.

They were 20 minutes from the train station and gathering their things together.
They
no longer needed the coats they had started out wearing and had stripped off the gloves and bonnets, as well. It was cool but not nearly enough for the extra clothing. The sun was dropping behind the horizon when they stepped off the train.

They were not given time to separate.

They were the only ones departing the train at that
station,
and
a man was standing
there waiting for Angela. He was the only one there and watched them both get off the train, talking in low tones.

They stopped and stared at him.

He blinked and then approached, removing the cowboy hat from his head.

“Angela?”

He looked from one to the other.

“Uh…” Lilly looked at Angelica. “This is
Angela,
” she said instinctively.

Angelica nodded. “Hello, yes, I am Angela.”

Lilly just realized how thick her Italian accent was. They both stared at
Adam,
and he stared back at them, his eyes moving from one to the other. The first thing he noticed was that they were both beautiful women. The second was that there were two of them and the one saying she was Angela was
definitely
not an American.

“I’m sorry. I don’t understand what’s going on,” Adam
stated
in a low voice.

Lilly looked at Angelica with worried eyes. She didn’t want to speak up when it was Angelica who was supposed to be the one here for him. She tried to send telepathic messages to her friend by thinking very hard, talk to him,
talk
to him!

“I…” Angelica started. She reached down and picked up her two bags, which surprised both Lilly and Adam. Adam took a step
back,
and Angelica took a step forward. “I am ready. I do say sorry for confusing you. I travel with Lilly very often. She is my friend and companion. I do hope you do not mind.”

Adam wasn’t sure. He didn’t exactly
mind
one way or the other. But
he
’d been expecting one woman, not two. He couldn’t possibly marry two women. He looked at Lilly. Which one of these women was he supposed to
be with
? It was
obvious
Lilly had written the response letter for Angela.

“I sent for one woman to marry. What is your intention here?”

Lilly followed Angelica’s lead and picked up her bags. “As
Angeli…
Angela says, I have been her traveling companion for some time. I would like to stay nearby, perhaps in a boarding house and continue my friendship with her. Also, I have been helping her learn English. As you can see, she is still working on it.”

Adam shook his head. “I have rooms at my farm. You may use one of them. But I am unhappy that I
was not told
of this from the beginning.”

Lilly felt regret wash through her. “I am sorry, sir. It was not my intention to anger you. I was just trying to do something for my friend.”

“By deceiving others.
This is
not what God has in mind.”

“I am sorry.” Lilly’s face dropped at his mention of God. She didn’t want to anger God, either. “I did pray about this and it just…I just thought I should…”

“Come with
me,
” Adam said abruptly, cutting her off. “We will go back to the farm and discuss this.”

*****

The uncomfortable silence on the ride to Adam’s farm made Angelica feel a little sick to her stomach. She had been working hard to learn the language and act like an American. She was naturally shy and didn’t try to draw attention to herself. Her first impression of the man they had met was a good one. She liked his dark eyes and
dark wavy
hair. He was built strong and
solid
and had
nice
hands.