Page 66 of Once Upon a Midnight Dream

“Why are you crying, then?” Lilly scanned her dear face for signs of sickness or fever. “Are you ill?”

“I am quite well, just a silly old woman.” Mrs. B swiped at her wrinkled face. Despair etched upon her wizened features, she stared out the window into the predawn darkness.

Lilly wrapped an arm around the tiny woman’s shoulders. “Please tell me what is wrong.”

“These tears are not for me, deary,” Mrs. B murmured. “They are for you.”

“Me?” Lilly squeezed her shoulder. “Ah, I presume you have heard about Miss Davenport being my mother, and that Charles is my cousin, the illegitimate son of the former Viscount Merrivale.”

Lilly doubted she would ever become accustomed to thinking of the woman as her mother.

In the process of blowing her nose, Mrs. B stopped, her eyes going round as silver platters. “She was? He is? Well, tickle me pink and call me a dandy.”

“You did not know?” Mrs. B was always aware of everything that went on in the house. Lilly furrowed her forehead. “Then why are you weeping?”

Mrs. B finished blowing her nose—noisily and thoroughly.

Tears well in her eyes again. “Because, my dear, Zander has left us, and I am not blind. I know how fond you had grown of him.”

What?

Lilly’s shock must have registered on her face. Had she been so dashed obvious, despite trying her best to hide her feelings?

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “How… How do you know he left?”

“I heard the news from Trudy’s daughter-in-law when she arrived to relieve me this morning.” Mrs. B’s shoulders slumped.

He’s gone.

Layton is gone.

“My nephew, Tupp told her.” Sympathy creased Mrs. B’s weathered face. “There was a kerfuffle at The Crown and Stone last night, you see, while Tupp was enjoying a pint.”

Surely, Mrs. B heard every jagged crack cleaving Lilly’s heart.

Lilly shook her head, confusion and something much more powerful befuddling her thoughts. “What do you mean he has left us? He would not do that. Just leave.”

Without even saying goodbye?

Would he?

He would if he is married, her cool, logical self, chastised her.

“That is exactly what I said too.” Mrs. B gazed at her intently. “Tupp said, Zander arrived at the pub with a posh gent…”

“Viscount Merrivale,” Lilly interjected, her voice raspy with suppressed emotion. “He was here yesterday to tell me he is contesting Miss Davenport’s will.”

Mrs. B stiffened in outrage. “He cannot do that, can he?”

“That remains to be seen.” Lilly sucked in a steadying breath. “So that I would not pop the bounder’s arrogant cork, Layton—that is Zander’s real name, Captain Layton Westbrook—took the viscount to Prudhoe for a tankard.”

The viscount’s arrival had sparked Zander—that was, Layton’s memory.

Lilly had seen it clearly when he had opened his eyes and met her gaze.

Mrs. B’s eyes glowed brightly with unshed tears. “According to Tupp, a couple of ruffians looking for trouble wandered into the pub. There was an altercation between them, the viscount, and our captain. They knocked the toff out, straightaway.”

She grinned, exposing her missing teeth.