Ruby was used to cities. She'd been brought up in New York for the most part, but she was no stranger to either Boston or Chicago. London, though, was an exciting new adventure. Gaston had warned her that it would be different, but she hadn't been prepared for exactly how different it would be. New York was modern and the rest of England had felt ancient in comparison. London, however, was a strange combination of the old and the new. She found it enthralling and disconcerting all at the same time.
It had been two weeks since Ruby and Gaston had arrived in Gretna Green and been married. Since then, they'd spent a blissfully happy time in Scotland and made their way slowly down England, stopping wherever they pleased en route to London. Going home would have been faster, but she was dying to see the city and to see her friend again. Anyway, the social season was well underway and Ruby was excited to make a splash.
"Are we very far from your uncle's house?" Ruby asked as they turned down yet another street. They were all beginning to blend together after she'd been travelling for so long.
"Almost there," her new husband replied. "Do you think your grandmother is going to be angry?"
"Probably not by now," she said, imagining her grandma's face when she'd found the notes she'd left for everyone. "What about your uncle?"
"He's just going to be happy it's over and done with," Gaston said. "And frankly, so am I."
"Such a romantic," she replied, poking him in the side. "I'm such a lucky woman."
He chuckled in response, capturing her hand and bringing it to his lips to press a kiss to her knuckles. She felt her heart flutter in her chest and knew she must look like the silliest girl in the world, but couldn't bring herself to care. They were newlyweds; she was sure a little bit of silliness could be forgiven.
They settled into a comfortable silence before they finally turned into the drive of Lord Maurice's London home. It was an odd situation to be in, finding herself heiress to numerous properties belonging to a stranger, but here she was. She wasn't sure it would be something she'd ever adjust to. At home, there had been no question about her being her parents' heir, but here Maurice's daughter was pushed aside in favor of his brother's son. Granted, that was because of the title being involved, but it still felt strange to her that these houses were going to be hers someday.
She sighed and shook off her strange mood. It was probably the travel and lack of involvement with her business that was making her feel strangely. Goodness, she was going to have a hundred messages to answer wasn't she? The idea of it was enough to make her want to tell the driver to just keep going so she could put off dealing with the backlog a little longer. She was beginning to think that she needed to hire someone to handle more of the day-to-day than she'd been accustomed to giving up. The longer she was away from it, though, the more she found herself wanting other things. She was quite happy in England, and while she didn't have any intention of becoming one of those society women who spent their days at home or flitting between shops, she was beginning to feel excited about the societal weight she'd have here. Belle had understood it, hadn't she? It had been one of the things she'd hinted at during their visits, that Ruby would be 'in demand' in London once she was married?
It took the better part of two days to get settled into the London house and sort through a pile of telegrams, but by the following afternoon afternoon she was ready to call on her friend.
The Golds' house was in a newer neighborhood on the outskirts of town, relatively far from where Lord French kept his house, which was apparently a sign of his status as middle class. Ruby knew from Gaston that Rhys Gold was one of Lord Maurice's creditors, which would seem to imply that he had quite a bit more money than this house would indicate. She didn't really think she'd get used to the various class distinctions in England. She was used to the idea of old money looking down on new, but the layers on layers of class distinctions in her new home wasn't something she thought would ever come naturally to her. It was a bit like learning a second language; she'd always think in her native tongue.
It was a relief to enter the well-appointed drawing room and find her friend reading in front of a fire. Belle set her book down as soon as Ruby entered and the two women greeted each other.
"I suppose congratulations are in order, aren't they?" Belle said cheerfully as they sat together. "Should I start calling you Mrs. French?"
"Oh goodness," Ruby said. "Please don't. I've been nothing but Mrs. French since we left Scotland."
"You'll get used to it," Belle replied. "Although honestly I do still sometimes forget that when someone refers to Mrs. Gold, they're talking about me."
The two shared a laugh before a maid entered bearing tea, and by the time that was settled they'd entered a companionable silence.
"So how are you finding London?" Belle asked at length. "Is it very different than America?"
"It's older," Ruby said. "But to be honest I just got into town yesterday. I came to see you as soon as I could get out of the house."
"Well, we can take care of that I think," Belle said. "I know all the best places to go."
"I thought so," Ruby said. "You were my very first choice of guide."
Belle's smile faltered for the first time since their conversation began, and Ruby thought she could probably guess the reason. It wouldn't be the first time Belle had demurred from being seen in public together, after all.
"Oh come on," Ruby continued. "I know you don't just sit here all day alone. So where do you go?"
"I take the dog for walks," Belle said. "And on occasion I go shopping. Aside from that, I do spend most of my days at home."
"That's silly," Ruby said as firmly as she could. She understood her friend's apprehension, but she would not stand by and let her become a hermit, either. "There have to be a million things to do here, surely there must be something you'd like to see. We'll have a lovely time."
Ruby was becoming increasingly frustrated with all the men in this situation. As far as she could see, every single one of them had been absolutely content to let Belle do as she pleased, which by and large seemed to be pretending like she didn't exist and hoping everyone else would forget she was there.
"I can't," Belle said like it was some kind of a trump card. "Imagine what people will say."
"If anyone is still talking about you, hiding away certainly won't shut them up," Ruby said. "And besides, who cares what they think? You're married, and your husband certainly doesn't pay them any mind."
"I don't want to cause you any embarrassment either," Belle said in a bit of a huff now. "You know what my reputation is."
"We're cousins now," Ruby replied, putting her hand on her friend's as comfortingly as she could manage. "Nobody is going to forget that, and I'm certainly not expecting them to. I'm not embarrassed by you."
Ruby could see the moment Belle gave in, and it was all she could do not to let any relief show on her face at the success.
"Fine," Belle said. "We'll see how you feel after you see what happens."
"Excellent!" Ruby said. "We can go to the British Museum. I've always wanted to see the Elgin Marbles."
Belle shot Ruby a dirty look, but she pretended not to notice, and soon enough the conversation returned to its earlier pleasantness. She knew her friend was comfortable with her life, but Belle was also afraid - and that was something Ruby would not let her accept so easily.
Belle was doing her level best to keep herself calm as they approached the museum the next day. Going out in public hadn't been easy since it happened, but the last few weeks of hiding away from Nottingham had been a special kind of trial. She wouldn't have even agreed to go with Ruby except that she was reasonably certain that neither Nottingham nor any of his friends had ever willingly attended any museum. It was quite possibly the safest place for her outside of her home.
She'd spent longer getting dressed for this outing than she had for her wedding, carefully selecting a pale blue day dress with large white roses embroidered across the front of the skirt and at the neckline. It had a high neckline and a modest bustle – just enough to be fashionable, but not so much as to draw too much attention to herself. She'd let Rachel set her hair into curls and pinned a cameo inherited from her mother on her collar. She was a perfect picture of a respectable woman, and she could only pray it would be enough.
It turned out that she hadn't needed to worry at all. When the two women entered the museum nobody noticed or cared. It was still difficult for her to shake the idea of being watched, but every time she looked around, nobody seemed to care one way or the other who she was or what she was doing. By the end of the day, she'd almost forgotten her earlier discomfort. They even went out for tea afterward.
"Did you enjoy the display?" Belle asked her friend over tea and cakes at the teahouse.
"I did," Ruby replied. "Though I'm not sure why I thought the marbles would be so much more interesting than they were."
"They're a national pride," Belle said. "They don't have to be interesting."
"I didn't say they weren't interesting," Ruby said defensively. "But I vastly preferred the portraiture."
"That's good," Belle said. "And I want you to remember how much you enjoyed the portraits next week when you're coming to a dinner party for one of my husband's business associates."
"You do realize you didn't need to extort me into this, don't you?" Ruby replied with a little quirk of her lips. "I've hosted a million of those dinners."
Belle almost laughed at her own silliness. Of course; Ruby had run her own company. She wouldn't consider this a hardship the way Belle's old friends would have.
"Good," she finally said. "Then you can help me prepare for it."
Belle's eyes were drawn across the street where she saw some a group of little boys covered in soot hurrying down the lane. They were clearly either coming from or going to a job, and Belle found herself once again stricken by the sight of children already so engaged. She knew what sorts of work little took, usually dirty and dangerous jobs in places too small for men to fit like crawling into chimneys. Girls weren't uncommon fixtures in textile mills, reaching into machinery to retrieve bobbins and thread spools that dropped behind the machines. She wasn't sure if Neal employed girls, but suddenly she was very interested in knowing.
What must compel parents to send their small children to do dangerous work? The answer, of course, was money. It was abominably unfair that she'd never worked a day in her life because of some quirk of her birth, wasn't it? Her husband hadn't been so different from those little boys once upon a time, and Neal was doing his level best to increase their standing. Even Ruby, wealthy though she was, had worked to maintain that. Belle had simply been born to a life where money was never something she'd needed to bother with beyond learning how to balance a household budget.
"There's a church down that road," Belle said to Ruby. "Do you mind if we stop at it on our way back?"
"Of course not," Ruby replied, perhaps a bit disinterestedly. "Is there anywhere else we should stop?"
"Not that I can think of," Belle said. "I just want to see the Vicar."
That seemed to grab Ruby's attention but the other woman had the tact at least not to pry.
It had been a long time since Belle had last been in a church – since before the assault, in fact. She'd never been a particularly devout Anglican, though she'd been used to attending services fairly regularly at one of the larger chapels. This one was smaller and certainly more middle class, but it would likely suit her purposes far better than a stately cathedral that catered exclusively to the wealthy. Walking into the little church she felt a bit like an outsider even as they located the portly vicar who introduced himself as Vicar Tuck. It occurred to her how little she'd really thought out this plan. It was fortunate he hadn't been in the middle of doing something else, really.
"What can I do for you ladies?" he had asked, smiling and obviously taking in the cut of their clothes and recognizing that neither one had ever set foot in this church before.
"My name is Mrs. Belle Gold," she began. "And this is my friend, Mrs. Ruby French."
She paused, hoping that the man would recognize at least one of their surnames, but she was to be disappointed.
"My father is Lord Maurice French," Belle continued at last, waiting for the dawning realization of exactly who he had met. She could feel Ruby's appraising look on her as he suddenly began offering a full set of pleasantries to both women.
"Are you in need of spiritual guidance?" he asked at last, looking between Belle and Ruby and still clearly confused as to the purpose of their visit. Not that Belle was any less confused, but she knew she had to be here. It all felt right somehow.
"We're here because I want to become involved with the poor relief," she said. "And the orphans. And I wasn't sure where else to go."
Belle couldn't help noticing that Ruby had a peculiar smile on her face as she glanced back at her friend for support.
"Yes," Ruby added cheerfully. "We'd both like to help the poor."