She opened the cage door and pulled Amber inside. Lord Byrn was right behind her, and if Lina tried to block him out, she was unsuccessful.
“Enkelin? Is that you?” It was her grandfather using the German name for granddaughter, and she rushed to the back of the tiny room to hug him. Unlike the other smells, his scent was welcome and reassuring.
“I’m here now, Grandfather.”
“But why? Aren’t you to be a fine lady now?”
The very words brought tears to her eyes, and she couldn’t answer. Meanwhile, Lina took her hand and pressed her forehead to it in a kind of bow. Few knew that Lina was from China, and this was her way of giving respect.
“Thank you, Thisbe,” Lina said. “Thank you.”
“What?”
“Thank you for helping me get the money I need to send for my sister in China. Thank you for sending Lord Easterly to me.”
What? “But—”
“I took your suggestion,” Lord Byrn said, his voice a low rumble by her ear. “The arrangement was made this afternoon, as you recommended.”
It had? She looked at Lord Byrn. “You accomplished all that this afternoon?”
“As you said yesterday, it was a beneficial plan for everyone.” Elliott’s smile flashed white in the gloom. “And Lord Easterly vows to support my resolution and bring his friends’ votes along with him.”
Oh, good. That was good news.
“I need only to secure Lord Morthan’s vote with the brooch, then everything will be in hand. And you will be well on your way to being married respectably. You need never return to this cage again.” His opinion of the tiny dark cage was abundantly clear. And now that she stood in it, she noticed how very small it was, how it smelled as bad as the main floor, if not worse. Now that she looked about, she realized that it was a fraction of the size of the bedroom she had at Lady Dunnamore’s home.
How had she spent so much time here?
And now it became even more cramped as her father came in.
Lina retreated back to her corner, lifting her abacas and beginning the steady click-clack of her work. Lord Byrn backed into the other corner, clearly trying to be as small as possible, which was hard given the breadth of his shoulders and his height. Her father set down the tea before her grandfather, then turned to her with a big smile.
“Have you come to thank me, my girl?” he said with a hearty laugh. “You always said you would marry a prince, and look at you now. My grandsons will go to English schools with titled lords, and you will teach them to never come to a place like this, yes?”
What was she to say to that? The idea that her sons would never know this place was wonderful, but that was like saying they would never know their own mother.
“Papa, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what? Things I never dreamed possible? It was Lord Byrn who arranged it. You must do a good piece for him. The best you can make, for he has been generous with you. A good bargain, yes? You make a brooch and get a fine husband in return.”
Was that how he saw it? A brooch for a husband, as if the two were marketable commodities.
“It is too cramped in here,” her father said. “We will go downstairs.”
Amber jolted in surprise. Her father never invited gentlemen to go down to the shop unless he intended to sell them something. “But what if someone comes to the cage?” Her grandfather hadn’t been able to accurately appraise anything for at least a year.
“Lina will send word, yes?”
Lina nodded in agreement.
“See? All good.” Then he turned to Lord Byrn. “We did not have time this afternoon for a toast. Let us go share a drink now, yes?”
“It would be my pleasure, Mr. Gohar.”
Her father snorted. “I left that name a long time ago. I am Mr. Gold here.”
He was Mr. Gold. She was Amber Gohar. And everybody wanted her to become Mrs. Somebody Else. Everybody, that is, except her. But no one was asking her. So, when Elliott and her father went downstairs, she followed like a silly child and said absolutely nothing.
Chapter Thirteen
Elliott followed Mr. Gold down the steps to the jewelry shop below. He smiled and nodded, making comments when needed, but his attention was centered on Amber as she trailed along behind them. She was withdrawn, her eyes haunted, and her hands clasped in front of her. Which was completely opposite of the woman he had come to know. She was unusually direct for a woman, she always held her head high, and her hands were often the most animated part of her. But not right now, and he was struggling to figure out why. If she were his mother, he’d just say she was in a mood, but Amber was the most unflappable woman he’d ever met. Until today.
And all because her father had given her a dowry?
“I cut some new stones today,” her father said as he opened the door to the back of the shop. “Why don’t you see what design you can fashion for them?”
Obviously, he was talking to Amber, who looked up at her father first, then over to Elliott. “I do not like it when you discuss my future without me.” Her voice was firm and yet still respectful.
“Then leave the door open. You can hear everything we say. But if I am to lose my best designer, then I must have a few more things to sell before she goes.”
Amber sighed. “I am your only designer.”
“Not anymore,” her father returned. “I have a new apprentice. He draws beautifully, and he began today.”
Elliott saw Amber jerk in reaction. “Papa—” she began, her voice breaking.
“You were always going to grow up, Juwel,” he said softly, using the German word for jewel. “But even so, you will always be my daughter, and whenever you wish to sculpt, you can come here.”
She said nothing, but a sheen of tears was in her eyes. Her father hugged her, and she clasped him with a grip hard enough to turn her knuckles white. It was an intimate scene, and Elliott felt his chest tighten as he watched father and daughter say good-bye. They weren’t, of course. Amber would always be welcome here, and her father would always adore her. And yet, that was the way the moment felt. As if Amber were about to leave forever.
They stood there hugging for a long, long time until Amber lowered her arms. Her cheeks were wet, and she ducked her head away from Elliott. “I’ll go see what this new apprentice has done,” she said gruffly.
Her father snorted. “Nothing good, but there is talent there.”
She nodded and went into a room deep inside the building. She turned up lamps until the room was as bright as daylight, and Elliott looked in to see a workroom with a place for cutting stones, another with pencils and paper, plus carving knives and wax, and then an entire corner given to a kiln.
“This is where I cut stones, and she designs the jewelry,” her father said proudly. “When she was a child, she would spend every extra moment in here watching me and her grandfather work. She sketched until she could carve. I had meant for her to work the front of the shop because a pretty girl always helps with sales, but her genius is here. With the wax.”
Elliott had never seen jewelry made before. He’d never even thought to ask, and so he listened with interest as her father explained. “She carves the wax and makes something like this.” He held up a ring sculpted in wax. There was a place for the stone, raised leaves to twine around it, and a thick band, all exquisitely detailed. “This is put in here,” he held up a metal flask, “and we surround it with a special plaster, then wait until it hardens. Then we put it in the kiln, and the wax melts away.”