A Risk Worth Taking Read Free Page A

succeeded in drowning his family.

Chapter 2

    W hat is going to happen to us?” Becca asked. Worry clouded her pretty features.
    Anne Carmichael dropped her gaze back to the papers in front of her, trying desperately to appear calm. How could Freddie have left them in such a precarious position? “I’m not sure, Becca, but we’ll know soon enough.”
    “Reverend Talbert said we would have to—”
    “Don’t worry,” Anne interrupted, looking up from the papers she’d been studying. “We’ll be all right.”
    Anne rubbed a hand over her eyes and noticed the confused expression on Becca’s cherub face. Thank heaven she was too young to completely understand their dire straits.
    Anne gave her younger sister a pensive smile. In looks, Rebecca was much like their mother, with her honey-blonde hair, sky-blue eyes, and face of an angel. At fifteen, she already had a hint of beauty that promised to make her one of the most sought after debutantes when she had her coming out. She was not like Anne, who was dark like her father and like Freddie had been.
    Although Anne was not plain, she did have a serious countenance many found unapproachable. It was an attribute for which she was very thankful.
    Anne sighed, then went back to the numbers in Freddie’s ledger and added them again. And again. Nothing changed. No matter how often she calculated the columns of figures, the end result was the same. They were destitute.
    “I overheard Cook tell Mr. Flounders that the new Marquess of Brentwood will come here to live.” Rebecca had resumed the nervous habit of chewing her nails. “Is it true he will get our home?”
    “Yes, it’s true.”
    “Then we will have to find someplace else to live,” Becca said matter-of-factly. “Do you have any idea where we will go?”
    Anne felt the air being sucked from her lungs. “I’m not sure. I will know more after I meet with the new marquess and Freddie’s solicitor. They will be here any moment.”
    “Do you think the marquess will be kind? Perhaps he will let us live in one of the cottages on the estate.” Rebecca voiced some of the same questions that had gone through Anne’s mind during the past month—ever since she had realized their desperate situation, and what Freddie’s death meant for them.
    “Perhaps the one the caretaker used to live in before he left,” Becca added.
    “Perhaps.” Anne tried to hide how concerned she really was. How could she give her sister an answer when she didn’t have one herself? How could she reassure Becca that everything would be all right when she didn’t think anything would ever be right again? Anne started to add the figures again, praying she’d made a mistake and the numbers would come out differently this time.
    “Will I be able to go back to school?”
    Anne glanced up. The wide-eyed anticipation in Becca’s eyes caused her heart to twist in her chest. At least Freddie had taken care of that expense for the next term, and Becca would not have to leave school. Her enrollment in Lady Agnes’s School for Young Ladies was paid for the entire year.
    Anne walked from behind the desk and took Rebecca’s hands in hers. “Of course you’ll be able to finish school. But if you don’t stop biting your nails, Lady Agnes won’t allow you to return, regardless of whether your fees have been paid or not. Lady Agnes said it took her all of two full terms to break you of that awful habit when you first came. She will never forgive me if I send you back with your nails chewed to the quick.”
    Rebecca tucked her hands in the folds of her skirt. “I have time to grow them out before I go back. I won’t have to leave you yet. Will I?”
    Anne gave her sister a quick hug. “Of course not. You will stay with me for at least a few more weeks.”
    The leaden weight in the pit of Anne’s stomach seemed even heavier. With a sense of desperation, she returned to her place behind the desk and closed the cover on the ledger that proved how