The Six-Month Marriage

by Amanda Grange

  Philip carried her down himself, setting her gently on the elegant chaise longue in the sitting room. She was able to read and, later, to enjoy receiving visitors; as many as the doctor - and Philip - would allow. He stood watch over her, and if he saw that she was tiring he brought the visits to an end.

  Sarah, Old Ned’s wife, was Madeline’s first visitor. She refused to sit down, despite Madeline’s entreaties, and said she’d just called to deliver a jar of calves’ foot jelly.

  ‘Turnabout’s fair play,’ she chuckled, referring to the time in the autumn when Madeline had taken her a jar of the same jelly to help her get over a nasty cold.

  Madeline thanked her, and as she did so she caught sight of Philip’s pleased expression. He had always been glad that she had got on so well with the tenants and labourers on the estate, and Madeline herself was pleased, too. She was very fond of the "Yorkshire folk" as Jenny called them, and she was interested to hear all about Sarah’s Christmas, and to learn that Old Ned’s rheumatism was responding well to the new ointment he was trying.

  Clarissa and Jason were the next to call. Over the ensuing days, as Madeline gradually regained her strength and vigour, they were frequent visitors to the house in York. They kept her entertained with stories of their Christmas and New Year, never over-tiring her but lifting her spirits and making her feel how fortunate she was to have such good friends.

  Towards the end of January, when Madeline had almost fully recovered, Clarissa and Jason paid another visit, and this time there was an air of suppressed excitement about them.

  ‘You’ll never guess,’ said Clarissa, beaming at Madeline.

  Madeline looked from Clarissa to Jason, and back again. They had become almost inseparable over the last few weeks, and seeing Clarissa’s beaming face Madeline guessed what she was about to say. ‘You mean . . . ?’ she began.

  ‘Yes,’ burst out Clarissa, proudly displaying a ring, ‘Jason and I are to be married!’

  Madeline had begun to suspect an attachment on seeing the two of them together during their visits to her and was overjoyed that her suspicions were correct. A few months ago, the idea that Clarissa was about to be married would have horrified her, but now she was delighted to know that Clarissa was going to become Jason’s wife.

  She congratulated her friend with a real and genuine warmth. It seemed strange to her now that she had been so afraid of marriage. She had come to realise that it held joys as well as terrors, and to realise that happy marriages existed, so that she was able to give Clarissa and Jason her heartiest congratulations.

  ‘And just when I had resigned myself to being on the shelf!’ said Clarissa.

  ‘Love is no respecter of age,’ remarked Philip, his eyes fixed warmly on Madeline.

  Clarissa looked from Philip to Madeline and back again, and with a pleased smile playing around her lips she took her leave. ‘For I have a hundred and one things to do. We mean to be married as soon as possible,’ she said as she parted from them.

  ‘And what about our marriage?’ asked Philip, when Clarissa had left.

  ‘Our marriage?’ asked Madeline, feeling her pulse begin to quicken.

  ‘I have not spoken of it to you before now,’ said Philip, sitting down beside her and taking her hand in his. ‘You were ill, the doctor had ordered you complete rest, and I did not want to unsettle you in any way.’ He hesitated for a moment, then said, ‘Madeline. I don’t want our marriage to end.’

  Madeline caught her breath. She thought of what Letitia had said on the bridge, that Philip loved her, and wondered if it could be true. But Philip himself had not said anything to her of love.

  ‘Why is it you fear marriage?’ he asked. Adding, ‘You do fear it, don’t you?’

  She nodded.

  ‘Won’t you tell me why you are afraid?’

  ‘My parents’ marriage was not a happy one,’ she said slowly. ‘My father treated my mother very badly. He belittled her at every opportunity, particularly in front of other people. It was as though he wanted to show everyone how much power he had over her. And of course he had. He was her husband; she his wife. He made her life a torment. He contradicted her at every turn. He pretended to want to know her opinion and then if she dared express it he treated it with contempt. He bullied her unmercifully. He never let her go out and did not allow her to have any friends.

  ‘And she warned me - over and over again she warned me - never to marry. Marriage, she said was a trap.’ She shuddered. ‘What I saw and heard in my childhood, together with my mother’s warning, made me determined never to marry. Once a husband has control of a wife he descends into cruelty and she is lost. Or so my mother said.’

  ‘Is that what you think would happen if our marriage became real?’ he asked.

  She frowned. ‘I cannot believe it.’

  ‘But still you fear it,’ he said, as if sensing it was so and wanting to help Madeline overcome the last of her fears. And he knew exactly how to do it. ‘Has our marriage descended into cruelty over the last few weeks?’ he asked.

  She looked puzzled. ‘No. But then ours is a sham of a marriage.’

  ‘No. Not any more. For the last three weeks it has been real. You have lost track of time, Madeline. It is almost the end of January; it is 1813 no longer, but 1814. I claimed my inheritance weeks ago. Because of your illness the lawyers came over to the house on the appointed day, instead of expecting us to go to their offices, and, bearing witness to the fact that I was married, and had been so for six months, they made the Rochdale fortune over to me. So you see, Madeline, for the last three weeks our marriage has been real.’

  ‘Real,’ she said.

  ‘Yes. Real.’ He took her hand. ‘Has it turned into a nightmare because it is real?’ he asked her, looking deep into her eyes.

  She shook her head as she felt a warm glow stealing over her. ‘No, it hasn’t.’

  ‘And it never will. Because I love you, Madeline,’ he said.

  ‘As I love you,’ she returned, feeling a great surge of happiness. But then an unwelcome thought occurred to her. ‘Letitia . . . ’

  ‘I was never in love with Letitia. Ours was nothing but a suitable match. But when I realised I loved you I told her I could never marry her. I would have told you at the time, but I did not want to cause you anxiety. I knew you felt safe with me because you thought our marriage was temporary, and I did not want to take that feeling of safety away from you.’

  ‘So that is why she tried to kill me,’ said Madeline.

  ‘Yes. I should have guessed she would do something like this. I thought at the time she seemed to take the news too calmly. I had expected her to rant and rave. But instead she said that she knew I loved you, and that she was not surprised I wanted to bring our - hers and my - agreement to an end. I was amazed at her coolness and even commented on it but she said there would be no use her making a fuss as it would not change anything and so she would wish me well instead. I should have suspected she had something planned, but I honestly believed that she had accepted the situation.’

  ‘You couldn’t have known,’ Madeline said.

  ‘No, you’re right, I couldn’t have known. If I had thought about it I could have guessed that she might make mischief, but I could never have guessed she would try to kill you. I knew she wanted to be a countess, but I never suspected that her ambition would carry her so far.’

  ‘She thought that, if I was out of the way, you would return to her,’ Madeline explained.

  Philip shook his head. ‘I would never have done so. I had realised my mistake in thinking I could every marry her. It’s strange, I think my father knew I would. I think that’s why he put the awkward clause in the will, stipulating that I would not inherit the Rochdale fortune if I married her. He wanted me to have the happiness he had had in life, you see, and to experience a love-based marriage, and he knew that with Letitia I could never do that.

  ‘And so he made it almost impossible for me to marry her. He knew I would never
give up the fortune willingly in order to marry her, because I needed it to improve the estate, and so he reasoned that I would find a way round the awkward clause. And I think he knew that this would be the way I would find: that I would take a convenient young lady as a temporary wife.

  ‘But knowing me as he did, I think he also knew that I would never go through with a sham of a marriage unless somewhere, deep at the heart of me, I knew it to be real.’

  Madeline nodded. ‘I knew it, too. I didn’t realise it at the time but I could never have made those vows if I had not, somewhere deep inside me, known you were the man I wanted to spend my life with,’ she said nestling into his arms.

  He kissed her softly on the top of her head.

  ‘Do you know?’ he said, ‘I think I’ve loved you from the moment I first saw you at Lady Appleton’s ball. That night, although I didn’t know it then, was the start of my life. I was so proud of you when we came to the Manor. You seemed to belong there, as though you were a part of the estate. And you seemed to belong in my arms. Despite the fact I wasn’t meant to be touching you, I couldn’t help it,’ he said with a smile. ‘You were just so beautiful. And then when Stuart had the audacity to suggest you should become his wife . . . ’

  Madeline looked at him in surprise.

  ‘Aunt Honoria told him that our marriage was a sham,’ he said. ‘And suggested he marry you when your marriage to me was done.’

  Madeline was amazed. ‘So that is why he paid so much attention to me. I never knew.’

  ‘She did it on purpose, of course, to make me acknowledge what I felt for you. And it worked.’

  ‘So that is why Stuart never visited us again!’ laughed Madeline.

  ‘I’m afraid I sent him off with a flea in his ear.’

  He held her close.

  ‘But I didn’t want to tell you of my feelings until the six months had run their course,’ he went on. ‘I knew you were happy and I did not want to do anything to spoil that. I thought if I could show you how warm and fulfilling marriage could be then I could overcome your aversion to being my wife.’

  ‘To being a wife,’ she corrected him. ‘Not to being your wife.’

  ‘And then I had to go away.’

  Madeline turned to him curiously. ‘Why did you go away. You have never explained.’

  Briefly, Philip told her about Jack’s message. ‘And so I wrote you a note explaining my absence —’

  ‘Which was never delivered, because Danson was in Letitia’s pay,’ said Madeline. ‘I should have given more credence to my suspicions. Jenny had warned me about his inquisitiveness, and I myself had found him kneeling outside a door. But at the time I believed what he had wanted me to believe, that he had been searching for a button, instead of realising that he had been spying on us and trying to gauge how far our relationship had gone.’

  ‘Yes. Danson was in Letitia’s pay. As was Mr Greer. But you need not be afraid of seeing them again, they have both of them been dismissed. At the time, however, I didn’t know that Danson was in Letitia’s pay and I assumed you would get the note, and that you would understand why I had had to leave. And so I went to help Jack.’

  He told her of everything that had happened at the cottage behind The King’s Head.

  ‘Was Jack badly hurt?’ asked Madeline. She was concerned for the man who had saved Philip’s life.

  ‘He was, but I sent for the doctor and stayed with him until he was out of danger.’

  ‘Then it really is over,’ said Madeline.

  ‘Yes. It is. Jack has completed his mission. There will be no more mysterious break-ins or masked men holding us up on the highway; no more shots in the grounds or vicious horsemen; and my debt to Jack is paid.’

  ‘And what of Letitia? Will she return to plague us?’

  ‘No. She has accepted the hand of the old Duke of Garton. She wanted a title and a fortune, and by her marriage she will have both. She will become a Duchess, and as the Duke is over seventy years old I have no doubt she is hoping she will soon be a wealthy widow.’

  Madeline sighed. It would be useless to try to bring Letitia to book for what she had done, as there was no proof, but at least, married to the Duke of Garton, Letitia would never try something so heinous again. She would have a reputation and a position in society to protect.

  ‘The Duke should suit Letitia,’ said Madeline.

  ‘On the face of it, yes, but not underneath.’ Philip laughed. ‘The Duke is notoriously tight-fisted, and never spends a penny of his money if he can help it! And although he is over seventy, if he takes after his father he will live until he is almost a hundred years old! But that is not our problem. The Duke lives in Edinburgh, and Letitia will live there with him. Our paths will not cross again.’

  Madeline rested her head on Philip’s shoulder. ‘It’s strange. Letitia sought to hurt me, but in the end she did quite the opposite. She told me that you loved me, thinking to mock me as I was about to die. But instead of crushing my spirit with the news she only strengthened it. If not for that, I might not have had the courage to struggle as hard as I did, but once she had told me I knew I must do everything I could in order to save myself. Because at that time I didn’t know —’ She stopped abruptly and sat up.

  ‘Didn’t know?’ he asked her.

  ‘At that time, I didn’t know that I was with child.’

  A broad smile crossed his face. ‘A baby?’ he asked in delight.

  ‘Yes. I didn’t want to tell you before I was sure, in case anything bad happened because of my ordeal, but now that I am well on the road to recovery the doctor says there is nothing to fear.’

  Philip placed his hand gently on her stomach. ‘A child,’ he said.

  Madeline put her hand over his, and felt a warm feeling of love and happiness flood her whole being. So this is marriage, she thought. A real marriage. Not one based on cruelty and power. Not one based on the need for an inheritance. But one based on love.

  If only my mother’s marriage had had the same base, thought Madeline, she need never have suffered as she did. It was not marriage that undid my mother, but a marriage without love.

  And as she realised that, she finally laid her past to rest.

  ‘I offered you my hand once before, for six months,’ said Philip. ‘Now I offer it to you for life. Will you accept it, Madeline?’

  ‘Oh, yes, Philip,’ she said. ‘I will.’

  Their six-month marriage was over. And as Madeline nestled into Philip’s arms she looked forward to all the joys and challenges their lifelong marriage would bring.

  For more Kindle books by Amanda Grange please

  visit her Kindle page on Amazon UK

  Amazon US

  Amazon DE

  Amazon FR

  Amazon IT

  Or click the links to individual titles below

  (Links to Amazon US on following page)

  Jane Austen retellings (also available in hardback and paperback)

  Darcy’s Diary

  (Pride and Prejudice)

  Mr Knightley’s Diary

  (Emma)

  Captain Wentworth’s Diary

  (Persuasion)

  Edmund Bertram’s Diary

  (Mansfield Park)

  Colonel Brandon’s Diary

  (Sense and Sensibility)

  Henry Tilney’s Diary (ebook forthcoming)

  (Northanger Abbey)

  Regency romances

  A Most Unusual Governess

  The Earl Next Door

  The Six Month Marriage

  One Snowy Night

  The Silverton Scandal

  One Night At The Abbey

  Castle of Secrets

  Edwardian romances

  That Would Be A Fairy Tale

  Titanic Affair

  (Set on board the ill-fated liner, Titanic)

  All books originally published in hardback by Robert Hale Ltd

  Except Titanic Affair, originally published in hardback by Severn House
>
  Please visit Amanda Grange’s website at http://www.amandagrange.com

  for more information

  For more Kindle books by Amanda Grange in the US,

  Please visit her Kindle page on Amazon US

  Or click the links to individual titles below

  Jane Austen retellings (also available in hardback and paperback)

  Mr Darcy’s Diary

  (Pride and Prejudice)

  Mr Knightley’s Diary

  (Emma)

  Edmund Bertram’s Diary

  (Mansfield Park)

  Colonel Brandon’s Diary

  (Sense and Sensibility)

  Captain Wentworth’s Diary

  (Persuasion)

  Henry Tilney’s Diary(forthcoming)

  (Northanger Abbey)

  Regency Romances

  A Most Unusual Governess

  The Earl Next Door

  The Six Month Marriage

  One Snowy Night

  The Silverton Scandal

  One Night At The Abbey

  Castle of Secrets

  Edwardian Romances (Downton Abbey era)

  That Would Be A Fairy Tale

  Titanic Affair

  (Set on board the ill-fated liner, Titanic)

  Please visit Amanda Grange’s website at http://www.amandagrange.com

  for more information

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen