by Georgie Lee
Chapter Eight
‘You can shift closer to me. I won’t bite,’ Silas teased.
Mary sat tucked in the corner of the hired carriage conveying them from Euston Station where the Grand Junction Railway had deposited them after carrying them to London from Birmingham. She didn’t move, not even at Silas’s invitation. If Silas experienced any of the twist of emotions surrounding her, then she hoped her presence was as much a comfort to him as his was to her. ‘I never thought I’d be back in London again.’
‘Life is strange like that sometimes, but there’s no reason to hide from it.’ He reached across the squabs and tugged her into the seat beside him.
‘I don’t want to be seen, although I doubt my parents would dare show their faces in town before the Season begins. My father wouldn’t risk being here when it isn’t fashionable, but I don’t wish to take a chance.’ Her father’s reputation had been the only thing besides his wealth that had mattered to him. If she’d been more careful with hers, she wouldn’t have to cower in the shadow of a carriage as they passed Pall Mall and St James’s Park and everything outside of the rig would have stayed as the backdrop to her life. Then again, if her father’s most pressing concerns had been her, she never would have met Silas, Ruth and Richard. All of them had shown her what true care and concern really were.
She pressed against Silas, enjoying his firm thigh next to hers in the tight confines of the hired carriage. ‘This was all so familiar to me once, a part of every year when we came to town. Now, it means nothing to me except what might have been.’
‘I know what you mean. After my father died, I used to sneak out of the house and visit the London and Greenwich Railway construction sites, especially the one near London Bridge. The railway used to run sample lines of the steam engines while they were building them to give people an idea of what was possible and I would watch those simple engines for hours. Mother hated my going there, especially on the days I was so enraptured I’d forget to run some errand she’d assigned me, but I was fascinated. When I left the Foundation to take a position in the railway office, my mother nearly disowned me. Of course, my sneaking off to do it and not telling anyone where I was for a number of days didn’t exactly quell her anxiety.’ He tapped the tip of his walking stick thoughtfully against the rough floor, then flashed a beguiling smile, but there was no missing the pain lying beneath it. He might make light of what had happened between him and his mother, but it still troubled him.
‘I imagine the money you brought in eased some of her concerns.’
‘I’m not sure it did.’ He glanced out the window as the carriage left St James’s Park and ventured into Westminster. ‘She accepted my ambition more out of necessity than anything else. Someone had to work and it couldn’t be my sisters. She’s the one who arranged for my position with Jasper and King Enterprises in Liverpool. Thankfully, my twin sister, Millie, could always be counted on to do what was expected of her. My mother only had to be disappointed in one of her offspring. When I left for Liverpool, I vowed that some day I’d be able to support them completely while doing what I have always dreamed of doing. Until I found out my money wasn’t reaching them, I thought I’d kept my promise.’
‘You did and you’re coming here to make sure they’re all right will mean a great deal to them.’
‘I hope so.’ It was the first time Silas had ever been so apprehensive and it bothered her. If someone as optimistic as him held doubts, what hope did she have for overcoming hers? Everyone lost faith in themselves at some time or another. Only most people hid it well. She was glad he wasn’t hiding his from hers. She wanted to be the person he turned to when he needed support, the way she was certain she could turn to him.
They passed beneath the shadow of the Gothic towers of Westminster Abbey, its circled stained-glass window dark from the lack of light behind it. The streets leading off the main one were a twisting maze of poverty and need in the shadow of the historic Abbey. Mary was willing to sit up closer to the window here and look out at the old building as they passed it. This wasn’t a part of London where she or any of her family members were likely to venture. If they’d ever thought of dispensing charity, it would have been through an agent, preventing them from touching the poor who lined the streets in this questionable part of town. The voices of the people calling out to one another were tinged with Irish and lower-class English accents, workers and women running errands or selling things in the street surrounding them. Some of the people paused in their business to watch the coach pass by, but the rest paid them no mind, too busy with trying to eke out a meagre living to worry about anyone but themselves and their business.
The carriage turned on to Howick Place where the street became more respectable although not out of range of the stench of the slums that were far closer than Mary imagined many of the inhabitants here would like. The carriage came to a stop in front of a solid red-brick building. Silas handed Mary out of the carriage and for a moment she felt more like the women coming here for refuge than she did Silas’s wife. In London, even with Silas’s hand in hers, it was difficult to forget her past. It was practically choking her.
‘As the daughter of an earl, I imagine you’ve never been this deep into London,’ Silas teased, escorting her up the small walk. Behind them, Tibbs worked with the driver to unload their things.
‘The disgraced daughter of an earl,’ Mary muttered. This was the first test of whether or not Silas’s assurances that her past would not matter to them would prove to be true. It was hard to imagine that his mother wouldn’t sneer down her nose at Mary for sullying her son.
‘The daughter of an earl and the wife of a prosperous Baltimore businessman who happens to be the grandson of an earl.’ Silas slipped two fingers under her chin and raised it up. ‘Never forget either of those things, no matter what people tell you. You are someone worthy of their respect, mine and your own.’
His words gave her a measure of confidence even if she didn’t entirely believe them. It was time to stop courting troubles with her worries and face whatever waited for her. As Richard had said, none of her fears might ever come to pass. ‘Yes, you’re right.’
She marched up the walk, took hold of the dull brass door knocker and banged it hard against the strike plate. Silas joined her, sliding her a sideway impressed smile before the click of the lock made them both face forward.
‘Silas! I can’t believe it’s you. Mother, Silas is here!’ A young woman with Silas’s eyes encircled by glasses cried when she opened the door before throwing herself into his arms to greet him with squeals and hugs. Then she stepped back, admiring his fine suit and sliding the gold watch out of the pocket by its chain. ‘Look at you. If I didn’t know you, I’d think you one of those titled men who drive their carriages in Rotten Row during the fashionable hour.’
‘What do you know of Rotten Row and the fashionable hour?’ Silas shot back, picking the young woman up by her waist and swinging her around to make her laugh. It delighted Mary to see and saddened her at the same time. Her family would never give her this warm a welcome if she ever turned up unannounced on their doorstep. They would slam the oak doors in her face. Even if she hadn’t been cast out, no husband, not even one with an estate and lineages more ancient than hers, was ever likely to get such an effusive greeting from either of Mary’s parents or her siblings. Simple nods of approval would be all they could expect, even from Jane who would be forced by their father to restrain herself. It was a joy to see not all families were so stingy with their affection.
‘You aren’t the only one who’s risen in the world.’ Lottie held out her ring finger to Silas when he set her down, revealing the wedding band adorning it. ‘Jasper King and I are married.’
* * *
‘You and Jasper?’ Silas marvelled at the ring on Lottie’s finger, and the changes that the years since he’d last seen her had wrought. Gone was the childish younger sister. She
was replaced by a grown woman who wore her curly hair up, the wildness of it tamed by the hand of a lady’s maid and the help of fine tortoiseshell combs. The shapeless dress that used to hang on her slender little form had been replaced by a more fashionable gown that revealed the loss of her childish angles and gangling limbs to those of a woman old enough to be a wife and possibly a mother. That it should be Jasper who’d caught Lottie’s heart amazed him. While Silas admired and respected Jasper, he thought him a touch too serious for Lottie’s more mercurial personality, but perhaps this was why they’d been drawn to one another. He could imagine Lottie softening Jasper’s tough edges while Jasper helped temper Lottie’s impulsiveness. ‘Why didn’t one of you write and tell me the good news?’
‘I did, we all did, except Mother, of course, you know how she is, but you never wrote back. We thought something might have happened until we received your letter at Christmas. It was the best present ever until this moment.’
Silas frowned, not sure which troubled him most, that his letters had never reached them or that his mother, even when there was a possibility that something was wrong with him, hadn’t sent a letter. It set him on edge about meeting her again. Clearly, she hadn’t forgiven him for sneaking away from England. ‘I heard from my English agent that you might be in financial straits.’
Lottie’s smile faltered, but in true Lottie fashion her worry didn’t last long. ‘We aren’t any more. My marriage took so much worry off Mother’s shoulders and Jasper has been no end of help to us when your money stopped coming and while we waited to hear from you.’
Silas tightened his grip on his walking stick. He was glad there’d been others to keep his family from ruin when he wasn’t here to do so, but it irked him to think another man had been forced to step in and take care of them the way his father had expected him to do, the way any dutiful son should have gladly done.
‘With you here, it’ll be like old times with all of us together, the house full of noise and people and all our plans, perhaps even with little children soon.’ She turned to Mary, eyeing her with an eagerness that made Mary step back before Silas wrapped one arm around her waist and drew her forward. ‘Lottie, allow me to introduce my wife, Lady Mary. Mary, this is my younger sister, Lottie.’
‘You’re married and to a lady of all people. It’s wonderful to meet you, Mary.’
* * *
Lottie threw her arms around Mary who stood in the grip of her hug, overwhelmed and awed by the young woman’s exuberant welcome. ‘Mother and Millie are going to be amazed when they find out you’re here.’
Mary didn’t share the girl’s certainty as she glanced over Lottie’s shoulder at the empty entrance hallway, waiting for Mrs Fairclough to appear and throw her out of the house.
No, stop being so afraid.
Mary hugged Lottie back with genuine appreciation of her acceptance, trying to do what Richard had said and live with things as they were instead of worrying about what might be. For the moment Silas’s sister accepted her and she would enjoy it.
‘Of all the times for your letters to go astray,’ Lottie said when she finally let go of Mary.
‘You wouldn’t have heard of it through the post,’ Silas said. ‘We wed before we left, I didn’t have time to write of the good news.’
‘Then I’m glad you could tell me in person.’ Lottie waved for Silas and Mary to follow her into the front sitting room. ‘I don’t know where Mother has gone off to, probably the Foundation, but she should be back soon. Sally, please bring in a tea,’ she instructed the young maid before Lottie dropped into a chintz chair by the window. ‘We all thought something had happened to you. Mother said we shouldn’t worry because if something had happened then Mr Jackson would send word, but when we hadn’t heard from you or received your money we couldn’t help but worry.’
‘I’ll get to the bottom of those missing letters and the missing bank drafts, and so many other things while I’m here.’ Silas set his hat and stick down and sat on the sofa beside Mary.
The gathering was cosy and warm even while Mary waited on the edge of the cushion for Silas’s mother to appear. Mary hoped the welcome continued when Mrs Fairclough did arrive for she longed to revel in this comfort for as long as possible. As a child and even a young woman, she’d never experienced a sitting room this inviting until she’d lived with Ruth and Richard. It was the kind of home she longed to create with Silas in Baltimore.
Tibbs passed by in the hallway, the driver with their bags following behind him as Sally led them to Silas’s room upstairs.
‘A valet, too. Silas, what will you amaze us with next?’ Lottie teased. ‘The best part is you will both be here for Millie and Cassius’s wedding ball.’
* * *
‘Millie is married, too?’ Silas gaped. While he’d been in America his sisters had grown up. Their lives had changed and he hadn’t been here to witness it. Instead, all he’d been able to see was his ambitions for his railroad. He should have been here for the weddings, stood in his father’s place to give his sisters away, especially now with travel between England and America so much easier. Instead, it’d fallen to other men to act in his place. He could only imagine what his father would have said if he’d been here and what his mother must think. ‘Who’s the lucky man? Someone else I know?’
‘You won’t believe it. Millie married the Marquess of Falconmore. It was all very hurried and almost a scandal when rumours about Millie and Lord Falconmore spending the night alone together in a gardener’s house began to circulate in the village near Lady Alexandra’s. It turns out the gardener was Lord Falconmore himself.’
‘What was a marquess doing in a gardener’s house?’ Silas couldn’t believe that Millie, who’d seen enough heartache from the women of the Foundation to know better, had involved herself in an illicit affair, especially with a man of such high rank.
‘He was avoiding his cousin’s widow who had her eye on him. Except it was Millie who landed him first, but don’t worry, you won’t have to call out Lord Falconmore to defend Millie’s honour. He did the honourable thing, not that he did it against his will. When you see them together you’ll know they’re in love.’
‘Then I’m glad I’m here to meet the new Marchioness.’ It didn’t seem possible, but Silas was already thinking of ways he could invite Millie and her illustrious husband to America, to have them visit his railroad and make a show of them to Baltimore society and his investors. Mary would know how to fête such a man. Silas turned to her to say something about it and caught the look of near panic on her face before she concealed it with a forced smile. He wondered what about the mention of Millie’s titled husband had frightened her. He couldn’t have been the one who’d caused her trouble, could he? He doubted his sensible sister would marry a man with a rakish past that included ruining a woman. He’d speak to Mary about it later. ‘Do we all have to bow to Millie now?’
‘She’ll take precedence at the table along with her husband, but we won’t have to address either of them as Your Grace,’ Mary answered as if she were being questioned by her governess.
Lottie gave Silas a strange, questioning look.
‘Mary is the Earl of Ashford’s eldest daughter,’ he stated simply, but it wasn’t enough to stop Lottie from going wide eyed at the announcement.
She slapped him on the lapel. ‘Silas, you never cease to surprise any of us.’
‘Indeed, he doesn’t,’ Jasper King concurred as he entered the room, limping with each step. The remnants of his old injury didn’t slow him much, though, as he moved with surety and purpose towards Silas who rose to shake his mentor’s hand.
‘Jasper, it’s great to see you. Congratulations on your marriage.’
‘Thank you.’ Jasper was taller than Silas and more slender with black hair and brown eyes that shone with his good humour and the excitement of seeing his former apprentice again. ‘I’ve been following t
he progress of the Baltimore Southern Railroad. If I’d have had any sense when you were in Liverpool, I would’ve listened to all your ideas about the railways and we’d have you instead of the Yanks.’
Silas introduced Jasper to Mary. ‘This is the man who recommended me to Richard. We owe him everything.’
‘Then I’m even more grateful to you than my husband is,’ Mary said. Jasper took the chair closest to her on the sofa and the two of them discussed Richard, leaving Silas to Lottie.
‘How did you find the daughter of an earl in America?’ Lottie’s question was straightforward and indelicate in the way only a younger sister’s could be. ‘The hoi polloi don’t usually allow their daughters to wander about like that to be picked up by any old flotsam, no matter who our grandfather is.’
‘I’ll leave that to Mary to explain if she decides to engage in any feminine talk with you—after all, you’re both married women.’ Silas took his sister’s hands. ‘It’s hard to believe you and Millie are married. I wish I could’ve been here for the weddings.’
‘You were with us in spirit, you always are. But don’t worry, there are still bills to be paid from all the recent nuptials. You can be with us in that, too.’
‘Speaking of which, where is Mother?’
‘Silas!’ His mother’s voice rang out as if she’d heard people speaking about her.
She entered the room, her green eyes boring into him with the same seriousness as when she’d faced him in the hallway outside his father’s sick room. The Foundation and everyone in it fell away and Silas was fifteen again, the weight of a world he did not want settling hard on his shoulders along with the conflict between following his own path and the one being dictated to him by others.