The cook narrowed her eyes, but she remained smiling.
“Often opposites attract, Selina. Alexander may believe that Lavinia suits him perfectly. Although I am also of the mind to find that they are an odd couple.”
Glad that Mrs Albermarle agreed with her, she pressed on.
“So, his childhood? Parents? I remember that you said he was friendly with the servants.”
“Servants, animals, the less fortunate–the list goes on,” the woman replied. “Probably stemmed from the fact that his mother was a commoner.”
That certainly surprised Selina. “A commoner? But was his father not a baronet?”
She had never heard of a member of the peerage marrying below their class. Higher, certainly, but not a commoner.
“Alexander’s father was not a man who put on airs. The story goes that one day he happened to be travelling through London when his carriage nearly rode over a young woman who seemed to have fainted dead away on the street. Charles–Alexander’s father–wasted no time in lifting her into his carriage, much to the dismay of the woman he had been courting at the time. By that time he had been getting on in years and was looking for a wife to make his grand estate a home. Charles took her to a doctor and paid for her to be looked after and nursed back to health in one of his own townhouses. It was a scandal back then, I tell you.”
Selina could quite well imagine how much of a scandal it must have been. Cavorting with a commoner was not something the peerage took lightly. They seemed to think it acceptable to sow their wild oats wherever they wished, but heaven forbid should they show interest in a commoner.
“What happened next? How did he go from helping her to marrying her?”
“There are many stories involving how this took place. Some of those stories are vile, and others quite fanciful. I knew Emma–the woman–quite well before she passed away, and thus I believe that I have the true story of how marriage came to be on the cards.”
Mrs Albermarle paused, which Selina believed quite dramatic, but she couldn’t deny her interest in the story.
“Do go on, Mrs Albermarle.”
“Very well. As payment for all Charles had done for her, she offered to work for him. Charles, needing a housekeeper as the other one had recently passed away at the time, agreed and brought her home. I believe that Emma was quite enamoured with him but never did anything about it. It was Charles himself who would seek her out, speak with her, and sometimes even share a meal with her. He was a good twenty years older than her, but that never did bother her. He was the man that saved her life and brought her out of poverty into security–she felt that she owed him her life. Charles soon fell in love with her, seeing the quiet and strong spirit within her. I believe it took a year from the moment of their meeting to their wedding day.”
This all sounded terribly romantic to Selina. This was a love story that had crossed boundaries and won. I cannot help thinking that if I were a man, I would not be so heavily opposed when expressing my desire to marry a commoner.
“I expect that they lived happily ever after?”
Mrs Albermarle sighed. “Yes and no. Emma never truly recovered from her illness, but she was adamant that she would give Charles an heir. He would have gone without an heir if it meant keeping her alive for another year, but Emma knew her duty as a woman. The following year Alexander was born, a healthy boy and the apple of his father’s eye. Emma lived ten years after that before quietly dying in her sleep.”
“Oh, how heart breaking! And Alex only ten years old?!”
“Yes, it was a dark time indeed in the Russell home. Charles, although he tried to remain strong for his son, couldn’t survive without Emma. He died a few months later, leaving Alexander the only heir as well as an orphan.”
Selina felt a bit teary-eyed as she imagined how alone Alex must have felt having lost both his parents in such a short space of time. Her heart went out to the ten-year-old boy and the tragedy he had to deal with at such a tender age.
“Was he sent to live with relatives, then?”
“Oh no, the staff raised him. They all loved him and had a hand in his upbringing. From a young age, Emma taught her son to respect all people from all walks of life, regardless of their social class. She was never ashamed to tell him her own beginnings in poverty. Her last parting words to him had been to remind him to see the goodness in all people and treat each and every person as an equal and show kindness to all. Alexander took that to heart, and I believe that he still lives according to this way of seeing things.”
Selina could finally see why Alex had been the way he was at the river. That was truly him, and the title was just something that he had inherited. It didn’t make him a pompous fool or a self-centred man. I fear that I have made a terrible mistake, but how can I ever go to him when he is now with Lavinia? But if she makes him happy, then I will take a step back and wish them well. The thought of doing so lay like a heavy stone around her neck, and she hung her head in misery. Selina expected their engagement to be announced soon, so it was best that she grow used to thinking of them together than fighting it. She stood up, needing some time to herself in her room.
“Thank you for telling me, Mrs Albermarle. Knowing all of this certainly gives me a different aspect of him. Now, I must retire to my room–I feel quite fatigued.”
Selina left the kitchen in low spirits and a resignation to accept her fate.
“I have been a difficult person to deal with, and all for what purpose?”
She climbed the stairs, her footsteps heavy and slow.
“When did I become so selfish and stubborn that I ignored the signs right before my eyes? His only sin was not to inform me of his title. Surely that wasn’t enough for me to drive away a man who seemed to be the perfect mixture of what I expect in a husband and what my family expects?”
She had driven him into the arms of another woman, and she couldn’t even be mad about it.
“What purpose would there be in that?”
Selina entered her room, not bothering to undress as she got into bed.
“Perhaps it is only right for me to marry whoever it is that Aunt Dorothy finds suitable.”
With that in mind, she drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 14
The courtyard was the perfect place to sketch all that was happening outside her uncle’s estate without needing to actually leave the grounds. Every now and then a carriage would pass by, or people would be strolling about. Some of them greeted, but most gave her side looks and hurried past.
“Will those ridiculous rumours forever haunt me?”
It had been weeks since she had last seen Alex, and yet people were still harbouring the belief that something inappropriate had happened between them.
“He is soon to be married, for goodness sake! Can they not just put that behind them and focus on something else?”
However, in a few days their opinions would not matter as her father had decided that it was time they return to their own home. Christmas was a mere few weeks away, and they had traditions that could only be fulfilled in the comfort of their own home. Selina suspected that it had a lot to do with her lack of a suitor and the serious nature of Ophelia’s relationship with Thomas. Where her mother would love for her youngest to get married, their father believed that sixteen was far too young for his standards.
“I just do not believe that he is prepared to lose any of his daughters to matrimony just yet.”
Both her mother and Ophelia had protested, but her father’s word was law. He seldom exercised the rights that his position and gender gave him, but he did when it was needed. Selina was actually looking forward to going home, seeing their servants and animals, and just being in her own space.
“Then I can put all of this drama firmly behind me and concentrate on my future.”
She wasn’t sure about where she was heading, but she hoped that it would at least make her happy.
“Willoughby would not have made me happy, that is for
certain.”
Just as well as the man had ceased to come to the house, even when invited by Aunt Dorothy. She blamed this on Selina, of course, believing her to have been rude by leaving the dinner table before the meal had even concluded. She couldn’t say that she was sorry to see him go, but after his third decline to a dinner or lunch, Aunt Dorothy had become rather resentful of her.
“She is accustomed to things going her way, and I have made her lose her winning streak. No doubt she told one of her friends that she would have me married before Christmas.”
Her aunt was a woman like that: confident, firm, and critical.
“I will no longer be her problem once I return home. Poor Mama. She was hoping for a match.”
The only man that she could have happily matched with was no longer available, and she could only blame herself.
“Ugh, Selina! There is no use thinking about this now. Just sketch.”
She bent her head and continued to sketch, smudging lines here and there to create texture and depth. The picture was coming along rather nicely, but it held none of the cheeriness of her previous sketches.
“Probably because I am not happy. But I shall soon get over my melancholy and resume my life. Alex was but a chapter of my life, and I need to close it.”
It didn’t help that she was reliving their brief moments together during quiet moments. Her sister’s animated chatter was a welcome noise because it drowned out his voice in her head. Only those chats had become fewer as she spent a lot of her time with Thomas. Aunt Dorothy made sure that they were chaperoned whenever necessary, but plenty a time she had seen them go for a stroll and return with shining eyes and pink cheeks. A stolen kiss here and there was not a serious matter, but she hoped that her sister was wise enough not to make the mistake that she could be heading towards.
“She has a good head on her shoulders; I am sure that she will be okay.”
And Thomas seemed respectful and utterly besotted with Ophelia. They were expecting a marriage proposal soon, but her father would hear nothing of it.
“Time will tell if their love is strong enough to withstand a year or two.”
A carriage approached, and she immediately glanced up. It was still some distance away, but she could make out the shape of a woman and a man sitting beside her. Their body language spoke of intimacy, so she assumed it to be a married couple. A prickling sensation started on the back of her neck. She rubbed the area, watching with curiosity as it drew nearer. The woman’s identity became visible as she turned to look her direction.
“Lavinia?”
For a gut-wrenching moment, she believed the gentleman to be Alex, but common sense came to the rescue. The man was fair where Alex was dark, and his frame was more slender. Alex had a working man’s frame–fit, well-built, and strong. She breathed a sigh of relief, waiting for her racing heart to calm down. Then who was sitting beside her? Surely Alex would not be happy if he found out that the woman he was courting was gallivanting with another man?
“And unchaperoned!”
Why would Lavinia risk her reputation in such a public way? Selina started when she realised just who the gentleman was.
“Willoughby?”
She narrowed her eyes, certain that she must be seeing things. But sure enough, Simon Willoughby sat beside Lavinia, holding her hand and whispering in her ear. The woman giggled, apparently finding whatever Willoughby had said to be funny.
“Do my eyes deceive me?”
She rubbed them for good measure, smudging her face with chalk-messed hands in the process. When had this happened? Just the other day Willoughby had spoken about Lavinia and Alex, and now this? Before she realised what she was doing, she was halfway to their carriage, intending to stop them before they passed her. She purposefully stood in the middle of the road, making the carriage driver stop. Both Lavinia and Willoughby looked forward, their foreheads puckered.
“Miss Seymour?” Willoughby said.
“Good day to you, Mr Willoughby, Lavinia.”
Lavinia narrowed her eyes. “Good day, Selina. Would you mind moving to the side?”
“Certainly.” But she didn’t move. “Cold day today. It is not the best of days to ride in an open carriage.”
“We are aware of that, Miss Seymour,” Willoughby said. “Which is why we must be going–dear Lavinia and I wish to change carriages before our journey to London.”
London? And they were travelling together. Mr Mostyn would never allow this to happen ... unless they were already married?
“I have not been to London in quite some time. Will you be going for business purposes?”
“Selina, you are wasting our time, but if you must know, dear Simon is taking me shopping.”
Lavinia would never stoop to being a man’s mistress, would she?
“Shopping? I gather that you will find some fine dresses there. Will your mother be accompanying you, Lavinia?”
“And why should she do that?” asked Willoughby. “My wife and I are taking this trip alone. I intend to spoil her.”
And there it was. Selina couldn’t stop her smile from forming.
“Congratulations! I had no notion that you would be married! Have you been courting for some time?”
Willoughby opened his mouth to reply, but Lavinia got there first.
“We really must be going. Farewell, Selina.”
“You are quite right, dear. I bid you a good day, Miss Seymour.” He hit the carriage with his stick. “Tate, onwards.”
The driver got the horses moving again, and she watched them drive away until she couldn’t see them anymore.
“Of all the things ...What could have happened?”
Selina was shocked. It must have just been another rumour. Her shock was quickly replaced by shame.
“Did I ever stop to question the rumour? I accepted it without truly giving it much thought. Is that not what everyone else did when it concerned the rumour involving Alex and I?”
Selina prided herself on being a woman who was not easily given into rumours but sought out the facts, and, once she had them, make an informed decision. More often than not, she never paid much attention to rumours.
“And yet I was ready to believe that Alex was courting Lavinia and that my chances were non-existent. What a fool I have been!”
Alex had come over to the house three times in the last couple of weeks, but she had avoided him like the plague, claiming dizzy spells, a headache, and anything else that would remove her from his presence.
“I effectively chased him away because I allowed my imagination to run off, convinced that he would be married to her at any time.”
What must he have thought of her?
“He surely must have noticed that I was avoiding him? I was painfully obvious!”
Was she able to right her wrongs with him? It seemed that she had much to apologise for.
“I would settle for being his friend, although my heart seems to be swimming in another direction. Will he forgive me for my foolery? What could I possibly say to him to justify my actions?”
Even if he decided to remove her from his life, at least he would know of how sorry she was. Selina was determined to do the right thing, but she just wasn’t quite sure how to go about doing it. Perhaps Ophelia could assist her.
Selina was still deep in thought when she returned to the house. She had not yet reached the door when her sister came rushing out towards her.
A Charming Lady for the Intriguing Baronet: A Historical Regency Romance Book Page 24