Love For The Spinster (Women 0f Worth Book 2)

by Kasey Stockton

  “Daniel only told me that there is a horse in London he has been wanting to look at, and he’s been putting it off for a few weeks now. I could tell he was deeply troubled. He went to clear his mind, I am sure. You could both use a good deal of space, I believe.”

  Mrs. Overton was wildly observant. She obviously could see the larger issue and was offering her support. Sure, I paid her for her services as a companion, but I believed she was coming to me as a friend. Furthermore, I knew I could trust her.

  I released a shuddering breath. “It will never work. There are larger things at play here, things that Daniel could never know and possibly never forgive.” I glanced away, my voice growing softer. “Even if he chose to weather the storm with me, I could not do that to him. I could never ask him to give up his social standing for such a small thing.”

  “Your heart is no small thing.”

  I smiled despite my sorrow. “I was referring to marriage.”

  Mrs. Overton chuckled; the sound a balm on my weathered, broken spirit. “I am going to share a story now and then I shall leave you be.”

  I looked at her, prepared to hear the same arguments I had received countless times from my mother and other well-meaning, and sometimes not so well-meaning Society matrons.

  She began. “I was married briefly as a young woman. The man was not kind, and he did not treat me well, but I had made a vow and because of that, I chose not to leave him. When I received word that Daniel’s parents were both dead and the babe needed a home, I feared for his safety if he were to stay with me, so I had him placed with my neighbor.

  “One night my husband did not come home. It was not so uncommon, for he liked his drink and would sometimes fall asleep in the pub or on the street. This time was different, however, and I knew within my soul something was wrong. My neighbor came to me in the middle of the night to tell me my husband had been in a brawl that evening which cost him his life.”

  “Oh, Mrs. Overton, I am so sorry.”

  She shook her head. “You needn’t be. I considered it a gift from God, fell asleep and promptly went to retrieve Daniel the following morning. I may not have had much, but I have had peace ever since.”

  Nodding, I could not help but feel confused. If it was her intention to confirm that marriage was not a good idea, then she succeeded.

  A smile tipped her pale lips. “I can see you do not follow. I was grateful for my husband. If I was unwed, I couldn’t have taken Daniel in at all, for I would not have had the home and income my husband provided for me. It seems odd to be grateful for my trials, but each of them built me up to become the strong, independent woman I needed to be, for Daniel’s sake.”

  “He was fortunate to have you.”

  “And he would have likely done just as well with my dear neighbors had my husband survived and I never went to claim him as a babe. The idea that we only have one clear path is not one that I subscribe to. There are many good choices, each of them worthy in their own way. What you must do is decide which path you are meant to take and then do not look over your shoulder. It does not heed one to constantly consider the past, for then we have no clear view of the future.”

  I looked toward the French doors that opened to the garden. Nodding, I stood. “I am going to walk outside and clear my mind. Thank you, Mrs. Overton. You have given me much to consider.”

  Whether she responded or not, I did not notice. My feet led me outside to the garden entrance and I opened the iron gate, stepping inside and pausing. Two paths lay before me. If I walked to the left, I would be led straight toward the hidden oasis. Right, on the other hand, would detour me through the roses and past the fountain depicting a couple dancing.

  I wound my way through the path to the right, passing rosebuds tipped with dew. The fountain did not seem as horrible to me anymore, and I sat on the ledge, dropping my shoulders.

  Mrs. Overton was a wise woman. It did not matter, perhaps, which path I chose, for either way I would someday end up in my own oasis.

  But did I want to take the straight lane, or wander through the roses first?

  Chapter 25

  Rosalynn arrived with her family in tow on a crisp, clear morning. Much of the previous week had been laden with rain and the occasional thunderstorm. The heavens had parted and were grieving with me, for Mrs. Overton had allowed me a fresh perspective and with it, I had made a decision.

  “Elsie should not be too far behind us,” Rosie said, coming toward me with a glowing countenance. Her sons exited the carriage behind her and ran to me, exclaiming all at once, while a maid behind them carried a small blanket-wrapped bundle.

  “Boys!” Lord McGregor commanded from atop his horse, and they all fell into line, one of the younger twins dawdling toward the front door of the house. Their father jumped down from his steed and came to stand beside his wife.

  “Good day, Miss Hurst. Thank you for putting up with the lot of us.”

  I couldn’t help but grin at his disparaging words. It was apparent he did not mean them. “You lot are welcome here any time. Come inside and Mrs. Lewis will show you to your rooms.”

  “Is there a nursery, perhaps?” Rosalynn asked.

  I nodded, turning for the door. She walked beside me. “There is. My maids have removed the dust this week. I’m afraid it is a little outdated, but it should suit for the time being.”

  “Thank you, Freya. You are such a gem.”

  I informed Mrs. Lewis of the additional impending guests and Rosalynn and her family were led away, their servants unloading trunks and bags and carrying them upstairs to the newly renovated guest rooms. I took myself into the drawing room and ordered tea, awaiting Elsie and her husband.

  Voices reached me from the foyer and I crossed to the hallway. I rounded the corner and stilled, my gaze falling on the last man I expected to see. A few days ago, I’d given up waiting for him to return. Now, however, I felt unprepared for the wash of emotions that flowed through me from simply hearing his voice.

  A knock came at the door and Harrison stepped forward to open it, allowing Elsie and Lord Cameron entrance. I watched from afar as Harrison made proper introductions. Elsie glanced over Daniel’s shoulder and her face lit up.

  “Freya!” she called, excusing herself from Daniel and her husband and scurrying down the hallway to embrace me. I felt her cool hands come around me, pulling me tight against her, as Daniel looked over his shoulder and caught my eye.

  As soon as he looked at me, he glanced away again. Saying something to Lord Cameron, he turned toward us and began walking down the hall, his gaze on everything but my face. Anticipation skittered over my limbs as Elsie pulled away and I watched Daniel closely as he came toward me.

  Offering me a small, emotionless smile at the last moment, he turned down the hall and let himself into his office.

  Crestfallen, I spun for the drawing room. “Please come in and have some tea,” I said over my shoulder. I was glad my emotions did not make themselves clear in my voice. Or so I hoped.

  “It was wicked of us to come unannounced,” Elsie said, “but we just couldn’t resist.”

  “You are welcome here any time, which I believe you know very well.”

  She dropped onto the wingback chair opposite me. “Yes, I may have assumed.”

  I heard Lord Cameron speaking to Lord McGregor in the hall before they came into the drawing room, bowing and delivering proper greetings.

  Rosalynn flounced into the room behind them, coming to sit right beside me with her new baby in her arms. “Isn’t he lovely?” she asked.

  She tipped her arms to give me a better view and I pulled the blanket away from his face. He scrunched up his little nose, squeezing his eyes closed and turning away from me. My heart squeezed and I could not help the emotion that displayed itself in my eyes.

  “He is beautiful,” I agreed.

  I glanced up and caught Elsie watching us, her face a mixture of love and grief. “May I hold him?” she asked.

  Rosalynn p
assed her son to his aunt before settling herself on the sofa, Lord McGregor coming to sit beside her. I watched Elsie hold little David, gazing at him with love and longing.

  Mrs. Overton came into the room and I stood at once. “Please come and sit down,” I said. Lord Cameron shot up and moved toward her, offering his arm before escorting her to the seat he had occupied. He took the smaller chair to the side and leaned back, his ankle coming to rest on his knee.

  “Mrs. Overton,” I said, “please let me introduce my dear friends. This is Lady McGregor and her husband, Lord McGregor. The baby there is their son, David, and holding him is Lady Cameron Nichols, and her husband Lord Cameron Nichols.”

  I paused on Lord Cameron. He watched his wife with such love that I wanted to get up and flee the room. It was unfair that such a deserving couple would remain childless. It was not right.

  “I have planned a picnic for tomorrow,” I said, trying to distract myself. “I hoped we could walk to the wood. There is a charming little creek nestled into the trees and I’m sure the boys will find all manner of frogs and other slimy creatures.”

  “That sounds splendid,” Lord McGregor said. “I have only one request.”

  “Yes?”

  “Please force them to leave their spoils here when we depart for home.”

  “You mean you do not want to fill our carriage with frogs and snakes?” Rosalynn asked, affronted.

  He returned her jest with a dry look and I stood abruptly, the playful banter too much to bear. I did not know why it bothered me so deeply, but it did. Five sets of confused eyes blinked up at me. “I am going to check in with Mrs. Lewis. I will return shortly. In the meantime, Mrs. Overton can help you find anything you might need.”

  I fled the room and turned up the stairs. I lifted my skirts and held the bannister, recalling the painful bruise I acquired when I tripped on the steps a few weeks before, the pain from that day slowing my ascent.

  “Mrs. Lewis?” I called, coming upon her in the spare bedroom further down the hall. “Do you have everything you need?”

  She handed a pile of linens to the curly haired maid and came to me. “We have everything under control. There are plenty of linens and plenty of usable rooms now, so you may rest at ease.”

  “Wonderful.” I left them to prepare the Nichols’ room and slowly meandered toward the stairs, taking my time in returning. It was not right to escape my guests within minutes of their arrival and I needed to come to terms with my recent desires and file them away to consider at a later time. At the present, I needed to play hostess.

  However, upon returning to my guests, I found myself fastened to the floor in the drawing room entrance, my eyes fixed on Daniel and refusing to move.

  I caught Mrs. Overton’s knowing gaze and snapped out of it, moving back to the sofa and sitting beside Rosalynn.

  “There is so much news from Town,” Rosalynn said. “I vow, this was the most dramatic Season yet.”

  “I believe they are all overly dramatic,” Elsie said. “Which is why I’ve done my part to avoid them for so long.”

  “That is why you wanted to spend those extra months in India?” Lord Cameron asked, a smile betraying his playful words.

  Elsie ignored him, smiling at a small David who seemed to be just waking up. When he began to cry, Rosalynn was on her feet at once, taking him from Elsie’s reluctant arms.

  “I better deliver him to his nurse,” she said. “He is bound to be hungry.”

  Lord Cameron turned toward my steward. “Mr. Bryce, I would love a tour of the grounds if you think you’ve got the time.”

  “Was my tour insufficient?” I asked facetiously.

  “Of course not,” Lord Cameron answered. “I am simply looking for an excuse to beg your steward to show me his horses.”

  Mrs. Overton laughed. “That was all you needed to say, dear. Daniel jumps at the chance to show off his stables.”

  “And take the horses out for rides?” Lord Cameron asked.

  Daniel grinned, and my heart turned over. “Shall we?”

  The men departed at once and I was able, immediately, to relax. Daniel avoided my face in company, and I found myself watching him all the more for it. I had hoped when he returned we would be able to speak and put the past behind us, but it seemed he was bent on avoiding me instead.

  Chapter 26

  I led Rosalynn’s boys into the wood as the servants cleaned up the remnants of our picnic. We headed down the path that led toward the creek, Elsie close behind me, Rosalynn and their husbands lagging in the rear.

  “I want to catch a frog!” Harry, one of the fire-haired twins shouted.

  “I’m going to catch ten frogs,” his twin countered.

  I couldn’t help but grin when they came upon the water’s edge and peered into the stream as if the frogs themselves would jump from the safety of their home, directly into their small hands. They began whispering to one another and Elsie came up beside me, holding the hand of James, the younger McGregor child.

  “This place is an oasis,” she said, peering at the canopy of trees over our heads.

  I considered my small garden getaway. It was true—I had more than one place where I might find a little escape. It soothed my heart to think of it.

  “You have a lovely home, Freya. Do you plan to remain here?”

  I watched the older twins squat near the rocks, testing the water with their small, pudgy fingers.

  “Yes,” I answered simply. “I suppose this was not what I envisioned for myself. But I did not realize the monotony of my life in London before I came here and experienced the fresh air.”

  She smiled playfully. “And your father had nothing to do with that, naturally.”

  “I am not so prideful to admit he may have played a part in chasing me from Town, but I did not intend to remain at Corden Hall. My plan was to escape until I could assess the situation and create a plan for which to continue on.”

  Her face softened and she bit her lip. “I fear you will not want to return anytime soon. Sophie Hurst has created quite a splash for herself. She is, I believe, the most discussed woman in London.”

  “You were once the most discussed woman in London,” I reminded her.

  “True. Though I did not relish it. I believe Sophie does.”

  We stood in silence, watching the boys play in the water. They had discovered an animal of some sort and were quietly stalking it together. I glanced over my shoulder, but the rest of the party had yet to make an appearance.

  “Did you ever speak to her?” I asked, unable to help myself. My curiosity was both real and immense, and I felt all the more vulnerable for it.

  She nodded. “I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to know the sort of person she was.”

  I watched her expectantly.

  “You may share a father, Freya, but I am of the opinion that your mothers played the largest role in shaping the character in each of you.”

  “Elsie, could you be more vague?”

  She grinned. “I was trying to be courteous.”

  “So she is a monster?”

  “She is absolutely horrid. She positively deserves attaining Lady Melbourne as a relative,” Elsie said, covering her face momentarily with her one free hand. “But you cannot repeat that. I feel horrible for merely saying the words aloud.”

  “You have eased my mind, if that is any consolation,” I said.

  “Freya, may I speak plainly?”

  “Have you not been already?”

  She led Harry toward his brothers and pointed out the frog who continued to miss their darting hands. He sat beside them on the bank, enthralled, and she returned to my side. “You have more grace and compassion than most of the Fashionable World, and the ton was stifling your playful nature. The Freya I knew before your father’s scandal has long been missing, and I have only begun seeing glimpses of her return since you’ve come to Corden Hall. It is perhaps a blessing you were forced into this change, for it allowed you to grow and blos
som and rediscover your essential qualities, however difficult that might be to admit.”

  “I will readily admit it,” I countered. “But I largely attribute it to Linshire’s lack of knowledge. If they knew the details of my birth, I would likely be in the same state I was in London. I honestly do not know what I will do if the truth becomes known.”

  “You will adjust,” Elsie said firmly.

  I laughed without humor. “You make it sound so easy.”

  Her voice was soft. “It is simple, not easy. My life has not gone as planned. I did not intend to wed, but then I fell in love, and I adjusted. Now we have no children, and still I must adapt further. We cannot predict the direction our life will take us, but we can do our best to take the variations as they come and…adjust.”

  I reached for her hand, hoping to convey encouragement and comfort. She looked at me, emotion in her eyes. “You must understand it is acceptable to adjust to the possibility of love.”

  I released her hand, retraining my gaze on Rosalynn’s children. “There is no need, Elsie. I know I love him.”

  Her small gasp was audible. I continued, “But it means nothing. I will not drag his name through the mud.”

  “What name?” she asked. “He is a steward. He does not have any connections to speak of, and he has himself stated within my hearing his wish to grow his horse breeding business. The man does not have any designs on a high rank in the Fashionable World.”

  “You know as well as I do that all of that matters little to me. But where will he be without his good name? Who will buy his horses if he is married to an illegitimate woman?”

  Her silence was telling.

  I glanced again over my shoulder. “Perhaps I should find out what is holding them up.”

  I turned to go but Elsie stopped me. “Just do not give up. Never give up.”

  Trying to smile, I turned from her. Little did she know, I already had.

  * * *

  I heard barking as I left the shade of the wood, and I guarded my eyes from the sun, squinting to find the source of the barking amongst my friends. I was surprised to find Major Heybourne atop a horse, conversing with the missing portion of our party. His dog, Tiny, the large, black, furry beast, was running about the hills joyfully barking, Rosalynn’s other younger twin, Lachlan, squealing in delight.