New World, New Love

by Rosalind Laker

  ‘You’re going to get well again, Delphine,’ she said softly. ‘We’ve come through so much together and we’ll get through this too.’

  Delphine’s lids fluttered and she opened her eyes. ‘Louise?’ she whispered.

  ‘I’m here!’

  ‘Don’t leave me.’

  ‘I won’t. I’m here to stay.’

  A maidservant came with the posset, which had been made with milk and a small measure of an extremely fine French brandy from a hoarded bottle in Daniel’s cellar. Louise gave Delphine a few spoonfuls of it, afraid that she would vomit it up again, but this did not happen and she slept afterwards.

  Daniel came quietly into the room and drew up a chair beside Louise. ‘Mrs Carter’s sister will share the nursing with you.’ Then, as Louise would have protested, he added, ‘You can’t be at this bedside night and day, or else you’ll be ill yourself. She is known as Nurse Annabelle and she is experienced in caring for the sick. I met her once when visiting a bedridden friend. She’s a pleasant, competent woman.’ He indicated a communicating door in the room. ‘I thought you should have the neighbouring bedroom through there. Then you can be near Delphine by night as well as by day.’

  ‘I’m imposing on your hospitality once again.’

  ‘You could never impose.’

  She did not meet his eyes, knowing what she would see there. ‘Could one of the maidservants fetch my belongings from the lodging house?’

  ‘It shall be done.’

  From that time onward everything in the house revolved around the sickroom. There were days when Delphine hovered on the point of death and for forty-eight hours it seemed that there could be no saving her, but Louise and Annabelle were tireless in their ministrations. It was dawn when Louise emerged exhausted from the sickroom, knowing that the immediate danger was over.

  Daniel, fearful of the night’s result, was already up and dressed when she came slowly down the stairs. Tendrils of her hair had loosened during her night watch, her sleeves were still rolled up and she seemed unaware that the neck of her bodice was unbuttoned, which he guessed had been due to her exertions at the sickbed. To his quietly voiced query she gave a tired nod, her voice barely audible.

  ‘We’ve brought her through this crisis. I pray there’ll be no more.’

  ‘Shouldn’t you be taking some rest?’ Her pallor and the shadows under her eyes concerned him.

  ‘Not just yet. I’m going into the flower garden for a few minutes.’

  He realized how she must feel after being cooped up unremittingly in the sickroom for such a long time. She seemed to glide along like a sleepwalker as he went with her. Outside, the sky was tinted gloriously by the approaching day and the air was fresh and sweet. She breathed it in deeply as she stood a few steps in front of him, crossing her arms, with her head tilted back while the dawn light seemed to glow about her whole graceful figure. It gave her such a tender, vulnerable look that he spoke her name as softly as if it were an expression of love.

  She half turned, looking up at him under lowered lids, as if in her exhaustion the long lashes were weighing them down. As he put his hands on her slender waist and drew her gently to him, she did not resist, but raised her arms out straight to rest them across his shoulders. She closed her eyes and he kissed them, his lips travelling on to her brow, her cheeks, her ears and her long white throat. She leaned back, her spine arched, as if to give him easier access, and in her opened bodice, his kisses trailed down to her cleavage. Then his lips found hers in a kiss of adoration, without the violence or demand of passion. She responded submissively and gently as if in a dream.

  ‘I love you,’ he said softly. ‘Ever since the moment I first saw you.’

  She looked up at him, a half-smile touching her lips. ‘Dear Daniel,’ she said, almost in a whisper as she drew away from his embrace. ‘My Good Samaritan.’

  Then she drifted from him back into the house, the first rays of sun following to cast bronze lights into her hair.

  He did not see her again during the day. Then, in the evening, refreshed by sleep, she was her usual spruce self once more. He caught sight of her from the hall as she was on her way along the gallery to the sickroom.

  ‘Louise!’

  She paused to look down at him. ‘Yes, Daniel?’

  ‘When can we talk?’

  ‘Do we need to?’ she asked, as if amused, and then added enigmatically, ‘Haven’t we reached the point of no return?’

  He heard her laugh softly before the door of the sickroom closed behind her.

  Slowly Delphine began to improve and Dr Harvey had hopes of her full recovery, although privately he was unsure whether her ankle would ever be completely right again. As a result she still occupied much of her sister’s time, for Louise had insisted there was no longer any need for the nurse to remain. Daniel was constantly frustrated in his attempts to talk to her on her own. She always seemed to have a task to do when he waylaid her.

  ‘Not now, Daniel. I’m busy. There’ll be plenty of time to talk when Delphine is well again.’

  As she took all her meals with her sister, not even dining with him after he had been out all day, his meetings with her continued to be brief. Then one evening he found her on her own in the library, choosing a book from the shelves. He slammed the door shut behind him with a force that made her jump. She spun round quickly, clutching the book close to her. Her laughter at her own surprise stilled when she saw how he was looking at her.

  ‘It’s hard to believe sometimes,’ he said, coming towards her, ‘that you and I are living in the same house. You’re like a will-o’-the-wisp, always disappearing through doors or whisking your way past me on some errand for the invalid.’

  Somehow she seemed unable to take her eyes from his, such excitement beginning to pulse through her that she could feel her heart pounding against the book that she held against her. She did not move and let him take it from her to toss it aside on to a sofa. Then she almost fell against him as he drew her hard into his arms, moulding her body against his, and kissed her as long and as deeply as he had once in New York. She kissed him back with pent-up ardour, her whole body alive with passion as she drove her fingers into his thick hair, holding him to her.

  ‘My love,’ he said huskily when their kiss ended, both looking at each other breathlessly, her eyes wide and shining. ‘Marry me, Louise. I want you for my own. For always.’

  ‘This is not the time for talk of that.’ She jerked herself free of his embrace and suddenly she seemed as self-controlled and elusive as ever. ‘Everything I said in the past still holds good.’

  Turning swiftly on her heel, she left him. That night, in spite of what she had said, he tried her door, but it was locked.

  She heard him and turned on her pillow, aching for him. Slowly, almost from the start and without realizing it, she had fallen deeply and irrevocably in love with him, knowing only that he presented a threat to the way she wanted to organize her life. She could see now that loving Charles had been a refuge without demand on her senses or a threat to her freedom. Nothing could take the joy of having loved him away from her. Nobody could blot him out and he would have a part of her heart until the end of her days. Yet Daniel had the power to make her feel she was missing half of herself if he was not there.

  Ever since Delphine had been able to receive visitors, Daniel had been to see her at least once every day. At first she lay weakly against her pillows, barely able to talk, but as soon as it was possible, Louise sat her in a chair every day, a plaid rug over her knees, and her foot resting on a footstool. Then Daniel would stay to play cards or backgammon with her. Louise always left them on their own together, partly to let her sister enjoy a complete change of company and also because it gave her the chance to take a walk and to explore a little more of the city each time.

  Delphine always looked forward to Daniel’s visits. He rarely came empty-handed, bringing her a box of caramels or some other candy that she liked, sometimes a nosegay of
flowers or a book he thought she would enjoy, and he always had something to tell that made her laugh. As time went on she remained extremely thin and a slight cough still troubled her, but a glossiness returned to her copper curls and some colour began showing itself in her cheeks. Her provocative ways had quickly revived and she used her eyes and her smile as they chatted.

  ‘I’m tired of being ill now, Daniel,’ she said one day. ‘I want to start dancing again and to get on with my life, but my ankle still hurts badly and your footman with the thick black eyebrows was to blame for that!’

  ‘So Louise told me. Didn’t you know? I dismissed him on the spot.’

  ‘Yes, but you should have thrown him out as he did me!’

  ‘What makes you think I didn’t?’ he asked with a grin, making her laugh again delightedly, and she clapped her hands together in approval like a child. ‘How would you like me to carry you downstairs for a change of surroundings? You’ve been shut up here long enough.’

  ‘Oh, yes! Now! At once! I’ve been longing to get out of this room. Dr Harvey is so afraid that I’ll undo the good that rest has done to my ankle if I go downstairs. He seems to think I’ll start walking about.’

  ‘You can have a footstool downstairs, as you have up here.’

  From then on Delphine was downstairs for most of each day. After the first time, she insisted on being dressed, for by now both her trunk and Louise’s had arrived from the farm.

  Although she had given Louise a brief outline of what had happened on her journey to Boston, there had always been certain details that she had kept to herself, unable yet to voice them. But feeling better in health gave her the strength to finally put the horrific experience into words. Even so, she found she had to lead up to it by repeating a little of what she had told Louise before.

  She chose a moment when the two of them were on their own in the drawing room, Louise having been reading to her.

  ‘As you know from what I’ve told you already,’ Delphine began, ‘I had lifts on my journey from some kind people. An elderly couple took me the greatest distance, saying I had made it a pleasure for them with my chatter and my company. They were so protective, saying they would do for me as they would for one of their grandchildren. I stayed ten days at their homestead before they found someone they trusted to take me on the next stage.’

  Louise put her bookmark into place and put the volume aside. ‘There’s something I’ve been intending to ask you. Didn’t all these people think it was strange you were travelling alone?’

  ‘I told them I was on my way to stay with my cousins in Boston, because I’d been ill-treated by the couple I’d worked for, which was why I had no money for a fare.’

  ‘A pack of lies!’

  ‘But it worked.’ Then Delphine’s triumphant expression faded. ‘There were only thirty miles left to Boston when a drover gave me a lift on the back of his cart. Five miles on, he stopped and pulled me off the cart and into the forest.’ She drew a shuddering breath and covered her face with her hands. ‘He hurt me cruelly when he raped me. I thought he would murder me too. But he left me in the bushes and drove away, taking my purse and belongings with him.’

  Louise, full of compassion, moved to put an arm about her shoulders. ‘Delphine! I had no idea that had happened to you.’

  Delphine’s hands slowly left her face and her lashes were a-glitter with tears of self-pity. ‘My clothes were torn and I was covered in bruises. Without any money, I had to walk the rest of the way to Boston, begging where I could and sleeping at night under bushes. Then I arrived at Cousin Madeleine’s house to find they were far away. Even Daniel was in New York.’ She hesitated briefly, her voice thick with shame. ‘One morning before you came to my room, I asked Nurse Annabelle if that drover had given me any contagion, but she said no. She also assured me I wasn’t pregnant, even though my moon circle hadn’t returned. She said that was because I have been starved and ill.’

  ‘I’m sure she’s right.’

  ‘It still hasn’t come back and I hope it never does! I don’t want any more babies. I would have died if I’d found you had brought Pieter’s son here.’

  Louise had waited deliberately over the past weeks for Delphine to become her normal self again before raising the subject of Philippe, giving her the last chance of a change of heart. ‘But I’ve thought how we can manage to look after Philippe. When I start work again I could hire a girl to look after him during the day. The rest of the time we can both care for him.’

  ‘No! Never!’ She shook herself wildly in the chair as if she wanted to spring out of it and run physically away from the idea. ‘Let him be sent to Pieter!’

  ‘You know that is entirely impractical. And how can you be sure that Pieter would accept him? There is an alternative.’ It was then Louise told her of Alexandre and Blanche’s wish to adopt the boy. ‘I have the necessary papers with me.’

  Delphine answered at once. ‘Bring me pen and ink. I’ll sign them now.’

  Louise despatched the papers the same day.

  Daniel had thought that with Delphine downstairs he would see more of Louise. Although now she dined with him every evening, Delphine was always there too. He realized that it suited her that her sister’s presence prevented any intimate conversation between them, and he was constantly irritated by it. He began to take up the social threads of his life again, spending evenings at gaming and cards with friends, attending balls and parties, and political gatherings. He would have taken Louise with him to many of these occasions, but she always refused, saying that the evenings would be long for Delphine without her. Finally he decided to pin her down with an invitation she could not refuse.

  ‘You leave Delphine every morning when you go out walking. So come riding with me instead on Saturday. I’ve a horse that would be perfect for you. You sister won’t be alone in the house.’

  ‘I can’t,’ Louise answered calmly. ‘I’m meeting someone.’

  ‘Who?’ he demanded fiercely.

  Amusement showed in her eyes. ‘Am I not allowed any private life?’

  ‘Yes,’ he replied impatiently. ‘But you have all the week to meet this person, whoever he or she might be.’

  ‘I can’t cancel the arrangement I’ve made, but I promise you shall hear all about it afterwards.’

  That evening he left the house to attend an evening of cards, hoping for some good play to banish his gloom. He was not used to being celibate, having a powerful sexual drive, and with Louise flitting about the house and the fragrant bouquet of her so often in his nostrils, he was totally possessed by his desire for her. If the library door had been locked that day he was certain she would have given herself eagerly to him.

  He had just arrived at the venue when Theodore Bradshaw greeted him. ‘You’re looking well, Lombard.’

  ‘So, you’re back from Louisiana!’ Daniel exclaimed. ‘Yes, all is fine with me. Have you quite recovered your health?’

  ‘Indeed I have.’ Theodore was a man of immense dignity, quiet-voiced, with thick grey hair and aquiline features. ‘We returned three days ago. I must say it’s good to be back in Boston again.’

  ‘How is Mrs Bradshaw? I have some important news for her concerning her cousins.’ Briefly Daniel explained that they were staying with him after Delphine had injured her foot, but he left all details to be given by them.

  ‘How soon may we call?’ Theodore smiled. ‘I know Madeleine would leave her bed and go this night if I told her when I get home.’

  ‘Then why not tomorrow afternoon?’

  When the sisters heard that their cousins would be coming to see them, their reactions were quite different. Delphine was wild with excitement in hopeful anticipation of what the future might hold for her now, whereas Louise thought only of the joy of seeing again the cousin of whom she had been so fond as a child.

  Delphine chose to wear one of her best silk gowns and had arranged herself prettily in a chair where the June sun made a red-gold aureole about her hair. S
he had also had her chair turned to face the drawing room’s double doors, which stood wide open, so she would be the first to be seen. Her pink dancing slipper revealed its tip on the footstool. Daniel had come home from his work to be there and tea was to be served in the lily-patterned porcelain cups that Louise liked best. Everything was ready when the doorbell jingled in the distant realms of the house.

  ‘They’re here!’ Delphine exclaimed, levering herself up by the chair arms to catch a glimpse of the carriage drawn up outside. Daniel had already gone out to the hall and could be heard welcoming the visitors as they were shown into the house. Madeleine’s excited voice, sweet and high, was music to both sisters ears. Then she appeared in the doorway, a short plump woman with a round, still-pretty face, bright blue eyes, silver-fair hair under a magnificent hat and a smiling expression that matched her voice. In spite of Delphine’s careful planning, it was Louise whom Madeleine saw first.

  ‘My darling girl! You are here with us at last!’ Joyously, Madeleine flung out her arms and enfolded Louise in a bosomy embrace.

  ‘You make me think the clock has turned back, Madeleine!’ Louise declared happily when they had kissed each other’s cheeks. ‘It’s as if all those years between have condensed into yesterday.’ Then, as Louise turned to greet Theodore, his wife saw Delphine for the first time.

  ‘Merciful God!’ Madeleine clapped a hand to her mouth, her face becoming ashen, and she swayed on her feet.

  Daniel was swift to steady her. ‘What is it, ma’am? Do you feel faint?’

  ‘No, no.’ She reached a hand behind her to seek her husband’s and he clasped it tightly as they stood together, staring at Delphine, whose expression was becoming dismayed in her bewilderment at not knowing what was wrong.