Mending the Duke's Heart: A Historical Regency Romance Book

by Bridget Barton

  Chapter 5

  “Rose is all set to come today,” Mrs Ward informed Ella after rising from bed and putting the kettle over the fire. “She has to speak to her current employer, and then she will head over.”

  “Good.” Ella nodded.

  She didn’t look up from her steady stitching, bent near the fire in the still dim early morning light. She didn’t want to waste the candle if she didn’t have to, but the fire glow was a poor source to work from.

  Mrs Ward strolled over to their board of orders.

  “Shouldn’t you be on your way to drop off Lady Pamala’s order?”

  “Already done,” Ella responded. “Just haven’t had time to take it down.”

  “I didn’t even wake when you rose from the bed,” Mrs Ward exclaimed. “How long have you been up?”

  “Just a few hours.”

  Normally it wasn’t easy for one of the Ward ladies to exit the shared bed without the other waking. Still, it wasn’t surprising that Mrs Ward had been too exhausted to be disturbed. Ella wasn’t the only one working much harder than she had ever done in her whole life. Maria Ward, too, was pushing herself as much as her quickly deteriorating body would allow.

  “Well, hopefully, with Rose’s help, we can keep all these orders you insist we can fill and not kill ourselves at the same time. Though I fear for the next few days, it will do nothing but hinder us, seeing as how I’m going to have to teach her what to do,” Mrs Ward spoke as she waved her hand over the order board.

  She turned to the kettle just as it began to whistle and went about preparing their porridge for breakfast.

  “I am sure it won’t be that bad, Ma,” Ella retorted. “You always see the worst outcome.”

  “Yes, well, that’s because most times, it is the worst outcome.”

  “And when it’s not?”

  “Then I’m pleasantly surprised,” Mrs Ward responded with a smug upturn of her lips.

  Ella rolled her eyes. Her mother would ever see the world as a dark place. Ella preferred to believe there was hope for a better life around every corner.

  Mrs Ward was happy to say she was pleasantly surprised by the afternoon. Rose had arrived not long after breakfast and quickly got to work on some of the simpler tasks. At first, Mrs Ward had hovered over her, but soon she relaxed, taking a spot just next to her in the back room while Ella sat doing her own work at the front of the shop behind the counter.

  Already Ella felt the excitement of making more progress in a few hours than they usually did in a whole day. Not only was that due to the added help, but also to the fact that it was Friday morning. For the first time that week, their morning was free of new clients entering one after the other adding in new orders to their already impossible pile.

  Ella had expected this. Last night was the opening of a new opera, as was announced in the paper. She suspected that mornings would start to be a lot slower as the Season’s events commenced in earnest.

  It would give them the needed time to work through their orders before new requests began to trickle in later during the more fashionable shopping hours.

  All morning long as she sat at her task at the front of the store, occasionally letting her eyes follow the few people who meandered by the shop windows. She thought how much their life was about to change. Soon they would be able to afford a bigger shop, maybe on Covent Garden. It wouldn’t be long before Ella could hire two or three more girls and allow her mother a much-deserved rest from years of hard labour.

  Perhaps one day, she would be the authority on the latest designs just as Beau Brummel was the authority on what was and wasn’t fashionable. It was a lofty dream, but Ella believed nothing could be obtained without first dreaming big, unlike her mother.

  Her musings were interrupted by the tinkling of the front door. She set aside her work and came to stand. It was a gentleman she had never seen before. A week ago, a strange face would have been unusual; now, it was just a normal occurrence. Still, she was surprised to see the well-dressed gentleman enter the store when it was not yet past the morning hours.

  “Good morning, sir. How can I help you this fine day?” she let out her usual greeting.

  It wasn’t exactly true. The day was overcast, and rain seemed to be on the horizon, but still, she spoke it.

  “Lord Melvin Fennimore,” he greeted with a tip of his beaver skin hat. “I’m here to inquire about a Miss Ella Ward.”

  “That’s me, sir. I’d be happy to help you in any way I can.” Ella smiled.

  She couldn’t help but feel elated that for the first time, not only was the store getting recognition, but she was being asked for by name. She knew it was a prideful thing that she felt, but she couldn’t help it.

  “It is actually my employer that is seeking your help.”

  “Your employer?” Ella was a little taken aback.

  He was a finely dressed lord in his black riding jacket and matching pantaloons with high brown leather boots. He didn’t look at all to be the type of lord to need an employer, but then it was simply because he was paid so well.

  “Yes, I am a close personal friend of the Duke of Winthrope and also help to manage his vast holdings. It has come to our understanding that you have become familiar with his younger sister, Lady Pamala Edmundson.”

  “Yes, of course. I delivered the dress she ordered just this morning. I hope everything was to her approval?”

  Ella’s nerves shot to her throat. Perhaps this man had been sent to inform her that she was clearly not as good a milliner as Mr Brummel had professed. Perhaps Lady Pamala hated the alterations and demanded her money back. The money Ella had already used to pay for fabric and Rose’s weekly income.

  “I’m sure it was.” Lord Melvin shrugged off. “It’s actually a separate but similar matter that has brought me to the shop today.”

  “A new order?” Ella asked with a wave of relief that she hadn’t been found wanting.

  “Of sorts. You see, Lady Pamala is a bit of a designer and dressmaker herself. She has voiced the desire to make her own gown as she is presented to court this year. The thing is, the Duke is slightly unsure that she can finish the momentous task with only three weeks till the event and subsequent ball. He is hoping to hire a skilled companion to work at her side. Naturally, with the recent popularity of this shop and having already made the acquaintance of Lady Pamala, it was suggested that you might be a fitting companion.”

  Ella stood rooted to her spot, mouth agape. She had no idea what to say.

  “Of course, as a companion, you would be asked to stay at the London residence and provide company, your skills, and advice to Lady Pamala as needed. I assure you, you would be housed most comfortably. A room has already been made ready with all the supplies needed for the task. Of course, there would be times that you are asked to work on the gown while Lady Pamala tends to her social engagements. All of this would be with a respectable amount of compensation.”

  Ella blinked back her shock and swallowed hard to lubricate her dry throat.

  “Sir, you do me a great honour asking this of me,” she said finally.

  Her mind was racing at all the possibilities that could come to her and her mother’s little dress shop when word got out that Ella had been employed as a personal designer and companion to Lady Pamala Edmundson. It could be her biggest break yet, and one that would set them up for a successful business for many years to come.

  Her heart instantly sank, however.

  “I can’t possibly leave!”

  The words spoken shocked her just as much as the gentleman. “We have taken on so many orders, you see. It wouldn’t be right to leave my mother here alone, knowing that she couldn’t fill them all on her own.”

  “Perhaps you could hire some temporary help to replace you for the next few months,” Lord Melvin suggested. “I assure you the Duke is most set on this course. He wants nothing but the best for his sister as she is brought out in society. Of course, your allowance would be most accommod
ating to the conditions,” he continued, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out several notes. “I think the Duke would find five pounds a week most acceptable and would be happy to pay the first few weeks upfront,” he handed over two five-pound notes.

  Again, Ella’s mouth flew open.

  “He expected the duration of the companionship to be for the next month and possibly longer if agreeable to all parties.”

  He raised a dark brow at her to give a certain meaning to his words. She nodded that she understood. This was an opportunity for her to be a lady’s companion for at least the rest of the Season, if not longer. It was a huge rise in station for a simple town girl with no known relations to speak of.

  More than that, a wage of five pounds a week was astronomical to her. If she were to stay with Lady Pamala for just the month, she would make nearly double what a normal month’s income might be for her and her mother combined.

  “Why don’t you take this now,” he urged the money forward when she didn’t take it. “That way, you can have the next few days to make arrangements here at your shop to cover the loss of your person.”

  “I couldn’t take it now,” she blurted out. “I haven’t even agreed. I don’t even know if I can agree. What would Ma think?” she added more to herself. “I’m no lady, sir, I wouldn’t know the first thing about being a lady’s companion.”

  “As I said, it is a rather unique situation, where you would just be asked to assist Lady Pamala at her work. You wouldn’t be required to join her on social engagements, so your qualifications and finery wouldn’t matter. I understand that you will need to discuss the matter first, but I insist you take the funds anyway. As I said, the Duke is quite insistent that his sister has the best in companionship, and that is you. I think giving you till Monday to make necessary arrangements would be reasonable, if you agree?”

  Ella, still shocked, couldn’t help but nod her head to his smooth-talking. He smiled a bright white smile that she was sure made many ladies swoon.

  “Wonderful,” he responded as he clapped his gloved hands together. “Please send a note straight away to the house if anything might impede your arrival Monday morning. Otherwise, I will inform the housekeeper, Mrs Jenkins, to expect you at first light.”

  Ella nodded again. For a second time, Lord Melvin pushed the notes a little closer to her, as she still couldn’t bring herself to take them. She had never in her life seen a five-pound note so close, let alone be the owner of two of them.

  Slowly she reached forward and took the papers.

  “Wonderful,” he repeated before tipping his hat again and bidding her a good morning.

  Ella stood there a few moments longer, shocked and staring at the door Lord Melvin had just exited. She couldn’t believe what had transpired. All her life she had wished to be noticed by society, to find a way to get in their good graces and make a name for herself and the designs she worked so hard to produce. Now it was finally happening. This was her chance!

  “Was it a new order?” she heard her mother call from behind the curtain.

  No doubt, she wondered why Ella had just had a long interaction and hadn’t come to add a new order to the board. To be honest, Ella didn’t know how to respond to her mother’s question.

  “Ella,” her mother’s voice called from behind her, a frail hand parting the curtain. “What’s got you gaping like a codfish? Was it an order or not?”

  She took the notes from her hand, probably expecting to inspect them and place them on the order board.

  “My Lord, they’re five-pound notes. Two five-pound notes! Where on earth did you get these?”

  “I was just asked to be Lady Pamala Edmundson’s companion,” Ella responded in a shocked voice.

  “Companion? What are you goin’ on about? That duke’s sister that first came in? Why on earth would she want someone like us as a companion?”

  Ella did her best to explain all that Lord Melvin had proposed to her.

  “You will go to that house right now and tell them no,” Mrs Ward said firmly, pushing the notes back into her daughter’s hands.

  “What?” Ella retorted. “I can’t. How could I say no to a duke?”

  “Like this: ‘NO!’ No daughter of mine is going to be embarrassed like this.”

  “Embarrassed? Ma, a lady’s companion! Who else do we know that has ever reached up to such a position?”

  “There you go again, thinking you can change who you are. Ella, you can’t! Of course, you think that this is some sort of wonderful chance to weasel your way into their world, but it doesn’t work like that. They think they are better than us, and they always will. They will treat you like the scum on their shiny boots. Why on earth would you want to subject yourself to that day in and out? Not to mention all these orders back here, you insisted we take from that lot. How will we ever see them filled with you off playing lady in the Duke’s house?”

  Ella felt herself digging her heels in. She had been just as shocked and unbelieving of the situation as her mother when Lord Melvin had first left the shop. Now, hearing Mrs Ward voice her distaste for the situation only made her want to prove her mother wrong more than anything else.

  She wasn’t trying to change who she was or trick society into thinking she was one of them. She knew she wasn’t and never would be one of them. She didn’t need her mother’s constant reminder of that. Every aspect of life was a reminder enough.

  This was a chance, however, to make something of their shop and their future. If she were to be Lady Pamala’s companion, there would never be an end to the fine clients who sought after her designs even when the gossip of Mr Brummel’s approval subsided.

  “I’m not trying to go beyond my station,” Ella retorted as she clung tight to the notes. “I am taking the opportunities that have been given to us. I’m sorry, this is one I won’t pass up. After this, you could stop workin’, can’t you see that, Ma? No more painful stitching. I could take care of both of us.”

  “You’re wishing for things that just isn’t right for people like us.” Mrs Ward put her hands on her hips.

  “Who is to say what is right or wrong? It’s a chance, and I’m taking it.”

  They squared off, matching blue eyes staring down each other. Nothing made Ella feel more determined than being told something was impossible.

  “You leaving will run us into the ground, I promise you that.” Mrs Ward pursed her lips.

  “It won’t. Please just trust me, just this once,” Ella begged of her mother.

  They stared at each other for a few more seconds.

  “I can’t stop you. You’re your own woman now, but I’m tellin’ you it will end with us on the street.”

  “It won’t, Ma. You took care of me all those years after Pa died on your own. It wasn’t easy, but you pushed through when I know many thought we would end up in the poor house. Now let me do the same for you.”

  Mrs Ward made a grumbling noise that signified her defeat on the matter. She would never agree with her daughter’s wishful thinking, but she also knew she couldn’t stand in the way. In her twentieth year, Ella had to be allowed to make her own choices, even if Mrs Ward didn’t agree with them.

  “I’m going right now to hire us some seamstresses. With this amount of money, I could easily get three more girls, and you would only have to oversee and manage the front of the shop. I could return and help every free moment I get. It was only a half-hour walk to the Duke’s house. I could easily return whenever I can.”