by Brown, T. J.
The news from the Battle of Mons was heartbreaking, and she knew the thought of the Royal Army’s retreating before German aggression did not sit well with her husband. Every night she feared he would come home and tell her he had volunteered. He wasn’t the type of man who would sit idly by while his countrymen sacrificed themselves for their King.
What would happen to their dreams then?
Her last stop was the greengrocer under their flat. She picked up an onion, several pounds of potatoes, a firm head of cabbage, and a bunch of carrots and added them to her basket, along with the tea and the small slab of brisket she had splurged on. Her cooking was still hit-or-miss, but her friend Muriel had taught her to make boiled dinner, and even Prudence was hard-pressed to spoil that.
She paused at the bottom of her stairs, feeling strangely dizzy. Why did the heat of Camden Town seem so much hotter than the heat in Mayfair? It hadn’t settled well on her and she was frequently out of sorts, experiencing headaches and dizzy spells more and more frequently. Andrew had told her to rest today, but who would do the shopping and cooking if she didn’t? She refrained from mentioning that to him, of course, because it only emphasized his failure to provide her with a maid to help.
Carefully, she hefted her marketing basket on one hip and made her way up the stairs. When she opened the door, she stopped short upon finding Andrew sitting at their makeshift kitchen table. Her stomach plummeted when she saw the firm-jawed resolve of his face coupled with the pleading in his eyes.
The loopy, dizzy feeling returned, but she fought against it. Leaning against the door, she shut her eyes for a brief moment before bracing herself for his news. “You’re home early.”
“Yes.” He got up from the chair and relieved her of her basket. He set it on the table and began putting things away, methodically, the way he did everything. She remained where she was by the door.
The sounds of traffic outside and the low hum of the fan motor buzzed about her ears, but she focused on Andrew. She knew what he was going to say, and suddenly she wanted more than anything to put it off for as long as possible.
Once the dizziness passed, she moved slowly into the room, shutting the door behind her. She helped him put the rest of the groceries away. “I thought we would have boiled dinner tonight. You like boiled dinner.”
“Yes, I do. Prudence . . .” His voice was low and entreating.
“Could you fill the pot full of water and set it on the cooker?” she asked, turning away.
Without waiting for an answer, she slipped into the water closet and ran some water into the tiny basin. She was going to cry and didn’t want him to know, because he was going to leave her and go off to war and she couldn’t do anything about it. He was set to enter the Royal Veterinary College in two weeks, but that didn’t matter. Everything they had worked so hard for since their impromptu wedding last winter didn’t matter.
Tears ran down her face. She loved him and he was leaving her. Her mother had left her, Sir Philip had left her, Rowena had left her, and Victoria was embarking on an exciting new life that had nothing to do with her. One reason she had married Andrew was because she had known he would never leave her. Never.
And now he was leaving.
She splashed cool water on her face and dried her eyes. Taking down her hair, she brushed it out, before coiling it back up into a simple chignon. After a deep breath, she walked out of the bathroom to face the inevitable.
He stood in the center of the room, his arms hanging loosely by his sides. He looked more unsure than she had ever seen him, and even though her heart throbbed, she knew she couldn’t let him see her pain. She couldn’t let him know. All over Britain, women were saying good-bye to their men. She didn’t want him worrying about her as he marched off to war.
“Prudence . . .”
She went to him then and took his hands in hers. They were rough, his hands, but so strong and so gentle when he touched her. Bending her head, she kissed the calluses on his palms.
He slipped his arms around her and she took a deep, shuddering breath. “I know, my darling, I know,” she said.
“It’s the right thing to do, Pru.”
A slow burning ignited in her chest. The right thing for whom? Not for her and not for him, surely. For the Crown? For the realm? She tamped the anger down. Arguing wouldn’t stop him from going any more than tears would. She knew with knowledge as old as time that nothing would sway him from his purpose.
“When?” she asked, her voice muffled against his chest.
“I’m not sure. I just signed up today. There’s a bit of confusion right now because of all the volunteers, but I should be sent to Salisbury for training.”
Prudence nodded, unable to articulate anything around the lump growing in her throat. Andrew tilted her chin up until she was looking into his eyes. In her flight from Summerset and the truth she’d discovered about her heritage, Andrew had been the rock that she’d clung to. She clung to him now, wishing she didn’t ever have to let him go.
“Thank you,” he said.
“For what?”
He didn’t answer. He bent his head to put his lips to hers, and with a grief-stricken desperation she kissed him back, soaking in every bit of her husband her heart could hold.
chapter
five
Victoria flung her bag on the small table just inside the door the moment she walked into her flat. Not even after dancing until dawn at some society function had her feet hurt so brutally. “Susie! Please, if you have a heart, bring me a cup of tea and a tub of water for my feet.”
Susie, who had been a scullery maid before filling in as an emergency lady’s maid, had been only too happy to leave Summerset and Lady Charlotte behind to become Victoria and Eleanor’s housekeeper, where she dined alongside the girls, slept in a warm, clean bed, and enjoyed an entire day off once a week. Even though London still frightened her, her daily life had improved and she considered Victoria a saint.
“You shouldn’t have stayed so late, miss,” Susie called from the kitchen. Victoria could hear the running of water and knew she would soon have her aching feet soaking in a steaming tub of water sprinkled with lavender and bath salts.
“I stayed as long as I had to,” she called back, peeling off her uniform cape and entering her spacious sitting room. She and Eleanor had been living in the flat for several weeks, and a transformation had already taken place. They had done most of the cleaning themselves until Victoria had sent for Susie to help with the more difficult tasks of painting the walls and repairing the plaster. The flat contained an eclectic mix of fine furnishings from Victoria’s former home in Mayfair and more worn pieces from Eleanor’s home. The back of their blue-and-gold Chippendale sofa was covered with a worn quilt made by Eleanor’s grandmother, and Victoria found the jumble homey and charming.
“They are working you too hard,” Eleanor mused from where she reclined on a lounge in front of the windows.
Victoria startled. “I didn’t know you were home. And don’t talk to me about working too much. You didn’t get home until two this morning and left before I awoke.”
Eleanor shrugged. “I trained VADs like you all day. The more volunteers we have, the less I have to work.”
Victoria snorted, collapsing into a red wingback chair. “As if you would work any less.” Eleanor had taken a position with the Red Cross as a training nurse and now educated young women like Victoria in basic first aid and nursing. Wounded soldiers were already arriving from the front by the thousands, and makeshift hospitals were being assembled in community centers and private houses. Soon there would be a nursing shortage unless volunteers were trained and quickly.
“I gave up the job at the prison,” Eleanor protested.
“Only when you had to.”
“What about you? You train all day, volunteer to write letters for soldiers, and go out all night with Kit. As your nurse, I must protest.”
Victoria grinned at the woman who had become as close
to her as her own sister. “I’m perfectly fine now, as long as I don’t run or catch cold, and you know it, too.”
Susie came into the room carrying a tray with a teapot and miniature tea sandwiches. “And I suppose you won’t catch cold working with all those sick men?”
Victoria took the cup Susie held out to her, then helped herself to a plate of sandwiches. “Oh, thank you, you blessed creature. And they’re wounded, not sick, so don’t bother fussing. Prudence, Rowena, Elaine, and Eleanor have already tried to talk me out of volunteering—all to no avail. The settlement house where I was going to volunteer, if you remember, has been turned into a recovery home for soldiers, so I had to change my plans. One does what one must.” Victoria waved her cup, almost spilling her tea.
Susie harrumphed and left the room, and Eleanor gave Victoria a weary smile.
The doorbell rang and Eleanor started to rise before Victoria waved her back down. “Susie will get it. You look fagged out.”
“I am,” Eleanor admitted, settling back onto the chaise. “I never thought I would live to see the day where I had a housekeeper to answer the door. Have I told you how much I love living here?”
“Only a dozen times a week.”
“I can’t possibly say it enough.”
“Say what enough?” Prudence asked, coming into the room.
“Pru!” Victoria stretched up her arms to give her friend a hug. “I would get up to greet you, but I can’t feel my feet. Susie! Bring some more tea!”
“As if you have to tell me how to do my job?” Susie yelled from down the hallway.
“Such impertinence!” Victoria exclaimed with a grin. “What brings you to Chelsea? Not that you need a reason. I’m always so happy to see you!”
One of the best things about living in London again was that she got to see Prudence on occasion. Now that Andrew was in training in Salisbury, Prudence had become a frequent visitor to the flat Kit fondly called the Hen-Pen.
Victoria looked at Prudence sharply. Shadows marked her friend’s eyes and she looked thin and tense despite that her cheeks looked rounder.
“Other than just seeing your sweet self?” Prudence asked after greeting Eleanor. “I’ve come to ask a favor, actually.”
Susie brought in another cup for Prudence and then helped Victoria remove her shoes.
“What sort of favor?” Victoria asked, intrigued. Prudence rarely asked for favors, even while they were growing up together.
Prudence sat on the velvet sofa and set her cup carefully on the low table in front of her. “You told me that Colin is in the 1st King’s Dragoon, right? When will he be joining his regiment?”
Susie brought in a steaming tub of hot water, and Victoria gingerly put her feet into it before answering, “I’m not sure. They are on their way back and then will no doubt be heading to France or to Africa or some hellish place like that. Why?”
Prudence stared into her tea as if she were reading the future. Victoria leaned forward, her shoulders tensing. Whatever Prudence wanted, it was important.
When Prudence finally looked up, her green eyes were pleading, and Victoria caught her breath. Prudence looked so much like Rowena, Victoria couldn’t believe they had grown up oblivious to the family resemblance.
“I don’t want Andrew to go to the front. I know, I’m being selfish, but I want him to come home alive. I was going to ask you if you could talk to Colin, see if he can’t do something. As gentry, he may be able to have Andrew assigned to the remount depot, where he can work with the horses. Andrew would like that, and he wouldn’t be fighting.”
The fear Prudence felt for her husband etched her pretty features with misery. When she closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, Victoria’s heart swelled in sympathy. “Of course, I can ask him. I don’t know how much pull Colin has, but I will talk to him as soon as possible.”
Prudence opened her eyes and gave Victoria a tired smile. “Thank you,” she said simply.
“Of course! I would do anything for you, you know that. Now do you want some biscuits? Susie? Do we have any of those chocolate butter ones I like so much?”
Susie went to fetch the biscuits while Victoria turned back to Prudence, careful to keep her expression cheerful. “Have you seen Katie lately?” she asked, to change the subject. Prudence looked relieved, and they gossiped about mutual friends until Susie came back in with a colorful tin of biscuits.
Prudence started to choose one and then paled. Pushing the tin away, she clapped a hand to her mouth and rushed from the room. Victoria blinked. She would have followed her, but her feet were still soaking.
“I’m going after her. She may need a cold cloth.” Susie left the room, her thin face drawn up with worry.
Victoria turned to Eleanor. “What’s wrong with her? Go after her. You’re the nurse.”
Eleanor shook her head. “It’ll take nine months to fix what’s wrong with her.” She looked smug.
“Nine months? Whatever do you mean? What?” Then Victoria’s jaw dropped. “Oh!”
“Probably more like seven months, actually,” Eleanor continued.
Victoria jumped up, sloshing water over the side of the tub. Not bothering to dry her feet on the towel Susie had left, she raced across the room, sliding once her feet hit the bare floor. Righting herself, she hurried down the hall to the water closet.
Susie stood in front of the door holding a rag in her hand.
Victoria ignored her as well as the retching noise she heard coming from the WC. She knocked on the door. “Am I going to be an auntie, Prudence? Am I?”
Prudence retched in response and then Victoria heard a weak “Maybe . . .”
“Hurrah!”
Victoria grabbed Susie around the waist and did an impromptu polka down the hallway. A few minutes later Prudence emerged, pale and tired. Susie handed her the cloth while Victoria slipped an arm around her waist and helped her to the sitting room.
“How long have you known and why didn’t you tell me straightaway?” Victoria said. “If you weren’t so wretched looking, I’d be mad at you for not telling me sooner!”
“One hardly goes about announcing such things,” Prudence said, a blush highlighting her cheeks. “Plus, I’d only begun to suspect since I began getting sick every single morning, with no other explanation.”
“Oh, pooh!” Victoria said. “You always were the most conventional one of us all.”
“How far along are you?” Eleanor asked, after they had settled Prudence on the sofa.
“I’m not sure, but I am thinking the baby will be born in late April or early May.”
Susie brought Prudence a cup of tea and cleaned up the water mess Victoria had made. Victoria sat down and beamed. “Just think! A baby!” A sudden thought struck her. “Does Andrew know?”
Prudence shook her head. “No. And I’m not going to tell him either. At least not while he’s training. He would just worry and there’s nothing he can do about it. The last thing I want is my husband distracted while engaging in rigorous physical trials—”
“That’s why you don’t want him going to the front,” Victoria said, reality dawning on her.
Prudence bit her lip. “I just couldn’t stand for anything to happen to him. I mean, I couldn’t have stood it before, but now, with the baby . . .”
“Oh, my dear.” Victoria moved to Prudence and put her arms around her. For the first time, Victoria felt as if she were comforting Prudence rather than the other way around. “Colin will be able to help. We will keep him safe and sound so he can change nappies.”
Prudence giggled just as Victoria had hoped she would. “Imagine a man changing nappies!”
A knock sounded on the door and Victoria heard Susie answering it. Victoria got to her feet just as Kit breezed into the room. They had been excessively careful of one another since the fiasco at his mother’s tea. Neither of them had mentioned the incident, but they hadn’t completely fallen back into their old teasing relationship.
“I’m g
oing to be an aunt!” she blurted the moment he filled the doorway.
His eyes widened before she realized what he was thinking.
“Oh, no!” She laughed. “Not Rowena and Sebastian! Prudence!”
“Oh.” Relief crossed Kit’s face. “That’s good, considering their wedding has been postponed again.” He inclined his head toward Prudence. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” Prudence stood and bade everyone farewell, and to Victoria’s consternation within minutes everyone had left her and Kit alone together.
They needn’t have bothered, she thought resentfully. Why did everyone insist on pairing her with Kit?
Kit poured tea for both of them from the pot Susie had left and took the seat Prudence had just vacated. He crossed his long legs, and Victoria found herself annoyed at how handsome he looked in his olive-colored uniform.
“I find it difficult to believe that the fates decided to make you an auntie.” He sounded like his old mocking self and Victoria responded in kind.
“Don’t you think I’ll make a good auntie?” she demanded. “Can’t you picture me bouncing the babe on my knee, reciting poetry and fairy tales?”
He tilted his head. “Perhaps you would be a good auntie . . . as long as the Good Lord doesn’t make you a mother.”
“Ha! We finally agree on something. Motherhood is one adventure I will pass on, thank you very much.”
“As will I. Fatherhood, that is,” he clarified at her amused look. “You know what I meant.”
She toasted him with her teacup. “Aren’t you supposed to be off fighting Germans or Austrians or something like that?”
“Can’t wait to get rid of me? Actually, I’ve come on an errand of the utmost importance. Colin’s leaving the day after tomorrow. I’ve been sent to inform you that he and Annalisa are getting married in the morning.”
Victoria clapped her hand over her mouth. “Tomorrow? What does Aunt Charlotte say?”