The Improper Wife

by Diane Perkins

  Her heart accelerated for she was glad, too. Joyous, in fact.

  “There is a matter I wish to discuss with you.” Those handsome features took on a grave expression. “Olivia told me of the invitation to the Camerville house party.”

  This was not so bad a topic to discuss, she thought. Though what she could say about it she did not know.

  He took her hand to assist her over a rocky spot. “I am persuaded we must attend.”

  “Of course.” It was natural for him to want the diversion of company as much as Olivia did. She found no fault with it, except to wonder what other ladies might attend and how beautiful they might be.

  He halted. “You agree? I confess I thought you would not so readily do so.”

  She turned to him. “I have no right to object to anything you wish to do.” She took a breath. “I wish you a happy time.”

  She continued walking and he caught up to her. They took several paces in silence.

  “You have no qualms about appearing as husband and wife?” he asked tightly.

  This time Maggie halted. “Husband and wife? Surely you do not expect me to accompany you!”

  He’d not worn a hat and the breeze lifted his hair. “It would appear odd otherwise. The invitation included you. How would it look if I went without you?”

  She gave him an intent look. “Gray, I could not possibly attend such an affair. Appear in public as your wife? I do not think I am able to manage such a thing.”

  His brow furrowed. “We shall have to do so sometime.”

  “I cannot face it.” She turned to look at the boys scampering down the hill and resumed walking.

  He kept abreast of her. “If we do not attend, Olivia will stay home. You would disappoint her so easily?”

  “Perhaps Sir Francis can escort her.”

  He took hold of her arm and helped her over another stile, using the moment to catch her eye. “Maggie, Olivia cannot travel to the Camerville estate in the company of a single gentleman.”

  She wished she could cover her ears against this reasonable statement. “But Sir Francis is perfectly respectable.”

  “That is not the point,” he continued patiently. “Her reputation would suffer nonetheless.”

  She dared a glance at him. “I do not wish that to happen.”

  The boys shouted. Sean pointed excitedly and Rodney waved. The stream was at last in view.

  “Do not run too far ahead,” Maggie called to them.

  “We won’t!” Rodney shouted back.

  She and Gray continued walking at their slower pace.

  Gray finally spoke. “I am pleased Olivia wishes to attend this party. It has been too long for her. It is unnatural.”

  “I do agree, Gray.” Maggie sighed. “She is ready to move out in the world. I have no desire to hold her back, but such an affair is no place for me.”

  “It is hardly presentation at Court.” He gave her a half-joking smile. “It is a country party, and Camerville House cannot hold too many guests. I doubt there would be more than twenty.”

  She wrinkled her brow in dismay. Twenty guests seemed overwhelming to her. “I cannot.”

  “We ought to face this now. It is the course we have taken. We must appear sometimes as husband and wife.” His voice was reasonable.

  She peered directly into his eyes. “You must go wherever you please, Gray, but I am content to stay at Summerton. I have avoided making a spectacle of myself. That is why I do not attend the church services on Sunday, though Olivia has said the vicar remarks upon it. I do not believe I have been to the village more than half a dozen times.”

  He leveled a suspicious look. “You have led such a life? Are you in hiding, Maggie?”

  She glanced away, afraid of what might show on her face. She was always fearful of being recognized. It was nonsensical. Gloucestershire was far away, after all. Until her flight to London, she had never been above twenty miles from Gloucester. Her school had been in a nearby parish, as had the residence of the lady to whom she had been a companion. No one ever looked closely at a lady’s companion. No one except that one soldier and he could not come from the grave and identify her.

  “I am not in hiding,” she said, persuading herself it was only half a lie. “But I never wished to draw too much attention, since I was not truly your wife.”

  He gave an ironic laugh. “I suspect you have succeeded merely in increasing curiosity. Upon one of your rare appearances, I imagine people in the village opening their shutters and lining the streets to see you.”

  She felt a shiver go up her spine. When she had gone into the village, it did seem as if people stared at her.

  The boys reached the shrubbery around the stream.

  “Stream! Stream!” Sean shouted, jumping up and down. The water was visible through a patch of trees.

  “May I show Sean the fishing place, Uncle?” Rodney called.

  Maggie watched them anxiously. “Do not let them, Gray. They will get too close to the edge.”

  “There is no harm in it,” Gray assured her. “We will catch up to them in two minutes. They will be safe until then.”

  “Rodney, do take Sean’s hand! Do not let go of him!” she called. Her hands were trembling and her throat felt very tight.

  “Mind you be careful,” Gray shouted.

  “We will!” Rodney responded.

  Maggie quickened her step nonetheless. When they reached the shrubbery, she caught sight of Rodney’s head.

  “Uncle John!” Rodney cried and suddenly he jumped into the water.

  She screamed. Where was Sean?

  Gray raced to the stream’s edge, throwing off his coat as he ran.

  Where was Sean?

  Maggie lifted her skirts, hurrying as fast as she could to reach the place where Rodney had disappeared. Ahead of her, Gray plunged into the water.

  Her heart leapt into her throat. She could not see Rodney.

  The stream was swollen and the water ran fast. It took Gray under.

  “No!” she screamed.

  God in heaven, not Gray, too. Where was Sean?

  Gray’s head broke through the water again. Maggie nearly wept in relief.

  Rodney shouted, the sound coming from downstream. Twenty feet away Rodney clung by one hand to a thin overhanging branch of a fallen tree that jutted out over the stream. His other hand clutched the cloth of Sean’s coat, holding Sean like a rag doll.

  He was alive. Sean was alive!

  “Hold on!” she called to Rodney. While Gray swam toward the boys, she scrambled through the brambles at the water’s edge.

  They tore at Maggie’s skirt and scratched her legs, but she did not heed them. The sound of the rushing water nearly drowned out Rodney’s cries. Gray shouted back to him, but she could not make out what he said. Sean was frighteningly silent.

  A branch overhead whisked the bonnet from her head and dangled it behind her neck. She made it to the fallen tree, but they were out too far from the edge for her to reach them.

  She searched the water for Gray and saw him go under once more. Oh, dear God! Was she to watch all three of them drown?

  The branch Rodney clung to cracked, and Sean’s head went under before Rodney could grab on to another and pull him out of the water again.

  Maggie tried to climb on to the tree’s trunk, but it was wet and her foot kept slipping.

  Gray’s head broke the surface of the water again. “Hang on!” he shouted loud enough for her to hear.

  Rodney pulled Sean up higher.

  The current was so swift. Maggie feared it would carry Gray away at any moment, and she would see his body float away like her false husband. She feared Rodney would be unable to hang on while the water tugged at him and at Sean. She would watch the water carry them away as well.

  She straddled the tree trunk like a man on a horse and tried to crawl toward the boys, but Gray somehow reached them first.

  Gray grabbed Sean out of Rodney’s weakening fingers and grasped the
branch with his free hand.

  “Hang on to my back,” he yelled to Rodney.

  The boy climbed over him and locked his hands across Gray’s throat. Gray held Sean in front, and the child clung to him like a monkey. They were still no closer to the shore. Maggie inched her way toward them.

  Suddenly there was a crack and the branch broke.

  “No!” Maggie screamed again as the current swept them away.

  She slid off the tree and ran down the stream’s bank, trying to keep sight of Gray in the water, both boys still clinging to him. Gray was struggling against the current, trying to swim closer to the shore, but the current pulled them farther and farther downstream.

  Maggie managed to run ahead of them to a place where the land jutted out a bit. There was a thin tree growing right at the tip. Jumping as high as she could, she grabbed the trunk of it and bent it over the water. She was in the water herself, dangling from the bent tree.

  Gray pushed himself close enough to grab the tree, and he used it to pull them to where the water was calmer and he could stand. He reached Maggie who was speechless with relief, but too frightened to let go.

  He staggered out of the water onto the shore, both boys still clinging to him.

  Maggie’s fingers hurt and her wet clothes weighted her down even more, but she barely cared.

  Sean was safe. And Rodney.

  And Gray.

  “Maggie!” Gray was suddenly next to her in the water, grasping her by the waist and carrying her to shore, to where the boys were. Rodney sat on the grass holding little Sean as he retched and vomited the water he’d swallowed. Both boys were pale and shivering.

  “We must get them home. We must get them warm.” Gray coughed up water from his lungs.

  “Sean.” Maggie rushed over to her son and swept him into her arms. She grabbed Rodney and hugged both boys tight. “My darling boys. My precious boys.”

  “We must hurry.” Gray picked up Rodney, and Maggie held Sean. Wet, cold, and nearly exhausted, they carried the boys away from the water. Gray found his coat on the ground and tossed it to Maggie. “Wrap him in this.”

  She wrapped Sean as best she could as they climbed the hill.

  Sean coughed continuously and Maggie feared for a lung infection. She pushed herself harder, trying to keep the pace Gray set for them.

  “I can walk!” Rodney protested.

  Gray put him down and took Sean from her arms.

  When the bedraggled group finally came into sight of Summerton Hall, workmen in the fields spied them and came running. Men grabbed the two boys.

  “Get them to the house,” Gray shouted.

  Maggie stumbled, panting for breath. She saw Sean being swiftly carried to the house and to safety. She did not care if she could not walk another step.

  Gray saw her stumble. Ignoring the weakness in his own limbs, he swept her into his arms and carried her down the hill and home to Summerton Hall.

  People spilled from the house, alerted by the cries of the workmen who ran with the children. Gray’s lungs felt near to bursting, but he could only think to get Maggie inside. To see her get warm. The men carrying the boys were some distance ahead, their burdens lighter and their muscles not trembling with fatigue.

  The head groom ran up to him. “Let me take her from you.” He stretched out his arms.

  Gray glowered at the man and shook his head. He’d be damned if he let go of her until he knew she was safe.

  “Rodney!” Olivia’s voice pierced the air and she grabbed at her son, impeding the man’s efforts to get him inside. Mr. Hendrick pulled her off. Miss Miles gave instructions to the man carrying Sean.

  Gray carried Maggie into the house where the door was held open. Everyone seemed to be shouting. Above it all he could hear Olivia shrilly crying out Rodney’s name.

  Gray did not heed the mud caking his soaked boots as he climbed the stairway to Maggie’s bedchamber. Miss Miles and one of the maids were already there, stripping Sean of his clothes and rubbing him with a towel. Gray put Maggie down, not sure if she could stand on her own.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging close to him. He held her in return as tightly as he could.

  “Thank you,” she whispered to him. “Thank you for saving my son, for saving all of us.”

  He put his cheek on her wet hair. “I’m not sure it was me who did the saving.”

  They stood in the embrace, clinging to each other. Gray felt her shiver.

  “You must get out of your wet clothes, Maggie,” he said, releasing her.

  She wrapped her arms around him again and kissed him full on the lips, though Miss Miles and the maid were present. Her skin was cold but her lips warm, and more than anything he wished to kiss her back. Were it not for her courage and determination, his life and the boys’ lives would surely have been lost. He was full to bursting with pride in her, and he wanted desperately to beg her forgiveness for almost losing what was most precious to her.

  She shivered again, and he woke to the need to get her warm and dry. He let go of her and turned to her maid. “We must get her warm. Help me remove her wet clothes.” He fumbled with Maggie’s laces, his fingers too numb to undo the wet knot.

  “Let me, sir,” the maid said.

  Mrs. Thomas rushed in, her housekeeping duties abandoned for the moment. “What happened? The poor dear.” She nearly pushed Gray aside to pull the sodden dress off Maggie.

  “Fell in the stream,” he managed, his energy flagging. “You must get her warm.”

  Maggie’s attention had shifted to Sean, who now whimpered while Miss Miles wrapped a blanket around him.

  “Give him warm milk,” she pleaded.

  “And hot tea for Mrs. Grayson,” Gray added. His teeth chattered and he began to shiver.

  Decker appeared at his elbow. “Come, sir.”

  Decker led him into his own bedchamber. With the calmness and efficiency of a seasoned gentleman’s gentleman, Decker peeled off Gray’s wet waistcoat and shirt.

  “By God, Decker,” Gray rasped. “I thought the boys would drown.”

  “But they did not, sir,” the valet murmured comfortingly, pausing long enough to hand Gray a glass of brandy, which he downed in two gulps.

  Decker held out a velvet banian Gray recognized as having once belonged to his brother. He allowed himself to be wrapped in it, fancying it smelled of Vincent even after all these years.

  I’m sorry, Vincent, he said to himself. I almost let your son drown. He should not have let the boys run ahead. He should have seen the danger.

  Decker insisted he sit in the chair by the fire. Gray’s limbs trembled while Decker pulled off his sodden boots.

  “If you can salvage these boots, Decker, you’ll soon be in demand in London.”

  “I fear that task might be beyond my powers,” replied Decker, betraying a hint of a smile.

  A maid appeared with a pot of tea and poured him a cup. Gray reached for the decanter of brandy and added a generous amount to the tea, gulping it down like a man dying of thirst. Soon the warmth reached his stomach and the pins and needles stopped piercing his feet.

  “Help me dress, Decker.”

  “Dress, sir? I beg you to rest.” The man dropped the sodden clothing he had been gathering in his arms.

  “No. I’ve rested enough.”

  Decker regarded him somewhat disapprovingly, but provided a fresh set of clothes and helped Gray into them. The valet gathered the wet clothes in a bundle and bowed himself out of the room.

  Gray opened the connecting door to Maggie’s bedchamber. She sat in a rocking chair holding Sean, all wrapped in a blanket. Without asking for an invitation, he entered the room.

  “How is he?”

  She glanced up looking wan. She smiled at him. “He is sleeping, and his breathing is regular.”

  Gray found a chair and set it near her. “And you, Maggie?”

  She searched his face and extended her hand to briefly touch his cheek. “I am shaken,
Gray, but so thankful I can barely speak.”

  He turned away, ashamed. “I should not have allowed them to go to the stream alone.”

  “Yes,” she agreed without a hint of censure in her voice. She gazed back at her son. “But this time the water did not take them.”

  It was an odd statement. “There will never be another time, Maggie. I shall make certain of it.”

  She gave a melancholic shrug of her shoulder. “There is no such certainty.”

  She looked like a schoolgirl with her damp hair tied back from her face, a soft dressing gown wrapped around her. He wanted to hold her as she held Sean. He wanted to clasp both of them to his chest and never let go of them.

  A knock sounded at the door. Olivia entered. Gray rose to his feet.

  “Maggie, dearest, I came to see how you and Sean are faring.” Olivia’s eyes were warm with concern. She gave Gray a small smile. “You, too, Gray.”

  Maggie smiled at Olivia. “I have nothing but a scratch or two, and besides being quite exhausted, Sean seems unhurt as well. Tell me, is Rodney all right?”

  Gray gave Olivia his chair. “Oh, Rodney protests that he is unhurt, but I am so afraid he will become consumptive,” she said as she leaned over to stroke Sean’s dark curls.

  “Does he cough?” Maggie asked.

  “No,” Olivia admitted, leaning back in the chair. “He seems perfectly fine. Mr. Hendrick bade me leave him, though it pained me to do so. He said I was keeping the boy from resting.”

  “He’s a strong and very brave boy,” Gray said. Recklessly brave, he thought, though it would not be wise to tell Olivia Rodney had jumped in the water on purpose.

  “He saved Sean,” Maggie added.

  “Did he?” Olivia’s eyes widened. “He said nothing of it. That is another worry. He usually chatters about everything, but he will say nothing about this.”

  Maggie sent Gray a worried glance.

  “Would you like me to check on him?”

  Olivia nearly came out of her chair. “Oh, please do, Gray.”

  He nodded and, with one more glance between him and Maggie, left the two ladies and the sleeping child.

  He’d not visited the children’s wing since returning to Summerton. He did not even know which of the rooms was his nephew’s, so he opened doors at random. One revealed a room so neat and orderly it could only be Hendrick’s. Behind another door he found a very startled Miss Miles, who told him Rodney and Hendrick were in the schoolroom. Gray knew which room was the schoolroom.