The Pleasure of the Rose

by Jane Bonander

  The woman began shaking her head before Rosalyn had finished speaking. “No. I’m afraid that won’t do. I must stay with her. Surely it doesn’t matter to you. It would be one less room your servants would have to keep clean.”

  What harm could it do? In truth, it would lessen the load on the servants.

  “Are you truly that worried about Kerry?” she asked. “Surely she will settle in once she feels a bit more comfortable.”

  Miss Blessing stepped closer. “I know you aren’t aware of how the children were found or what the circumstances were, but I assure you, Kerry does not like to be alone.”

  Rosalyn frowned. How the children were found? Their circumstances? That sounded very distressing, indeed. She would have to ask Geddes about it. “I will send one of the serving girls in to prepare the spare bed in Kerry’s chamber,” Rosalyn offered.

  Dorcas Blessing emitted a sigh of relief, and her shoulders relaxed somewhat. “I apologize for sounding high-handed, madam. The children have been in my care and have been my responsibility since before we embarked. I’ve grown quite fond of them, especially Kerry. The boys have had each other for company but Kerry has been quite alone. You can understand my need to protect her.”

  Rosalyn raised her eyebrows a fraction. Perhaps Geddes had been wrong about her after all. “Of course. We all want what’s best for them, and anything we can do to make their transition here easier is our ultimate goal.”

  Dorcas smiled at her. “Thank you.”

  Evan arrived, driving the small, two-person carriage, reining in the steed in front of them. He hopped down from the seat swiftly and stood before Rosalyn, his hat in his hands.

  “Yes, Evan?”

  “Ma’am, I was passing by Miz Begley’s and she stopped me and asked that you come see her right away.”

  Alarmed, Rosalyn asked, “Did she say why?”

  “No, ma’am. She seemed a mite upset, though.”

  Rosalyn threw a glance at the stables and then toward the castle. She couldn’t just leave without alerting someone as to why she was gone.

  “Miss Blessing,” she said, turning to the chaperone, “would you please explain to everyone that I have had to answer an emergency? I’ll return as soon as I can.”

  The chaperone nodded, but said nothing.

  Rosalyn went inside, grabbed her cape and her gloves, and returned to the carriage, and she and Evan were off.

  • • •

  She heard the noise before they even stopped in front of Fen’s cottage. Wailing, bawling children.

  Hurrying inside, she called, “Fen?”

  From the kitchen, she heard Fen’s reply. “In here.”

  Rosalyn rushed into the kitchen, where she noticed two little ones clinging to Fen’s chest like animated bookends.

  “What’s this?”

  Fen was clearly frazzled. “In all my days as a camp nurse, I never had this much frustration with my patients.”

  Rosalyn lifted one of the children off her and brought the bairn to her own chest. A sudden jab of pain sliced through her, and for a very brief moment, she remembered holding her darling Fiona.

  “What’s wrong with them?”

  Fen shushed the child, bouncing him up and down, trying to calm him. “They both have fevers and have been wailing since their mother dropped them off. Twins, they are.”

  Rosalyn rocked the child gently, patting his back. “Whose are they?”

  “They belong to the parson’s sister. She’s come to visit, and they arrived with this fever. The mother was no help at all, wailing louder than the bairns. I sent her home.”

  Rosalyn sat and held out her free arm for the other child so Fen could prepare cool compresses. After they had gotten the fevers down far enough that the little ones could sleep, Fen and Rosalyn collapsed on the settee in the parlor.

  “Thank you for coming, dear. This all happened so suddenly, and I wasn’t prepared. I guess I had better learn to be now, since our drunken sot of a doctor has left the island permanently.”

  “You’re going to need me more often now than you did before,” Rosalyn mused.

  Fen glanced at her, appearing to note hesitancy in her voice. “Is that a problem?”

  Rosalyn shook her head. “No, I’ve always assumed I would help you. It’s just that…”

  “What?”

  “His Grace’s siblings arrived today.”

  Fen gasped. “Oh, blast. Why didn’t you just send Evan back with that news? I would have managed this somehow, you know that.”

  “No, it’s all right. I should get back, though, if you think things will go smoothly from now on.”

  “Of course. Go. But before you do, tell me what you think of them.”

  Rosalyn drew in a long breath. “I haven’t really had time, Fen. But the boys, Duncan and Gavin, are energetic and curious. His lordship took them to the stables straight off and I believe they will each have chosen a pony before dinner.”

  “They sound delightful. And, what about the girl?”

  Rosalyn’s smile was rueful. “Ah. Kerry. That may be another story altogether. The chaperone, Dorcas Blessing, whom Geddes is quite certain has slanted the truth about everything to Kerry, is a mild, stark-looking woman. She insisted right off that she stay in Kerry’s room, not wishing a room of her own. I’m trying not to rush to judgment, but…” Rosalyn rubbed her forehead. “Oh, I don’t know. It’s all so new. We’ll see how things work out.”

  “You sound unsettled.”

  “Well, the girl wasn’t exactly friendly, but maybe I’m just sensitive. I don’t want to think the worst of someone. I’ll give it some time, I guess, that’s all I can do. And Fen, she is the most exquisite young lass I have ever seen. Such beauty! And when she saw her brother, you could tell that in her eyes, he hangs out the moon.”

  “Aye, he could have that effect on women.” Fen stood. “We can talk later. You’d best get back before you’re missed. I don’t want to be responsible for your absence.”

  Rosalyn stood as well. “I did tell the chaperone where I was going. I hope she passed the message along.”

  Rosalyn stopped at the door. She had to tell someone her little secret—who better than Fen? “Fen?”

  Fen was beside her immediately. “What’s wrong?”

  Rosalyn shook her head. “’Tis only that…I think I’m pregnant.”

  Fen pulled her around to face her. “Are you sure?”

  Nodding, Rosalyn said, “I’ve been through this before, remember?”

  “And how do you feel about it?”

  Uncertain excitement fluttered in Rosalyn’s stomach. “I don’t know yet. It’s so early.”

  “You think it happened right off?”

  “Aye, I’m certain of it.”

  “Well, if it’s so, then you must let me check you regularly. Will you promise?”

  With a nod, Rosalyn hugged her friend and left.

  But when Rosalyn walked into the roomy castle foyer, Geddes and His Grace were there, both apparently loaded for bear, so to speak.

  “Where in the devil have you been?” Geddes glared at her.

  Fletcher, his arms crossed over his chest, simply stood there, waiting for her answer.

  Surprised by their behavior, Rosalyn hung up her cape and answered, “Fen had an emergency. I asked Miss Blessing to tell you where I was going.”

  “And Mrs. Begley’s ‘emergency’ was more important than making His Grace’s siblings feel comfortable their first moments here?”

  Rosalyn frowned. “Actually, yes. Since the doctor has left the island, Fen is alone in treating the ill. But had she known His Grace’s brothers and sister had just arrived, she would never have asked for my help, you can be sure of that. So don’t go blaming Fen for my absence. The blame, if there is any, is entirely mine.”

  Geddes scowled. “I swear—”

  “Don’t,” Rosalyn interrupted. “Perhaps it was a poor decision on my part to leave for a while, but don’t blame Fen. Now that s
he’s alone, treating everyone and anyone who needs her, and possibly even those who don’t want her help, I’ll be assisting her more often, and I don’t intend to shirk any of my duties here. So I don’t want either of you complaining, do you hear me?”

  “She’s right, Geddes,” Fletcher began. “The children and I have just returned from the stables as it is. Rosalyn has prepared everything so well she didn’t need to hang around until we came back inside.”

  “But,” Rosalyn said, “didn’t Miss Blessing tell you where I’d gone?”

  “Neither of us has seen her since she went up to her bedchamber,” Geddes informed her.

  Well, thought Rosalyn, perhaps Geddes was right about her after all. She studied her brother, really looking at him for the first time. “Geddes, you look awful. Are you ill?”

  Geddes coughed. It was a cavernous sound, hoarse and raspy, one that came from deep within his chest. “It’s nothing, just something I picked up on the trip.”

  Startled, she felt his face. “You’re burning up!” Now she felt guilty because she’d been ranting about the necessity of her trip to Fen’s when she should have been paying attention to what was going on right under her nose.

  Geddes seemed to shrink. “Yes. If you two don’t mind, I think I’ll skip supper and go straight to bed.” Without waiting for a response, he slowly took the stairs to his bedchamber.

  Rosalyn watched his ascent. “How could I have been so blind?”

  “You’ve had quite a bit on your mind, Rosalyn.”

  “I know, but…” She gasped and turned to face him. “Oh, about the children! They seem like lovely young people, really they do.”

  He gave her a boyish grin, one that reached inside and continued to thaw her. “They are, aren’t they? Of course,” he added, his face changing, “I can’t take any credit for that. Had it been up to me, they all might well have been hoodlums.”

  She thought about what Miss Blessing had said about their condition when they’d been found, still determined to discuss it with Geddes. “Nonsense. I watched them when they saw you; their eyes and their smiles expressed how they feel about you.”

  “I hope you and Kerry can be friends,” he said.

  “Well, of course,” she answered, carefully hiding her misgivings. “Why wouldn’t we?”

  “She’s never really had a woman to look up to, you know. She was just a little girl when her mother died.”

  “She’s still a little girl, Your Grace.”

  “But a beauty, wouldn’t you say?”

  Rosalyn touched his arm, feeling his strength. “Aye. She’s the most beautiful child I have ever seen.”

  Rosalyn recalled what Geddes had said about Kerry and the chaperone, how they had been nearly inseparable on the voyage. She wasn’t ready to share with her husband Geddes’s opinion about the woman. “She and Miss Blessing seem quite comfortable with each other.”

  “The chaperone won’t be here forever. I don’t want Kerry getting so close to her that she’ll grieve when the woman leaves.”

  Rosalyn thought that perhaps it was already too late for that, but she said nothing.

  They walked past the library and Rosalyn saw a light under the door. “I wonder who’s in there.”

  Fletcher pushed the door open, and Dorcas Blessing turned quickly from in front of the desk. “Miss Blessing? Can we help you?”

  “No. Well, actually, I was looking for some notepaper; I must write a letter to my superiors.”

  Rosalyn crossed to the desk, pulled open a drawer, and handed the chaperone the materials she would need to post a letter. For a brief moment Rosalyn thought the woman might have been snooping, but she scolded herself. After Geddes’s warning, Rosalyn would probably see goblins in every corner.

  The three of them left the library and Fletcher and Rosalyn watched Miss Blessing take the stairs to Kerry’s room.

  “My goodness,” said Rosalyn. “It didn’t take her long to make herself at home, did it?”

  “She’ll be leaving soon enough,” Fletcher answered.

  Rosalyn remembered Geddes’s warning. “I wonder how that will affect Kerry in the long run.”

  Fletcher turned to her, surprised. “Why should it bother her? Oh, she may miss her at first, but she’ll have you. Trust me, if there was a choice to be made, you would win, hands down.” He pulled her close and they mounted the stairs together.

  Rosalyn wasn’t so sure, but she refused to argue. This was only the first day, and considering everything, she thought things had gone quite well. They could only get better. Or not.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Fen had just finished her morning coffee and had sent her tiny patients back to their mother when there was a knock at the door. She opened it to find Evan standing on her doorstep. Studying him briefly, she realized that he had begun to grow up. His scraggly hair had been cut and combed, his face was scrubbed clean, and he was really quite handsome. He showed great potential, she thought.

  “Yes, Evan?”

  The lad shifted nervously from foot to foot, his hat in his hand. “The mistress asked that I fetch you because Mister Geddes is ill.”

  A surprising tenseness grew low in her stomach, as if she’d eaten something not quite ripe. Evan waited outside with the carriage while she collected what she would need to take with her. “Leave it to that man to provide me with a bellyache.”

  As they rode up the drive to the castle, Fen saw the girl, Kerry, sitting on the steps, eyeing them with skepticism.

  As Fen stepped from the carriage, a brisk wind picked up her cape and swirled it around behind her.

  The girl looked up at her, one eyebrow raised. “Are you a witch?”

  Fen studied her. She was, indeed, ravishing. Fen gave her a wry smile. “Some might think so. But today I’m here to check on Mr. Gordon. I hear he’s ill.” She noticed that the girl moved her gaze to Evan, settling on him with interest.

  “So, who are you, anyway?”

  “I’m a friend of Rosalyn’s. You know—your brother’s wife.”

  “I know who she is,” the girl replied, sounding disinterested and annoyed.

  “She’s been very excited about your arrival.”

  “What could she possibly want me here for?” The girl absently gnawed at a fingernail.

  Fen raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure you’ll have to ask her that, but I know she’s delighted that the three of you are here.”

  The girl harrumphed, rose from the steps, and sauntered toward the stables.

  Hmmm, thought Fen. That went well, didn’t it? Kerry was going to need some special handling. Not the kind with kid gloves, but perhaps the kind with a firmer hand.

  She was about to lift the huge metal door knocker when the door opened and the old valet stood looking at her. “Yes?”

  “Hello, Barnaby. I’m here to see Mr. Gordon. I hear he’s unwell.”

  The old man gave her a gallant, if somewhat unsteady, bow, turned, and said, “This way.”

  She followed him up the stairs as he broke wind all the way, sounding every bit like a poorly tuned piccolo.

  She rapped lightly on the door she was shown to and heard a raspy voice telling her to enter.

  Stepping inside, she stopped herself from gasping out loud, for Geddes lay on his bed, propped up with pillows, looking as gray as death.

  He gave her a lazy, glassy-eyed glance. “What are you doing here?”

  She strode to his bedside and put her basket of goodies on the table beside him. “What do you think? I’ve brought you a picnic and we’re going to spend the day at the loch.”

  He coughed and drew in a heavy breath. “I dare say you’ll probably poison me.”

  Smiling gaily, she said, “Don’t tempt me. Now unbutton your shirt.”

  “Why?” he groused.

  She reached into her basket and pulled out a poultice. “Because I’m going to put this on your chest.”

  He coughed again and made a face. “It smells like something died.�
�

  “It does not. It smells like mint. Now open your shirt or I’ll have to do it for you.”

  He sighed and began unbuttoning his shirt, revealing, to Fen’s surprise and delight, a chest full of tawny hair so thick she was tempted to sink her fingers into it.

  Deftly, so as not to linger too obviously, she pressed the poultice over his chest and covered it with a length of flannel and then buttoned his shirt over it to keep it in place.

  She then reached into the basket and drew out a flask. “Now I have some tea for you to drink.”

  “Tea!” He nearly spat out the word. “Some nurse you are. Why do women think tea cures everything?”

  She raised her eyebrows and poured him a cupful. “Just taste it.”

  He did, under duress, and drew back, surprised. “There’s whisky in it.”

  “Of course. I think you need a good shot of it every few hours, but don’t overdo it or you’ll simply have a hangover.”

  He took another sip and then another as he studied her. “How long have you been a widow?”

  “Longer than I was married,” she answered.

  “Who was your husband?”

  Fen straightened the remainder of the items in her basket as she spoke. “Ewan Begley was an army man. He fell in the Caspian.”

  “I’m sorry,” Geddes said. “Were you very much in love?”

  Fen thought the whisky was loosening his tongue, but didn’t remark on it. In fact, she rather liked this softer side of him. “I was. I never do anything casually, Mr. Gordon. I didn’t enter matrimony casually either. I had thought I could do quite nicely without a man in my life until I met him. It will sound clichéd, but the moment I laid eyes on him I knew I would marry him.”

  “It must be wonderful to be that certain of someone else.” His voice was slurred; the whisky had mellowed him greatly. “Do you still miss him?”

  Fen paused, running her fingers over the piece of lamb’s wool she often used for padding a broken limb. “Interesting question. We were together for less than three years and in that time, we never lived together in the conventional way. He was always at war, and I was always patching up the wounded. But yes,” she said, “I do miss him. Not like I did at first, but there’s a level of emptiness that never seems to completely disappear.”