by Holly Bush
“Her name’s Miss Marsh,” Alice added.
The Gilbert children were eating biscuits and drinking milk at the kitchen table of the orphanage when she arrived. After finally settling down, Jonah and Alice revealed why they’d left Winterbourne.
“Millicent Marsh?” Matilda said.
“I think that was her name. White hair. Mean, but pretty enough, I imagine,” Alice added.
Millicent Marsh had never deigned Matilda important enough to speak to her. Not that Matilda cared. Miss Marsh’s reputation had been so clear that even Matilda’s mother had perceived her designs and told Matilda and her sisters to stay clear. She was vastly disappointed in the Duke’s choice of a wife. Although she could hardly say it was her business. Matilda could claim that she had been his first choice. If choice had much to do with her parent’s manipulations. But then reality hit her. Thornsby would marry.
“What did she say to you?” Matilda asked.
“I was doing my sums and asked the Duke to help me, and he told me to make my greeting to her,” Alice said. “She never even looked at me.”
“Then she come in our room. Alice and I were playing with the Duke’s little metal soldiers, and she says she’s in charge,” Jonah said.
“She got rid of two of the upstairs girls,” Alice said and added in a whisper. “She didn’t like them. They were pretty.” Alice twisted her worn skirt in her hand. “Then she tells us her and the Duke will have their own hairs and she didn’t want us around them.”
Jonah sniffed. “Said the Duke knew all about it. He hadn’t read us any stories since she started coming around.”
Matilda pulled both children in her lap. “No more of this sad talk now. You will stay here with me and Mrs. Brewer and Mr. Small. Everything will be fine.”
Alice looked up at Matilda. “I didn’t tell Mrs. Plumbsby or Mr. Withrow where we were going. They might be worrying. They didn’t like Miss Marsh either.”
“We’ll send Mr. Small around to tell them you’re safe,” Matilda said.
* * *
Jem Small knocked on the back door of Winterbourne. No one answered and he left himself in to a large well, tended kitchen. He shouted hello to no reply. Jem climbed the steps to a large grand hallway and heard conversation.
“Hello, there,” Jem called.
“What are you doing in here?” a matronly woman called out. “Who are you?”
“I’m a looking for a Mistress Plumsbly or a Master Withrow. I’ve a message for them,” Jem said.
“I am Mr. Withrow. We are quite busy here. State your business.”
“Miss Sheldon sent me to talk to you,” Jem said.
“Miss Sheldon? I’m not acquainted . . .” Withrow began.
“Miss Sheldon? What message?” a young, dark-haired man shouted.
Jem stared at the man, obviously the master of this household. He’d been around gentry far too long not to be able to recognize quality but Miss Sheldon had said the message was for others. He turned to the tall, thin white-faced man, the butler he supposed, and spoke.
“Miss Sheldon said this message was for you and a Mrs. Plumsbly. Said to tell the two of you the children were safe and being . . .”
The dark-haired man grabbed his shoulders. “Did you say the children were safe? Jonah and Alice?”
“Yea, that’s their names.”
* * *
Thornsby’s hand shook, and he wiped his face from forehead to chin. He took a weak, shaky breath. In the background he listened as Athena and Mrs. Plumsbly questioned the messenger. He closed his eyes when the man repeated a housekeeper’s story of finding the two hiding beside the front porch of the orphanage all night waiting for Matilda. Jonah would have been frightened. Alice grimly resolved to take care of her only family. Thornsby shoved past the crowd listening to the story and headed to his stables.
Thornsby pounded the front door of Matilda’s orphanage a short time later. He was ready to rap for the third time when the door opened by a woman in a crisp, white apron.
“Where are they?” Thornsby demanded. Somehow he couldn’t release the fear in his chest until he saw the two with his own eyes.
“Who?” the woman said. “Where do you think you’re heading? This house is Miss Sheldon’s. No business of yours . . .”
The round woman was following him down the hall, shouting. Thornsby didn’t care. “Jonah? Alice? Where are you?” Jonah flew out of a room ahead of him and latched on to his legs. Thornsby closed his eyes, pulled the boy into his arms and held on.
“Where is your sister?” Thornsby asked after a moment.
Jonah turned, wiped his eyes and pointed to Alice, standing in the doorway. Thornsby held his hand out to Alice but she stood rooted.
“You’re angry, Alice, I understand. But calm my fears and let me hold you anyway,” Thornsby said.
Alice wavered, took two halting steps and then threw herself at the Duke of Thornsby. He picked her up in his free arm, holding her close. He heard the front door open and Matilda Sheldon helloing and the woman who answered the door shouting that this man, him, he supposed, just barged in without so much as a by-your-leave.
Thornsby looked over Alice’s head to Matilda Sheldon. “Is there somewhere we may sit down? We have some things to discuss.”
Matilda led the way into a sitting room.
“What happened at Winterbourne? What happened to make you run away?” Thornsby asked the children after he’d settled into a chair. “Did Miss Marsh say something?”
Alice nodded. Jonah hid his face.
“Alice?” Thornsby prompted.
“Doesn’t matter now,” Alice said.
“What doesn’t matter?” Thornsby asked.
“Doesn’t matter what she said. We’re going to live here,” Alice replied.
Thornsby looked at Alice. “Is that what you want? Would you rather live here?”
“No,” Jonah shouted and retreated to the front of Thornsby’s jacket.
Thornsby kissed Jonah’s head. “Alice? Is that what you want?”
“She don’t want us there. She told me. I had to get us out of there,” Alice said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Thornsby asked. Neither child seemed inclined to reply. “Winterbourne is my home.” He took a deep breath and said what was on his mind. “And I want you there.”
Rarely did Thornsby say those kinds of things. Soft words that could leave a man open to exposure. He did not feel his privates shrivel and hit the floor, nor did his voice rise to soprano. He had not been unmanned. Rather, he felt empowered. Jonah stared at him as if he were the savior incarnate. Alice, while less obvious, revealed a glimmer of hope in her green eyes. Maybe trust. As demeaning as his foolhardy belief in Millicent Marsh, he could not deny he saw, or rather felt, her betrayal coming. There was no such feeling here. Honest faith the only feelings he could discern.
“May I speak to you privately, Your Grace,” Matilda said finally.
“Yes, Miss Sheldon,” Thornsby said. The children climbed off of his lap and the housekeeper, Mrs. Brewer, promised to set them to work rolling dough in the kitchen.
“Do you think this plan of yours is wise, Your Grace?” Matilda asked as soon as she’d pulled the door shut.
“To what are you referring, Miss Sheldon?” Thornsby asked. Matilda did not have one of the soft qualities he’d noticed previously, surrounding her now.
“Allowing Miss Marsh to have a say in the direction of Jonah and Alice’s future.”
“I have no intentions of allowing Miss Marsh to handle the children.” A knock sounded at the door and Matilda opened it and went to the hallway to answer the summons. Thornsby heard Athena and Andrew’s voices.
“An orphanage, Miss Sheldon?” Athena said. “I couldn’t quite believe Thornsby when he told me. Very ambitious. Where are Jonah and Alice? Oh, and Mr. Small returned with us.”
“The children are in the kitchen with Mrs. Brewer. Won’t you come in? I was just discussing something of th
e utmost importance with your brother,” Matilda said.
“I knew he was heading here, although he didn’t deem it necessary to inform me,” Athena said as she swept in the room.
“I was telling him I did not think it wise to leave the children’s future in the hands of Miss Marsh. Especially with what we know now,” Matilda said, coming to stand beside Athena.
Thornsby looked up at the two women before him. It occurred to him that their opinion of him mattered. They were both staring at him in a prudish, judgmental way, and it struck him how similar they were. His sister and this young, self-righteous miss were waiting impatiently for him to explain himself. He doubted Matilda cared to wait anymore than Athena.
“Miss Marsh will have no say in the children’s future,” Thornsby said before Athena could bellow at him.
“And why not? When she is your Duchess, she will undoubtedly handle this sort of thing,” Matilda demanded.
“She will be the Duchess of Thornsby over my dead, rotting body,” Athena said.
“I will break my engagement to Miss Marsh. Does that sufficiently calm your fears?” Thornsby asked.
“Quite the trick, Thornsby, with the sheets already making the announcement,” Andrew said. “Millicent will not take that lying down.”
Thornsby had thought of that very thing. It would be most uncomfortable to break his engagement to Millicent. Possibly more than uncomfortable. The gossip he hardly cared about, but it would do his marriage pursuit little good. Combined with his and Smithly’s escapades and the kiss with Matilda, a broken engagement would surely keep every eligible British woman under lock and key.
“And it will make my quest for a wife nigh on impossible,” Thornsby said with a pointed look at Athena. “I’m sure you already are planning an amount to donate to Miss Sheldon’s orphanage. Think again, Athena.”
Athena scowled and then she smiled. “Marry Miss Sheldon, Freddy. Then she’ll have access to more money than she could ever possibly need for her orphanage.”
“Freddy?” Matilda shrieked. “Freddy! That’s as silly a name as anyone could possible contrive for him.”
Andrew nodded. “Freddy the Formidable, I used to call him when we were boys.”
“Well, Miss Sheldon?” Athena asked.
“Well, what?” she replied.
“Will you marry my brother?” Athena asked. “He’s really quite manageable once one gets the hang of it.”
“Are you mad? I’ve already deemed my mother so and Ethel suffering the same. I’m shocked you would even think of it, your ladyship, after this episode with Miss Marsh,” Matilda said.
“Manageable?” Thornsby shouted. “I hardly think . . .”
“Oh, do be quiet, Freddy.” Athena took Matilda’s arm and led her to couch. “He is in quite a mess now with a broken engagement. He’ll never find a woman to marry before his birthday. You could certainly do with the funds for your orphanage and,” Athena tilted her head and looked down her nose at Matilda, “with the stolen kiss at the Hollingberry’s forthcoming offers will be few and far between.”
“I’ve already decided I don’t wish to marry,” Matilda said. “I’ve no need of a man.”
“The very same idea kept me fixed to Freddy’s household, my dear,” Athena said. “I’ve found out since my marriage I was quite wrong.”
“Wrong in what way?” Matilda asked. “You are very clever and independent. What could marriage have to offer you?”
Andrew rose, red in the face. “Think I’ll go meet Jonah and Alice.”
Thornsby stayed planted in the most uncomfortable chair he’d ever been in. He wouldn’t miss Athena’s explanation for the Queen’s castle. And it was fascinating watching his sister and Matilda battle. He could not imagine who would be the victor. Athena stared at him, willing him to move.
Thornsby smiled and nodded. “Do go on, Athena. I’m waiting to hear your answer.” He was waiting for Matilda’s as well. Hardly in the normal course of his day to have his sister nearly beg a woman to consider him. It should have been humiliating. It was. He still did not move.
* * *
Matilda leaned close to Mrs. Smithly. She’d never been so forward with anyone in her life, save Ethel, but she had a feeling that Thornsby’s sister would answer honestly. “Ethel, my grandmother the Dowager Countess, says it was the intimacies of the marriage bed,” she whispered. “Was it the same for you?”
Mrs. Smithly’s face flamed, and she stared at her hands. “Beyond any reasoning I can understand, that very thing holds loneliness at bay and proves a highly diverting activity of its own accord. As well as surely the most unique way of making women like us feel worthy. It is quite extraordinary,” she said.
Matilda stared. Ethel had said very nearly the same thing. And while obviously uncomfortable, Athena Wilcox Smithly had tamped down her modesty and explained her feelings. Matilda admired her and knew exactly what she meant when she referred to “women like us.”
“Ethel said it was charming,” Matilda said.
“What exactly are you two talking about?” Thornsby asked.
They both looked at Thornsby.
“Do you suppose your brother is one of those kinds of men?” Matilda asked. “Charming like your husband and my grandfather?”
Mrs. Smithly leaned close to Matilda.
“Andrew loves me desperately. I annoy him terribly with my pestering, but he loves me still. I’m convinced that makes the other . . . well, ‘charming’ as you say,” Athena replied.
“And do you love your husband?” Matilda asked quietly.
She nodded. “Yes, I do. And I imagine that makes things, aah, charming for him as well.”
“I’m not in love with your brother,” Matilda said.
“What are you telling her, Athena?” Thornsby said.
Thornsby really was handsome and never more so, Matilda thought with his temper piqued and scowling. It would certainly make her parents happy. It would solve the plight of Jonah and Alice and retrieve Thornsby’s wealth. It may hold at bay the loneliness Matilda felt increasingly. She would have to give this matter a great deal of thought.
“I will consider it,” Matilda said finally and stood.
“Let us see how Alice and Jonah fare,” Mrs. Smithly said and led the way into the kitchen.
* * *
Thornsby stayed in his chair. He had the strangest feeling he’d been manipulated in some fashion but hadn’t the foggiest notion how. He had, after all, been the first one to consider marriage to Matilda, three times now if he counted today. She had deemed her mother fit for Bedlam on the first occasion and wondered of Athena’s sanity today. But then she seemed to soften a bit. Whatever Athena had said to Matilda had prompted her to consider marriage to him.
And the idea of marriage to Matilda was growing on him. Here was a woman, not falling at his feet nor frightened of him. It was another new feeling. Matilda Sheldon was a challenge. She seemed wholly unaffected by his money or his title. If she agreed to marry him or not, he was positive it would be only because of the man he was. Or wasn’t.
Thornsby found Jonah and Alice in a discussion with Matilda when he entered the kitchen.
“We’ll pick a room for you in a bit,” Matilda was saying.
“I’m going home with the Duke,” Jonah said.
“He just feels bad that lady said mean things, Jonah,” Alice said. “He don’t really want us there.”
“Yes, I do,” Thornsby said. “I thought we’d settled on this before.”
Matilda walked to him and spoke low, for his ears only. “These children need no more juggling from one place to another. If you take them now, you’d best intend to keep them to adulthood. Make clear that your home is theirs. Are you able to make that sort of commitment?”
“If this is a test of sorts on my eligibility as a husband, I tell you I won’t be baited,” Thornsby said in a low, angry whisper. “I made the commitment to these children the day . . . the day, well, I don’t know the day,
but I’ve been worried out of mind for their welfare. I’m going to break an announced engagement and have rehired all the servants Miss Marsh has already dismissed.”
“Then why have you continued to search out a new orphanage for them?” Matilda said, hands on her hips.
“I don’t know,” he replied. Matilda opened her mouth and he silenced her with a hand. “But I do know now I want those children with me and am willing to accept the responsibility inherent with the decision.”
“Then I think you’d better tell them that exact thing.”
Thornsby looked at Alice and Jonah sitting at the table. They stared at him waiting, as did Andrew and Athena, Mrs. Brewer and Matilda. First, he was in this too far to back out. Second and more importantly this felt as right and natural as anything he’d ever done. He didn’t find it necessary to plan words in order to leave a back door from this commitment in the future. Nor did he feel odd about saying what he was about to say as the Duke of Thornsby to the two, orphaned children of his charwoman.
“Get your things, children. We’re going home. Perhaps Mrs. Plumsbly will fix us a cold plate, and we can continue our book,” Thornsby said.
“You’re sure about this,” Alice said. Her brother was already running to retrieve his bag.
“Always the skeptic, Alice. We’ll see the family solicitor this week about making you my legal wards. It will be all tidy then, on paper, and you won’t ever have to worry,” Thornsby said.
“I won’t be able to read it, you know,” Alice said. “What’s that lady going to say about this?”
Jonah came flying back into the kitchen and grabbed Thornsby’s hand.
Thornsby smiled at the boy and then looked at Alice. “We’ll have Withrow or Miss Sheldon read it all to you. Fair enough? And I won’t be marrying Miss Marsh after all.”
Alice nodded and turned to Matilda. “Thank you, ma’am. For taking us in and all. But . . .”
“But what, dear?” Athena prompted.
Alice straightened up. “But the Duke wants us, and we want him. So we’re going with him.”