by Abigail Agar
The sunlight filtered in through the beautiful stained windows of the sitting room. Gwyn apologized, “I am sorry, Mother. I guess I am just on edge.”
“I can see why you would be excited, but on edge does not sound excited so much as it sounds appalled,” Lady Stanton said frankly.
With a helpless lift of her shoulders, Gwyn said, “I had resigned myself quite fully to marrying Sergeant Chavers, but now that it is close to becoming a reality, Mother, I find my true feelings pushing through more and more.”
“Gwyneth,” her mother said in a tone of warning, “if I had listened to every little whim my heart has had over the years then I would not have met your father, let alone, had you. I do not regret making the decisions that I made, but you do have to make a choice and stick with it.”
Gwyn nodded and assured her mother, “I know that I have to do what I say I will. I know that my word has to mean something. I am just so tired of it being so hard. Why is it so hard?”
“Because you are still caught up in your childhood fascination,” Lady Stanton said logically. “I knew that working so closely with the Shelton family was a risk.” Lady Stanton let out a heavy sigh. “I am sorry, Gwyn. I just thought it would make things easier for you. However, I can see now that I was wrong. What is worse is I fear that Sergeant Chavers will become privy to it, and we shall be disgraced.”
Gwyn swore, “That will not happen. No one will disgrace our family. We just have to see this through.”
“Are you capable of doing that?” Lady Stanton asked the question openly as she studied her daughter.
With a nod, Gwyn said, “Of course I am. I am your daughter after all. I have watched you for a good many years. Besides, Jack and I do not feel that way for each other any longer.”
“Really?” Lady Stanton said as she pulled out a piece of paper.
Gwyn gasped. She grimaced as her mother read over the note. “Where did you find that?”
“On the stairs,” Lady Stanton said. “I assume someone dropped it. However, it is addressed to you, and since I found it here in the house, I also assume that Lord Shelton must have brought it with him.” Lady Stanton eyed Gwyn steadily. “Yes, Fulton told me he was here, but do not be angry with him. He was merely doing his job.”
Gwyn groaned. “What do you plan on doing with this information?”
“For starters, I need to know if you met with Captain Shelton,” Lady Stanton said as she picked up her neglected embroidery project.
Gwyn shook her head fervently. “No. I actually did not believe the letter was from Jack. I thought it was just Henry trying to goad me again,” Gwyn said with a sigh.
“That is something at least,” Lady Stanton said. “I suggest that we burn the letter so that no one else can run across it.”
Gwyn reluctantly agreed for her mother to destroy the paper. After all, Gwyn had little choice in the matter, but now she was curious to know if Jack had truly been the one who had sent the letter to her and not Henry as she had thought.
***
“What are you doing?” Henry asked his brother.
Jack looked up from where he had been stocking up a couple of travel bags. “I am getting ready to go see the world,” he said with a shrug.
“So, you are just leaving?” Henry asked. He shook his head at his brother before he continued, “You cannot just leave, Jack. I thought you were going to fight for her?”
Jack turned to his brother and said helplessly, “She does not want me to fight for her, Henry. She wants me to leave her be. I saw it clearly the last time I saw Sergeant Chavers and her together. She wants the match.”
“Yes, like she wanted the match with you,” Henry said grumpily.
Jack said, “See there, Brother. That was almost encouraging me to leave.” Jack stopped and sighed. “Look, the truth is Gwyn thinks I did something to her. I do not know what, but it hurt her, and that apparently is the reason she left for India. So, I feel as if I owe it to her to leave her be.”
“You are fickle, you know that?” Henry said with a sigh of his own. He looked through Jack’s bags. “You certainly still pack like you are in the army,” Henry said quietly.
Jack agreed with a nod. “I guess I just got used to travelling light, and now it seems silly to travel with all that luggage bumping around.”
“I still think this is foolish, and I cannot believe that mother let you off the hook this season. That is most unfair,” Henry complained loudly. “It’s just another injustice visited upon me.” Henry stomped towards the door. When he got to the door, Henry said fervently, “I am going to refuse to play along anymore with her charade.”
Jack rolled his eyes and said, “Do what you wish. Just please go so that I can pack in peace.”
***
Henry agreed readily, and soon he was gone. He did not stop until he was well away from Jack’s room. When he was sure that he was safe, Henry pulled out Jack’s journal and thumbed through the pages. Henry nodded. “Yes, I think this will be quite an interesting read for Sergeant Chavers. If Jack will not help himself, then it is left up to me,” Henry said to no one in particular as he smiled down at the leather-bound journal in his hand.
***
“He is?” Gwyn sat with her mother in the sitting room and pondered the news that her mother had just relayed. Jack was leaving. “I do not quite understand. I thought that Lady Shelton had put both her sons to task, and they had to find a new bride.”
Lady Stanton nodded. “Yes, but I guess Jack’s heart just was not in it. Besides, it is really Henry that they need to come to terms with his role, not Jack.”
“I have always been baffled that Henry should be Duke when he is so clearly an ill-fit for it,” Gwyn said with a frown.
There was a pause before Lady Stanton replied, “Be that as it may, Henry is the heir to the title whether he or anyone else likes it. It is just the way things are, Gwyn.”
“I suppose, although I have heard of titles passing over siblings and relatives due to behaviour and how their behaviours reflect upon the crown and peers,” Gwyn said thoughtfully.
Lady Stanton huffed, “I do say that Gregory is determined to keep things going exactly as they should be. The man is a tight stickler for the way that things should be done, not necessarily the way they would be best done.”
Gwyn thought it a lot of fluff, but she had her own crisis to worry about. Sergeant Chavers was due in the following day, and he had already sent word to Gwyn to confirm that he wanted to meet with her shortly upon his return. Gwyn’s stomach did an uncomfortable flip.
“Gwyn, are you listening to me?” Lady Stanton asked.
Gwyn looked at her mother. “I am sorry. My mind must have drifted off. What were you saying, Mother?”
“I was saying that you really should be focusing on your own relationships,” Lady Stanton said.
Fulton knocked on the door frame, and Lady Stanton beckoned the man to enter with a gesture of her hand. “Begging your pardon, Ma’am, but Miss Stanton has a visitor.”
“I do?” Gwyn rose and gave her mother a shrug. “Who is it, Fulton?”
Fulton frowned. “It is Captain Shelton. He looks a bit put out. Shall I send him away, Miss?”
“No. I shall speak to him. After all, if he is leaving soon, then he probably just came by to square things away,” Gwyn said reasonably. Gwyn brushed past Fulton, and she was swiftly out the door before her mother could protest or naysay her.
Jack was waiting by the door with his back to her. Gwyn cleared her throat as Fulton walked past and back to his station. Jack turned and gave Fulton a nod of his head, and a mumbled, “Thank you.”
If Fulton replied, Gwyn, did not hear it. Jack looked at Gwyn then, and despite herself, Gwyn’s heart ached at the sight of him holding his hat in his hand like some wayward sailor hoping for a calm port. “Hello, Captain Shelton,” Gwyn said softly.
Jack dipped his head to her. “Miss Stanton, I just wanted to let you know that I will be leaving t
o go look after my father’s business dealings abroad for a time,” Jack said quietly. “I realize that given our mothers’ penchant for talking that you may already know all of this.”
“I did know you were leaving, but not the why or the how of it,” Gwyn admitted. “I was quite surprised, to be honest. I thought you of all people were quite dedicated to doing whatever you could for your family name.”
Jack nodded slowly, thoughtfully. “I thought that as well, but I find that some things I cannot do even for family.”
“I see,” Gwyn said with a puzzled frown. “I got your letter.” She said the statement more to gauge his reaction than to actually converse about the letter.
Jack’s eyes narrowed for a moment before he shrugged. “It was merely a step too close to our childhood perhaps. I would think it a kindness if you would forget that I ever wrote that,” Jack said.
Gwyn was struck by guilt. Jack had written those words. She had not believed it. “I thought Henry was playing me for a fool,” Gwyn said softly. “I am so sorry, Jack.”
There was a shadow of something that flitted across Jack’s countenance, but as swiftly as Gwyn thought she saw it the shadow lifted, and Jack just gave her a smile. “Not to worry,” he said nonchalantly. “I actually just came to say that my brother has certain romantic notions about the two of us, and I have tried to dissuade him from his passion, but I found that he is bizarrely attached to it.”
“I do not know what to say,” Gwyn said honestly. She had thought that Henry was out to destroy her at best.
Jack shrugged and said simply, “Henry likes his games.”
Gwyn nodded. “Yes,” she agreed. Henry always had liked playing games. “I wish you a safe journey, Captain Shelton.”
“Thank you, Miss Stanton,” Jack said with a soft smile. “If that fool has not seen fit to marry you by the time I return, then I shall have to duel him for his offence to you.”
Gwyn laughed and shook her head. “I have this feeling that your worry is not founded,” Gwyn said earnestly. She remembered the last time she was in Jack’s embrace, and she longed for just one more touch, but she knew that was beyond her reach at the moment.
“Goodbye, Miss Stanton,” Jack said as he gave her a bow.
Gwyn smiled at the man as he left. As soon as he was gone, her smile faded. She felt hollow. Gwyn had felt this hollow feeling before, but it had been the night when she had seen Jack and that other woman. Why could she not feel anger towards the man for that?
Gwyn’s only answer was the unfaltering warmth under her skin at the thought of the man. She hoped fervently that when Sergeant Chavers proposed that she could just accept it gracefully. Perhaps she would already be married when Jack returned. That would probably be for the best, Gwyn wagered.
***
When Sergeant Chavers arrived at Stanton Manor, Gwyn came down the stairs to greet the man with a smile. After Jack had left, it had been easier to put the man out of her mind. She was determined yet again to do right by what her family needed. Her mother was still not convinced that Gwyn was capable of going through with the wedding, but Gwyn was determined to prove the woman wrong.
She practically leaped down the steps in her eagerness to greet Sergeant Chavers. Her steps faltered when she got to the bottom rung of the stairs and saw the expression on the man’s face. She had never seen a look of any kind of anger on his face, but his expression left no doubt as to what he was feeling.
“Sergeant Chavers,” Gwyn said uncertainly. “Is something the matter?”
The man held out a leather bound book so that Gwyn could see it, but she did not recognize the book. “Do you not know what this is?”
“I must confess that I do not,” Gwyn said in confusion.
Sergeant Chavers thumped the leather bound book and said angrily, “This arrived at my home while I was gone.” Sergeant Chavers fairly shook as he spoke. “This book was waiting for me when I got home, Miss Stanton. Do you know what it is filled with?”
“As I said, I do not,” Gwyn said in irritation. “What has you so angry?”
Sergeant Chavers growled, “This book is a journal filled with descriptions of you. There are whole pages on what you were doing, or wearing, or who you were with. This, Miss Stanton, is the work of a man in love.”
“I know nothing of this book,” Gwyn’s voice rose as her own anger began to rise. “I will not stand here in my home and be accused of something that I am not even privy to. Who would send you such a book?”
The man shook his head and said, “I would suspect that Captain Shelton did so. Only I tried to call upon him and found him gone. But as you can see the journal belongs to him.” Sergeant Chavers held the book out again, and Gwyn took it cautiously.
She looked inside the book, and there in Jack’s handwriting was his own name. “I did not know he had a journal,” Gwyn said as she frowned. “Oh no,” she mumbled. “Henry.”
“Are you having your way with him as well?” Sergeant Chavers asked rudely.
Gwyn stared at the man and fought the urge to slap that look off his face. She was a lady after all, and she would not be driven to such behaviour. “No, Sergeant Chavers, I am not. I am not even involved with Captain Shelton, but since I do not think you believe that, then I do not owe you any further explanation.”
“You really expect me to believe that this just shows up at my house, and Captain Shelton is perfectly innocent in it all?” Sergeant Chavers asked the question as if he really expected Gwyn to have an answer.
Gwyn sighed and threw her hands up in the air. Her voice rose yet again as she spoke, and they began to attract the attention of the staff who had come to see what the disturbance was. Gwyn ignored the spectacle she was making as she said, “It was more than likely his brother, Henry, who has apparently taken it upon himself to—” Gwyn sighed. “Why am I trying to explain this to you? Jack would not have sent this to you. He is resigned to running his father’s business out of the country. He literally left the country, Sergeant Chavers.”
“You called him by his given name. I have never even heard you call me by my name,” Sergeant Chavers said jealously.
Gwyn was fed up, and she growled, “We grew up together. Yes, I call him Jack sometimes. If you do not trust me, then please just leave!”
Sergeant Chavers snarled, “I think I will leave. Consider our courtship over, and if you see either of the Shelton brothers, let them know that I do not take kindly to cowardly acts such as this. If they want to settle things, then I will happily do so.”
“Oh get out!” Gwyn shouted at the man. Sergeant Chavers was taken aback at her scream but did as he was bid. Gwyn turned to see her mother standing slack-jawed in the hallway door. “We have to talk,” Gwyn said as she stomped past her mother.
Lady Stanton nodded. “Indeed we do.”
Chapter 9
Lady Stanton and Gwyn sat in the dining hall. Despite that Gwyn had told her mother they needed to talk, Gwyn had found the woman almost impossible to talk to. Lady Stanton seemed to blame Gwyn for everything that had taken place. Gwyn glanced over at her mother who was taking dainty sips of soup.
“This is really absurd, Mother, even for you,” Gwyn said hoping that at least she could get under the woman’s skin enough to make her acknowledge that they needed to have that talk. “You cannot agree to speak with me on the matter of Jack and the journal and then merely dismiss it. It has been a week.”