“Are you the midwife?”
The woman made a grudging sound that matched her expression. “I asked ya when ya were due, didn’t I?”
The shorter woman, who stood only a few feet away, was staring at them intently.
Florence straightened her shoulders. “May I know to whom I am speaking?”
The tall one’s eyes widened. “You’ve an uppity accent for a girl of yer station.”
She ignored the comment but knew that her black uniform dress gave away the fact that she was neither titled nor wealthy. If it wasn’t for her brother, her accent would have been more lower-class English but the clarity in her voice had been one of the ways she’d gotten her position as an upper-class maid and she would not allow the woman to speak to her as anything less. “Are you Coira or not?”
“I’m the midwife,” the shorter woman said. “My name is Coira.”
Florence turned to look her over and guessed her to be about sixty or so. Her gray hair was naturally curled and seemed to fight the bun she’d pulled it back into. She had a round face with large blue eyes. She walked over to the counter and didn’t bother to lower her voice. She knew the taller one would listen in. “I need to get rid of a baby.”
Coira frowned. “I charge extra for that service.”
“I’ll pay you whatever that price may be.” She knew Elipha would have said the same. Money was never an issue for the girl. Her parents had increased her allowance after Ron’s death. Florence thought it might have been from guilt. She gave Coira the room number at the inn and left.
When she returned to the inn, she saw the keeper standing next to a couple. He pointed at her as he spoke to them, and Florence froze as she was approached by the man and woman.
The woman smiled kindly, looking her over from head to foot. “Oh, she’s a bonnie lass. You’d never know unless ya looked at her.”
Florence felt heat crawl up her neck and sting her cheeks. She tried to walk around them, but the couple moved with her.
“Hello, would you mind if we took ya for a minute of yer time?” The woman had dark red hair and pretty brown eyes.
The man also offered a smile. He had darker features. They seemed older than Florence but not by much.
She had no idea what they wanted from her but thought perhaps the innkeeper had told them about her request and perhaps they wished to talk her out of it. She didn’t have time for such nonsense, since she was not the one with child. “I’m very sorry, but I must get back to my duties.”
“Ya speak so well,” the woman said. “Do ya eat well?”
Florence looked away, hoping the couple would understand that she wished to be left alone. Usually, people didn’t bother to meet her eyes. She’d learned to blend in with the walls.
“I’m Brenden Turnbull, and this is my wife Allie. We know about yer situation, and we wish to help,”
“How?” Florence asked. It seemed like no one would help Elipha.
“We’ll take the baby,” the man said and reached for the woman’s hand, holding it tightly. “We run an orphanage, and we take any soul who has no place to go.” He cleared his throat and went on. “The innkeeper said you were thinking of… ridding yerself of it, but we could pay you if you let us. We’ll even pay for your stay here.”
Florence stared at them with wide eyes and shivered as her blood began to rush through her veins. This could be Elipha’s way out of the situation and the way to save the baby, but she’d have to convince Elipha of it and didn’t know if she could.
But she’d try.
She’d try for the sake of the baby.
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CHAPTER ONE
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January 1814
Seven Months Later
“Are you sure this is the place?”
Rollo Kerry looked out the window and listened as his friends continued to speak.
“I’m sure,” the Earl of Jeanshire said a second time. Aaron seemed slightly annoyed, though he’d been that way for at least a week since he found out some news that was set to change his life forever. The carriage moved up the path toward the two-story white house in the distance.
Aaron went on. “According to my cousin’s papers, this is the house.” It was surrounded by snow, which had made it almost impossible to spot. Had it not been for the black smoke that rose from the chimney, the driver might have missed it. The only color was the few dark trees that dotted the field, having lost their leaves months ago.
Aaron made no move to look at any of it. His blue eyes remained focused on nothing in particular. Aaron’s cousin, the Baron of Helsby, had died a few weeks ago, killing himself and leaving behind two young girls after realizing that the woman he loved would never be his.
The entire Helsby incident had left Rollo and all his friends feeling low, for it had been them, the brotherhood called the Men of Nashwood, that had gone after Helsby after he’d kidnapped their friend Sophia Taylor. When they finally reached the pair, Sophia had just escaped and nearly died in the snow. After a tussle, Helsby had broken loose from his restraints and ended his own life.
It left blood on the brothers’ hands, but it wasn’t the first time that had happened to the ten men who were closer than most.
Sophia Taylor was now engaged to one of their members, Morris, who was the Duke of Cort, and Aaron had inherited another title. Since it was a lesser title, he would still be referred to as the Earl of Jeanshire. But even more than land and title, Aaron had most likely inherited Helsby’s daughters, since the girls had no other close relatives. Aaron was to meet his cousin’s solicitor to find out the details. The man would be bringing the girls up with him.
Calvin Lockwood joined Rollo at the window and narrowed his hazel eyes at the building. “There’s smoke coming from the house.”
Aaron crossed his arms. “It could mean there are servants there, which would be good.”
“But why would your cousin have kept servants at a house he barely used?” Calvin asked. “And this property is much nicer than the farm he stayed at. Why not come here?”
“This property is farther from the village. As to why there are servants here, who is to know how Helsby’s mind worked?” Aaron asked with a low murmur.
“I don’t,” Rollo murmured. Knowing Helsby had abandoned his children didn’t sit well with Rollo, though he had to take his own personal experiences into account. He had no idea where his own parents were. Most assumed them dead, while Rollo counted himself abandoned. It was an easier reality to deal with.
Calvin pulled his head back into the carriage and changed the subject. “What do you think the women are discussing in the other carriage?”
William, who’d kept quiet until that moment, groaned, his green eyes narrowing. “Calvin, no one in this carriage cares what the women are thinking. We’re bachelors.” He pointed at himself, Aaron, and Rollo, before glaring at Calvin. “And I, for one, plan to stay that way.”
Calvin, like Morris, was engaged, as were two other members of the brotherhood, Francis and Emmett, who were riding in the carriage behind theirs. In the third carriage were the five women who’d driven them all crazy.
They called themselves the Spinster Sisters, but there was nothing spinsterish about them. Not only were they all beyond beautiful, but four of the five were engaged, and each to a member of the brotherhood.
Aaron spoke as though he knew exactly what Rollo had been thinking. “It seems the best way to remain single is to stop the Spinsters from getting any larger.”
“But how will you ever arrange such a thing?” Calvin asked. “You know how Lorena loves people. Except for Emmett’s mother, I’m sure she’d only have good things to say about the rest of the world.”
That was probably true. Lorena Cullip had started the Spinsters’ Society, only to become engaged less than a month later to
Emmett, the Earl of Ashwick. No one quite cared for Emmett’s mother, since she had never cared about Emmett, but everyone loved Lorena.
It was hard not to. She was a ray of sunshine who kept everyone together.
Rollo had fallen under her spell seconds after they met nearly two decades ago as children. Her easy smile, kindness, and friendship had given Rollo what he’d needed. Like the others, he’d declared himself her brother, protecting her no matter what scheme she dragged them all into.
Since Lorena had joined the Society, all the men had encountered near death. Her kindness made her a pretty target.
Rollo had no desire to fall in love. He’d been blessed without measure with the friendships he held and didn’t see the point in adding another connection into his life and definitely not one as fragile as the love between a man and a woman. Women were strictly for entertainment and nothing more.
And it had been awhile since he’d been thoroughly entertained, months even. He hadn’t touched a woman since the end of the Season, four and a half months ago. Since then, the men had gone to Morris’ family property, Kidd Castle. William, who’d been a major general in the army, had trained them in close-encounter fighting while Morris, who’d been shooting since before he could walk, instructed them with handguns, which Rollo had learned were much different than handling a rifle. This was all done because of the Spinsters. If the men were going to live with them, they had to know how to protect them.
The idea would seem strange to one who didn’t know the brothers well. On the outside, they were simply a group of dashing gentlemen from wealthy or titled families, but since the days of Eton, their friendship had been tested and tried. Their childhood enemies had become adults, and their antics turned to things as wicked as blackmail, murder, and deception. With every new challenge, the Men of Nashwood had been forced to create new rules for themselves, and Rollo knew that it was only those rules and the oaths they’d sworn that kept them together. Friendships like theirs didn’t come around often, yet they’d survived.
After Helsby’s attack, the men had gone after the woman Morris loved because they were sworn to do so. He was their brother, but since that day, things had grown quiet and Rollo could now focus his time on something else, or rather someone else. A woman. He just needed to find one.
“Face it,” Calvin declared. “Each of you better prepare to fall in love.” He smiled as his hazel eyes took on a far-off look. He was obviously thinking about Alice, his fiancée, who rode with the women.
“Calvin is right,” Aaron said. “The women are most likely plotting something in that carriage. We shouldn’t have let them ride together.”
“You’re probably next if fate has her way,” Calvin said to Aaron. “Your daughters will need a mother.”
“They’re my wards,” Aaron reminded him. “And I’m not afraid of women. It’s not like any of yours have actually made honest husbands out of any of you.” He smiled at that.
Rollo immediately howled, stomach pain brought on by humor.
William fought to clear his throat, but his own laughter poured out.
Calvin glared. “Alice will be my wife by the end of the week.”
Rollo wondered how many times he’d heard a line similar to that from the other men, but for some reason or another, each engaged couple had yet to marry. It had been decided in secret between the men two weeks ago that no one would leave Gretna Green until the couples were married. Morris, Emmett, Francis, and Calvin had all planned to woo their women down the aisle, using every weapon they had. Yet so far, the women had held out.
Yet for the last two weeks, Rollo and the others had been informed that the women were withholding their bodies, which had set the others off into laughter. It was as if the women knew what the men were plotting, and Rollo anxiously waited for the outcome.
William smiled at Rollo. “Flip a coin for me. Let’s see if I’m next.”
Everyone looked at Rollo.
Calvin wiggled his brows. “Oh, Mighty Rollo, what do the coins have in store for William?”
He grinned and dug into his pocket. “I’m not a fortune teller.”
“Closest thing we’ve got to it, King Kerry,” Aaron said with a smile.
King Kerry. The sobriquet had been inherited from his father, who’d been a rich merchant who married an heiress. Then Rollo’s father had struck oil on the land, making their family wealthier. Over the years, people had begun to think Rollo would inherit his father’s luck, and so far, they’d been right. He’d never lost a hand of cards or bet on the wrong horse at a race and every now and again, his friends depended on him for tricks like this.
The flip of a coin was an ancient practice. The Romans called the two sides ships and heads, but the English called it something else.
“Cross or Pile?” Rollo held up an ancient bronze coin, one of the last gifts he’d received from his father, like the gold ring he wore on his first finger.
“Cross,” William declared.
Rollo flipped the coin and caught it. Everyone leaned forward to see which side would win.
The carriage stopped.
Rollo opened his hand.
Cross.
William grinned. “Now, let’s see if Calvin will ever marry.”
Rollo and Aaron chuckled.
“I’ll be married by week’s end,” Calvin declared as he stepped out of the carriage. “Mark my words.”
Rollo rolled his eyes and placed a heavy boot on the frozen ground before looking up at the house. It was bigger up close, though he was sure there weren’t enough rooms for everyone to sleep alone. “Looks like we’ll have to share chambers,” Rollo said aloud.
Aaron stood beside him, but in a way that an owner would, since it was now one of his many properties. “Perhaps the women can all share one.”
“No!” Calvin stomped and stood in front of them. “Alice will be sleeping with me.”
“I most certainly will not,” Alice called from a few feet away. She looked around and grabbed Sophia’s hand just as she climbed from the carriage and then Genie’s, who was on her other side. Lorena emerged from the carriage and smiled. “The women have decided to share a single room.”
Calvin looked as though the wind had been knocked out of him, which with Calvin usually took effort. Everyone, or at least the unattached men, broke into laughter. Emmett and Francis looked ready to break someone. Morris’ expression remained unreadable, but Rollo knew the wheels of frustration were turning in his head.
It was as if the women knew what the men had planned, that no one would leave Gretna Green until there was a collective wedding, and if so, Rollo prepared himself to miss the Season.
Missing the Season meant missing the matchmaking mothers and not having to dance…
Perhaps he was lucky after all.
Testing his theory, he lifted his coin and flung it in the air.
Cross. There be a woman in this house for me.
The coin twirled in the air before landing in Rollo’s palm. He glanced down and grinned.
Cross.
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CHAPTER TWO
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Florence looked up from the book when she heard the front door open in the distance then after another pause, she heard voices.
"Who do you think it is?" Elipha was sitting up in bed with a blanket pulled up over her lower half. She'd regained her color and usual vigor over the last few days, and Florence was glad for it. "Do you believe it to be the Turnbulls?" Her expression quickly changed to worry. "What if they've decided to bring the baby back? The thing hadn't stopped crying for a second since he came out and left the house a few days ago."
The thing.
Florence wanted to correct her and tell her that the baby was a boy but wasn't sure if Elipha actually didn't care or only wished to pretend she didn't care to e
ase the pain of giving the baby away. Florence had only held him for a short time and had thought the child the most beautiful thing she'd ever laid her eyes upon. When she'd given the baby over to Allie Turnbull, she knew the woman had felt the same.
"I don't believe that is the Turnbulls." Florence stood and put the book on the table. It had been a tale of danger and mystery but compared to her own life, she thought it quite tame. Surely, it was the lady's maid who was the keeper of the best stories. She started for the door. "Perhaps Coira has brought a doctor to see you. I'll go and see."
She left the room, closing the door soundly behind her and frowned at all the many voices she heard downstairs. There was bickering and laughing, a mixture of men and women that she'd never heard before. If they were thieves, she thought them terribly loud. Also, there was nothing to steal from the Helsby northern property. When Florence and Elipha had moved in during the spring, they'd found the house sparsely furnished with only what one would need to sit and sleep. It had been Florence who'd been sent on one trip after another into town to get food, books, and other items to make them more comfortable.
She started down the hall and thought perhaps Elipha's cousin’s husband had come. Florence had met Lord Helsby before and had thought him a kind man with the most wonderful daughters. She'd cried with them when their mother had died two years ago.
Making it to the stairs, she paused at the group that stood before her. She didn't recognize anyone but could tell they were quite comfortable in the house. Perhaps they'd come with Lord Helsby.
A man from the group looked up at her, and his smile nearly caused Florence's knees to give out. She gripped the banister to keep from tumbling down.
"I told you there were servants." The man had warm blue eyes and when he took off his hat, she saw he was blond. He messed with the curls and made them more prominent.
Florence’s Stupendous Spinster’s Society Page 2