by Bess McBride
Halwell bowed. “Yes, of course. St. John and I can share a glass of port while you become better acquainted.”
“Not for me, thank you,” St. John said.
George knew the rejection to be a slight, and he cared not a whit. He was no happier to be left alone in the gentleman’s company than St. John was himself.
The ladies rose, and Mary linked her arm in Miss Lee’s and led the way out of the room. George advanced to a cabinet and poured himself a glass of port. He turned to see St. John studying the library shelves.
Halwell forced himself to ask a question that troubled him. “Miss Hickstrom seems to appear at the most opportune times, and yet I truly know very little of her. I understand that she stayed at Alvord Castle with Lady St. John prior to your marriage. What more do you know of her?”
St. John turned around. “Miss Hickstrom never stayed at Alvord Castle. Any other questions you have about the lady, you must apply to my wife.”
Halwell heard the emphasis in the earl’s voice.
Chapter Eight
“Wait till we get into the garden to talk,” Mary said, pulling Rachel along. They passed through the arbor, and Mary stopped, turning to Rachel. As if on impulse, she pulled Rachel into her arms and hugged her.
“Oh, it’s so good to see someone from home!”
She released Rachel and beamed at her with shining dark-brown eyes. They were about the same height and build.
“I don’t understand. You’re from the twenty-first century, aren’t you?”
Mary’s smile widened even further. “I am! And so are you! And I take it Halwell doesn’t know...yet.”
“Yet? Is he going to know? I’m not going to tell him. I wouldn’t know how! But your husband knows, right?”
“He does. If you stay, Halwell will know eventually anyway.”
Rachel shook her head. “Oh, I’m not staying, not for long. I have a bookstore and a home I have to get back to. So there’s no point telling Halwell.”
“You sound like me when I first got here!” Mary said with a laugh.
“Really? But you married a nineteenth-century man.”
“I did! I fell in love and married St. John.”
“That’s not going to happen with me. At any rate, Halwell is lovesick—” Rachel realized what she had been about to say and to whom she was speaking. She clamped her mouth shut.
“Halwell is lovesick?” Mary pulled Rachel over to a nearby stone bench. “You mean about me?” Her smile drooped, and genuine sadness took the sparkle from her eyes.
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” Rachel said. “I’m sorry. You love whom you love. Right?”
“No, I’m the one who is sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt him. I thought he had gotten over it by now.”
“Apparently not.”
“Did he tell you that?” Mary’s shoulders slumped.
“He’s still in love with you. He told me that.”
“Oh gosh! Does Hickstrom know?”
“Hickstrom? What is her deal? Yes, she knows, but what on earth?”
“Right?” Mary’s lips lifted again. “A fairy godmother! She thinks it’s her mission to fix lonely hearts and help them fall in love.”
“So she said.” Rachel couldn’t keep the sarcasm from her voice.
“How did she find you, and what’s her plan? You and Halwell, right?”
Rachel wanted to protest, but she had to be honest. “Yes, that is her plan, so she told me. She found me in Virginia in my bookstore. My assistant, Sally, had just picked up a few books from an estate sale.”
“Let me guess,” Mary said with a chuckle. “Hickstrom’s Book of Fairy Tales, right?”
“Yes! You too?”
Mary nodded.
“Sally was reading the book when Hickstrom came in and announced she was the author. I didn’t believe her. After all, it’s an old book. She had me read a passage and touch the book, and I ended up flat on my face in the road just beyond Alton House.”
“Hickstrom doesn’t vary her techniques very much, does she? I bought the book at a yard sale and was reading one of the fairy tales—which happened to be about a lonely earl who was trapped in his castle until he was freed by love. Kind of a Beauty and the Beast thing, except St. John was never a beast. Well, maybe just a little. Anyway, I fell asleep reading the book and woke up in the gardens of Alvord Castle with my handsome beast, St. John. What fairy tale were you reading? I never managed to get through the whole book.”
“Mine was about a lonely viscount whose name just happened to be Halwell, coincidentally, whose heart was broken because the woman he loved married someone else.” Rachel winced. “Sorry.”
“Gosh!” Mary said. “Maybe I’m the beast.”
Rachel took Mary’s hand.
“No, I don’t think so. Not at all!”
“I really, really thought Halwell would have gotten over it by now.”
“Well, I think Hickstrom wants to get Halwell out from under the influence of his mother. They’re pretty enmeshed.”
“Enmeshed?”
“Close, dependent on each other. He’s never really going to find someone of his own if she continues to lean on him in the absence of her husband.”
“Oh yes, the missing Lord Alton. He’s never here.”
“I guess he’s in London.”
“Well, Hickstrom cursed St. John for two years! For two years, he couldn’t leave his castle. Has she cursed either of you?”
“Besides tearing me away from my business and home and throwing me back over two hundred years in time? I don’t think so. I’m not sure. She didn’t say so.”
“Maybe she’s softening in her old age. Let me try something!” Mary lifted her head to the sky. “Hickstrom, are you there?”
“She comes when you call?” Rachel asked.
“Sometimes.”
“And this is one of those times,” Hickstrom replied, strolling up to them in a stunning purple silk sack dress. She settled herself on the bench between the two women and smiled.
“You have found each other,” Hickstrom said. “I am so pleased.”
“We have. I’m happy to see Rachel, Hickstrom, but I don’t think she’s happy to be here. We were wondering if you had placed a curse on Rachel or Halwell as you did with St. John.”
“No, dear. I have no need of a curse in this instance. Rachel knows that she must make the young viscount fall in love with her.”
“No, I don’t think you were super specific about that, Hickstrom!” Rachel protested.
“I think I was clear, dear.”
“But I’m not staying!”
“Are you saying that you will make the poor man fall in love yet again and leave him? Oh no, that will not do!”
“I told you that! I’m not staying, so I don’t know what you want from me! Originally, I thought you brought me here to catalogue his books.”
“Stuff and nonsense! Why would I send you through time to act as a librarian?”
“I wondered that myself!”
“That would make no sense.”
“Hickstrom, if Rachel doesn’t want to stay, if she doesn’t think she could ever fall in love with Halwell, why would you try to force her?”
“Rachel is well on her way to falling in love with the viscount. Are you not?”
Rachel pressed her lips together and crossed her arms in a mutinous gesture. “My life is in the twenty-first century. Halwell is not emotionally available.”
“I do not wish to suggest that his affection for Mary was not sincere, but he was not in love with her, despite what he thinks. He can, however, fall in love with you.”
“Or what? What if he doesn’t?”
“Then he is doomed to live out his life as son to Lady Georgianna and nothing more.”
“What?” both Rachel and Mary asked in unison.
“He will never marry.”
“So you are cursing him!” Mary cried out.
“No, not at all. It is simply what
will happen.”
“Why me?” Rachel moaned.
“Because you are the one, as I told you when I met you.”
“That’s not much of an answer,” Rachel said. She felt as if she had the weight of Halwell’s future on her shoulders.
“It is the only answer there is.”
“Are you in love with Halwell, Rachel?” Mary asked.
Rachel shook her head, then nodded, then shook her head again. “I don’t know. It’s too soon! But who wouldn’t be?” She looked at Mary and bit her lip. “I mean...who wouldn’t be who isn’t already married to a tall, dark, handsome earl?” She finished with a weak smile.
“Well, I must be off. I have other hearts to mend,” Hickstrom said, rising. She turned to the two women, now protesting her departure.
“Lady Georgianna presents a problem for you, Rachel. She believes you come from the lower classes, which you do, in truth. She will do what she can to thwart a romance between you and her son. She is not normally an unkind woman, but she believes very strongly that nobility should marry only nobility.”
“She didn’t seem to object to me too much, and I’m not noble,” Mary said.
“She believes you still to be a distant relative of St. John, therefore, nobility. And if more truth must be told, she never wanted you for her son either.”
“I see. So, Rachel is Cinderella, but without the stepsisters?”
“Stuff and nonsense!” Hickstrom retorted. “That old book of fairy tales! Copycats, those brothers! I must go now, dears.”
She turned and walked out of the garden, disappearing by the time she reached the arbor. Rachel and Mary watched her with open mouths.
“Well!” Mary said.
“Well,” Rachel murmured. “Does she mean she’s not going to send me home?”
“I don’t know,” Mary said, shaking her head. “She’s not what you would describe as particularly direct and to the point. I never really know what she wants or what her plans are, and I’m not sure she does either. I think she plays it by ear a lot, bless her heart. She just wants people to be happy and in love however she manages to make that happen.”
“But I’m not interested in ‘being in love.’”
“I don’t think Hickstrom is concerned with what people want, only what they need.”
“Okay, then I don’t need to be in love.”
Mary turned to Rachel and quirked a dark eyebrow. “We all need love, Rachel. Let me guess. You aren’t in love with anyone back home, you probably don’t have close family, and you’re generally alone...much like I was, right?”
“I’ve never been in love, and yes, I’m short on family. My parents died when I was eight, and my grandparents, who raised me, died within a week of each other four years ago, so that was it for family. But my shop keeps me busy. I told Hickstrom that was enough for me. Then we got into a career-versus-marriage-and-children discussion.”
“Who won?”
“Well, I’m still here, as you can see.”
“Hickstrom must have decided she knows better than you what you need. She is a fairy godmother. I’m not saying I support how she handles things, believe me, but her heart is in the right place. She certainly helped me find the man of my dreams, and I didn’t even know I was dreaming about him. I will say though that if you cannot imagine any way that you can ever live in the nineteenth century, you’d better keep pushing Hickstrom to send you home. And don’t make Halwell fall in love with you.”
“As if I could.”
“Well, I don’t know, Rachel. There is an expression on his face when he looks at you. Very protective.”
“I think that’s just how he is.”
Mary nodded. “Yes, he is. He’s a great guy. But Lady Georgianna...”
As if Mary had summoned her, Lady Georgianna hurried into the garden.
“There you are, Lady St. John! I heard you and Lord St. John had come to call at this late hour. Is something amiss? I see you have met our new employee, Miss Lee.”
Mary rose, pulling Rachel up with her.
“No, everything is fine. No emergency. I wanted to meet Miss Lee. Halwell has asked me to help her purchase a wardrobe, and I was very excited to hear that you had an American guest staying with you.”
“Miss Lee is not a guest so much as she has fallen on hard times, and we have offered her a position in the house until she is able to find new employment. George offered her employment, that is, cataloguing the library.”
Mary tightened her grip on Rachel’s arm.
“Yes, of course. Perhaps we should return to the house. I imagine St. John is anxious to return home to his dinner.”
“I left the gentleman in the library, the pair of them reading books.”
Lady Georgianna led the way back to the house and into the library. Upon entering, both Halwell and St. John rose to their feet, books in their hands. They had been sitting, not near each other in a cozy tableau but on opposite ends of the room. Rachel looked from one to the other. Both of them looked at Mary. Rachel sighed.
“I found Lady St. John and Miss Lee in the garden, as you suggested,” Lady Georgianna said. “Will you sit?” she asked Mary.
“No, we have to go. I wonder if Rachel would like to stay with us,” Mary said, startling everyone.
“No!” Halwell exclaimed.
“What?” Rachel said.
“How unexpected!” Lady Georgianna replied.
Only St. John said nothing, showing no emotion whatsoever.
“Well, Miss Lee is welcome to stay at my house as my guest,” Mary said. “I understand you offered her employment here, Halwell—and that was so kind of you—but as fellow Americans, Miss Lee and I hit it off right away, and I would be happy to have her stay with us.”
“Yes! That would be great!” Rachel said, surprising herself.
“Miss Lee!” Halwell exclaimed. “Are you certain? I see now that I should not have made employment a necessary condition of assisting you.”
“This is highly irregular,” Lady Georgianna said. “I do not wish to offend anyone, but Miss Lee is from the trades. Of course she must seek employment. If Lady St. John wishes to offer her such and Miss Lee accepts, that is her decision surely!”
“You misunderstand, Lady Georgianna.” St. John finally spoke, his voice a baritone, like Halwell’s. “My wife is offering Miss Lee friendship. She is welcome at Alvord Castle as our guest.”
“I...I...” Lady Georgianna stuttered for a moment.
“Miss Lee, what is your wish?” Halwell asked, his voice surprisingly harsh.
“Oh! I really appreciate everything you have done for me, Halwell and Lady Georgianna, really, I do. Would you forgive me if I went to stay with Mary? I could come and work on your library as we agreed.”
Halwell straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin. His blue eyes seemed darker than normal.
“Not at all. Do not trouble yourself with the library. I only offered such in the event you needed employment. As Lady St. John has offered you shelter, you are not obligated to catalogue the library.” He turned to Mary, softening his voice. “I could send Miss Lee to you by carriage in the morning.”
“You know me, Halwell, always impulsive!” Mary said with a grin that seemed forced. “Why don’t I just take her with us now?”
“Now?” Halwell sputtered.
“Now!” St. John repeated.
“Is this your wish, Miss Lee? To leave now?”
Rachel scanned the room. She quickly assessed that Lady Georgianna wanted her gone, Mary was intent on rescuing her from a difficult situation, Halwell was angry about something, perhaps Rachel’s seeming ingratitude, and St. John did not like Halwell, nor did Halwell like St. John. She assumed their mutual dislike was because of Mary.
“Yes, I think that would be best,” Rachel said sheepishly.
“Of course!” Halwell said with a curt bow. “I shall see you out to the carriage.”
He held out his arm at a stiff forty-five-degree
angle, and Rachel laid her hand on it.
“Thank you, Lady Georgianna,” Rachel said.
“Farewell,” Lady Georgianna said, visibly relaxing.
“Good night, Lady Georgianna,” St. John said.
Curtsies and bows were exchanged, and Halwell led the way from the room across the foyer and out the front door. The sun was setting as he helped Rachel climb up into the St. Johns’ coach.
“I do not wish this,” Halwell muttered.
She looked up quickly as Halwell turned away from the door. Had she heard him right?
Chapter Nine
As the carriage moved away, Rachel looked out the window at Halwell standing on the front steps. His mother had remained behind in the house, and he stood alone, his hands clasped behind his back. His entire posture, from the slumped shoulders to the restricted hands, exuded an aura of loneliness or dejection, unhappiness certainly, and a knot formed in Rachel’s throat. She suspected the sight of Mary might have sent him into a tailspin of reminded loss.
“What did he say?” Mary asked.
“I’m not sure,” Rachel said. She didn’t want to repeat his words, if she had even heard him accurately. For some reason, she felt guilt, as if she should have stayed. But Halwell was in love with Mary...still. It really wouldn’t have troubled him too much if Rachel left. She didn’t think so, at any rate.
“I take it Miss Lee is then a product of Miss Hickstrom’s machinations once again,” St. John asked with a smile, the first Rachel had seen on his face.
The gesture lightened his face, giving it a warmth she hadn’t known he possessed. His eyes softened when he looked at his wife. They were very clearly in love.
“Yes, she is. The fairy godmother struck again.”
“And what does Miss Hickstrom want from Miss Lee?”
“She wants to help her find love.”
“I do not mean to presume, Miss Lee, and forgive my impertinence, but were you searching for such?”
Rachel almost laughed at the gravity of his words. His twinkling eyes belied his note.
“No, I wasn’t. I have a bookstore and a home. I’m a busy woman. I wasn’t looking for anything like that.”