by Ayles, Abby
Much to her surprise she was not alone in her bed with Poole outside as she had imagined in her sudden stirring but instead still in the school room. The sound that roused her was the clicking of the girls’ slippers on the hallway floor hurrying towards her.
“How was it?” Hannah asked, smoothing her hair and skirt.
She had long since removed the cumbersome cap. There was no point for it now.
“Dreadful,” Caroline said, coming to sit in the opposite chair with a fluff of fabric.
“Oh it couldn’t have been all that bad. Lady Tara seemed very kind to me,” Hannah did her best to say without giving way to her true feelings.
“We went down to the drawing room, Mother’s drawing room,” Caroline explained. “She was sitting in Mother’s chair. Rebecca told her that was where our mother sat and she said,” tears began to well in her eyes, “she said that it was the right place for her then because she was to be our mother now.”
Hannah held the child to her while she cried yet again. The poor dears were having such a hard run at life these days that it made Hannah ache and wish she could take it all away.
“Perhaps she meant it in a happy way and you only misunderstood. Perhaps she was trying to say that she would be happy to love and look after such beautiful girls.”
“I don’t think so,” Rebecca cried, clinging to Hannah’s skirts with her own tears. “She even yelled at me.”
“Whatever for?” Hannah asked, not knowing these girls to do anything to cause a harsh reprimand, well except for the Mr. Whiskers incident.
“I brought my doll with me and sat her down to tea with us. She said that it was babyish and that proper little girls left their toys in the nursery,” Rebecca half muffled into Hannah’s skirts.
That was quite the last straw for Hannah as far as Lady Tara was concerned. How that woman could say such cruel things to two little angels who were already in a delicate condition was beyond her understanding.
No matter her personal feelings however, she would not share them with the girls. There was a very good chance that no matter their feelings towards Lady Tara or Lady Tara’s feelings towards them, she was going to be the future lady of this house.
The sooner they found a way to endure her, the better. Hannah would not fuel their dislike of the lady, no matter how justified it was.
“I am sure she was only nervous to spend time with the two of you. Give Lady Tara a chance and perhaps you will find that you like her very much.”
“I don’t want to give her a chance! I will never like her! I don’t want to see her ever again!” Caroline burst out before running from the room in a fit of tears to her bed in the nursery.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The Earl of Grimshaw was beside himself with grief and confusion. The whole purpose for bringing Lady Tara into his life was for the benefit of his children.
Now he was receiving news that after an afternoon together Caroline was unconsolably upset and Rebecca had been reduced to tears.
“Did something go wrong?” Grimshaw asked Lady Tara.
“No, my dear,” she said in her high voice. He really didn’t like it when she used such a term of endearment.
“We had a lovely afternoon drinking tea. I am not sure at all why they would be upset. They left the drawing room happy enough. Although,” she continued as if the idea had just come to her, “they did go straight back up to that governess of yours.”
Grimshaw perked up and bristled all at once at the mention of Miss Jacobson. The only way he had gotten through these last two weeks was to not think on her as much as could be helped.
“I don’t want to presume anything of course, but you did mention her termination was due to trust issues. Is it really wise to continue to have her teach the girls in such a situation? Who knows what thoughts she could be putting in their head.”
“No,” Grimshaw waved his hand in dismissal. “Her termination has no bearing on her ability to teach the girls. She cares for them deeply and would never do anything that might upset them.”
“But she can’t be happy herself having lost this position. Perhaps she is influencing them against me as a way to get back at you,” Lady Tara droned on as if the idea was positively horrible to her.
Grimshaw rose from his seat and paced the room as he thought the matter over. A stray dark lock of hair fell in his face and he pushed it away in irritation. He was sure there was no way that Hannah Jacobson would do such a dirty underhanded thing to the girls, even if it was to punish him.
“I will go talk to Caroline,” he said finally. “I am sure it is all just a big misunderstanding that will be sorted out by dinner.”
“Oh, I am relieved to hear that,” Lady Tara said with a whoosh of breath. “I would hate to think that your girls did not like me.”
“They do like you,” Grimshaw insisted. “How could they not?”
“Perhaps if things were made official, they would not be so confused with this visit,” Lady Tara said as she picked a thread off of the top of her linen dress.
Grimshaw hesitated. He was not used to women being so forward nor was he ready to make anything official.
“Let me go talk to Caroline,” he reassured the lady before excusing himself from the drawing room.
Grimshaw bounded the stairs two at a time and went straight for the nursery. There he found Caroline lying on her bed, red-eyed and still sniffling.
“What happened today?” Grimshaw asked softly as he came to sit next to his daughter on her trundle bed.
“She is horrible, Father,” Caroline said between sniffs.
“Is she? Or did someone tell you that she was?” he added rather reluctantly.
Caroline rolled over in her bed and sat up, looking her father straight in the eyes. Though she had the soft features of her mother Grimshaw could clearly see his own face in hers.
“No one needed to tell me. She was mean and cruel and she made Rebecca cry.”
“I think you should just give her another chance,” Grimshaw retorted.
He was relieved to hear that Miss Jacobson wasn’t turning their minds against his prospective wife. He hadn’t put much stock in the idea but had to ask nonetheless.
“She doesn’t have any children of her own,” he tried to explain, “nor was she lucky enough to have a sibling like you. She may be new to being around children and not always say the right thing. But I promise you she is trying.”
“I don’t think so,” Caroline said, laying back down on the bed. “She despises us.”
“Not at all,” Grimshaw countered. “She has told me herself how excited she was to meet the two of you. She has high hopes that you all will someday be great friends.”
“I don’t want to,” Caroline said like a petulant child.
Grimshaw rose his voice to the tone that told his children that he meant business, “Caroline, there is a very good chance that we will be seeing a lot more of Lady Tara so I suggest you resign yourself to that fact. She is trying to be your friend, I don’t think it is asking too much of you to do the same.”
Caroline buried her head in her pillow and cried tears of frustration as her father stormed out of the room.
He couldn’t understand what had gotten into the child for her to be so stubbornly against Lady Tara. Perhaps the lady had said something wrong, some sort of misunderstanding.
Children were literal creatures; a simple phrase may have put Caroline off and upset Rebecca.
As he strolled down the hall and to his own room to change for dinner he reassured himself for the millionth time that this was the right course to take.
Caroline and Rebecca were going to need a motherly figure. Someone who could help them navigate society. Lady Tara had been a very involved member of the ton and her connections would be to his girls’ benefit when they were older.
Perhaps Caroline was just upset now because she worried that he was replacing the mother she lost. If he could only find a way to explain to his daughte
r that he would never allow another woman into his heart as Ann had been to him.
Even when one had somehow found a way in, he had fought it off. After all, that was why Lady Tara was here in the first place. With the lady at his side Ann’s place would be secured and he could forget all about Hannah Jacobson.
Hannah had chosen to take all her meals either with the girls in the school room or in her own room. It was not hard to do so with the arrival of Lord Grimshaw’s guests. With the girls banished from his dining table there was no point to her presence.
She was just coming up the stairs with a tray in hand from the kitchen below when a loud raucous noise caught her attention.
Setting down her tray on a hall table, she walked towards the front of the house where the frantic cries came from.
“Lord Grimshaw!” Mrs. Brennon said, bursting into the drawing room.
Grimshaw who had been standing by the piano to listen to Lady Tara play before dinner looked to his housekeeper in shock.
“Forgive the intrusion but you must see this right away,” Mrs. Brennon said, completely frazzled and waving a parchment in her hand.
“Alright,” he said, trying to infuse some calm into the woman. “Let’s take it out here,” he motioned for her to step outside the drawing room.
Lady Waldron was already fanning herself from the shock of the rude entry and Lord Waldron had the smelling salts at the ready should any other improper occurrence send his wife into fits.
In the hall he was greeted by Abigail who was beside herself.
“What is ever the matter?”
Abigail tried to speak but nothing but choked sobs escaped her lips.
“It’s Caroline,” Mrs. Brennon said. “She is missing.”
Hannah entered the foyer just as these words were spoken. Her heart instantly jumped into her throat and she rushed forward, forgetting all the enmity between her and the earl.
“Caroline is what?” Hannah asked in a panicked tone.
“Give me that letter,” Grimshaw demanded, his own fear showing on his face.
“Dear Father,
I am sorry to inform you that I have run away.
Most sincerely yours,
Lady Caroline Blackburn.”
The earl read the short note out loud before looking to Hannah in worry.
“I would not doubt that she put the idea in Lady Caroline’s head,” Lady Tara’s voice called from behind the earl.
All parties turned to see that she had followed Grimshaw out of the drawing room and was accusing Hannah of Caroline’s disappearance.
“I would never condone a child to leave her home. Especially in the dark and cold. Oh, Lord Grimshaw,” Hannah said as the worries came flooding over her. “What if she got lost on her way?”
“On her way? On her way to where?”
“See,” Lady Tara said smugly, “she knows where the child is because she was the one to give her the idea.”
“I know where she is because I know where she would go being this upset.”
“Where?” Lord Grimshaw urged, reaching forward to gently grasp Hannah’s elbow.
He looked deep into her eyes with the plea of a worried father. She shared his concern and dismissed all anger from Lady Tara’s accusations.
“To Grannie’s of course,” Hannah said softly. “I will go and fetch her,” she added more determinedly.
“No, I will go,” Grimshaw said now that he had a destination in mind. “Mrs. Brennon, go and tell the stable boy to ready my horse.”
“Forgive me, Lord Grimshaw, but it would be better if I go,” Hannah said softly. “She will be upset. I will stay the night with her at Grannie’s and talk things over with her. Eight years old is the start of a very emotional age in her life. I think this matter should be handled delicately.”
“And I cannot do that?” he said a little offended.
“You can be a little,” Hannah hesitated, “heavy-handed and overbearing at times,” she said in all honesty. “I think it would be best if I talk with her and we return together in the morning.”
Grimshaw thought this over. He was reminded of their argument earlier. He had gone to soothe Caroline and had only made her more upset. Hannah was right that he probably wasn’t the best candidate for a sensitive approach.
“Fine, but I will take you there myself and see that Caroline is at Mrs. McCarthy’s and safe. Then I will return in the morning to collect you both,” Grimshaw said with finality.
“Go and get your things and we can leave.”
“There is nothing I need that is so important not to leave right now,” Hannah said.
Her greatest fear was that Caroline might get lost in the dark walking on the road. What if she went the wrong way and got hurt. The sooner she was at Mrs. McCarthy’s cottage and saw Caroline safe by the old woman’s hearth the better.
He nodded in silent understanding of her urgency for he felt it too and was in fact grateful for her sense of propriety in the matter.
“Grimshaw,” Lady Tara called as the other two started to make their way out of the house. “What about dinner? What am I to tell Mother and Father?”
“Lady Tara, this is an emergency. My daughter could be lost or hurt or worse. I am sure you can find a way to give them my condolences on missing the night’s meal,” Grimshaw said before turning without another thought for the woman.
When the two got outside there were already two steeds saddled and ready for them. Both mounted silently and Hannah took the lead to show him the way to Mrs. McCarthy’s house.
They took the road painfully slow despite being on horseback only so that if Caroline was still out there they could find her.
The night air was far beyond chilled and Hannah fretted over knowing that Caroline could be wandering alone outside. Even if she made it to Grannie’s house would she have prepared properly against the cold? What if she became sick from the cold winter night air?
Finally they reached Grannie’s house with no answer to the call of Caroline’s name on the road. Hannah gave a sigh of relief when she saw through the cottage window Grannie and Caroline cosy in front of the hearth with a little kitty in her hand.
“She is inside,” Hannah called back to Grimshaw who was just behind her. “I can see her.”
Hannah dismounted her horse and tied it to a stake outside the house. Grannie with her hawk eyes noticed her coming and was at the door before Hannah was even done securing the reins.
“I will come for you both in the morning,” Grimshaw reiterated as he hesitated to leave.
Hannah simply waved him off for she had little care but to go in the house and see that Caroline was safe.
She rushed though Grannie’s open door and into the small front room. She fell onto Caroline, hugging and kissing her.
Grimshaw hesitated before leaving. He wanted to make sure that no harm had befallen his child. He watched through the window as Hannah inspected the girl over before hugging and kissing her head again.
He breathed a sigh of relief. Surely she was safe and well. His last image was of the two girls in a tight embrace, the poor kitten desperate to escape the trap between them, with tears streaming down both sets of cheeks.
Chapter Twenty-Four
After Hannah was reassured that Caroline was in fact whole and without injury they didn’t speak on the matter again for the rest of the night.
Instead they stayed by the warmth of the fire while Caroline played with the kitten and Grannie told tales from when she was a little girl.
Hannah knew that it was just what Caroline had needed. Though the child probably didn’t know it herself, she wasn’t running away but in fact running to.
She was running to the safety and comfort of a place and a woman who loved her wholly and unconditionally. That was what Caroline needed that night, so that was what Hannah made sure she received.
Both Hannah and Caroline slept on makeshift beds by the hearth and it was the first sound sleep that Hannah had had as long a
s she could remember.
She woke to the feel of the chill from the cold hearth and rose to get wood to get it going again.
“I think I might be out,” Grannie whispered so as not to wake up Caroline who was still fast asleep. “There is some by the shed, I’ll go pop out and get it.”
“Don’t trouble yourself,” Hannah said, standing and stretching the sleep out of her joints. “I would be happy to do it. I’ll get a nice big pile going for you here by the fireplace so you won’t have to go out into the cold much more.”
“Thank you, dear,” Grannie said with a smile. “My husband was always good about keeping wood in the house. With him gone it’s hard for me to keep up with it all,” she added with a wistful sigh. “I’m sure Matty will be by someday soon and will see to me.”
Hannah smiled a reassuring comfort to the lady, though as she walked out in the crisp morning air she was less sure that Matthew McCarthy had any care for the well-being of his mother.
As Hannah stepped out the back door of the cottage she heard the distinct crunch of ice. Looking down she saw that a soft dusting of ice had frozen to the ground. The whole world around her was an icicle wonderland and she guessed that meant snow wasn’t far off either.
She was thankful that this cold had waited just one more night. Who knew how things would have fared for Caroline if she had marched the roads in the dark with this temperature in the air.
She listened to the soft crunch of her feet and the sound of the birds waking as she made her trips to and fro between the pile of wood and the hearth in the house.
An hour later, Caroline was awake and eating breakfast by its warm glow, and Hannah no longer felt the cold outside from her strenuous effort.
Hannah knew that Lord Grimshaw would be arriving at any moment and she would need to help Caroline come to terms with the new life before her.
“Caroline, you know what you did last night was wrong?” Hannah asked as they sat at the table.