by Abby Ayles
Isabella walked her ward over to the large windows draped behind curtains. She pulled them back and gave a look out the window to the manicured gardens below and sky above.
There was a dark green sheen of moisture. That seemed almost always to be the case, so it wasn’t much of a concern. Isabella instead studied the clouds.
She had learned once, the hard way, what happened when a storm came suddenly and wasn’t going to make that mistake again if she could help it. Isabella studied the clouds carefully and determined them to be non-threatening.
“I suppose it is safe enough for us to take our afternoon exercise now,” Isabella said to the squeals and delight of her student.
Isabella helped Jackie into her long coat, gloves, and fur muffler. Though it was spring now, and flowers were becoming more frequent in bloom, the wind could still have a bitter chill to it.
“I’ve heard something exciting has been going on in here,” a deep voice called from the doorway.
Isabella turned her focus from her pupil to the gentleman taking over most of the doorway. Her face instantly lit with a smile as it so often did at his presence.
The Duke of Wintercrest ducked his head out of habit as he crossed the threshold. Though the doors in the manor were tall enough, even for his height, Isabella suspected that wasn’t the case on the ship, forcing him to drop his rusty head below their lower level.
“Oh, Uncle Christian, the caterpillar is now a butterfly. We are going to go outside and let him fly,” Jackie said, still full of energy.
“What a fun adventure. You must have the best governess in all the land,” the duke said, crouching before his niece but winking up at Isabella.
Isabella blushed and looked away. Though they had agreed to keep their engagement a secret, Isabella couldn’t help but think that they probably weren’t very good at it. Most especially Christian, who seemed to find any and every excuse to spend time with her.
“I hope you won’t mind terribly if I tag along?" the duke asked, already knowing the answer.
When his niece nodded in the affirmative, the duke stood to take his lady’s arm. Jackie grabbed the jar from the small table where it had resided through the colder seasons, and together they went outside.
They walked in silence for a time while Jackie determined just the perfect spot to release the creature.
Though Isabella was wearing her thicker woolen shawl, she still felt the bite of the cold whenever the wind blew. She pulled herself closer to the duke for warmth. He smiled down at her as he covered her gloved hand with his leather-gloved one inside the crook of his arm.
Isabella didn’t miss, however, that the smile didn’t quite reach up to his blue eyes. She watched him closely as they continued to walk. She could see there was a deep weight on his shoulders.
Finally, Jackie decided on a small garden cove with early bulb blooms for the new butterfly’s home. She released the lid from the jar and watched as he fluttered out. Jackie chased him around the garden as he dipped from one fresh flower to the next.
Isabella took the time where Jackie was completely distracted to address her concerns with the duke’s current countenance. They were walking around a small gravel path that kept the garden separate from any other.
“There is something bothering you, Your Grace." Isabella stated. "If you need someone to talk to, I would be happy to listen.”
The duke smiled down at her, enjoying the fact that she knew him well enough to notice his distress.
“Well, my dear Isabella, my mother informed me this morning that she has decided to plan a very large ball.”
“A ball?” Isabella asked, a little surprised herself. “I wouldn’t have thought her up to such a task.”
“Well, it was after receiving encouragement from Lady Cunningham that mother decided on this course of action. According to Lady Cunningham’s advice, the distraction will benefit her greatly as well as give myself the opportunity to be officially introduced as Duke of Wintercrest.”
He added this ending as if he still wasn’t sure how the name suited him. He had changed names, and with it, part of his identity, far too much over the last few years.
“I guess, for those reasons, it seems logical,” Isabella said, still trying to understand why the duchess would want to take on such a responsibility as she still healed.
“It’s all a ruse," the duke said, heated with irritation. “Lady Cunningham, and even my mother, are just looking for another way to push Lady Lydia to me.”
Though Isabella was secure in her faith that the duke had meant his words when he confessed his love, she still couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy.
The duke stopped abruptly on the path and turned to Isabella. He reached up and cupped her face in his hands. Isabella closed her eyes and leaned into the touch. They were as completely secluded as they would ever be, and the duke wanted to take advantage of the moment.
He leaned his head down so that their foreheads touched. The duke absorbed the electricity building from their closeness. Isabella, too, felt herself melting against his touch.
"Let us announce our engagement now,” he whispered softly to her.
Isabella opened her eyes and leaned her head back from him. Isabella was sure he was teasing. It was still far too close to the death of his father for such a thing. He looked down on her, full of love and honesty.
“Christian, telling your mother we are engaged won’t stop the ball from happening,” Isabella said, trying to lighten the mood.
The duke gave her a half smile. He wrapped one arm around her waist and held her cheek with his other.
“I don’t care about the ball. I mean yes, of course I am dreading it. I hate balls," he answered her raised brow. “But, more than that, I don’t want this to be a secret anymore. I want you at my side that night.”
“I just think it’s too soon,” Isabella said. Emotion caught in her throat as she said her true fear, “I think it would be better for you to take extra time, Your Grace.” She took a step back from his embrace. The world seemed much colder.
“Extra time for what?” He asked, clearly hurt by her actions.
“Time to think things through with a clear head. Your mother isn’t the only one taking on an enormous amount right now. You might see things differently in the future. I don’t want you to feel bound if you change your mind.”
“Change my mind?” the duke questioned in disbelief. He took another step toward her and took both her hands in his. “Isabella, I have no concern that my feelings for you will fade or clear. I would ride with you to Gretna Green if you would allow me.”
Isabella looked on him, filled with her own concern. “What of your mother? I am not a proper lady.”
“Had I been just Captain Grant instead of Duke of Wintercrest, would your feelings for me change?”
“Of course not,” Isabella answered quickly.
“That is why I love you, why I want you to be by my side through life. I think no less of you without your father’s title. My conviction will not waiver. Not today, tomorrow, or even a year from now. Though, God forbid, you make me wait so long,” he added with a wicked smile.
She softened too with his encouraging words. She held his hands softly with her own. Isabella looked up at him shyly and he relaxed, knowing he had convinced her to wash away any worry.
“Uncle Christian?” a small voice called a little way up the path. “Are you in love with Miss Watts?” Jackie asked with an innocent romanticism as she observed their held hands between them. Her cheeks were rosy from the whipping wind and chasing the butterfly.
“I am afraid I am hopelessly so,” His Grace said, coming down to the child’s level. “But we need to keep it a secret for just a little while longer.”
“Until the ball,” he continued, looking back up at Isabella, “when I will announce our engagement to all.”
Isabella smiled down at her future husband as he shared their secret with his niece. She nodded in agreement. Sh
e found it to be a sufficient compromise. Isabella wanted him to have time to adjust to his new way of life before adding more to it. Waiting till the ball seemed like the right choice to her.
Chapter 34
Isabella’s ears perked up at the duke's words. They were all sitting around the fire in the drawing room one evening. Lady Abigail was currently teaching Jackie a children's card game, Lady Wintercrest was deep at work at a small writing desk, making a list of invitations, and the duke was reading over some mail he hadn’t gotten to earlier in the day.
Isabella continued her embroidery sample but kept her ears tuned to their conversation. Her eyes only met Christian’s ones and he winked at her stealthily.
“I don’t know if I am familiar with Lady Gilcrest. I know the name well enough, but I can’t say I remember ever making acquaintance with the family. How do you know them, Christian?”
“When I was last in London, I met both Lady Louisa and Lord Colton during the Earl of Cunningham’s event.”
Lady Abigail paused from her game. She knew who Lady Louisa was in relation to Isabella.
“Oh yes, mother. Lady Louisa is a very dear friend of Isabella. We must invite her. I have so wanted to meet her myself.”
Isabella noticed that Lady Wintercrest hesitated for just a second before agreeing and adding the name. Though she thought His Grace and herself had been very discreet, she sensed that it hadn’t gone unnoticed by Lady Wintercrest.
Lady Wintercrest had certainly been kind to Isabella but there seemed to always be a hesitation in her mannerism now. Isabella wondered if she was disappointed that her and Lady Cunningham’s matchmaking hadn’t worked out. Isabella worried that it was something much deeper than just a failed attempt to find a match for her son.
As the night wound down, Jackie began to grow tired. Isabella expected that it was time she took her pupil up to bed. “Come, Jackie. Let us say our goodnights for the evening.”
Jackie nodded her golden head in sleepy agreement before taking a turn around the room to say goodnight.
As she gave her grandmother a hug, Lady Wintercrest turned to Isabella, “I was wondering if you might come back down after you deposit Jaqueline to her nurse. There is something I have been meaning to discuss with you.”
“Of course, Your Grace,” Isabella said, a little bit surprised.
“Wonderful. Shall we meet in the library, then?” Lady Wintercrest continued.
“Yes, Your Grace.” Isabella nodded before taking the child out of the room. She did her best to ignore the growing concern deep inside. It was not completely usual for Lady Wintercrest to want an audience with Isabella, especially a private one.
Isabella hurried to take Jackie to bed and return to the library. The wondering was enough to make her go mad. She found Lady Wintercrest seated in a chair next to a newly lit fire. Several candles had also been lit in the room to produce enough light. She was deeply engrossed, as she so often was these days, in her planning.
“Please come and have a seat,” Lady Wintercrest said, setting her notes to the side. Though she was still young for a widow, the last few months had significantly aged her around her eyes.
“What is it I can help you with, Your Grace?” Isabella took a seat across from her. She couldn’t help but remember the last time she had sat in these chairs. That time, it was across from Christian, who had confessed his feelings for her.
“Miss Watts, I first want to say that I have been very happy having you here as part of our household.”
Isabella was sure this wasn’t a good start to things.
“You have brought so much joy to not only little Jaqueline, but to all of us. In fact, I am quite certain that without your presence, my husband would have never…” she paused as the raw emotion got the best of her for a moment. “I am certain he wouldn’t have parted so peacefully. He was so hurt by what had transpired with the child’s mother and James that he kept his heart very hard toward Jaqueline.”
“I’m just happy that I could be a little help,” Isabella said, wringing her hands in her lap.
“I have not been blind to the affection my son has for you,” she stated with a soft smile on her lips. “Naturally, it would not be my first choice for my son to engage the governess. You have been more than just that and I was, at first, very willing to accept the match. I care for you dearly, Isabella, and would have been happy to call you my daughter-in-law.”
Isabella was waiting for the end of her remarks which were to surely come and not be good.
“Lady Cunningham is not one to gossip, but she felt that she must bring something to my attention,” Lady Wintercrest continued with considerable nervousness.
“She told me that an article was posted in London that suggested that there might have been some confusion with theft before you came to stay with us. It seems that the gentleman put in charge of your father’s estates found some items missing when you left London.”
“I can assure you, Lady Wintercrest, I never meant for it to happen. You see, it was a locket containing a lock of my mother’s hair. Mr. Smith insisted I turn over all my possessions to him, which I did. I couldn’t bring myself to give the charm. It held such a dear place in my heart.”
“While I cannot say I think it is right of this Mr. Smith to require such a thing of you, it was still wrong to take the things you stole.”
“I swear, Your Grace, it was just the one necklace. When I learned that Mr. Smith had put in the advertisement, I returned it to him straight away.”
Lady Wintercrest pulled a letter out of her stacks of papers regretfully.
“It seems that Mr. Smith is claiming much property was taken from him,” she said, looking over a letter. “Lady Cunningham only informed me because she was concerned not only for our association, but for yourself as well.”
“It seems that Mr. Smith is claiming that you stole from him property amounting up to one hundred pounds.”
Isabella’s mouth dropped open in shock. She would have had to pick up the entirety of Rosewater and sewn it into her dress hem for that to be the case.
“He claims that he was unable to pay the debts that had been given to him on your father’s passing because of this theft. Unfortunately, he testified to this matter before a judge when brought to court by those collecting the debts in question.”
“I did no such thing. It is true I took the locket, but nothing more. He was given the whole of my father’s estates including our London home,” Isabella was doing her best to control her anger.
It seemed that Mr. Smith had no limits when it came to destroying her reputation. He had received the whole of what her father possessed as well as complete control of the business her father built and still sought to destroy her.
“Unfortunately,” Lady Wintercrest continued, “the authorities were brought in to settle the matter. According to their investigation, they cannot account for the goods inside your previous residence which now seem to be missing.”
“Certainly, they could question the previous servants. I left Rosewater long before he took hold of the place and they could confirm that I left all belongings behind except what was in my trunk.”
“The servants did confirm such a fact. However, the week after you left to join us here, apparently, a solicitor claiming to work for Mr. Smith cleared out the house to sell the possessions. Mr. Smith claims that such a person wasn’t employed by him, nor has he seen the possessions since. He claims it was a solicitor you had hired.”
“It’s not true!” Isabella said just a bit too loud. “I’m sorry,” she said regaining her composure. “What am I to do, Your Grace? It is all falsehoods. How can I possibly prove my innocence?”
“Well, I am not very versed on what to do in this kind of situation. I suppose getting a lawyer might be the initial first step.”
“I know a very good one. Mr. Jenkins. He worked for my father. He will help me sort this out.”
Lady Wintercrest gave a relieved sigh. “I am very happy t
o hear that for your sake.” Her countenance fell again, “however…” Lady Wintercrest hesitated, not sure how to find the words.
Isabella swallowed hard knowing what must come next.
“However, I cannot engage myself to the duke at this time. Really, ever. My reputation is ruined. Even if I clear my name, there is no going back from what is now said of me. I cannot bring that shame on the duke, on any of you.”
Isabella looked to Lady Wintercrest with tears in her eyes. The duchess was dabbing her own eyes with a silk handkerchief. “I wish it were some other way, my dear.”
“But there isn’t,” Isabella answered with finality. Her heart turned to stone and sank deep inside her. “I will leave at once,” Isabella said, standing.
Lady Wintercrest stood too. “I think it might be for the best. I fear any delay and my son would wish to get involved. It would be best to leave now before things get too far. I can have the carriage take you this night.”
“Yes, of course,” Isabella said, disheartened by the duchess’ speed and plans already in place.
Lady Wintercrest came forward and wrapped Isabella in an embrace. She wasn’t doing this out of her own desire, but for the good of her children. It would not just taint the duke but the whole family. Who would seek the hand of Lady Abigail if her sister-in-law was thought to be dishonest? And what of poor Jackie? Isabella could never do something that might later have a negative effect on the child.
Yes, Isabella would pack quickly and leave that night. She hated that even so far from London, she had still not escaped the hatred of Mr. Smith. She would not allow his evil to spread to such an innocent family, a family that had already experienced enough trouble of their own.
She returned the duchess’ embrace before hurrying out of the room. Isabella did everything in her power to hold back the rush of tears threatening to fall as she quickly made her way to the west wing of the house.
Isabella quickly packed a few of her belongings. She would have to leave most of what she had behind. She cared less for the dresses and books that she had once cherished and more for the people she would have to leave.