by Leenie Brown
However, marriage was not even a possibility at present.
“How will I ever marry when I cannot enter society as a proper young lady should? I cannot leave you, and even if I could, James is not capable of seeing to my future.” She huffed and sank down in a chair next to her father as she took the hand her father had extended to her. “If there was ever any doubt, he is dispelling that right now.” She shook her head as tears formed in her eyes.
“I… have a… friend.”
“No, Father, no. I am not marrying Mr. Northcott. No.”
Mr. Northcott was nearly fifty! And he was rather round and adored drinking enough to cause his cheeks to be perpetually red and his humor to be overbearingly, and often, nonsensically, jubilant. She did not care if the man also had a healthy fortune and a fine estate. Nor did she care that her father had known him for years. There was no way she was going to willingly be Mr. Northcott’s wife and bear his children. The mere thought caused her stomach to roil and her skin to crawl.
“James has… friends.”
“Who are as inept and stupid as he is!” There was not a one among them whom she would consider as an acceptable match – for anyone, let alone, herself.
“Adela.” The stroke had not removed her father’s ability to say her name in a scolding tone.
“I apologize. That was unkind.” And true. Excessively, frustratingly true! “He is selling my horse. My horse,” she whispered as the tears she had been fighting won the battle and flowed freely down her cheeks.
Her father squeezed her hand, and she returned the gesture. Not because she wished to tell him that she loved him – she did, of course — she just did not feel like saying it right now. However, she also knew that she did not have the luxury to withhold such words even when angry and hurt, for she did not know how many more times she would be able to say them and did not wish to regret having withheld them if her father should not survive until she was feeling more loved and loving.
She lifted the hand which held hers and kissed it. Then, she rose to retire to her room where she could wallow in her heartbreak alone.
Her father, however, did not immediately let go of her hand. “Your aunt…”
She shook her head. She had no desire to have her aunt help her find a husband. Aunt Edith’s idea of a proper husband would likely not take into account the state of the man’s stables.
“I cannot leave you. I will not.” She bent and kissed his forehead.
He held her hand tightly. “It is… arranged.”
“What is arranged?” What was he talking about? Did he even know? There were times when his mind became muddled.
He shook his head. “Ask Mr. Fulton.”
She nodded her understanding. To explain was presently too much for him. However, his man of business knew the particulars.
“I will,” she assured him. “Do you wish to go to bed? You look tired.”
Again, he shook his head. “I am… sorry.”
“About what?”
“Damon.”
His voice was weak, and, like it or not, she was going to send someone to inquire about his returning to bed. She would wait a few minutes, but within half an hour, she hoped he would be resting on his pillows instead of sitting by the table in his room attempting to write things out with a hand that only half worked.
“Addie?”
She turned towards him from the doorway.
“I love you.” He rarely slurred those words, and he always managed a beautiful smile when he said them. It was as if they worked a magic in him which nothing else could.
“And I love you.” She blew him a kiss as she had always done since she was a little girl, and he with a somewhat stiff hand caught it and pressed it to his heart.
~*~*~
Half an hour later, Addie’s father was back in his bed, but he was not resting. At least, he was not resting how Addie had wished for him to rest. He had been insensible when his man had found him, slumped over his table, his pen still in his hand. The surgeon had been called, but there was nothing they could do but wait to see if he would regain his senses and, only when he did, would they know the full extent of the damage done.
“You came to see him about Damon.” James’s voice was accusatory when he stopped her outside their father’s room.
She had just been sent out of the room by Mr. Sydney, the surgeon.
“Yes, I saw him.” She shoved his hand away from her arm. Her nerves were in no condition to tolerate her brother’s scolding. Their father could be dying, and he was concerned that she had gone to their father about his selling a horse — her horse? “He gave me Damon.”
“I know.” He attempted to snatch her arm again, but she pulled it way. “I remember the day quite well. It was just a few days before I left for school.” He followed her down the hall as she walked away from him.
“How could you, James?” She whirled on him and did not even attempt to keep the hurt she felt out of her voice. “Do you truly care for me so little?”
His head snapped backward, and he looked both shocked and affronted. “What do you mean, do I care for you so little? You are my sister. Of course, I care for you.”
Addie folded her arms and blinked at the tears which were once again forming their battle lines. Her nose and eyes would be permanently swollen and red before this day was through. And to think that it had started out so well.
“Do you really?” she snapped.
“It is a horse, Addie,” he cried in exasperation. “I will get you another as soon as I am able.”
“It was a gift from Father. How can you replace that?”
He grabbed her elbow and moved her down the hall to her room from where they had been standing near their father’s door. He pushed her inside the room and closed the door behind him.
“Would you rather I sell you to Mr. Camden?”
Addie staggered backward a pace. “I beg your pardon?”
“Mr. Camden has been known to extract his displeasure at not being paid in beatings, or worse.” James stood in front of the door, his shoulders lifting and lowering in a noticeable fashion. “And to collect his payment by selling gentlemen’s female folk at brothels.”
Addie was certain her eyes were about to pop out of her head and roll across the floor. She blinked just to ensure they stayed inside her head. “How did you become involved with a man like that?”
James ran a hand through his hair. “It was not purposefully done. I thought I could win. I had never been to this place before but had heard from Willet that it was the place to make a fortune in one night.”
How stupid was he? “And you believed that?”
He shrugged. “I had been drinking.”
Of course, he had! “James.”
“I know. I know. I have been attempting to get the money together to give to Camden, but I simply could not get enough. So, I offered him a prize gelding.” He crossed and took Addie by the shoulders. “I know it was not right to promise him your horse. I know that you might forever hate me, but I had heard him talking to someone who mentioned to him that I had a sister. He seemed quite interested in that fact in a way in which I would not care to share with you.”
Horror thick as molasses on a cold winter’s day settled in Addie’s chest. Did her brother ever think things all the way through before acting?
“And you brought him here?”
James nodded. “To see the horse. He seemed interested in it and said he was willing to strike a deal if the horse was to his liking.”
“And if it is not?”
The fear Addie felt finally registered in her brother’s eyes. “I will see him to an inn by pleading Father’s illness as the reason.”
“Will that not offend him?” She could go to Mansfield. She would be safe there. However, she would also be away from her father, and she could not leave him. Not now.
“I will attempt it. What else can I do?”
“Oh, James, you can start contemplating the ramificat
ions of your actions before you find yourself in such a quandary as this.”
Her brother released his grip on her shoulders and, turning away, ran his hand through his hair again. “I have made a grand mess of things, have I not?” He shook his head. “I have been attempting to right things for months. I assure you, Addie, that I am not the same fool I was. I am a slightly wiser one.”
Addie sighed. Arguing with him over his amount of stupidity was not going to change a thing. Damon had to be sold in order to keep both herself and her brother safe.
“See what can be done. You did not plan for Father to be ill. Hopefully, Mr. Camden will understand that, but whatever you do, do not meet with him alone. Always have someone near, if not in, the room. I am angry with you, but I do not wish to see you beaten.” She sank down on the edge of her bed. “And James?”
He turned towards her.
“I will do my best to convince Mr. Camden of Damon’s value.” She gave him a half-smile. “I suppose keeping a brother is better than keeping a horse. But do not think for one moment that I will let you forget this any time soon.”
“I have no doubt of that.”
“I fully intend to act put out that you are taking such a fine horse from me, and if Mr. Camden is as vile as you say, he might find the prize more appealing if he knows it will harm someone.” She leveled a glare at her brother. “Which it will.”
He closed his eyes and nodded. There appeared to be some of her former loving brother behind the pain etched into his features at her comment. He had not lost all care for her.
“If there had been any other way, Addie,” he whispered.
“There is just one more thing, and I will see to informing the staff.” She blew out a breath. “If Father should die, no one must know until Mr. Camden has left. If he knows you have inherited, he might push for more.”
“How did my little sister become so smart?”
Despite the gravity of their current situation, Addie smiled to hear him call her smart. “We have both been taking lessons, big brother. It is just that I have been receiving an education in the running of an estate while you have been gaining an education in how not to gamble.”
Chapter 4
“What was that about?” Robert was standing at the foot of the stairs down which the surgeon, who had been calling on Sir Thomas, had raced.
“It seems Mr. Atwood is in need of urgent attention.” Tom shook his head and looked up the stairs he had just descended. “I cannot imagine how Addie is handling all of this. I am struggling with my father being incapacitated, but I have Mother and Faith as well as Susan, you, and Edmund and Fanny. Miss Atwood has no one. Her brother is still at school.” Tom shook his head once again. “I cannot fathom having to face this and care for a sister.” He clapped Robert on the shoulder. “You have not done things perfectly, but you have done well.”
“Faith has done well,” Robert replied. “I would have been a far greater mess without her to badger me into doing what needed doing.”
Miss Atwood’s comments about her brother came to mind. “Is there something amiss between Miss Atwood and her brother?”
Tom’s brow furrowed.
“She did not seem pleased when speaking of him earlier. The implication was that he did not care for her, and she did not seem happy with him or with his almost being done school. I was not sure which it was.”
Tom shrugged. “I am not certain. I know they got on well when they were younger.” He stepped toward the drawing room. “Susan,” he called and then waited for her to join him in the gallery.
“Did you need something?” Susan asked when she had joined them.
“I have some news which you will wish to know. However, I wonder if you might, first, answer a question for Mr. Eldridge.”
“Of course.”
“How do Addie and James get on?” Tom asked.
Susan looked between them. Her eyes clearly saying she was not certain how to answer such a question or if she even should.
“It was something she said earlier which made me think she and her brother do not get along well,” Robert explained. “I am being too nosy by half.”
“I could not give him an answer,” Tom added. “I have been away so much that I do not know.” He smiled sadly. “That was not very well done on my part.”
“You will not share this?” Susan asked quietly with a look back toward the drawing room.
“No,” both Tom and Robert answered together.
“James has changed since he left for school. He treats her as if she knows nothing.” She pulled the corner of her bottom lip between her teeth and looked at the floor. “She has not said it as such, but I believe he prefers his friends to his family.”
Tom closed his eyes and blew out a breath. Robert knew that such a statement hit close to home for his friend, and he suspected from the “my apologies” whispered by Susan, she also knew how much such a statement would be felt by Tom.
“Then, this news will be even harder to share and hear,” Tom said. “I am certain a letter will arrive for you soon enough, but the surgeon was called away to Silverthorne just now. It seems Mr. Atwood has had another seizure. The worst so far.” He wrapped his cousin in his arms when she gasped and looked faint. “I think it might be good if we were to pay a visit to Addie. Just to see if there is anything she needs. Would you like to do that?”
“Oh, yes, but have you finished what you needed to do with Edmund?”
Tom squeezed his cousin tight. “Yes, Susie, I have. Now, are you well enough to get ready?”
Susan nodded.
“Then, I will tell my mother that we are going out and see if I can coax Miss Eldridge into accompanying us.” He smiled for he knew, as well as Robert did, that if there was a person whom Faith knew who was in trouble, she would be amongst the first to lend her aid. In fact, the person did not have to be known to Faith if that person fell into her realm and needed care. That was how Tom had been saved after his fall.
~*~*~
Half an hour later, the four of them, Faith, Susan, Robert, and Tom, were sitting in Tom’s carriage on their way to Silverthorne. Edmund had been persuaded to go home to his wife with the assurance that if his services as parson were needed, he would be called for directly. And Susan had also promised to inform him of all she knew when Tom stopped at the parsonage on their way home.
Half an hour after entering the carriage, the party from Mansfield exited it and entered Silverthorne Court.
“James, I did not realize you were at home,” Tom said in surprise when they were shown to the drawing room. “Mr. Camden.” Tom greeted the wiry looking fellow next to Tom before glancing at Robert.
They both knew who Mr. Camden was. Things could not be good if Mr. James Atwood was in the company of Mr. Camden.
“Bertram, Eldridge,” Camden greeted them as if this were his drawing room and not that of Mr. Atwood. But then, that was how Camden was. He took possession of anywhere and anything that he wished. And woe be to the fellow who opposed him.
“We came to see if Miss Atwood needed assistance. The surgeon was at Mansfield,” Tom explained succinctly.
Robert knew that his friend was keeping as much information to himself as possible. One did not give away details to a man like Camden. A friend of theirs had run afoul of him once, and, to this day, that friend walked with a limp from the damage Camden’s thugs had done to him. Truth be told, he was fortunate to be walking at all.
“My sister is upstairs in her room,” James said. “She is understandably overwhelmed by all that has happened. I was just offering to escort Mr. Camden to the Red Lion. I am certain there would be far better entertainment there than at a house where its inhabitants are so distracted by grave matters.” He shifted uneasily and cast a wary glance at Camden.
Good. Young Atwood seemed to have enough sense to wish to see Camden gone as soon as could be managed.
“I hear,” Tom said, “that there is still a bit of a special guests game played
there a few nights of the week. This might be one of them.”
Camden’s eyes lit at that information.
“There are not very many deep pockets here, but it could prove diverting,” Tom added.
“Will either of you be there?” Camden’s smile was a sickeningly rapacious as Robert remembered it.
“No. I am afraid we have thrown off such frivolities in favour or a more genteel and boring existence,” Robert quipped.
“And do these ladies have anything to do with this change of habit?”
Robert shook his head. “No, not a thing.” It was a lie. Faith was a large part of his giving up of his former life. However, he was not about to share the identity of his sister or Miss Price with the man. And so far, they had managed to avoid any introductions.
“Addie would be pleased to see you in the blue drawing room,” James inserted. He looked at Susan. “I believe you know the way?”
She nodded.
“I will return as quickly as I can.” James waved his arm towards the door in invitation for Mr. Camden to exit in front of him.
“There is no need for you to leave your guests, Atwood. I am certain there must be a groom who can show me the way. Perhaps one who knows your horses well and can tell me if there are any others in which I might be interested.” His brows rose. “I am not about to settle on the first one you show me.”
The words were said pleasantly, but there was a steeliness to the man’s eyes. Robert would put a hundred pounds on Mr. James Atwood being in debt to the man. Camden only liked horses if they were taking him from one game to another or winning money for him on a track.
“I am certain I could tell you about the horses better than any groom.”
“I doubt that,” Camden said. “If I am to talk to any Atwood about horses, I think it ought to be your sister. She seemed to know her way with that horse you showed me earlier. I dare say she knows more than you.”