In silence they each were wondering apprehensively what would happen next.
*
When the carriage brought Lord Waterforde to the front door, the Duc went out to greet him.
As he did so, Clive said to Judy, as if he had thought of it for the first time,
“Your father will not be expecting to find me here. Shall I disappear and come back later?”
“You cannot – leave – me,” Judy cried. “Oh – Clive – I am so – frightened.”
“I know, my darling!” he answered. “But you must be brave and pray that your father will not be as angry as we anticipate.”
Celita could not help being sure that he would be very angry indeed.
He would certainly not welcome the news that she would be taking Judy’s place as the Duchesse de Sahran.
Then they heard Lord Waterforde’s voice in the hall talking to the Duc.
He came into the room looking very large and overpowering and Judy ran to greet him.
“It’s lovely to see you – Papa,” she said in a voice that shook a little. “Did you – have a good journey?”
“Very good,” he replied.
He kissed his daughter and then kissed Celita’s cheek.
“Your mother sends you her best love,” he said.
“Is she well?” Celita asked.
“Very well!” he replied.
Then he looked across the room at Clive and exclaimed in surprise,
“Cunningham! So you are here! I heard that you were away, but I did not expect to meet you in France!”
“Clive Cunningham is going to be in charge of my horses at Newmarket,” the Duc announced. “You will remember, my Lord, when we were both there I left a bid for Grosvenor Lodge, which we both thought an extremely attractive mansion with excellent stables?”
“Yes, of course! Of course!” Lord Waterforde said. “I do remember.”
“I have just heard that the bid I put in has been accepted, and as Cunningham is so experienced with horses, I can imagine no one better qualified to look after mine when I am not able to be present.”
Celita could see that Lord Waterforde was rather surprised by this news.
Then, as if he felt this was not of particularly urgent importance, he said to the Duc,
“I have something to say to my daughter and to Celita. I wonder if you would permit me to be with them alone for a short while?”
Celita glanced at Judy and, as their eyes met, they were both exceedingly apprehensive about what this meant,
“But of course,” the Duc was saying. “Cunningham and I will go to my study and, when you join us, there are quite a number of things I wish to show you. Most important, as you can imagine, are the stables!”
“Yes! Yes!” Lord Waterforde agreed.
The Duc and Clive left the drawing room, closing the door behind them.
Judy sat down on the sofa beside Celita and because she was frightened, she slipped her hand into hers and Celita pressed her fingers to reassure her.
Lord Waterforde stood in front of the fireplace and for a moment there was complete silence.
It flashed through Celita’s mind that he already knew what had happened and perhaps in spite of all their caution Lady Hilton had told him.
After what seemed a very long silence, Lord Waterforde began,
“What I have to tell you two will come as a great surprise, but I hope you will understand.”
Now Judy was trembling and Celita’s fingers were even tighter than before.
“While you have both been away at school,” Lord Waterforde was saying, “I found, Celita, that your mother was very lonely and I did my best to keep her from brooding alone in the house.”
“That was kind of you,” Celita said. “I know how much Mama missed Papa. But she insisted on my going to Paris.”
“And I insisted on Judy going as well, so I was very lonely too,” Lord Waterforde continued.
Again there was a strange silence before he went on with an obvious effort.
“We both hope that you will understand that, as we are two people who are growing old, we need companionship. We therefore have decided that your mother, Celita, will move into The Court so that I can look after her and see that she has everything she needs.”
Celita looked at him in sheer astonishment.
“Move – into – Waterforde – Court?” she murmured.
“Perhaps I should make it a little clearer,” Lord Waterforde said. “Your mother and I, Celita, were married last week very quietly in the village Church and now we are together and extremely happy.”
For a moment both the girls were too astonished to move.
Then Judy jumped to her feet and ran to her father.
“If you have married the Countess, Papa, I am so very very glad! I would have hated any stepmother to take Mama’s place except her. She is so sweet and kind and I know that she will make you happy.”
Lord Waterforde kissed his daughter and then found Celita beside him.
There were tears in her eyes as she said very quietly,
“Now I need not worry about Mama any more. It is also wonderful to think that we need not be afraid that you might turn us out.”
“As if I would have ever done such a thing!” Lord Waterforde said indignantly.
Then he put his arm around Celita and hugged her.
“Your mother was afraid that you would be angry and would think that she had forgotten your father. But I think your father, who was my greatest friend, would have wanted me to look after someone he loved who was so very lonely.”
“I am glad, so very very glad, that you are now my stepfather,” Celita said. “I so often worried about Mama when I was in Paris. But now she will be safe and happy and, as you say, will have everything she needs “
“I will give her everything including the moon and the stars thrown in!” Lord Waterforde promised.
He gave a sigh as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
Then he added,
“Now, girls, you can tell me about yourselves and what has been happening here.”
Celita looked at Judy, who moved closer to her father.
“If you are happy, Papa,” she said in a very small voice, “I am very happy too.”
“You mean the Duc – ” Lord Waterforde began.
“ – the Duc has fallen in love with Celita,” Judy said, “and I am – in love with – Clive Cunningham.”
Only Celita knew what a tremendous effort it had been for Judy to take the initiative and she felt like applauding.
At the same time she waited anxiously to see Lord Waterforde’s reaction.
For a moment he was astonished, as they had been astonished by his news.
Then he said,
“So the Duc is in love with Celita.”
“It – it – was love – at first sight,” Celita stammered.
It was wrong to lie, but she was determined not to upset him.
“And you, Judy?” Lord Waterforde enquired.
“I love Clive, Papa. And he is so clever with horses, just like you. I do not think that I could be happy with any other man and, if I cannot marry Clive, I shall just be an old maid until I die.”
Lord Waterforde laughed.
“I am quite certain you will not be that! But I suppose if it is Clive you want, it is Clive you must have. Although I had hoped – ”
He paused and, as if the thought had suddenly struck him, he said,
“If I cannot have the Duc de Sahran as my son-in-law, I can at least welcome him as my stepson-in-law!”
“Of course! That is what he will be!” Celita said. “And he is very thrilled and delighted at the thought of working with you on breeding and, of course, winning every Classic race in Europe.”
Lord Waterforde smiled.
“We must not set our sights too high to start with, but it is certainly something we will aim at for the future. Now let’s go to tell the Duc and young Clive my goo
d news and I suppose that I shall have to congratulate them on yours!”
Celita gave a deep sigh of relief.
Everything had turned out far better than she had dared to hope.
She knew it would be impossible now, if he was married to her mother, for Lord Waterforde to make a scene about the Duc marrying her instead of Judy.
Judy had obviously got her own way in regard to Clive.
“This is wonderful! Wonderful!’ she told herself, as they went to the study to find the two men.
The Duc’s eyes twinkled when he heard the news.
He insisted on opening a bottle of his best champagne for them to drink Lord Waterforde’s health.
“You have beaten us to the post, my Lord!” he said. “Clive and I will expect you to drink our health when we are married,”
“And please, Papa, can that be very soon?” Judy asked bravely. “We have been hearing about the beautiful house Clive is to have at Newmarket and he and I will make your horses the most successful in the whole of England.”
“I shall be very annoyed if you don’t,” Lord Waterforde said jokingly. “And, of course, you must have a very grand wedding. The whole County will want to come and it will be a good opportunity for them to meet the Duc who is marrying my stepdaughter.”
Celita flashed a warning glance at the Duc.
This was something she had not expected.
She thought that if they had all that publicity about their engagement, it would make it more difficult to break it off later and to say that they had changed their minds.
Lord Waterforde was obviously determined, if he could not have the Duc exactly the way he wanted, to make the very best of the situation.
There were his horses, his marvellous château, which undoubtedly everyone would envy and, of course, there were the ties with his family.
There was no possibility of their preventing Lord Waterforde from making plans.
He talked of their wedding and when and how it would take place until Lady Hilton arrived back.
“Oh, here you are, Richard,” she said. “I had no idea when I went out for the day that you were arriving. And I am sorry that I was not here to greet you.”
“I came to bring the girls news of what has been happening at home in their absence,” Lord Waterforde said.
Then he told his sister that he was married to Celita’s mother.
She was astonished and it was quite obvious that the idea that he might marry again had never entered her mind.
“I hope you will be very happy, Richard,” she said at length.
There was unmistakably a slight reserve in her tone that said she suspected he had made a mistake.
However, as the evening wore on, Celita realised that Lord Waterforde was very much in love with her mother.
He had obviously not been in love with his wife in the same way as the Countess had been with her husband. But all that was best, kindest and most generous in his character was to be poured out at the feet of the Countess whom, Celita suspected, he had loved for a long time, perhaps even before her father had died.
She was quite certain in her own mind that her mother would never love any man in the same way as she had loved her father.
Yet she was a very friendly and sociable person and liked having people around her.
Celita could understand that her mother found the long months when she was at school with no one to talk to in the house, except the servants, extremely dismal.
Now she would be the Chatelaine of Waterforde Court and because Lord Waterforde liked entertaining, there would undoubtedly be luncheon and dinner parties every week.
When there was racing in the neighbourhood, every bedroom would be filled.
‘It is what Mama will enjoy,’ she told herself. ‘I am so very happy for her.’
She could not help, however, feeling a little apprehensive about her own role in the future.
It was one thing to know that her stepfather was delighted that the Duc wanted to marry her.
Quite another to fear that he would be annoyed, disappointed and perhaps disagreeable when their engagement came to an end.
It was going to be very difficult, Celita thought in the darkness of her bedroom later that night.
The Duc would undoubtedly be continually coming to Waterforde Court and Mama and Lord Waterforde would be travelling to France to stay at the château.
She saw herself as a discarded fiancée being left behind and she would be reproached for having lost the love and affection of such a great man.
It was too late now to think that they might have managed to make Lord Waterforde accept Clive without transferring the Duc, as it were, to her.
But for the moment it certainly made it easier if Lord Waterforde felt that he was now one of his family.
At the dinner table he actually raised his glass and drank a toast to the Duc and Clive.
‘We have been lucky! So very lucky,’ Celita told herself. ‘But we must not strain our luck too far. Unless the Duc is in a hurry to marry someone else, we must keep up our pretence until everything has settled down and Clive and Judy are happy in their Newmarket house.’
She could not help hoping that she would be able to come to the château again before she and the Duc were supposed to change their minds and it was barred to her.
‘It is so beautiful,’ she thought, ‘so lovely, and I have still not seen it all.’
She had been so thankful that everything had passed off so much better than she had feared that she had run to the Chapel before going upstairs to dress for dinner.
She felt that she must say a prayer of gratitude.
The Chapel, built at the same time as the château, was very beautiful and the stained glass windows and the carving were all of the same period. And there was a strong atmosphere of spirituality all round her.
Celita knelt down at the prie-dieu in front of the altar.
Raising her eyes up to the stained glass window overhead, she thanked God fervently that Lord Waterforde was not angry.
In fact he had made her mother very much happier than she had been since her father died.
‘Thank You – thank You, God,” she cried in her heart over and over again.
Then, as she rose, she realised she was not alone in the Chapel.
The Duc had come in through the vestry door and, seeing her praying, had stayed watching her.
Because she felt so happy, Celita held out her hand saying,
“I was thanking God, that everything went off so wonderfully. I am sure that you were doing the same.”
The Duc moved forward to take her hand in his.
Then he said,
“Actually I was asking Him, and I know that you would approve, to find me the perfect wife which you tell me is essential.”
“Then I know you will find her,” Celita encouraged him. “One’s prayers are always answered if one prays hard enough.”
“I can assure you that I am praying very hard indeed,” the Duc answered.
She realised that he was speaking seriously.
They moved together from the Chapel, along the corridor and into the Great Hall.
They came to the staircase and the Duc stopped.
“We have jumped the first fence,” he said, “now it is just a question of passing the winning post in triumph.”
“But, of course, you will do that,” Celita smiled.
She ran up the stairs.
When she reached the top, she looked back and saw that the Duc was still watching her.
Chapter Six
The next morning the Duc took a great deal of trouble to arrange for Lord Waterforde to see first his stables and then the Racecourse where his finest horses were to be on show.
“After luncheon,” he said, “I will take you to see the mares.”
This Celita knew was very important.
One of the reasons he needed Lord Waterforde as a partner was that he could not afford to extend his breeding stables
.
Clive and Judy were to accompany the Duc and Lord Waterforde and, as she thought it would be a mistake for her to be with them, Celita said,
“I want to write to Mama and tell her everything that has happened here and how pleased I am for her. So I shall not see you until luncheontime.”
“Very well,” the Duc agreed, “but I hope that you will come with us in the afternoon.”
She felt that he was just being polite.
Where the horses were concerned, she thought it best to leave everything to them and say as little as possible, but she appreciated that he was being very astute in including Clive in everything to do with the horses.
It was obvious that Lord Waterforde had now accepted him as his future son-in-law.
At the same time it would be a mistake to push their luck too far, Celita thought.
She would not really feel happy about Judy until she and Clive were actually married.
Last night when she said ‘goodnight’ to Lord Waterforde, he had said,
“I know your mother is worrying about what I had to tell you. So let her know as soon as possible that for you everything is ‘roses in the garden’.”
Celita had smiled.
“I will tell her and I know it will make her happy.”
“That is what I want her to be,” Lord Waterforde said solemnly.
Then, as if he somehow wanted to retrieve a little of what he had lost, he said,
“I have just been thinking. We will have a really grand wedding for you and Judy. Both of you married from The Court and, of course, fireworks in the garden for the tenants. We will ask the world to come and drink your health.”
Celita had stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek.
“It sounds marvellous,” she said. “At the same time, while you are here you must concentrate on horses and nothing but horses, otherwise the Duc will be disappointed.”
“I will not allow him to be that,” Lord Waterforde promised, “and, of course, we will invite all his relations to stay for the wedding.”
When she was alone in her bedroom, Celita thought over all that had been said.
Although Lord Waterforde would not have the Duc as a son-in-law, he was determined to make it obvious that they were very close.
She could almost hear him introducing with pride in his voice, ‘my stepdaughter, the Duchesse de Sahran.’
Fascination in France Page 9