by Jen Turano
“I really am so very, very sorry,” Millie said one last time before Abigail suddenly appeared right by her side and the crowd that had gathered around them fell silent.
“Good heavens, Millie, it’s not as if you hit Miss Dixon on purpose—something Caroline knows all too well.” Abigail leveled a cool look on Caroline. “Why, your forehead is just a little pink. Granted the pink is perfectly circular, but . . . I’m sure it’ll fade soon, so no harm done.”
Abigail stepped closer to Millie and took hold of her arm before she nodded to the crowd. “If everyone will excuse us, Millie and I need to get the children settled.” She glanced Everett’s way. “I’m sure you’ll want to escort Caroline straight to her cottage, dear.”
As Abigail pulled Millie away, the crowd began whispering again, but Caroline wasn’t paying the slightest attention to the whispers. Her attention was centered squarely on Abigail’s retreating back. “What’s Mrs. Hart doing in Newport?”
Everett swallowed a sigh. “She’s here because of Millie, er, I mean . . . Miss Longfellow.”
Caroline’s eyes narrowed to mere slits before her voice turned dangerous, even though she was barely whispering. “Is she now? Well, I won’t stand for it, I tell you.” She stepped closer to Everett. “Miss Longfellow needs to go, as well as Mrs. Hart and her meddling ways. Which means I expect you to dismiss the nanny—immediately.”
7
I’ve obviously lost my mind,” Millie said as the hansom cab trundled down the road. “What was I thinking, playing to win?”
Abigail immediately began clucking. “From what I’ve come to know about you, my dear, you’re a lady who embraces every venture with enthusiasm. I would have been very disappointed if you’d gone out on that court and not played the way you’re apparently capable of playing.”
“I smashed a ball directly into Miss Dixon’s face.”
“You didn’t do it intentionally. How could you have possibly known Caroline would just stand there like a deer caught in the lantern light?”
Elizabeth sat forward and grinned. “Did you see how the ball bounced right off her head? That was great, and one of the best things I’ve . . .”
“It was not great that I bounced a ball off of Miss Dixon’s head,” Millie interrupted, her words causing the grin to slide right off Elizabeth’s face.
“Sure it was,” Elizabeth countered. “She deserved it because she only wanted to play tennis with you in order to embarrass you, but . . . that didn’t turn out how she wanted, did it?”
“I don’t know about that. I was pretty embarrassed when all those people started wagging their fingers at me, and especially when Gertrude began yelling at me that I was unnatural and shouldn’t be allowed in public.” Millie shuddered. “But my embarrassment aside, you, Elizabeth, have some explaining to do regarding that nasty business with the croquet ball. You could have seriously injured Miss Dixon.”
Elizabeth looked less than contrite. “I was hoping if I conked her in the head, she’d lose her memory and forget all about the boarding school plan.” She suddenly looked a little hopeful. “Do you think your conking her on the head might have rattled her memory a little?”
“Miss Dixon seemed perfectly coherent, and that means logical, when she took to screaming at me, so no, I think her memory is still intact. I believe it might be easier all around though, if you’d just talk to Uncle Everett about your feelings regarding boarding school instead of thinking up dangerous plots that will certainly see you sent off to one.”
“If he really was my uncle, I would talk to him about it. But he’s just my guardian along with being my godparent. He’s a horrible guardian because he hasn’t even tried to guard me from the dreadful Miss Dixon, and as for being a godparent . . . ” Elizabeth stopped talking as her eyes turned suspiciously bright. “I asked him after Mommy and Daddy died why God had taken them and left me, Rose, and Thaddeus all alone, but . . . he didn’t have any answers to give me.”
“In Everett’s defense, that’s a really tough question to answer.”
“He didn’t even try.”
“I can try now if you’d like, because I lost both of my parents when I was just a baby,” Millie said softly, right as the hansom cab pulled off the road and began traveling over a surface that crunched beneath the wheels.
Elizabeth turned her head to the window. “I didn’t ask you to explain anything to me, and I don’t want to talk about God, because He doesn’t listen to me. He completely ignored all of my prayers begging Him to send my parents back.”
Swallowing past the lump that formed in her throat, Millie leaned forward. Unfortunately, the cab took that particular moment to pull to a stop. Elizabeth didn’t bother to wait for the driver to get the door but wrenched it open and jumped out, Rosetta and Thaddeus scrambling after her a second later. A hand on her arm had Millie pausing in the act of following the children.
“She won’t listen to anything you say right now,” Abigail said. “But leave the God business to me. Given the delicacy of the topic, I think our best option is to bring in an expert. Since Reverend Gilmore is always willing to lend his advice, I’ll pen him a letter as soon as I get back to my cottage and ask if he has any suggestions.”
Millie blew out the breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding. “I think that’s a wonderful idea, Abigail. Quite honestly, I don’t really know how to explain the situation properly, especially since I’ve never truly understood why my parents were taken from me.”
Abigail patted Millie’s hand. “I’ve always believed God has a certain purpose for all of us, and once we fulfill that purpose, He calls us home.” She smiled. “Perhaps your parents’ purpose was to bring you into the world.”
“I would have preferred they’d been granted time to raise me.”
“And that is exactly why we need Reverend Gilmore here.” Abigail moved to the door, accepting the hand the driver offered her.
Millie followed a moment later and after thanking the driver for his assistance found herself incapable of speech when she got her first good look at Seaview Cottage.
Three stories of white stone rose up before her, the many-paned windows gleaming in the sunlight. Chairs piled high with comfy-looking cushions were set charmingly about, beckoning a person to enjoy the shade granted from the green-and-white-striped awnings covering the entire length of what appeared to be some type of veranda.
A stone fountain gurgled from the very center of a well-manicured lawn, while birds that Millie thought might just be peacocks strutted in and out of shrubs that had been carefully pruned. A glance to the right allowed her a glimpse of the ocean, and when a breeze began to stir, she smelled the distinct scent of the sea.
“This can’t be anyone’s idea of a cottage, can it?” she asked, catching the driver’s eye. “You did bring us to the right place, didn’t you?”
“Mr. Mulberry instructed me to deliver you to Seaview Cottage off of Bellevue Avenue,” the driver said. He gestured to the house. “This is definitely Seaview, and that”—he turned and pointed to the road—“is definitely Bellevue Avenue.”
“But that,” Millie argued with a wave of her hand toward the house, “is not a cottage. Cottages are supposed to be small and quaint, not . . . intimidating.”
Abigail smiled. “My dear, surely you must realize that members of society only call their summer residences by such a ridiculous name to ascertain their superiority over the common folk, don’t you?”
“Haven’t I heard you refer to your summer home as a cottage?”
“My summer home is a true cottage, purchased years and years ago before society began deciding ostentatious was the new fashion. That ostentation, I’m afraid, is something we’re going to see much more of in the future, what with fortunes being made at a drop of the hat these days. Why, since Mrs. Astor recently acquired Beechwood Cottage here in Newport, I’m sure we’ll soon be inundated with even larger cottages, everyone trying to outdo one another to prove their worth.
”
Millie eyed Seaview Cottage again. “There can be no denying that it’s overly . . . impressive, but . . . the sheer size of the cottage does explain a few questions I had about the ball Everett’s hosting here this summer.”
“Everett’s hosting a ball?” Abigail eyes began sparkling. “I love organizing balls, and I do hope he’ll seek out my advice as he goes about planning it.”
“From what I understand, Miss Dixon is organizing the event. And, I don’t know if you noticed this or not, but she was not regarding you in a very friendly manner after the whole ball bouncing off her head incident.”
“Hmm . . . you might have a point, but I have to tell you, there aren’t many young society ladies who have the nerve to refuse me.” Abigail smiled before she turned to the driver. “I’m just going to make certain Miss Longfellow gets introduced to the staff, and then I’ll need you to drive me over to my cottage. It’s not far from here.”
“Very good, ma’am,” the driver said, tipping his hat to Abigail.
Taking Millie’s arm, Abigail began strolling toward the children, who’d stopped by the fountain and were dipping their hands into it. “This really is very lovely, but . . . I’m not sure those peacocks are a good idea.” Abigail nodded to the birds in question. “From what little I know of them, they’re not supposed to be pleasant creatures.”
Elizabeth withdrew her hand from the fountain, and to Millie’s relief, she was actually smiling a little now. “The peacocks were a present from Miss Dixon for Uncle Everett’s birthday a few months back.”
“Everett wanted peacocks for his birthday?” Millie asked slowly.
Elizabeth shook her head. “He wanted a dog, but Miss Dixon decided dogs were out of fashion. She got him peacocks instead because she believes they’re soon going to be all the rage.” She grinned. “Uncle Everett was a little upset about the birds, especially when it turned out they like to shriek every morning really early. Since their shrieking sounds like someone’s being murdered, the police kept showing up on our doorstep. That’s why he sent the birds here, that and the fact his neighbors on Fifth Avenue were beginning to leave him nasty notes.”
“I wonder if he realized the peacocks would soon begin multiplying, because if I’m not much mistaken, I see a few babies poking their heads out of the shrubbery,” Abigail said.
“Baby peacocks?” Rosetta took off toward the shrubbery before anyone could stop her. A shrill screech split the air right as an entire flock of peacocks came charging out of the shrubbery and directly toward Rosetta. Dropping Abigail’s arm, Millie broke into a run, dodging peacock after peacock as she tried to get to the child. By the time she finally reached her, Millie had been pecked numerous times. Scooping Rosetta up into her arms, she hugged the little girl tightly to herself before she looked over the child’s curls, discovering, much to her dismay, that they were now completely surrounded by the birds.
“Shoo,” she shouted, but all that managed to do was set off additional screeching. A small hand on her cheek had her looking down. Rosetta, much to Millie’s surprise, wasn’t looking frightened in the least. In fact, she was smiling.
“Aren’t they beautiful?” Rosetta asked before she tucked her small head into the crook of Millie’s neck. She then let out the smallest of sighs as her other hand reached up and closed around the fabric of Millie’s blouse.
Right there and then, Millie lost her heart. Leaning closer to the little girl nestled against her, she breathed in the sweet scent of Rosetta’s hair, but then remembered she was right in the midst of a flock of mad peacocks. Lifting her head, she eyed the birds that were closing in on her.
“They’re not going to hurt you,” Elizabeth called over the screeching. “Animals adore Rose. You’ll be fine walking through them.”
Millie’s first thought, since the numerous pecks the peacocks had given her were beginning to sting, was that Elizabeth was up to no good, but then she remembered she was carrying Rosetta. It had been clear from the start that Elizabeth took her role as older sibling very seriously. Taking a steadying breath, Millie tightened her hold on Rosetta and began moving ever so slowly forward. To her relief, the peacocks stopped screeching and then filed, one after another, into a straight line behind her. Hoping she was not setting herself up for an attack, Millie headed for the house, wanting to put a solid wall between her and the birds.
“I can take my sister,” Elizabeth said, hurrying over to join them.
Rosetta snuggled closer to Millie and tucked her head back into the crook of Millie’s neck. “I don’t want you to carry me, Elizabeth.”
“Rosetta probably just thinks she’s too heavy for you,” Millie said softly when Elizabeth stopped in her tracks and looked as if someone had smacked her.
Not bothering to respond, Elizabeth sent Millie a glare before she marched over to her brother, who was trailing beside the peacocks, eyeing them in a rather strange sort of way. Grabbing hold of Thaddeus’s hand, she began tugging him toward the house.
Thaddeus immediately dug in his heels. “Stop pulling me, Elizabeth. I want to pet the peacocks, or . . . try riding them.”
“You can’t ride the peacocks, Thaddeus,” Millie said. “They’re really not friendly in the least, and if you need proof of that, just look at all the pecks on my arm.” She shifted Rosetta and held out an arm for Thaddeus to inspect, although he seemed less than impressed with the abuse she’d suffered. Fighting a smile, she tried again. “And although Miss Dixon is hoping peacocks become all the rage, after seeing the birds in action, I have numerous doubts that will ever happen.”
“If I rode one of them into that reading place, I bet everyone would start wanting them as pets,” Thaddeus argued.
“And that right there is exactly why I’ll be speaking with Everett when he returns to Seaview about what he can and can’t talk about when the three of you are within listening distance,” Millie said as she began walking again, Elizabeth and Thaddeus falling into step beside her. When they reached the veranda, the door burst open and what seemed like the entire staff streamed out. Surprisingly enough, every member of that staff was beaming back at her as if they were truly delighted to see her.
It was not a sight she was accustomed to seeing.
“You must be Miss Longfellow,” a heavy-set woman wearing an apron said as she hurried down the steps. “I’m Mrs. O’Conner, the housekeeper at Seaview. May I just say all of us are thrilled beyond belief you’ve agreed to look after the children.”
“I wouldn’t count on her being here long,” Elizabeth said before she nodded to her sister. “Come on, Rose, we should go see what our rooms look like.”
Rose lifted her head from the crook of Millie’s neck and let out a sigh. “You can put me down, Miss Longfellow.”
As she set the little girl on her feet, Millie leaned over and brushed a strand of hair away from Rosetta’s face. “I’ve noticed that your sister calls you Rose. Do you prefer that over Rosetta?”
Rosetta nodded.
Straightening, Millie caught Elizabeth’s eye. “Why doesn’t everyone call her Rose if it’s what she likes to be called?”
“No one ever asked.”
A touch of temper shot through Millie at that telling remark. “I’m asking now. May I assume you prefer a different name as well, such as Lizzie or Beth?”
“Do I look like a Lizzie or a Beth?”
Millie fought a smile before she nodded to Thaddeus. “What about you, Thaddeus? Do you prefer to be called Thad?”
Thaddeus scratched his nose. “I think Thaddeus is a nice name, but . . . Chip . . . That’s a great name.”
Millie grinned right as Elizabeth let out a huff.
“We’re not calling you Chip,” Elizabeth said. “Mother named you after our late grandfather, so Thaddeus you’re going to stay.”
Thaddeus’s jaw turned stubborn. “Why are you always so bossy?”
For a second, Elizabeth simply stood there, but then she rounded on Millie. “This is you
r fault.” With that, she pushed her way through everyone gathered on the veranda and disappeared from sight.
“Oh . . . dear,” Abigail said, moving up to join Millie. “And here I’d been thinking we were beginning to make some progress.”
“She wasn’t always so . . . mean,” Rose whispered as Thaddeus nodded in agreement.
Millie forced a smile. “I think the events of the day have simply caught up with Elizabeth. I’m sure she’ll feel better after everyone gets settled.”
Thaddeus shook his head. “I bet she won’t, since she’s really mad about Uncle Everett telling her she has to spend the afternoon in her room because of trying to do Miss Dixon in with a croquet ball.” His little shoulders slumped. “We’d better go after her, Rose.”
“I’ll come with you as well,” Millie said, right as a young woman stepped out of the crowd and moved to stand in front of Millie.
“You need to meet the staff, Miss Longfellow, so I’ll take Thaddeus and Rose up to speak with their sister.” She smiled. “I’m Miss Ann Quigley, one of the upstairs maids here at Seaview, and an upstairs maid back in Mr. Mulberry’s residence on Fifth Avenue. I’ve been given the pleasure of watching the children over the past few months, when we’ve been short a nanny or two.”
“While that’s a generous offer, Miss Quigley, and one I truly appreciate,” Millie began, “I fear Elizabeth might be a little tricky at the moment. Since I am paid to look after her, I wouldn’t be comfortable accepting your offer.”
“Elizabeth likes Miss Ann,” Rose said as she actually took hold of Ann’s hand and smiled. “Me and Thaddeus like her too.”
Glancing to Thaddeus, who sent her a nod, Millie smiled and looked back at Ann. “If you’re sure, it would be nice to meet the staff, and I promise I won’t be long.”