by Merry Farmer
“I’m sure I will, my darling,” Henry replied, lifting her hand and kissing it, not far from where the simple golden band that declared everything she was to him circled her finger.
What he didn’t expect was for a celebration to be waiting for them on the platform in Haskell. Even before he and Ellie disembarked, Henry could see bunting decorating the stationhouse, flags hanging from every spare pole, and streamers floating through the air. Along with those decorations was the most colorful group of women he’d ever laid eyes on.
“There she is! She’s home! Ellie’s home!” One of the women called from the crowd as Ellie stepped down from the train, Henry right behind her.
What followed was the most joyful shout Henry had ever heard and a surge of brightly-colored dresses and smiling faces. But more people than the ladies of questionable reputation came forward to greet Ellie with hugs and smiles, and to shake his hand and welcome him to Haskell. Plainly-dressed businessmen and women were there as well, along with a few women in fashionable winter coats and fur hats.
“This is all so unexpected.” Ellie beamed as she moved among the well-wishers. “I thought no one would notice when we came in.”
“Of course we would notice,” a handsome, dark-haired woman with a resonant, alto voice came forward to give Ellie the biggest hug of all. “No one could talk of anything else but you and your handsome lord of a husband since well before Christmas, Lady Ellie.”
Ellie laughed, smiling at the woman like a sister. “I’m not really a lady,” she explained sheepishly.
“Because I’m not much of a lord anymore,” Henry said, speaking for the first time.
“You look mighty regal to me,” the woman said.
Ellie laughed. “Henry, this is Mrs. Bonnie Cole.”
Henry smiled widely and held out his hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you.” His chest squeezed in funny ways with the truth of that statement. He owed this woman and her efforts to find better lives for the women in her care so much. He owed her his wife, his heart, the life that he looked forward to living.
“Bonnie, this is Henry,” Ellie continued the introductions, smiling so much Henry was sure the expression would be imprinted permanently.
“Any man with the ability to see how special our Ellie is will forever be a friend of mine,” Bonnie said as the crowd began to move away from the platform and up the town’s central street. Henry spotted a distinguished, white-haired gentleman leading the way and assumed he must be Theophilus Gunn, another person to whom he owed a world of thanks.
“I truly am hoping we can become friends,” Henry went on. He glanced away from Bonnie long enough to take Ellie’s hand and to tuck it into the crook of his elbow as they walked. “In fact, I was hoping to speak to you about your efforts with young ladies like Ellie.”
“Oh?” Bonnie blinked in surprise.
Ellie grinned up at him before telling Bonnie, “Henry has a world of ideas for ways we could reach out to more girls and provide even more lessons and training for them to start new lives.”
“Does he?” Luckily for Henry, Bonnie seemed genuinely impressed, and interested.
“We could hardly talk about anything else on the voyage over,” Ellie said.
“I think there may be ways to clean the slate, as Ellie likes to put it, and provide training for your young women without sending them all the way to England.”
“I’m interested to hear what you have to say,” Bonnie said.
“My father may have disowned me,” Henry went on, “but he couldn’t cut every tie I had. And in a strange twist of fate, when Mr. Mortimer of New York discovered that Ellie had impersonated his erstwhile daughter—after he tracked Miss Mortimer down and brought her and her—” He coughed. “—interesting husband back to New York—he became quite interested in the ideas for improvement that Ellie and I have had.”
“We stayed with the Mortimers for a while in New York,” Ellie explained to the cluster of her friends that were closing in around them in an effort to hear the story as they all marched on. “Can you believe it? I was surprised that Mr. Mortimer was so open-minded.”
“He is a friend of Mr. Gunn’s, after all,” Bonnie said. “And I’m pleased to hear that he’s interested in helping us with our little operation.”
“Did you see Domenica while you were in New York?” one of the other girls asked.
“Did you?” a few of the others echoed.
“I did,” Ellie told them, twisting to smile at all of them. “She’s so excited to head to England to take up that job as a cook for Mr. Garibaldi’s restaurant in London. I told her she must write to all of us as soon as she reaches London to let us know how her voyage went.”
“I can’t wait,” of the women said. The rest agreed.
“I’m sure Domenica will write to us in good time,” Bonnie said. “But I’m still upset about one thing.”
They passed a building with a sign that proclaimed “Silver Dollar Saloon” and turned onto a different street.
“Oh?” Ellie’s smile faltered. Henry prepared to defend her if he had to.
“I wanted to come to your wedding,” Bonnie went on.
“Me too. Me too.” A chorus rang out from the girls around them. “You should have had the wedding here in Haskell so we all could have gone.”
They reached a whitewashed hotel, perfectly decorated with a fresh dusting of snow that had fallen during the night.
Henry laughed. “I’m afraid my mother insisted on the two of us marrying in our local parish church.”
“We were married on Christmas Day,” Ellie said with a sigh. “Lady Mortimer had the church decorated with holly and red ribbons and the most beautiful silver bells. And all of the farmers and tradesmen who Henry had worked with on the land owned by the Howsdens came and gave us such a beautiful send off. It more than made up for the fact that none of the fancy set came.”
“Except for my mother and brother, Reese,” Henry added. It had meant more to him than a thousand titled guests to have his brother stand up with him, knowing what Henry was giving up to marry the woman he loved. His mother had cried, but she too knew how much the union would change all of their lives for the better. And she was due to come visit them at the new house Ellie had arranged for Bonnie’s husband, Rupert, and Rupert’s partner, Skipper King, to build for them. If all had gone according to plan, that house would be ready for them to move in by early spring. In the meantime, he and Ellie would be living in the hotel that they entered right then, along with the host of their friends.
As it turned out, an even bigger party was waiting for them in one of the hotel’s ballrooms, complete with music, food, and laughter.
“This is all so perfect,” Henry said as they paused inside of the ballroom to look at the richness of friendship that surrounded them. In all his days of wealth and privilege, Henry hadn't known anything like what he was a part of now. “I understand completely why you were so homesick.”
“I’m not homesick now,” Ellie said, slipping her arms around him and laying her head on his shoulder. “I have everything I’ve ever wanted, right here: good friends, a wonderful home, and a man who I love more than I ever thought was possible. And soon,” she looked up at him with suddenly bashful eyes, “soon we’ll have a family.”
Her eyes said it all. Henry sucked in a breath, shifting his hold on her so that he could take all of her in. “Really?” he asked. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Pretty sure, although I’d like to have Dr. Meyer’s opinion.”
A sudden burst of emotion closed Henry’s throat, leaving him almost speechless. “I love you so much,” he said, then lifted her into his arms, swinging her around. She had given him his life back, given him more love than he could ever imagine he’d have, and now she was giving him even more. Nothing could have been more perfect.
I HOPE you’ve enjoyed Ellie and Henry’s story! And don’t worry, there will be more about Reese Howsden and the gang at Albany Court in my new Th
e Silver Foxes of Westminster series, coming next year!
AND IF YOU’RE curious about what kind of experience Domenica will have as she starts hew new life, you’ll find out very soon in West Meets East, Book 6, A Tempting Voyage. Could Domenica be the woman Captain Tennant has been waiting so long for? And what is the nefarious Lord William deVere (remember him from book 1, A New Life?) doing aboard the R.M.S. Kestrel? All that and more, coming soon!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I hope you have enjoyed A Passionate Deception. If you’d like to be the first to learn about when new books in the series come out and more, please sign up for my newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/cbaVMH And remember, Read it, Review it, Share it! For a complete list of works by Merry Farmer with links, please visit http://wp.me/P5ttjb-14F.
Merry Farmer is an award-winning novelist who lives in suburban Philadelphia with her cats, Torpedo, her grumpy old man, and Justine, her hyperactive new baby. She has been writing since she was ten years old and realized one day that she didn't have to wait for the teacher to assign a creative writing project to write something. It was the best day of her life. She then went on to earn not one but two degrees in History so that she would always have something to write about. Her books have reached the Top 100 at Amazon, iBooks, and Barnes & Noble, and have been named finalists in the prestigious RONE and Rom Com Reader’s Crown awards.
Click here for a complete list of other works by Merry Farmer.
merryfarmer.net
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Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
About the Author