by Rebecca King
“Oh God, no,” Mabel moaned when she saw who it was.
Sian and Martha shared a worried look because they knew then that the house had just descended into disgruntled chaos and, if the look of those bags was anything to go by, was going to remain in disarray for a long time yet.
“What-”
“I shall tell you in the morning. Is your spare room made up?” Wilhelmina demanded imperiously. “Get a maid to take my hand luggage up, would you? The smaller bags are the ones I need. The others can be unpacked in the morning.”
“Wilhelmina?” Arthur gasped; his face frozen in horror.
“Oh, do stop gaping, Arthur. It isn’t polite to answer the door looking like a codfish.”
“It isn’t polite to call upon people at one o’clock in the morning,” Arthur replied with a dark look.
“Do you think I actually chose to come here?” Wilhelmina demanded. “I should say not. I am in dire straits. There is no place else for me to go. I need a bed for the night, and so does Cedrick. Do you remember Carlotta’s son, Cedrick? He is four and twenty now and was staying with me to keep me company for a while seeing as I never get any visitors.”
Now that, Sian didn’t doubt. She did, however, doubt the wisdom of turning up at anybody’s house at one o’clock in the morning, with a somewhat dubious gentleman in tow.
“Oh, do leave the coachman to that, Cedrick. It is his job, not yours. What will people think?”
Sian looked around the hallway in search of these ‘people’ and shook her head in disbelief.
“Mother,” Martha prompted. “Can’t we tell her to go to a tavern or something?”
“You know that is not polite, dear,” Mabel bit out through clenched teeth.
“What are you all muttering up there? Out with it. I can hear you. Why, standing together up there as you do you look like a coven of witches. Have you woken the maid yet?”
“I think the whole damned county is awake now,” Arthur grumbled, his night-cap tilting listlessly to one side as he shook his head.
When his gaze strayed up to his wife, Mabel threw him a dark look before she turned her back and disappeared into her bed chamber to change. Sian watched them and wondered when their relationship had become so frosty. It warned her that there was a lot more problems in the house than she realised, which did little to dispel the sudden tension in the air.
“What are you standing there for, girl? Where is that maid of yours? Don’t just stand gawping at people. Don’t you know it is rude? Where are your manners?” Wilhelmina continued.
“Like turning up unannounced in the early hours of the morning isn’t rude,” Sian muttered sarcastically.
“What was that? Muttering again, are we?” Wilhelmina squinted suspiciously at Sian. “We shall have to make sure we ensure you learn better manners before you go out next. I don’t know what your mother is thinking of.”
Sian glared at her father and wished he would, for once, stand up to his domineering older sister. To her dismay, he seemed to shrink before her eyes. With his gaze lowered, he began to help the coachman bring the bags into the house. Sian shared a look with Lucinda before, without a word, they both returned to their bed chambers.
“Well, really.”
Sian closed the door on Wilhelmina’s blustering, and leaned against it for a moment.
“What do we do?” Martha cried.
“Go back to bed and hope this is all a nightmare,” Sian snorted.
“Why do you think she is here?”
“I hope to God she is just staying overnight, and doesn’t intend to move in.” Martha stared at Sian with wide eyes that silently pleaded with her to confirm that was most likely.
Sian couldn’t lie to her and shook her head. “I don’t think father is going to kick her out, do you?”
They both listened to Wilhelmina bellowing orders before the loud bang of her mother’s bed chamber door preceded the sound of footsteps stomping past their bedroom. Sian hurriedly dressed and raced after her mother, not least because she wanted to know what had brought Wilhelmina to their door, and how long she was going to stay.
“Well, it is good to see you again I must say. Slinking off like that without bothering to help,” Wilhelmina snapped when she saw them.
“It is good to see you, Wilhelmina,” Arthur began with little enthusiasm.
“You will have to excuse our lack of preparation but one o’clock in the morning isn’t the time we usually expect guests,” Mabel added pointedly. “Neither does our maid for that matter. She is in bed, as we all should be, and is going to stay there. Frances has a busy day tomorrow.”
“Mabel.”
“I am not going to wake Frances up,” Mabel snapped at her husband. “This is highly unusual. Is there a problem, Wilhelmina? Has your coach broken down? I don’t believe we were expecting guests, or we would have arranged a bed chamber for you.”
“I didn’t realise I was going to put you out so badly,” Wilhelmina replied pertly.
“It is one o’clock in the morning,” Mabel bit out.
Sian edged closer and looked at her father, who was becoming furious given the florid hue to his cheeks, but not at Wilhelmina. He was livid at his wife.
“What my wife is trying to say is that you are more than welcome to stay with us. We will, of course, arrange for a bed chamber for you and your – friend,” Arthur offered smoothly, sliding a wary look at Cedrick who stood grinning arrogantly at them all from beside the front door.
“I should think so. Why, one would be inclined to believe that you don’t want me here, your own sister,” Wilhelmina huffed. She tugged fiercely on the cuffs of her dress and scowled heavily at Mabel when she sighed and shook her head in disgust. “Is there a problem?”
Mabel glared at her but didn’t answer. Instead, she turned to her husband.
“We have one spare bed chamber,” she warned him. “And two guests.”
“Well, Lucinda won’t mind moving in with the girls. She can share with them and Cedrick can have Lucinda’s room,” Arthur offered. “I am sure the girls won’t mind making the beds up. It won’t take Lucinda long to move her things out, will it?”
It was clear from his tone that he didn’t expect Lucinda to object, even though the girl was almost in tears.
“But father,” she protested.
“Go,” Arthur bit out, his placating tone vanishing instantly when he realised that Lucinda objected.
Sian glared at Wilhelmina. “Has your carriage broken down?”
“No. My house is no longer habitable.”
“How come?” Sian challenged.
Wilhelmina slid a look at Cedrick, who coughed and stepped forward. “There has been a fire, a house fire.”
“I beg your pardon?” Sian’s stomach fell to her toes. She stared at her aunt in disbelief. “Your house?”
“Good God,” Arthur cried in disbelief.
“Don’t use the Lord’s name in vain,” Wilhelmina snapped. “You know I don’t like it.”
Arthur’s mouth fell open. He barely registered his sister’s admonition. He moved closer to his wife and placed a steadying hand on her shoulder, but who he was trying to steady was beyond Sian. They both looked equally shaken.
“How badly? I mean, is it razed to the ground, or just smoke damaged? When did this happen?” Sian asked when neither her father nor mother seemed inclined to work their way past their shock to speak.
“This very evening is when it happened. The stupid maid forgot to put the guard in front of the fire. She was always doing it. I kept telling her to make sure it was put before the fire, but she didn’t. If I hadn’t been up with my gout, I would have been dead by now.” Wilhelmina blinked. “Of course, Cedrick, poor dear, helped get what things we could out of the house, but there isn’t much left. Just those bags.”
They all turned to look at the mountain of travelling trunks and boxes now piled up in the hallway.
“Your house was on fire, yet you managed to pack t
ravelling trunks?” Sian demanded with a suspicious scowl.
“Well, what was I supposed to do? Throw all of my possessions out of the window?” Wilhelmina challenged.
Sian opened her mouth to ask what happened to the maid when Arthur seemed to remember where he was. With a swiftly indrawn breath, he rubbed his hands together and looked at his daughters. “Well, seeing as my wife doesn’t see fit to summon our maid, I think you girls need to go and prepare the bed chambers.”
Mabel glared at her husband. “Might I have a word with you? Now, please.”
She marched into the study without a backward look, clearly expecting her husband to follow. Arthur stared blankly after her before he blinked at his daughters, none of whom hurried off to do as they were told.
“Now, girls.”
But his daughters refused to budge. Instead, they glared at him and remained where they were, huddled together in the farthest corner of the hallway.
“Well, really,” Wilhelmina growled. “You really must do something about their manners, Arthur.”
Arthur, looking almost hunted, stalked angrily into the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
The following morning, conversation around the breakfast table was sparse. Aside from the habitual greeting, nobody was inclined to talk, and it was only partly because everybody had slept poorly.
Sian suspected the somewhat disgruntled atmosphere hanging over everyone was also driven by Mabel and Arthur’s loud argument in the study, following which was a rather chaotic hour while Mabel packed her belongings and moved out of her bed chamber at the back of the house. She now shared Lucinda’s room with Lucinda, who hadn’t objected because she was too shaken by the ferocity of the argument everyone had overheard. It was unsurprising to find that Mabel didn’t make an appearance at the breakfast table. It was also unsurprising that Wilhelmina hadn’t taken the argument as her cue to leave first thing this morning. Instead, she was seated around the table with a contemptuous sneer on her rotund face.
“Where are you going?” Arthur asked when Sian asked for his permission to leave the table.
“I have to go to the village to fetch a few things,” Sian replied.
“Like what?”
Sian lifted her brows at her father. “Well, seeing as we have two guests, we will need a few provisions to feed them. What is Frances supposed to cook with?”
Arthur opened his mouth to protest. “Hurry up. I should like a word with you when you get back.”
“About what?”
Arthur didn’t get the chance to speak before Wilhelmina interrupted them. “Toast? That’s all you have on offer? Toast?”
“Fruit?” Arthur waved to the bowl of apples in the centre of the table.
“What about the bacon, ham, beef, and eggs?” Wilhelmina cried. “One cannot survive on toast.”
“You are going to have to. We weren’t expecting guests and so Frances is a little unprepared.”
“Well, surely this Frances is capable of cooking me some eggs, and I am sure you have some bacon as well. Cedrick is going to want a proper breakfast.”
“Why?” Arthur looked at his sister, but Wilhelmina was too busy contemplating what else she could demand for her breakfast to notice.
“Cedrick is a guest in this house. We both are. You cannot serve guests toast. Why, he is going to get the impression you are poor.”
Arthur sighed. “We survive perfectly well on toast, and I am sure you and your guest can too. Of course, Cedrick can have a picnic to take with him.”
“Where?” Wilhelmina reluctantly began to spread a liberal helping of butter on her toast to the point that by the time she had finished only half the weekly allowance of butter was left. They all stared at it in dismay.
“I am sure Cedrick is going to want to go home now that he is aware that we cannot accommodate him. Besides, we are going to be busy. We must go to your house to see what work needs to be done to make it habitable. It cannot stay as it is, can it?” Arthur sighed heavily and a scowl settled over his brow once more.
He had no idea how he was going to be in a position to ever repair his own house let alone Wilhelmina’s, but he wanted to see for himself just how badly Wilhelmina’s home had been damaged before he made a decision about what to do about accommodating his sister.
“But Cedrick is going to stay for the month,” Wilhelmina announced firmly.
Arthur shook his head. “I am sure that Cedrick will understand his plans must change given what has happened. If he is a decent sort, he should be more than happy to go home.”
“Cedrick is a decent sort. Ergo, I am not going to ask him to leave. How rude,” Wilhelmina protested. “Besides, Mabel is already accommodated, although why she should not share your bed chamber is beyond me. You are man and wife after all.”
Arthur glared at her. “I am not going to discuss my marital arrangements with you. That is far beyond the pale, Wilhelmina. Take it from me, Cedrick can stay for a couple of days, and then he is going home if I have to drive him there myself.”
With that, Arthur left the table and slammed out of the room. Sian immediately began to make her own way to the door.
“Where do you think you are going?” Wilhelmina demanded.
“I have to go into the village,” Sian repeated.
“Go and tell Frances to get me some bacon and eggs, and some beef,” Wilhelmina ordered.
“Father has told you that we don’t have bacon and eggs for breakfast. Frances is under orders from father not to cook it. If you don’t agree then you should take that up with father.”
“Do as you are told,” Wilhelmina snapped.
“I am not your servant,” Sian retorted coldly. With that, she too slammed out of the room.
Seconds later, she was hurrying down the driveway toward the village. Sian forced herself to slow down because the sooner her trip was over the quicker that she had to return to the house. As far as she was concerned, she didn’t care if she didn’t go back until dusk. Consequently, her walk turned into a saunter until eventually, Sian forgot about the house of chaos she left behind and began to revel in the peace of the blooming countryside surrounding her. All about her a variety of flowers sat in bud, threatening to burst into life as the spring season progressed. The breeze teasing the edges of her thick shawl wasn’t as sharp as it had been this last winter. Consequently, with the sunlight now shining down upon her, Sian’s walk through the countryside really was rather pleasant.
“Hello.”
Sian’s heart flipped in her chest. She jerked and turned to look at the owner of that voice.
“Hello.”
Ryan Terrell was by far the last person she wanted to see right now. He had the ability to haunt her thoughts and had just stolen her peace and quiet. She knew now that while she might have been able to leave the house and its problems behind, she would never be able to out-run the problems Ryan brought her.
Ryan studied her and felt that now familiar gulf of difference open between them. With a sigh, he contemplated just asking her if her father was at home and going on his way, as he usually would.
But then I am never going to be able to resolve this need I have to see her. I need to find out where it is going to lead me, and if it is an infatuation that I must do something about.
Without another word, Ryan dismounted.
Sian blinked at him. “I am just going into the village,” she explained, knowing that was the direction he had just come from.
Regardless, Ryan fell into step beside her.
“How are you?” Ryan began.
“Fine, thank you,” Sian edged. When she looked up at him her gaze fell to a figure walking down the lane toward them. “Oh no.”
“Do you know him?” Ryan asked having caught her moan and found the cause of it.
Sian felt her cheeks heat. She coughed when she realised Ryan had heard her and was now waiting for her to explain herself.
“Yes. He is a friend of my aunt’s. Her friend’s so
n, apparently.”
“He seems determined to catch up with you.”
“I know,” Sian whispered in a voice rich with disgust.
“Do you not like him?”
“He is friends with my aunt.”
“Oh?”
“Wilhelmina.” Sian watched Ryan blink and then turn a curious gaze upon Cedrick. “Ah. Is your father quite well?”
“They – Wilhelmina and Cedrick – turned up at one o’clock this morning, quite unexpectedly. There has been a fire of some sort, I don’t know,” Sian explained.
Ryan nodded, but sensed from the sharpness in her voice that she wasn’t happy about it.
“He seems a decent chap.”
“I didn’t realise you know him.”
“Your father has mentioned him to me,” Ryan explained.
“You seem to have quite a close acquaintance with my father.”
You seem to know more about my father than I do.
“You know we have been acquainted for a long time.”
“He doesn’t talk to us much,” Sian sighed.
Ryan frowned. He sensed she was desperately unhappy, and immediately tried to find the cause of her discontent. If he could Ryan knew he would then be able to do something to cheer her up a bit.
“Would you like me to escort you into the village?” he asked.
“I am fine, thank you,” she replied with a smile that didn’t eradicate the shadows in her eyes.
Ryan, reluctant to leave Sian alone with the young man now striding toward them, hovered protectively beside her. Sian suspected he was waiting for Cedrick to join them but had no intention of waiting for the man to catch up.
“Well, I will be on my way then,” she began with every intention of increasing her stride.
“It isn’t safe for you to be walking around the lanes without a chaperone,” Ryan informed her.
“Might I ask you a question?” As she spoke, Sian looked worriedly at Cedrick.
“Of course.” Ryan was more than happy to answer any question she put to him, so long as he could spend a few more minutes with her.