Oh, Cherry Ripe

by Claudy Conn

  As they returned to the stables, Cherry teased Felix and asked, “Well then, what do you think of Prancer now?”

  “He needs refinement, but …” He grinned widely. “That is what Freddy says.”

  “And Freddy is …?” Cherry eyed him. She knew, but she wanted to keep him talking and learn the family dynamics.

  “My brother and Lord of Bromley—don’t you know anything?”

  “No …” Cherry sighed. “That is why you must teach me.”

  Felix laughed and added, “Freddy likes Prancer—rode him when he was here, but m’brother rides all hell bent … at least that’s what he says …” He blushed suddenly and looked away.

  “You have an eye for horses … I can see that.” Cherry smiled at him.

  He puffed up proudly, and his sister stuck in, “Oh yes … he does. I think he will help Freddy run Bromley beautifully when he is of age.”

  “And you have an older sister too, don’t you—Mary?” Cherry asked, keeping the dialogue going.

  “She is at boarding school. She is fourteen and very pretty, though I must say nothing next to you …” stuck in Felix, who then blushed to the roots of his fair hair.

  Cherry laughed, but this was short lived as Felix shrugged, turned to his sister, and said, “This isn’t going to work … she’s too pretty. We’ll just start to like her, and she’ll run off to get married, and we’ll be alone again.”

  “Stop it, Felix,” Francine grumbled at him.

  “Well, I don’t want her here …”

  “Ah, then I probably won’t last. I don’t like to stay where I am not wanted. It is a dreadful feeling,” Cherry said softly.

  Francine objected. “We want you …” She turned to her brother. “Don’t we, Felix?”

  Felix glanced at Cherry and said gruffly, “No matter what we want. When my brother Sky has a look at you … out you’ll go.”

  Francine sighed heavily over this. “Felix has a point there, you know. Our brother is older than you and will not think you are old enough to take care of us. We know because he is always getting in these old women to nanny us. He will say—” She cut herself off as something caught her eye in the distance. “Felix … look there—’tis Freddy!” She then shrieked like a hoyden, “Freddy! Freddy!” and stood in her stirrups to wave in the air before putting her pony into a run.

  The sudden movement spooked Prancer so that he hopped a rear and attempted to take off as well. Cherry worked her reins, cursed her sidesaddle, and sat him well enough to catch hold of him. The effort took her breath away and accentuated her youthful vitality so that Freddy’s first vision of Cheryl sent him reeling into infatuation.

  “Freddy,” Francine repeated as she jumped off her pony and flung herself into her brother’s ready arms.

  “Hallo, brat.” He gave her a squeeze and looked up to find Felix standing before him. “And you, little man!”

  Felix seemed to take this as an invitation, and it was with great affection that he held out his hand in greeting. “Freddy … so good … so good to have you home …” With that he dropped his attempt at maturity and dove at his brother to hug him around his waist.

  Cherry dismounted and led Prancer by his reins towards the happy reunion while Freddy tickled his siblings and demanded an introduction.

  Francine beamed and said, “Miss Sarah Parker, our new governess, Freddy,” She clasped his hand tightly and smiled up at him. “Miss Parker … our brother, Lord Frederick of Bromley.”

  “Nicely done,” Cherry said and affectionately touched Francine’s ear before meeting young Bromley’s already fascinated gaze and offering her hand. “I am so pleased to meet you, my lord.”

  Instead of shaking her hand, he clipped his heels together and bent over her fingers, and Cheryl almost laughed. She did not, however, and contemplated him somberly until Francine asked innocently, “Freddy, since you are home, does that mean that Miss Parker is your governess as well?”

  Freddy laughed out loud and ruffled her fair curls. “No, m’girl … I am too old for a governess.” He turned to Cherry and nodded towards Prancer. “You handle him well—I was never really able to get Mary to ride him, and he doesn’t seem to like men.”

  “He certainly is full of spirit, but I think all he needs is consistent work.” She smiled back at Freddy. “Tell me, my lord, if you would, how do you happen to be home from Eton so early in the season?”

  “Zounds—you do come to the point!” He chuckled and then met her gaze steadily. “I was sent home in disgrace.”

  “Were you?” Cherry responded thoughtfully and then added, “How very exciting. What did you do—let a monkey loose in the dining hall?”

  He laughed. “Egad! What a wonderful notion. No, far more common than that. I was caught climbing through my window … after hours.”

  She eyed him a moment. “Well, that is breaking the rules to be sure, but one doesn’t usually get sent home—”

  He cut her off. “For the third time and after a very severe warning. Dr. Hendricks is a right ’un, but he didn’t have a choice.”

  “Freddy …” Felix shook his head in some disgust. “How could you get caught three times?”

  This set off a round of laughter and teasing, and then Cherry asked, “Seriously …?”

  “Aye.” Freddy sighed at that. “But when one considers that three out of perhaps ten or twelve nightly excursions in one month, one doesn’t feel so badly.” A broad grin covered his adorable face.

  Felix touched his brother’s arm and pronounced him to be a ‘complete hand’.

  “Now just a moment, gentlemen.” This surprised her, for she had during her London season become such a prankster. “Although we have had a bit of a laugh, we must consider that getting oneself expelled is not what a Bromley owes himself or his name.” Her tone was firm yet gentle as she eyed Freddy a warning and then Felix.

  Felix found the ground fascinating and could not tear his gaze away as Freddy leveled a look at Cherry and apparently decided that anything she said was perfectly right with him. “Point taken, Miss Parker, but I can’t regret it, for if I hadn’t gotten caught and been sent down, I wouldn’t be here now … with you …”

  “Aw, Freddy …” Felix complained as he watched his brother fall into infatuation.

  “I am famished,” Francine announced, “and it is time for tea!”

  ~ Ten ~

  “HERE, LET ME help you with that,” Freddy said solicitously as he jumped to assist Cheryl in moving the children’s writing table across the room.

  She allowed him to do so and stepped back to view this handiwork thoughtfully. “That’s better,” she pronounced with some satisfaction, and then to the twins asked, “Don’t you think?”

  Felix eyed the desk with the sun streaming in from the window, open books reposing invitingly on the desk, and shrugged his shoulders. “I suppose,” he conceded.

  “Felix …” his sister said, shaking her head. “It is much, much better then being stuck in that dreary corner.” She turned to Cherry and added, “Our other governesses were afraid we would look out the window and not pay attention.”

  “There is that.” Cherry laughed. “But I hope to make the lessons interesting enough that you will concentrate … most of the time.”

  That drew even a reluctant grin from Felix, who then said, “You know, exercise is very important as well …”

  “Yes,” agreed his sister.

  “What did you have in mind?” Cherry allowed with a rueful smile.

  “The pond … could we please go see the ducklings before the day is lost … please, Miss Parker?”

  “Very well, ducklings are very good teachers … so, yes, to the pond.”

  Felix eyed her suspiciously and said under his breath, “Wonder when she means to drop the hammer? Francie, this one is too good to be true.”

  His sister ignored him—as did Cherry, who had heard every word. She sent them off to fetch their coats while she took up her cream-colored shawl.r />
  “You will like the pond … it has a very pretty setting …” Freddy said as he looked at Cherry dreamily.

  “Yes, there is a great deal that can be learned at a pond. We can manage two birds with one stone, as the saying goes.” Cherry laughed at Freddy’s expression and waved him off. “Go on … you go and fetch the biscuits for the ducks and meet us outside.”

  “At once,” he answered dramatically and was off, happy to be of service. It was all too obvious to Cherry that he was infatuated with her; she would have to be careful and steer him off by reminding him every time she could that she was older and not suitable.

  The walk to the pond was done with everyone conversing in French. Cherry made a game of it, starting it with a song and then presenting the simplest of questions, requiring only a basic answer in the French tongue. Even Felix became quite enthralled with the game. By the time they had reached the pond, she had started a short story, embellishing it with romance, keeping it simple enough for them to understand, sticking in a word of English here and there to help them along, ending it with the promise to continue it the next day when they had learned additional French vocabulary.

  They stopped to view the pond, and Cherry exclaimed, “Why it is certainly everything you said, Freddy. Quite exceptional … lovely.”

  “Look!” Felix shrieked and took after something in a great rush.

  “Oh no!” Francine wailed. “He’ll catch it and shake it in my face.”

  “What will he shake in your face?” Cherry smiled, greatly amused, and then went wide-eyed as Felix had indeed caught something he was stroking in his hand.

  “It’s a frog … only look how big he is!” Felix announced as he approached them.

  Francine dove behind Cherry as Felix held it up to Cherry’s face for inspection with great enthusiasm.

  Cherry laughed and shook her head. “No, not a frog.” She reached out and petted the creature to Felix’s amazement and Francine’s horror. “At least not just any frog, but a bullfrog, Felix.”

  Freddy, who had been grinning broadly during this entire interlude, burst into indecent mirth and said to his young brother, “She has you at every score, young’un.”

  Felix’s mouth opened and shut. Finally he said, “A bullfrog?” He eyed her suspiciously. “How do you know?”

  “Why, just by his size. He will live for about fifteen years, you know.” She smiled to see him look at her oddly before he set the creature down and stood back to watch it hop off to safety.

  Cherry was breaking down all of Felix’s defenses, and at the moment he was at a loss. Just how did one react to such a governess?

  * * *

  Sky Westbrooke strode hard through the front door and handed the butler his driving coat, gloves, and hat. He smiled amicably at the man, and inquired carefully, “Tell me, Thurston, has my brother Frederick been heard from?”

  “Why, yes, my lord. He arrived yesterday.”

  “Did he, by God! Well, that is something. Where is he presently?”

  “He is with the children and the new governess, my lord.”

  “New governess? Will wonders never cease—good for ol’ Trekner! What sort of woman is she, Thurston? How is she holding up?”

  “I must say, my lord, she is unlike any governess we have had here before. As to the children … we believe they already are taking to her … but of course, she has only been here since yesterday.” In an aside with a slight smile, he added, “Felix seems taken with her.”

  “Will wonders never cease? Where are they now?” His lordship was intrigued.

  “At the pond, my lord, er … feeding the ducks.”

  Both men suddenly turned to look at the front door, which opened with a bang and an accompaniment of laughter and shrieking children.

  His lordship’s eyes opened wide as he watched Freddy step aside to allow ‘Miss Sarah’, as he called her, to enter, her shawl full with a crew of wriggling yellow fluffs.

  Behind the new governess came Francine, squealing with delight and interjecting, “Be careful, oh, Miss Sarah … one is escaping!” So stating, she grabbed at the shawl where one little duckling had managed to stick out its head and held it together.

  Cherry, however, had been struck into such immobility that all she could do was stare at the tall and arresting man before her. Both Cherry and Westbrooke took a long gulp of air at finding one another so unexpectedly.

  What is he doing here? she immediately wondered. Faith, but he was (as she had thought a few nights ago) the most handsome man she had ever seen, and how very exciting to see him again. What a night that had been … when he ushered her into his coach and took her to Polly Corbett’s. It all came flooding back to her, and she felt the heat rush to her cheeks. He had kissed her … and that kiss … oh, that kiss.

  She had let him kiss her … more than once and the memory rushed the heat into her cheeks.

  What was he doing here? Why did he walk about like he belonged …?

  Francine squealed when she saw her eldest brother, but she first took the shawl with all the ducklings away from Cherry and put them into Thurston’s hands. “Dear Thurston, take them please to the kitchen.”

  “Yes, but Cook…she won’t like it…”

  Thurston looked dazed for the first time since Cherry had met him, and she laughed. “I noticed a pen right off the kitchen—you can put them there until we figure out how to care for them.”

  “Yes, please, Thurston—they are orphans…” added Francine.

  Thurston did not express by facial or word his displeasure but scooped up the ducklings and said only, “Yes, Miss Francine … don’t worry, I shall take care of them until you can get back to them.”

  She then turned and threw herself at Lord Westbrooke with pure joy taking over her face, as did her twin brother behind her, and she exclaimed, “Sky! Sky!”

  Her twin offered his hand but was pulled into his lordship’s body for a bear hug.

  “Come then, monkeys. We have some catching up to do.” Over their pale gold heads he looked sternly at Frederick and said, “You and I will talk presently, so I trust you will await me in the library.” He didn’t need a reply, for his tone was such that none would oppose him, and yet he received one.

  “And greetings to you as well, brother,” Freddy said with some bravado it was fairly obvious he was far from feeling.

  His lordship’s eyebrow rose, but he thought better of the retort that sprang to mind and then turned on Cherry, to say in stern accents, “Miss Parker, you and I must have an interview … one that should have taken place before, in fact, you were installed here at Bromley.”

  “Yes, sir, but, may I ask how you come by the name of Sky, is it? I don’t know how it is, but you look like a Justin to me.” Cherry caught the giggle in her throat. He had been bosky with drink, yes, but not so much that he hadn’t tried to hide his identity from her. She couldn’t blame him; in fact, it was all so amusing.

  He leveled a frown at her, “My mother had a fondness for Shakespeare. She wanted to call me Skylark, but my father wouldn’t have it, so they settled on Skyler.” He inclined his head curtly. “We shall talk about your position here as soon as may be.”

  She felt the mischief work its way through her and was sure he would see the laughter in her bright eyes as she said, “Indeed, I look forward to it, though you seem a touch sterner by the light of day …” Her voice trailed off on this last and did indeed take on the hint of a giggle as she gave him her back and started to move off to the kitchen. However, his voice behind her stalled her, and she turned around. “What, my lord?”

  He bowed stiffly. “My middle name is in fact, Justin, and I must tell you that I think such levity of mind…that you…er….display, is not becoming in a governess.”

  “Is it not? How odd that you should think so. I have always found levity, in anyone, a becoming trait.” So saying, she gurgled and continued on her way.

  Frederick waited for him to leave and rolled his eyes as he ru
shed to catch up to Cherry. He snorted. “You seem to have put him off balance. Well done, Miss Sarah, well done.”

  “I think, however, that we are in for it.” Cherry laughed. Who would have thought she would end up being a governess in the house of a rogue and one that had kissed her only a few nights back? Thank goodness he didn’t know her real name!

  * * *

  Sky Westbrooke was in a quandary. What should he do? Walking to the study, Francine had tucked her hand in his, sighed happily, and said, “Sky … isn’t she wonderful.” It obviously was not a question as she added, “We have been having so much fun.”

  “A governess is not supposed to be fun—she is supposed to look after you and provide you with an education,” he started gruffly.

  “Can’t she be fun and still do all that?” Francine argued.

  “No … it is unheard of …” His lordship frowned as he was reminded of a professor at school who had got him interested in ancient history simply because he had made it entertaining.

  “You know, though, Sky,” Felix interjected, “she took us to the pond, which was fun yes, but then she taught us a great deal about the vegetations and the frogs … and …”

  “So then you are of a like mind … and are happy to have her here at Bromley?” Sky asked. It would be a first since their mother had died. In fact, he had never seen them so bright and happy since that day.

  Felix grumbled. “Well, she is better than any of the others Trekner sent us, I’ll say that much.”

  “Is she, indeed?” returned Skyler, frowning darkly. This might prove a problem. “Well, we shall watch her and see …”

  ~ Eleven ~

  THE INTERVIEW HIS lordship had so ominously promised came twenty minutes before the dinner hour at Bromley. Cherry was just fussing over the only other dress she had brought into the country with her. It was a simple thing of dark blue silk and showed to advantage her provocative lines.

  It was not at all suitable for a governess, though its scoop neckline was not as deeply cut as most of her other gowns at home. What to do? Brave it out. What else could she do? She braced herself and made her way below-stairs and to the library.