To Take Her Pride

by Anne Brear

  Aurora adjusted the straps on the carpet bag. She looked up at Sophia. “How will I cope without you?”

  “You’ll manage. You’re strong. Like me.” Sophia grinned, and then leaned down to kiss the baby. “The truth is I don’t know how I’ll cope without you.”

  “I’ll write often.”

  Sophia nodded. “Yes, do, for I will miss you terribly.”

  A slight tap on the bedroom door preceded Lily. “Sorry, Aurrie, but there’s a woman downstairs. She says she wishes to see you.”

  “You go. I’ll listen out for Olivia if she wakes up,” Sophia said, as they went downstairs. “I’ll be in the kitchen with Lily if you need me.”

  Frowning with puzzlement at who her visitor could be, Aurrie paused in parlor doorway. All warmth left her face when Julia Sinclair turned from the fire. She glanced around the room looking for Reid and disappointment hit her hard to find him not there. Why did she think he would be? Had he sent his mother in his place?

  “Ah, Aurora.” Dressed entirely in black, Mrs Sinclair smiled her feline smile.

  Old hurt and suspicions clamored up inside Aurora. “Why are you here?”

  “That is a fine welcome.”

  “You expected more?” Aurora snorted. “So, why are you here?”

  “Well, should it be a crime for me to visit my daughter-in-law?”

  “So, you know.” Aurora cringed and stepped into the room. “We have nothing to say to each other.”

  “Come now, Aurora, that is hardly so. Much has happened since we last saw each other.”

  Pushing back her shoulders, Aurora pasted a smile on her face. “I am sorry, Julia, but I’m in a hurry. I’m leaving for a holiday today and I really must finish my packing.”

  “Spending my son’s inheritance I see?”

  “If you’ll excuse me.” Aurora bowed her head and turned away.

  “How rude! I haven’t come all this way to be ignored by you!”

  Aurora let out a breath and faced her mother-in-law. “I do not know why you came here, nor do I care. I’m sure it has something to do with you trying to hurt and belittle me, but frankly Julia, I don’t care. I have my own life to lead and you don’t have the power to cause me pain anymore.”

  A nerve twitched in Julia’s eye. “I want answers. Why did you marry Tom? Was it to escape the slums of York?” Julia’s triumph lit her face. “Oh, yes. I know all about your time in York. I made it my business to find out. I am amazed by your resilience, but, my dear, you’ve made an enemy. One who was quite happy to talk to me.”

  Aurora stiffened, a slender finger of anxiety trickled down her back. “I have nothing to say to you.”

  “You don’t have to. Merv Ellerton was more than pleased to tell me everything.” Julia glided around the room as graceful as a panther and just as deadly. “The poor man is worried you’ll squeal like a stuck pig to the authorities. I assured him you wouldn’t, but he wasn’t convinced.”

  “Why are you so sure I wouldn’t go to the police?”

  “And draw attention to yourself, I don’t think so. Am I right?” Julia raised an elegant eyebrow, her expression arrogant.

  Fear clutched at Aurora’s innards. “What do you want from me? My silence? You have it. Do you want my promise never to be in contact with the Sinclair family again? You have it.”

  “Yes, I want all that and more.”

  “I have nothing more to give. You’ve taken everything. Good bye Julia.”

  “Wait.”

  “What?” Her fist clenched, Aurora strove for patience.

  “May we try to be civilized with each other?” Julia walked to the window and moved aside the lace curtain. “Do you want to know about Tom’s memorial?”

  “I’m sure it was very beautiful and moving.”

  Julia continued to stare out of the window. “I never expected to lose two people I loved in one year. I refuse to lose anymore of my family.”

  “That choice isn’t yours to make. It is something that, for once, you cannot control.”

  “How true. And I do not like it.” She gave Aurora a glimpse of a smile. “You are looking well. The time spent in the slums doesn’t seem to have affected you?”

  Aurora cocked her head, wary of such small talk. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “Not really.” Julia glanced out the window and then quickly slipped on her gloves. “I doubt we’ll see each other again. There is nothing that connects us now Tom is dead.”

  “You are quite right.” Aurora refused to ask about Reid. Julia hadn’t mentioned him and neither would she.

  “It is best if our families stay apart from now on. Don’t you agree?”

  Disgusted that Julia was still trying to force her to bend to her will, Aurora simply glared at her. “Good afternoon, Mrs Sinclair. I’m sure you can see yourself out.” She walked out of the room and spotted Sophia coming down the hall from the kitchen.

  Sophia embraced her. “Are you all right? Who is it?”

  “Julia Sinclair. Will you see her out to her carriage?”

  Sophia nodded and was ready to march into the parlor, but Julia had come out and headed for the front door. Aurora left Sophia to deal with her for she didn’t have the strength. She leaned against the wall feeling so tired she thought she’d fall.

  Lily came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. “Everything all right, Aurrie?”

  “It will be.”

  “You look done in. Why don’t you go up and sleep for an hour. You’ll be no good to Olivia if you’re bone tired.”

  “I think I might once the packing is done.”

  “We’ve got everything under control here. Peggy’s finished the hamper.”

  Aurora nodded and squeezed Lily’s arm in thanks before carrying on upstairs to finish her packing. Reaching her room on shaky legs, she opened the door and went to the cradle. For a moment she stared, not comprehending the empty space where her baby should be laying. Then, thinking Lily had her, she hurried back downstairs to the kitchen.

  “Lily, do you…” her voice dried up as Lily turned from the oven with a tray of bread loaves in her hands. Baby Will gurgled in his bassinet by the back door, but he was alone. Peggy came in from the scullery carrying a bottle of ginger beer.

  “What is it, Aurrie?” Lily asked, placing the tray on the table.

  “Where’s Olivia?”

  “Asleep upstairs, isn’t she?”

  “No.” Aurora turned as Sophia came into the kitchen.

  “There, Mrs Sinclair has gone. Uppity witch.”

  “Olivia. Where is she?” Aurora pleaded, gripping the back of a chair. “She’s not upstairs. Did you put her somewhere else? In your room?”

  Sophia blinked, surprised. “No. I left her in your room. She was asleep in the cradle when I came down.”

  “She’s not there!” Aurora raced out the kitchen and back upstairs with Sophia and Peggy hard on her heels. In a frenzy, they rushed into each bedroom but the baby wasn’t to be found.

  Back downstairs, Aurora, with the help of the others, searched all the rooms and then went outside to find Noah and Jed, praying that one of the men had taken the baby for a walk.

  However, as she skidded to a halt inside the stables and saw Jed and Noah cleaning and mending harness she knew that searching for her baby would do no good. Olivia was gone.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Long into the night, and hours after the police had gone, Aurora paced the parlor floor. She couldn’t think straight. Thoughts and images whirled through her mind like a merry-go-round. Her breast, full of milk for Olivia, ached, but the tears she wanted to cry wouldn’t fall. Her baby. Stolen. It seemed too bizarre to be real. Somehow, Julia had managed to strike at her heart once more.

  A log shifted in the fireplace and Sophia left the sofa to poke it back into place. Lily had gone to bed with Will, but Peggy, Jed and Noah had left with the police. Jed and Peggy were going to York to search for Merv Ellerton or find out any info
rmation on his whereabouts, while Noah had gone to Leeds on the off chance Julia had returned to the Hall.

  Aurora had wanted to go with them, but the police asked her to remain home. They needed to have her where they could reach her should any news come through.

  “If only I had walked to the carriage with her, instead of staying on the steps.” Sophia murmured for the umpteenth time since the police were called.

  “If only I had realized that Julia hadn’t been alone.” Aurora stared out of the window at the night sky. “How were we to know that while talking to me, her henchmen were creeping through the house looking for my baby? I understand now why she looked through the window the whole time, she was waiting for them to climb back into the carriage with Olivia…” her voice cracked and she gulped in air.

  “The bitch.”

  “I wondered why she hadn’t mentioned Reid.” Aurora watched the flames dance. “You know, I felt superior. For once I felt I had the upper hand. I had her grandchild, Reid’s daughter, and she knew nothing about it. Or so I thought. But as always she was ahead of me. She knew about Olivia. And she took her. I must have nothing of the Sinclair family.”

  Sophia jerked to her feet. “God, I can’t stand not being able to do anything.”

  “I know.” Aurora gazed down at the plain gold wedding band on her finger. She slid the ring off her finger and calmly threw it into the fire. She never wanted to see a Sinclair again.

  Reid yawned and wiped a hand over his tired eyes. He’d arrived from London only an hour ago after preparing Tom’s memorial and dealing with business demands. He’d also helped James secure a commission in the navy, which he would join after his exams in the spring and all without their mother’s knowledge. Edward was still content to continue at Oxford and so with his brothers happy, he could now concentrate on his own future. A future with Aurora. Tomorrow he would see her.

  The Hall groaned and creaked as night settled on the countryside. He found it odd that the noises of the house never frightened him, even as a boy. The Hall, every room, nook and cranny was his home and he loved it. Leaning back in the leather chair, he gazed around the study. The corners were in shadows where the candlelight didn’t reach, however, he knew every detail of the oak-paneled room. He always thought of this room as his father’s, but now it was his.

  Picking up a sheet of paper from the desk, he studied the figures written. To improve the Hall would cost a lot of money, thankfully he had it, but the thought of workmen trudging through the house, making noise and a mess, filled him with dread. Ten years ago, his father had introduced gas lighting into the lower rooms of the Hall, but now he had inherited, he wanted the entire house fitted with gas lighting. It would be an enormous undertaking, but no more than having hot water piped upstairs. The summer would see changes, lots of them, and not just in the house, which he wanted to be perfect for Aurora, but with him personally. He wanted to be married, have children and grow old with Aurrie. Was he asking too much?

  Tomorrow he was travelling to Hebden Bridge to visit Aurora. With luck, she’d agree to see him and he hoped he could start to correct the damage done. Would she forgive him?

  A knock heralded Matthews, the butler. “Sorry to disturb you, sir.”

  “That’s quiet all right.” Reid placed the paperwork away in a drawer.

  “Your unpacking is finished, sir, and I have repacked for your trip in the morning. I’ve lit a fire in your bedroom. It’s a cold night.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Mrs Sinclair has arrived and gone to her rooms. Shall I lock up now?”

  Reid rose from his chair. “My mother has arrived? She wasn’t expected.” He frowned and headed for the door. His mother had left London for Paris three days ago, after the memorial, or so she had told him.

  He took the stairs two at a time and strode down the gallery to his mother’s suite of rooms on the west end of the hall. He tapped lightly on the door, but not waiting for her acceptance, walked in. The sitting room was littered with travel baggage, but his mother wasn’t in attendance, nor was her maid, Gavet. Stepping through into the bedroom he noticed the bed was covered with clothes and shawls.

  Talking came from the dressing room, but before he could enter it a baby’s cry shattered the silence and he froze.

  A baby?

  In his mother’s dressing room?

  Intrigued, he silently opened the door. His eyes widened as his mother crooned to a baby in her arms while Gavet was folding small garments.

  “Mother?” he croaked.

  She spun towards him, astonishment making her mouth gape. “Reid. I didn’t think you were here. I thought you to be still in London.”

  He advanced into the room. “I arrived less than an hour ago. Why do you have a baby?”

  “It is nothing.” She waved him away and gave the baby to Gavet before linking her arm in his and making for the door.

  He dug his heels in. “I beg to differ. It isn’t nothing to have a baby in your room. Whom does it belong to?”

  “Gavet.” His mother announced. “Gavet has had a baby. We didn’t want the news to be made public so I offered her my help.”

  The way her gaze couldn’t quite meet his and the awkward way Gavet held the child heightened his suspicions. “Again. I ask you. Whom does this baby belong to? The truth now.”

  “Me.” His mother smiled, raising her head proudly as though she had just given birth herself.

  “You?”

  “Yes. I have adopted the child.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I wanted a daughter.” She let go of his arm and walked past him into the bedroom. “My sons act as though they don’t care for me, or listen to my judgment, so I thought I would start again and this time with a daughter.”

  For a moment he thought she had lost her reason. “You aren’t serious?”

  “Terribly serious. People do it all the time.”

  “They do?”

  “Oh yes. In fact, I made an acquaintance recently, who helps good families obtain children they couldn’t have themselves. I decided I would do the same and adopt a child.”

  “Don’t you think you are a little old for such an undertaking?”

  “Nonsense. I’m not in my dotage yet, dear boy.” She sat at her dressing table and began pulling off her jeweled rings. “I will let you know that I’m going away tomorrow. Probably to the continent for a few months. Somewhere warm.”

  “I see.” The baby cried again and it raised the fine hairs on the back of his neck. “Why didn’t you go to Paris like you had arranged in London?”

  “I changed my mind.”

  He nodded, thinking hard. “You have never mentioned this desire for a baby before.”

  “Well, with Tom’s death it all suddenly made sense to me. Then meeting that man… I felt the time was right.”

  “Who is this man?”

  “A gentleman from York. He’s provided for all the good families in the district. Though of course it is all hushed to prevent any scandals.” She took out one earring and stared at him through the mirror. “I hope you will miss me when I’m abroad.”

  “Indeed.” His smile was brittle. “Is it wise for you to travel with a baby in cold weather? It was snowing again this evening.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be all right.” She smiled at him in the mirror and took out her other earring.

  “Still, I would like to spend some time with my new sister, if I may? Can you delay your departure?”

  “You? Spend time with a baby? Whatever for? She’s tiny and cannot do anything.”

  He struggled to find a reasonable excuse, but something nagged at him. “Just a few days perhaps, until the weather clears.”

  “I’ll think about it.” She rose from the stool. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. It’s been a long day and I wish to retire.”

  “Of course.” He bowed. “Good night, Mother.” He left the room. But the uneasy feeling stayed with him as he went to his own bedroom. His mother wasn
’t insane; she was as clear-headed as anyone he knew. No, this adoption was well thought out. She’d argued the point well. Many women her age took on wards, or guided young ladies through their first season, but they were of an age to be interesting and molded. But a baby, and a very young baby at that? It just didn’t seem right. His mother wasn’t the patient type. He couldn’t see her taking care of a child for years. She’d be in her seventies before the child had grown to adulthood.

  He sat on the edge of his bed, waiting for Gilbert, his father’s elderly valet to come in and take his boots off. Where was the man? He reached up to pull the bell rope just as the door opened. “Ah, there you are, Gilbert.”

  “I apologize, sir.” Gilbert stood there dithering.

  “What is it, man?” Reid sighed. What was wrong with the house tonight?

  “Sir, I don’t know how to say this…” Gilbert pulled at his starched collar and checked over his shoulder.

  “Close the door.” Reid stood, alarmed by this diligent old man uneasiness. Gilbert, who’d started his service in Grandfather Sinclair’s time, was as trustworthy as they came. “Now tell me.”

  “Sir, as you know my habit is to have a walk after supper before I come upstairs to attend to my duties.”

  “Yes, I know this.” Reid narrowed his eyes. “Has someone stopped you from doing this?”

  “No sir. You see, it was while I was out walking, I came across a fellow. He was skulking in the bushes near the drive.”

  “A vagrant?”

  “No, sir.” Gilbert scratched his gray stubbly chin. “At first he wouldn’t say who he was, but he asked me if the mistress was at home.”

  “My mother?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Did he say anything else?”

  “I didn’t reply to his question, but asked him his name. I said if he told me his name I would tell him if the mistress was at home.”

  Tired and a little fed up, Reid ran his fingers through his hair. “Is there some point to this, Gilbert? I’m awfully tired.”

  “I’m sorry, sir. The man’s name is Noah Middleton.”