Fortune's Bride (Heiress, Book Four)

by Roberta Gellis

  But suddenly he was in a good mood again. “What the devil are we going to do with a bear? Good God, Merry, no commanding officer will ever let me loose again. First time off on my own I come back with a wife. The next time with a bear. What will people say?”

  “That you have an extraordinary proclivity for picking up strays, owing to a very soft heart,” Esmeralda said.

  It was an excellent opening to say that the first stray he had found had brought him extraordinary happiness, but Robert could not follow it up. Down in the open valley, he could not pretend to himself that the sun was not a good deal lower than he had hoped, and it was getting cold. He knew that it was still a long way to the meeting of the roads and that there was another mountainous area to cross before they came to the village where the roads met. Despite his relief that Bear had followed, the creature would slow their pace now that they were out of the hills and could expect the track to improve. Furthermore, it had to be fed.

  He said nothing of these concerns to Esmeralda beyond mentioning that they had better move on, but she knew he was troubled. And, in a little while when they came to a river, which the road forded, she pointed to a track that ran down the side they were on.

  “Robert, do you think that might lead to a farm? Look out there.” She pointed. “I think those are cultivated fields.”

  Esmeralda’s guess was correct, but the warm welcome extended to Robert when he rode ahead and asked for shelter for the night was somewhat cooled when he mentioned the traveling companion they had acquired. In the end, it was necessary for Robert to walk the last half mile, leading Bear by a thong through its nose, but there was plenty to feed the animal and a shed in which to lock it. Robert had been worried that Bear might not be willing to stay alone, but he found that as soon as it was tied it settled down peacefully.

  Then, over a plentiful if plain meal for themselves, they obtained an additional bonus. One of the farmer’s sons thought he recognized Bear. He believed that he had seen the animal performing in Béjar, but that had been months ago, before the French left that part of Spain. The bear had been with a small group of foreign jugglers and acrobats.

  This sounded right to Robert. Such a small group might well make a pet of their only performing animal. It was disappointing that they had been in Béjar so long ago, but Robert still thought it worthwhile to go there. He felt that the bear must have been valuable to the group and they might have remained in the vicinity or returned to it in hopes of getting news of their lost pet. Further questioning elicited the information that there was a way across the valley to the village of Belena, and from there a good road to Béjar. The farmer’s son would guide them.

  They reached Béjar in two days. Several people recognized Bear, and Robert learned, again to his disappointment, that the animal had been with the troupe when they left. One young man remembered hearing that the performers intended to go west, to Ciudad Rodrigo. Since Robert and Merry had found Bear wandering in an area somewhat to the north but roughly between Béjar and Ciudad Rodrigo, he could not help but feel that some accident had overtaken the group on the road. He would have liked to follow the route, but knew they would not have time enough before his leave was over. All he could do was leave word in each place they passed as they went back north to Salamanca that the lost performing bear should be inquired for at the headquarters of the British army.

  Robert and Esmeralda had found that, aside from the excitement Bear generated, it was no trouble on the road, and once leashed it was completely docile. The chain Robert purchased seemed to give the bear a sense of security, and it would remain wherever it was fastened without attempting to get loose. Within two days the horses became quite accustomed, too, and Bear could be accommodated with them in a shed or a corner of a barn. All this was very well as long as Robert and Esmeralda were free agents, but there was a good chance that Robert would be ordered to get rid of the animal when they returned to headquarters in Salamanca. Although he would have been happy to restore it to its original owners, Robert had no intention of handing Bear over to those who might use it in one of the cruel sports so popular in Spain.

  The hubbub when Robert and Esmeralda rode through the streets to the headquarters area leading the bear was quite as great as Robert had foreseen. It was even great enough to draw Sir John himself out to investigate the cause of the disturbance. Fortunately, stimulated by the crowd and the attention, which seemed to please the animal, Bear chose to give a spontaneous performance. After Esmeralda dismounted, Bear placed one clumsy paw on one of her shoulders and its chin on the other, and it waltzed her solemnly around, whining and grunting in a travesty of singing that was irresistibly funny.

  Everyone roared with laughter and applauded. A few jokesters even threw coins, which brought more laughter and applause when Bear carefully picked them up with its mouth and dropped them into Robert’s hand. Later, when Robert reported for duty, Sir John told him that it was the first time in months he had laughed so heartily. Then Moore frowned slightly, as if he realized that he had trapped himself. It would be ungracious after such a statement to order Robert to get rid of the bear. But Robert knew it was only a suspended sentence. Sooner or later, Bear would have to go.

  He discussed this with Esmeralda as they were undressing for bed, and she promised to make every effort to find some solution to the problem, but it was only later, after they had made love that Robert realized that Bear had created quite another problem. So much time and thought had been expended on the animal that he had quite forgotten his original purpose for taking leave. Not one word of love had been said to Esmeralda during the whole five days. Robert sighed softly. He would have to find another way.

  The next day, however, Bear and all other inessentials like love were driven from Robert’s mind. During the night of November 28, Sir John received news of another great disaster for the Spanish armies. There was now no organized force, aside from the fifteen thousand men—and they were all infantry without either guns or cavalry to support them—Sir John had to oppose more than eighty thousand French. It was, in Moore’s opinion, impossible that Baird could possibly join him before he was confronted by the enemy. Therefore, he wrote at once to Baird to retreat to Corunna. He wrote also to General Hope to retreat, but by way of Ciudad Rodrigo. This might still permit a conjunction of his men with Hope’s.

  The reaction of the general officers to the idea that they should retreat without making a single attempt to confront the French was such strong surprise and dismay that, uncharacteristically, Moore was forced to inform them curtly that he had not called them together to request their counsel. But even his own staff officers were appalled. Robert found a free half hour to tell Esmeralda that she had better pack any large items they had purchased to be sent back to Lisbon with the heavy luggage.

  Esmeralda’s breath caught. “Are you going into action, Robert?” she asked.

  “No, curse it!” he snarled. “We’re going to back off like a bunch of whipped curs with our tails between our legs.” And he stormed out of the apartment.

  Grateful that he was gone, for she was not sure whether she could have concealed her relief even in the face of his rage and disappointment, Esmeralda considered what should be sent back. She was surprised, as she looked around, at how much she had accumulated over the period of the march and their stay in Salamanca. Then she smiled. It was Robert, really. Now that he had a little money, she had only to look at something and he would buy it for her. So different from her father. Could it be because Robert loved her and Papa had not?

  That was a most seductive notion, but Esmeralda was too aware of Robert’s general kindliness and generosity to allow herself to bank too much on it. Mentally she called herself to order. She had better send Carlos to get Molly to help her. Involuntarily she smiled as she thought of Carlos. He, of course, had been speechless with joy when the bear allowed him to pet it and lead it about. He had run all over town to find out what bears liked best to eat. Esmeralda had to remind him
several times that Bear was only a visitor and that it would have to be returned to its owner as soon as the man was found.

  “But a found thing, senhora, can belong to the finder,” Carlos protested.

  “Sometimes that is true,” Esmeralda admitted. “But you know, Carlos, that Captain Moreton is a soldier. A bear is not a proper animal to have in an army. Luisa has her work, you have yours, I have mine. In an army all must be useful in some way. Bear only eats. While we are here, and there is plenty of food and no danger, Bear may stay. But if we should need to move quickly for any reason, Captain Moreton might be ordered to…to dispose of Bear. He would not wish to do it, but…but a soldier must obey orders.”

  Carlos’s eyes had rounded in horror, and Esmeralda had hurried to point out that the reason Bear was so friendly and tame was surely because its original owners had been kind. Thus, it would be best if those owners should be found as soon as possible. And, she had added, if Carlos paid too much attention to Bear, Luisa would feel neglected and sad.

  As she recalled the conversation, Esmeralda’s smile faded. Would this retreat mean they had to be rid of Bear? She decided to say nothing to Carlos about the reason she wanted Molly and to warn Molly not to mention the packing to him. Perhaps if the retreat were leisurely, they could manage to keep Bear out of the way. She was sure that if no one mentioned the animal to Sir John, the general would not be likely to remember it in the midst of his other concerns.

  It was necessary, of course, to explain the cautious retreat fully to Molly or she would not be able to help competently, but Esmeralda was surprised when Molly breathed a huge sigh of relief. Her maid seldom showed much emotion, even when she felt a good deal.

  “Is there something wrong?” Esmeralda asked.

  “Ah, weel,” Molly said, smiling, “‘tis no bad thing, onny that Oi’m growin’ a bit heavy fer long marches.”

  “Heavy?” Esmeralda repeated blankly.

  Molly laughed. “Did ye no know Oi’m carryin’ a child?” she asked incredulously.

  Esmeralda’s mouth dropped open and then worked wordlessly. Her eyes fixed on Molly’s figure, but even knowing, she did not see what she expected to see. Esmeralda had chosen Molly as a servant partly because she was a big, strong woman. Now that she looked carefully it did seem that Molly was thicker than she had been, but she had naturally put on heavier clothing as the weather grew colder, and when working in the kitchen she enveloped herself in a loose outer garment to save her dress from splatters of grease and dirty water. Still, Esmeralda was appalled that she had not noticed.

  “Oh, I am so sorry,” she gasped, when she could speak. “How dreadful.”

  Molly looked indignant. “‘Tis no dreadful,” she said angrily. “Bein” Oi’m no so young as Oi were, Oi’m glad t’ give M’Guire a babe.”

  “No, no,” Esmeralda cried. “Not the baby! I meant that it was dreadful I hadn’t noticed. Oh, Molly, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have let you—”

  But Molly interrupted her with renewed laughter. “Ye’re hardly more’n a babe yersel’,” she said indulgently. “Th’ fault’s moine fer no sayin’, but Oi thought ye were too leddylike t’ ‘see’ sich a thing.”

  “No, just too stupid.” Esmeralda sighed. “But don’t you think it would be better for you to go back with the heavy baggage and the sick to Lisbon? Robert thinks there will be a retreat, and those marches may be dreadful.”

  “Oi’ll think on ‘t,” Molly said, “but fer now, let’s git on wit’ th’ packin’.”

  At first, Esmeralda did not want Molly to do anything, protesting that she should not lift anything or stretch too far, which threw Molly into such fits of laughter that she threatened she would have her baby then and there if her mistress did not stop talking so silly. She pointed out that she had been lifting and stretching up to that very morning without any dire result and also that, at this stage of her pregnancy, it was too late to worry. If the baby came a few weeks early, so much the better. Esmeralda was all the more embarrassed when she realized that Molly had been four or more months pregnant when she had hired her in August, and she admitted she knew nothing about the subject other than a few whispers overheard.

  “Weel, if ye be wantin’ t’ know, Oi’ll tell ye,” Molly offered, “but ye’ll unnerstand it’s a sojer’s wife talkin’, no foine leddy. Ye’ll be more delicatelike thin me, and need more cossetin’. Still, some things is th’ same fer all.”

  Thus, quite by accident, Esmeralda had a piece of the greatest good fortune of her life. She learned about pregnancy and childbirth from a woman who regarded them as both natural and joyful, who did not shrink from the less delicate aspects of the experience or regard them with disgust and horror. Such parts of the process as morning sickness and the pain of bearing were simply part of it, to be endured with as good humor as possible in the knowledge of the wonder to come. Only at the end did Molly’s expression change from eagerness to sadness.

  “’Tis all nithin’,” she said. “Whin ye hold th’ little one, all thit’s been, it’s nithin’. Th’ pain—” Her eyes filled, then closed, and tears rolled down her cheeks. “Th’ pain is whin they die,” she whispered.

  Esmeralda’s eyes were like saucers, and they, too, filled with tears. “Oh, Molly,” she sobbed. “I don’t think I could bear that. I don’t think I could.”

  Molly dashed the tears from her eyes. “God willin’ ye niver will,” she said. “But ye bear what ye must. And silly the two of us are t’ be talkin’ sorrow whin ‘tis joy thit’s comin’. Whist! Let’s on wit oor work, or th’ master’ll be comin’ in t’ a mess o’ bundles over th’ floor.”

  Such a representation was the best way to shake Esmeralda out of the dismals. It was, of course, impossible to complete the packing in one day, particularly since Esmeralda had decided to send back everything, heavy or not, that was not absolutely essential. That meant all the summer clothing, her ball gowns, most of the linens and other household conveniences they had accumulated—anything, in fact, that Robert would not notice was missing. And, since he certainly would notice bags and boxes piled in the apartment, Esmeralda had the packed goods stored in the stable. With Bear there, she did not think that there was any danger of theft. Few people will approach a bear, even if it is known to be tame.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Oddly enough, Esmeralda’s assumption that no one would try to steal articles protected by a bear seemed mistaken. After two days it became apparent that someone was trying to get into the stable. Carlos, who slept with the animals, reported that twice on the night of December 1, Bear became very restless, even rising and going to the length of its chain to sniff and whine at the stable wall. The horses, too, had seemed briefly uneasy.

  Esmeralda wondered whether to tell Robert, but she did not want him to think—because she was sending so many of their possessions to Portugal—that she was frightened. He might decide to send her with the convoy. Also, he was completely absorbed in the various efforts being made to induce Sir John to change his mind. Appeals were coming in from the English minister in Madrid and from the Spanish juntas that Moore not abandon the Spanish cause.

  “And I wish to hell they would leave him alone,” Robert snarled to Esmeralda. “The manner and attitude of the British minister toward him is most rude and improper, and the ignorance—or dishonesty—of the Spanish is appalling. All they do is infuriate him and confirm his opinion that they do not comprehend the situation.”

  “Do they not?” Esmeralda asked.

  “Well, the Spanish do not. They continually write about huge armies, which they have created with their pens. But the worst of all, Merry, is that we are spread all over the place, and no one force is complete enough even to defend itself. Hope has all the artillery, Baird has nearly all the cavalry, and we have most of the infantry. Damn the Portuguese who don’t know their own country, and damn that lazy idiot Dalrymple, who never sent out engineers to scout the roads.”

  “But Hope has nearly caught
up with us, has he not?”

  Esmeralda’s question sounded anxious, and Robert looked at her gratefully, believing she shared his eagerness for a union of Hope’s division with Moore’s. Once that junction had taken place, Robert was convinced that Sir John would see the chances of the British army in a less despairing light. In fact, Esmeralda’s anxiety was on the opposite side—she was praying that General Hope was far from union—but she knew well how to be sly about the phrasing of questions so that Robert believed her sentiments to be much the same as his own.

  “Yes.” Robert’s eyes gleamed. There was no way he could see the expression in Esmeralda’s since they were, as usual, fixed on some mending in her lap. “Bless Hope, he’s only fifteen miles away. What’s more, there’s information that the French have no idea where we are. In fact, they seem to think we’ve already run back to Portugal.”

  “But didn’t you tell me that they had some cavalry units at Valladolid? That’s only about sixty miles. They must have heard—”

  “Well, they didn’t,” Robert said triumphantly. “The damned Spanish officials may not be worth thruppence, but the people are with us all the way. It looks as if they were so closemouthed that not a hint of our being here was passed to the French. Besides which Romana insists he does have twenty thousand Spanish soldiers. He admits that they’re half-starved and without shoes or other equipment but swears that if they were equipped, they would fight.”

  “Then…you think Sir John will change his mind about the retreat.”

  Robert sighed. “I don’t know,” he said.

  Esmeralda went on hoping for one day that something would delay General Hope, but on December 3, Hope’s division arrived in Salamanca. This gave Moore twenty thousand men, well trained and well equipped with adequate artillery, and changed the entire aspect of the situation. What was more, Hope brought information about the movement of the French. They were apparently ignorant of the English army and were moving southward, not toward Salamanca. On December 5, Sir John wrote to Baird again, canceling his previous orders for a retreat and requiring him to return to Astorga.