by Rebecca King
“I don’t wish to speak out of turn, sir, but I would just like it known that if it had been Edwards, you should be right to expect my resignation,” Rollo declared.
“Mine too,” Mrs Kempton added emphatically.
“And mine.” Aggy nodded.
“It is not Edwards, I assure you. There is a problem with that woman -” Aidan began only for Jerry to lift a hand up to stop him.
“Are we permitted to know who your choice of bride is?”
“You won’t like it,” Aidan warned him. “It is going to throw fat into the fire, I can assure you.”
“I think we all know that is likely to happen anyway if you haven’t selected someone the dowager’s pushed forward,” Jerry replied dryly.
He knew exactly who Aidan had chosen to be his wife. He just wanted this brother to make it clear to the staff.
It was all a very odd situation they were in; conversing about the master of the house’s love-life in the middle of his bedchamber. But Jerry had quickly learned that Aidan had never actually worked, or lived, the same way as everyone else. If there were a boundary to be pushed; Aidan would push it. If there were some social etiquette somewhere that required him to do something, one could guarantee Aidan would ignore it. It was unsurprising that he had taken the same bohemian attitude towards choosing his rather unconventional bride. Jerry smiled and almost relished being present when the dowager found out.
Aidan looked at each person in turn. He knew from their faces that they still didn’t quite believe it wasn’t Edwards, and shook his head in disbelief that they could consider he would be that foolish.
“I fully intend to make Petal my wife.”
“Petal?” Mrs Kempton gasped. “Really?”
“Really?” Aggy echoed.
“Yes, indeed,” Aidan replied.
He smiled at Rollo when the man began to nod and smile. It was evident there would be no objection from that quarter.
“She isn’t trained for the position as lady of the manor, you know that, sir,” Rollo said cautiously.
“I know, but this house can practically run itself with the staff we have. We don’t need anyone else. Those who aren’t happy with Petal taking on the role as lady of the manor are free to move to work somewhere else.”
“Edwards isn’t going to be happy,” Mrs Kempton stated with relish.
“I don’t care what Edwards likes or doesn’t like. This has nothing to do with that woman. Talking about Edwards, though, I have reason to believe that she has been spiking my meals, as you know. However, I am still struggling to get her to leave this house. After this morning’s little scheme, I think it is about time that woman left here whether she is ill or not. However, I think she should learn a lesson or two about trying to manipulate me before she goes don’t you?”
“What do you plan to do, sir?” Mrs Kempton asked cautiously.
When she pushed up her sleeves as though prepared to do battle with the woman, Aidan lifted a cautionary hand.
“We are going to leave Edwards in her room for now. If she is ill then she can stay there until she recuperates. If she is hiding because her scheme didn’t work as well as she had hoped then boredom and curiosity will eventually drive her out again, ill or not. Her yen for stirring up trouble won’t allow her to remain in there any longer than she absolutely has to be.”
Rollo nodded. “She will want to see just how much damage she has done.”
“At the moment, she has done enough because Petal has left,” Jerry sighed.
“What do you want us to do?” Rollo asked with a frown.
“I want you to be aware that Petal is to be the new mistress of the house but, for now, keep it to yourselves. Rollo, I need you to give me directions to Petal’s father’s farmhouse. Jerry, I need you to come with me. I am able to get up and about but this will be the furthest I will have travelled since the day I left London. Just in case anything goes wrong, I need you to come with me.”
“Count me in,” Jerry assured him.
“Aggy, as the mistress of the house, Petal will need a personal maid. I take it that you and Petal are friends?”
“Yes, sir,” Aggy replied with a spark of hope in her eye.
“Then I am elevating you to being my future wife’s personal maid. She will need your help with all sorts of things. Jerry, it is for you and I go help Petal get to grips with the kind of things she will need to know to be able to live here as my wife. I hope you will support me.”
“Of course I will,” Jerry replied with a grin.
“Mrs Kempton, if you can continue as you are I am sure Petal will be immensely relieved not to have to deal with the household for the time being. You will, of course, have lost the upstairs help but feel free to advertise for a new member of staff.”
“We don’t really need one, for now, sir,” Mrs Kempton said. “Maisie can do the job splendidly with the help of the scullery maid. I am sure she is up to the job.”
“Everyone has to keep quiet about this,” Aidan cautioned. “I don’t want Edwards getting wind of anything until the marriage has taken place.”
Jerry nodded. He was immensely pleased to see this new, take-charge attitude from his brother. It indicated that Aidan had actually fully recovered from his recent ordeal, and would soon be able to take over the running of his entire estate.
The only cloud on the horizon was Petal. Given what she had witnessed, she wasn’t going to be easy to talk around, especially if she had been so upset she had quit.
“What are you going to do if Petal says no?” Jerry asked.
“She doesn’t get a choice,” Aidan reported. “When I tell you that I may need help, I mean it. I will carry her out of that farmhouse, and up the aisle, if I have to.”
Jerry began to laugh. He knew that Aidan most probably would.
“Rollo, if the dowager calls demanding to know where I have gone, tell her nothing.”
Before he could say anything else, there was a discrete knock on the door. Rollo tugged it open and spoke to the footman outside.
“Sir? Petal’s father is here.”
Aidan’s brows lifted. His heart lurched at the thought that Petal had returned with him, and strode forward to speak with the footman directly. “Is Petal with him?”
“No, sir. It is just her father. He is in the kitchens.”
“Send him up,” Aidan ordered.
“Sir?” The footman looked hesitant.
“Send him up.”
“Yes, sir.” At Rollo’s nod, the footman left.
A somewhat nervous tension hovered over the group as they waited for the farmer to join them. When he did, they all took a deep breath at the size of the man who stalked through the door, a dark scowl on his heavily bearded face. Still, in spite of his bullish size, he bowed courteously and maintained a respectful distance beside the door.
“Come on in,” Aidan ordered kindly. “We don’t do all of that pomp and circumstance in this place.”
He watched the farmer’s brows lift.
“I take it you have Petal?” he asked when the man had yet to speak.
“Yes, she arrived this morning.”
“Is she alright? She isn’t hurt in any way, is she?” Aidan grew worried at the farmer’s hesitation.
“She is a tad upset, sir,” the man replied, thoroughly confused upon seeing the assorted people gathered in the bedchamber.
“Come and join in,” Jerry drawled. “I am Jerry Quigley-Myers, his brother. This is Aidan, the master of the house.” He quickly introduced Rollo, Mrs Kempton, and a now awed Aggy, and settled back to lean his shoulders against the wall, and watch his brother at work.
“I am afraid Petal may have gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick this morning about something,” Aidan warned him. “I intend to put that right.”
“Oh? What happened?”
Aidan considered the man’s size, but knew there was no beating about the bush. If he wanted the man to understand, he had to take a chance and te
ll him everything. This was, after all, his future father-in-law. For the sake of family harmony there could be no secrets between them.
With this in mind, he told them all about Edwards, and her recent schemes.
The tension within the room thickened as the man’s face grew darker, and infinitely more menacing.
“What do you plan to do about it?” the farmer challenged.
“What do I call you?” Aidan asked instead.
“Leonard Biddeham, is my name.”
“Well, Mr Biddeham -” He stopped when the farmer lifted a steady hand.
“Everyone calls me Leonard.”
Heaving a mental sigh of relief that his honesty had garnered the man’s help, Aidan nodded.
“Well, Leonard, please call me Aidan. I have to advise you that I want Petal back.”
“She doesn’t want to work here anymore. I just called by to tell you that she won’t be returning to her job.”
“She has to come back,” Aidan replied crisply. “This house cannot operate without her.”
Leonard looked completely unconcerned. “It has to. She was upset when she got to me and is adamant she doesn’t want to come here again.”
“Well, she is going to have to,” Aidan reported. “She doesn’t get a choice in the matter.”
Leonard straightened. “You cannot tell her what to do. She doesn’t work for you now. I just came to say that she won’t be back. You can keep her pay in respect of the fact she hasn’t worked any notice. If Petal says she won’t be back, then she won’t be back, and that is the end of the matter.”
“Petal is at your farmhouse, I take it?”
“Yes,” Leonard scowled at him in warning.
“Then I wish to speak with her. If she doesn't come to me, then I will go to her. Either way, I must talk to her, but I need your help to get Petal back.”
“Oh? Why?” Leonard began to look suspicious. “What do you want her for?”
“I have recently been recovering from a carriage accident and am not as fast on my feet as I used to be. Petal used to read to me, and she has yet to finish the book we have been reading. Not only that but she has become such an integral part of my life that I just cannot function without her. She has to come back, and I think I have the perfect new role for her to fulfil - if I can persuade her to give me another chance.”
“Oh? What’s this new role then?” Leonard asked. His face was alive with curiosity.
“With your permission, sir, I should like to ask Petal to be my wife.”
Leonard’s jaw dropped. Not only because a member of the aristocracy wanted to marry his daughter, but the polite and deeply respectful way he had just asked for her hand in marriage was astonishing. He stared at the man before him until his brother coughed discretely to warn him he was required to answer.
“I don’t think it will do much good. She ain’t been brought up to run a house like this,” Leonard replied glancing around the plush confines of the bedchamber.
“It doesn’t matter. She can read. What she doesn’t know about running this house already she can learn. Mrs Kempton here already knows her and has already been working with her for the last several weeks. Aggy here is going to be her personal maid, and my brother and I, and Rollo, can help her with anything else she needs to learn to live here as the new lady of the manor. Of course, people will gossip, but I don’t really care what anyone thinks. Nobody will dare cast aspersions on her once she is a member of my family. Nor will the family raise issue because that it isn’t their concern. This is my life. Petal is my choice of a bride, and I fully intend to live my life as I see fit.”
“Here, here,” Jerry murmured from his position beside him. He stepped forward and held his hand out. “Good for you, brother mine. We will deal with the dowager and Edwards together. You sort out Petal.”
“There is one thing,” Aidan warned a stunned looking Leonard.
“Oh?” The man shifted on his feet warningly.
“The marriage needs to be quick.”
Aidan lifted a hand to halt him when he saw the outraged look on the older man’s face. He knew then that Petal hadn’t told her father everything that had happened between them. For that he could only be entirely grateful because although there was youth on his side, he wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight against the much larger and considerably more muscular man before him.
“There are wolves circling who planned to take advantage of my poorly state to claim the position as my wife. I think it is what Edwards was planning when she concocted a little scene Petal stumbled upon this morning. To get rid of Edwards once and for all, and ensure that Petal’s integration into this house is as smooth as possible, I am not prepared to wait to make her my wife.”
“Why are you so keen to marry her?” Leonard asked, wondering what he was not being told.
He suspected that he already knew his daughter loved the man before him. Although she hadn’t said as much, her tears spoke volumes. Because of the master’s rather unconventional attitude toward the snobbery and refinement he lived in, Leonard could see the attraction. He was far more down to earth and approachable than any nabob he had ever met in his life. His brother was the same. It was a little strange if he was honest, but he wasn’t prepared to question it as long as the man was being honest, and intended to do right by his daughter.
“I care about her a great deal,” Aidan replied, sensing the man’s doubt.
He didn’t tell them how deeply he loved her. He wanted Petal to be the first one to hear just how much she meant to him.
“I don’t want her dragged into any scheming. Petal’s not like that,” he warned the room at large. “She isn’t a trophy. I don’t want her used to solve your problems.”
“I can promise you she won’t be. I need her back in this house with me where she belongs.”
Leonard still couldn’t see why the man was so determined to have Petal as his wife, but then had never been all that good with matters of the heart. Thinking about the way he felt always left him wanting to tug his collar and go down the pub for a pint instead.
“Well, you have my permission to ask her, but I don’t think you are going to get her to agree. She was mighty upset when she appeared this morning. When she got to the house, she was frozen and soaking wet. She was asleep when I left her. It would be best to leave it until the morning.”
“No,” Aidan protested.
The last thing he was going to do was leave her to stew overnight over what had happened. It would give her far too much time to put barriers up against him, and that was something he didn’t dare allow to happen in case he couldn’t break them back down again.
“I have already sent a footman with a note to the magistrate. We can get a special licence and be married this afternoon. With your permission, I shall call upon Petal immediately.”
“This afternoon?” Mrs Kempton gasped.
Aidan let the initial flurry of gasps and cries of astonishment die down for a moment before he looked at each person in turn.
“I have made my mind up. I am not going to allow her to escape me. I think Petal needs a lesson in just how much she means to me. Assuming I can get her to agree, we will marry this afternoon.”
“What do you want me to do?” Leonard asked with a scowl.
“You will need to be there to witness the wedding and give your daughter away. I have already notified the vicar and have instructed him to keep the matter private for the time being. Jerry can be my witness. Aggy, you can be Petal’s bridesmaid. Mrs Kempton, you can be the matron of honour. Rollo, I need you to go to the church and ensure that only the vicar and the organist are in attendance.” Aidan suddenly stopped when he realised nobody had moved or said a word for the last couple of minutes. “Petal will need a dress.”
“She has the one her dear mother wore on her wedding day. They are the exact same build. I am sure she planned to use that if she is ever married,” Leonard offered, still unconvinced this would work.
; He was slightly dazed that something like this was possible. Still, the man had declared to everyone just how much Petal meant to him, and to humble himself like that in front of the staff earned respect in his eyes.
“Right, well, everyone has their orders,” Aidan declared when nobody moved.
“We will go to the church to wait,” Mrs Kempton offered.
“I can pick some flowers from the garden for her,” Aggy offered, smiling when Rollo nodded.
“I will get the carriage brought round,” Rollo declared before he left the room.
“We had better sort out your outfit,” Jerry sighed, clapping his brother on the shoulder. “Do you have rings?”
Aidan nodded. “I have grandmama’s downstairs in the safe.”
“Then I will go and get them,” Jerry said and hurried out of the room.
“I will go and see the vicar then,” Leonard announced awkwardly.
“I will go and see Petal,” Aidan announced.
Still clutching his hat in a tight fist, Leonard nodded woodenly and followed everybody out of the house. It wasn’t until he was driving his cart back down the driveway that he realised that everyone had taken their allotted roles with unchecked enthusiasm. All of them seemed determined that if this was what the master wanted, this was what the master got.
However, he had to wonder who had stopped to consider what Petal wanted.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Petal batted at her nose. When it continued to tickle, she swatted at it again, reluctant to release the comforting drowsiness that eased her tears and worries. She snuggled deeper under the covers and heaved a sigh of contentment, but it was a state that didn’t last for long. The reality of the world suddenly crashed in on her and brought with it all the pain, worry, and heartbreak she had tried so desperately to ignore.
When the rustle of clothing broke the silence, and she hadn’t moved to make the noise, her eyes popped wide. They widened further when her gaze landed on the one person she thought she would never see again.
“What are you doing here?” She gasped.
She stared at him from beneath the thick blankets, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment that he should see her so dishevelled.