by Candace Camp
“True.” The duke reached out to take the cup of tea she poured for him and took a meditative sip. “Rather too many of them, really.”
“The thing is, Papa, we think it would probably be someone in your generation, so we came to ask Uncle Bellard,” Alex explained.
“Well, I wouldn’t think it was Richard,” the duke said. “He and Valinda get along rather well, I think—though that may be because he’s so often gone on his butterfly hunts. My other brother Nicky died young.” Sorrow touched his face for a moment. “What do you think, Uncle?”
“I’ve never heard any gossip like that. Though one of the girls would know better—my sisters have all the gossip about everyone.”
Desiree hid a smile as she realized that the “girls” he referred to were women his age. She supposed sisters always remained “girls” to their brothers.
“Now, my generation had more boys in it,” Bellard went on. “And they had sons who would be the right age. Let me see...” He began to list male names, finishing, “I think that’s all...well, there was Alistair, too—Conrad’s son, but he moved to America a long time ago.”
Desiree stiffened. “America?” She glanced at Tom, who looked equally alert.
“Lord Moreland, do you remember when that was?” Tom asked.
“Oh, goodness, years and years ago, must be close to thirty years.” He looked over at the duke and duchess.
There followed a good deal of discussion between the three older members of the family concerning the dates of various exhibitions, discoveries, treatises and social reform legislation, as well as a couple of births and a wedding in the family before they agreed.
“1864,” Bellard said firmly. “Yes, the autumn of 1864. That’s when he left.”
Desiree felt as if her stomach had dropped to her toes. Tom said sharply, “1864? Are you sure?”
“I’m almost certain.” Bellard nodded. “Though Wilhemina would know better, I’m sure. She was his age, and they were rather close. Well, as close as he was with anyone. He was always a bit shy.”
The duchess, watching Desiree, said, “I take it that year is significant?”
Desiree nodded. “That’s the year I was born. And the year our mother ran away.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“I SEE,” EMMELINE said gravely.
“It wouldn’t be terribly surprising if Alistair had an affair. His was not a happy marriage,” Bellard said.
“True. A woman as straitlaced as Tabitha should never have married a Moreland.”
Bellard nodded. “They were not compatible. The dowager duchess and Alistair’s mother pushed him into marrying her. Tabitha’s family was quite old, and, as I remember, Cornelia thought it would be an advantageous marriage.”
“No doubt she felt it would make up for Henry being so wayward as to marry me.” The duchess cast a decidedly flirtatious smile at her husband. In response, he raised her hand and kissed it.
“No doubt that played a part,” Bellard agreed. “I believe he was engaged to Tabitha, then balked, and of course it would have been a scandal if he’d jilted her. I’m sure Cornelia and Agatha—that’s Alistair’s mother,” Bellard explained in an aside to Desiree and Tom, “were at him day and night to ‘do his duty’ and not damage the family’s name. I had the feeling there was something more, some worse scandal, that forced his hand, but I don’t know what it was.”
“Alistair always was a bit of weak reed,” Henry said. “He couldn’t have stood up against Mother. As I remember, Aunt Agatha was equally ironfisted.” The duke added, with breath-taking irony, “Alistair was an odd chap. He was a poetical sort, wasn’t he? And isn’t he the one who collected carriages?”
“Yes, he did,” Uncle Bellard agreed. “I think it was something of a bond between Alistair and his father. My brother Conrad had a large collection of them at their country estate. He kept the family’s coronation coach from, oh, must have been the second Charles’s coronation.”
“Didn’t Conrad find a tumbril from the French Revolution?” the duke asked.
“Well, that’s certainly gruesome,” the duchess commented.
“Yes, Conrad had an unusual sense of humor,” Uncle Bellard agreed. “After his death, Alistair continued collecting them. His were more normal. I remember he had a lovely phaeton made by Davies. A tilbury. And that carriage from America.”
“America!” Desiree stiffened and cast a glance at Tom.
“Yes, everyone thought it was foolish to import one, but Alistair saw them when he went to New York and fell in love with them. That was the one he drove the most.”
“Sir, what did that carriage look like?” Tom asked, leaning forward.
Bellard’s eyebrows rose slightly at Tom’s intense tone. “Ah, I’m not sure I ever saw it, actually. I—there was something odd about it, as I recall.”
“The driver’s seat was low?” Tom asked. “Right in front of the passengers?”
“Yes, that may be it. Why?”
“I think I might have seen it,” Desiree said.
“Oh, I wouldn’t think so.” Bellard shook his head. “That was years ago. Alistair’s the only one who liked it. I imagine it’s been sitting in that barn on the estate with all the others since he left.”
“It doesn’t seem the sort of thing Tabitha would use,” the duchess agreed. “I’ve never met anyone less likely to step out of bounds than that woman.”
“I don’t remember any of these people,” Alex said, looking puzzled.
“No, you wouldn’t, dear,” his mother told him. “The older children might, but Alistair was gone by the time you and Con were born. And his wife didn’t associate with us much after he left. She thought the Morelands were far too scandalous.”
“I would think Alistair leaving her would have been more of a scandal than anything we’ve done,” Con pointed out.
“Well, yes, but, you see, he was a Moreland, so that was the fault of the family, too,” Emmeline explained. “I confess I could never really like Tabitha. She was always concerned with such trivial matters. She hadn’t the first idea about social reforms or the world at large. But I did feel sorry for her after Alistair ran off. It wasn’t only that it was scandalous and humiliating for her, but she was apparently madly in love with him. Wilhemina said Tabitha took to her bed and cried for days after she found his note. It must have been terrible to love someone that much and know it’s not returned.”
Desiree felt an unreasonable stab of guilt at the pain her father had caused. Her parents had carelessly left a trail of broken lives in their pursuit of love.
“Tabitha was the woman who came to see me the other day,” the duke told Alex. “Didn’t you see her?”
“No.” Alex shook his head.
“That’s right. You were still at breakfast.” The duke turned to Tom. “She’s the woman you met.”
“Why did Tabitha call on you, dear?” Emmeline asked.
“Oh, something about Gregory. She’s always worried that Gregory isn’t getting his proper share of the money or that he’s been overlooked or he’s being slighted.” He paused. “Well, to be fair, sometimes it’s about her being overlooked and slighted.”
“As if I slight her,” Emmeline said indignantly. “I invite her to every large family gathering even though I know she isn’t going to come.”
“Gregory? Cousin Gregory?” Con asked. He said to his brother, “You remember Cousin Gregory’s mother. We called her Aunt Cat.”
“I remember her.” Alex nodded. “I’d forgotten her real name. But that fits, of course. Tabby. Cat.”
Con turned to Desiree. “I’m afraid Cousin Gregory will be a disappointment as a brother, Miss Malone. He was always a prig. Still is, last time I saw him.”
Alex nodded. “Terribly rigid. He was, what, only five or six years older than us, but he was already an old man. ‘One
mustn’t do this, one mustn’t say that. Building a mud fort would ruin his clothes.’”
“And do you remember him asking what was the point in getting onto the roof of the barn?” Con and Alex both shook their heads at that peculiarity.
“To be fair, boys,” Emmeline said, “you two played a number of tricks on the poor lad.”
“Because he was so stuffy,” Alex protested. “And I did not throw a frog at him like his mother said. I’d never do that to a frog. I just handed it to him to hold because Con and I had to go look for Augustus. His mother let out a shriek like I’d offered to stab him, and she slapped me.”
“She what?” The duchess’s eyes took on a dangerous light. “She actually laid a hand on you?”
Alex shrugged. “I ducked. I should have said she tried to slap me—she only grazed the top of my head. But it was most unfair because it was Con who’d let Augustus out, and that was the reason I had the frog in my hand.” He turned to look pointedly at his brother as he made this remark.
“Yes, but you were the one who told her she’d better hold on to that little dog of hers since the boa constrictor was loose,” Con retorted.
“You have to admit, it was sound advice.”
At that moment, there was the sound of footsteps in an odd rhythm, and a moment later a little girl came galloping into the room. She stopped with a whinny in front of the duke and duchess.
“Athena!” Henry said with delight. “Are you a horse now?” She nodded, and he went on, “Well, that’s a very fine thing to be.”
She leaned against his leg, abandoning her animal act, and the duke lifted her onto his lap. “Where is your sister?”
“Brigid’s slow,” Athena told him.
At that moment a smaller girl came into the room in a crouched stance, holding her hands like claws and swiping them through the air. “I’m a tiger.” She followed her sentence with a roar.
There were a few minutes of confusion as the girls made their rounds of the room, giving kisses and collecting sweets. A couple strolled into the room in the midst of it. The man was very tall and broad shouldered, with black hair beginning to gray at the temples. He was immediately recognizable as a close relative of Con and Alex. The woman with him was small and dressed in a trim skirt and jacket of blue, which Desiree admired. Her cinnamon hair was done up in a simple bun, and her reddish-brown eyes twinkled.
“Theo, love. And Megan dear.” The duchess rose to greet them. “Come and sit down. You must meet Miss Malone. We think she’s a new member of the family.” She turned to Desiree.
Desiree’s heart skipped a beat at the older woman’s words. Had she really accepted her so easily? With no protest or suspicion? Desiree thought she herself would have been slower to accept the sudden arrival of a hitherto unknown relative.
“Theo and his sister are my older set of twins,” the duchess explained to Desiree. “And this is his lovely wife, Megan.”
More twins?
“A new Moreland? How is that?” Theo looked as intrigued as Con and Alex had. His wife, on the other hand, had a certain wariness in her eyes. Here was the suspicion that Desiree had expected.
“We think she may be Alistair Moreland’s daughter,” Emmeline said. When Theo raised his brows in mute inquiry, his mother added, “Cousin Gregory’s father.”
“You don’t say.” Theo’s green eyes went back to Desiree thoughtfully. “Does Cousin Gregory know this?”
“No, I’ve never spoken to him,” Desiree said. “Until the past few minutes, I’d no idea who Alistair Moreland was.”
“I shall hold a dinner,” Emmeline said decisively. “To introduce you to the family.”
“Mother, I don’t understand,” Theo began.
“Of course you don’t. We have just now had the opportunity to meet this lovely young woman, whose father callously abandoned her and her brother, not only not acknowledging them but not providing for them. Leaving them in the poverty and crime of the East End. It was a monstrous thing to do. And for a Moreland to do such a thing!”
Desiree watched in fascination as the Duchess of Broughton held forth, her voice growing more impassioned, her eyes fierier as she expounded on her subject. Desiree’s gaze went to the mild-mannered duke sitting beside Emmeline, admiration glowing in his eyes as he watched his duchess. Desiree glanced around the room at the other occupants. Bellard was cheerfully munching his cake and nodding at the duchess’s words; Megan was frowning; and the duchess’s three sons had similar expressions of amused resignation.
“Mother,” Theo said when Emmeline paused for breath. “I’m not at all sure that a dinner with all the family would be a good thing. Cousin Gregory...”
“No, no, dear, of course not him and Tabitha, nor the whole outlying family. Just us.” She waved her hand vaguely toward the rest of them. “Henry’s and my children and their spouses. Olivia and Stephen are in town now. They’re staying with Kyria and Rafe. It’s a pity Reed and Anna are at Winterset, but all the rest of you children are in London.” She turned to Desiree. “Do say you and your brothers will come. Did you say you had two of them?”
“Yes, but my oldest brother, Brock, is our half brother. He has a different father.” Desiree felt a blush creeping into her cheeks. It made it sound as if her mother was a doxy, not caring whom she slept with. But this seemed not to faze the duchess in the least.
“We would love to meet him, too. He’s part of your family, after all.”
Desiree beamed. “You’re very kind. Yes, I would love to meet the rest of your family, and I’ll give my brothers your invitation.”
“But, Duchess,” Tom spoke up. “We cannot be certain that Alistair Moreland was Miss Malone’s father. Let me investigate this a bit further first.”
It hurt that Tom still refused to believe that Desiree was telling the truth. After that kiss, she would have thought he’d feel more kindly toward her. But it was foolish to expect that; all he had said was that he desired her, not that he held any regard for her. Besides, that was all she felt for him, as well. Wasn’t it?
“Dear Tom.” Emmeline smiled at Tom benignly. “You are so good to want to shield us. But what harm is there in a little social gathering? We can’t be certain, of course, that Miss Malone is our relative, but she is an interesting young woman, and no doubt her brothers are, as well. I’m sure everyone in the family will enjoy meeting them. Besides, Smeggars will be so happy to have a social occasion to plan.”
This latter point seemed to settle the matter. Desiree wondered who Smeggars was that his happiness was so important. She discovered that a moment later when the butler entered the room, carrying a large silver tray of more tea and sandwiches. When the duchess told him of her plans, his eyes lit up with an almost religious zeal, and he bustled out of the room with great purpose.
As more tea was served and food passed about, Megan sat down, taking her youngest daughter onto her lap, and saying, “Duchess, I still don’t understand exactly what has happened.”
The older woman launched forth upon the tale of Desiree’s birth and background, aided now and then by comments and further explanations from the other Morelands. It seemed to Desiree that her story sounded much more dramatic and compelling in the Morelands’ retelling.
“I see.” Megan nodded, her bright eyes going to Desiree. Desiree suspected that the duchess’s daughter-in-law wasn’t about to accept the story whole cloth. That was all right; Desiree sensed in Megan an independent, tough-minded, realistic woman not unlike herself. As with Tom, there was in Megan a fierce protectiveness of the Moreland family. Desiree wondered what it would be like to engender such devotion in others.
“The person you need to talk to is my cousin Wilhemina,” the duke told Desiree.
“Yes, she and Alistair were close,” Uncle Bellard agreed. “They were much the same age, and their families didn’t live far apart.”
“You should call on her.” The duchess nodded. “The woman knows all the gossip of about half of London, let alone all the Morelands.”
“Better take someone with you, though,” Theo advised. “She can be a bit prickly.”
Desiree and Tom turned toward the twins, but Con began to laugh, and Alex said, “Not either of us. She’s never been too fond of us since that time with Wellie.”
Theo let out a hoot. “It wasn’t just the parrot—there was an incident with insects, I believe. Or maybe it was the snake.” He turned to his wife. “You best go with them, love.”
“She thinks I’m an upstart American,” Megan protested.
“Take Sabrina and Lilah with you,” Con suggested. “Aunt Wilhemina’s surprisingly fond of Alex’s wife and mine.”
“No doubt she pities them, being married to you two,” Theo jibed.
“Probably true,” Con admitted agreeably.
“You might want to ask your wives first before you volunteer them,” Megan said.
Con shrugged. “Lilah doesn’t mind Aunt Wilhemina. Well, if you’d met Lilah’s aunts, Aunt Willie probably wouldn’t seem that bad.”
“Besides, Sabrina and Lilah will be furious they missed this whole thing,” Alex put in. “They’ll jump at the chance to meet Desiree.”
Desiree wondered if that was really true or if the men’s spouses, like Theo’s wife, might have a warier view of her. Whether or not Alex was right, Megan and Desiree arranged to meet, with the understanding that their plans could change because of the other two women.
Tom had apparently had enough of the camaraderie. A few minutes later, he reminded Desiree that they still had business to attend to and must leave. There was a round of friendly farewells. The duke called Desiree Miss Miller as he smiled pleasantly; Uncle Bellard patted her hand and told Tom that he must bring her around sometime to see his collection of battles; the duchess squeezed Desiree’s hand warmly; and the little girls tugged her down to plant sticky kisses on her cheek.