by A. R. Rend
Huffing, Phillip turned toward Lenore.
She was watching with raised eyebrows.
Mim finally loosened her grip on him. Which was the perfect opportunity for Phillip to shoot up to his feet and break free.
Only to have Mim dump him right back into her lap.
“Oooh, you’re feisty today,” Mim said with a chuckle then put her arms around his hips. Then she pressed her mouth to his ear once more. She was breathing a little hard, but nothing like he was. “If you tell me to let go, I will. Otherwise, I won’t.”
Truthfully, Phillip didn’t want her to let go.
“Sophia, really?” Lenore asked from where she sat.
“Look, Lenny, we both want him. We’re both after him,” Mim said, tilting to one side to meet her eyes with her own. “Allie screwed up and Phil is up for the possibility of a takeover. And it’s Mim, not Sophia. Mim.”
Phillip was somewhat annoyed that they were talking as if he didn’t have a choice in this, but then he realized he actually didn’t.
Not really, at least. If he wanted to get away from Alice, it would come down to who could move on him first.
Lenore lifted her chin, then shrugged one shoulder with a smirk.
“That’s a fair point. I’ll remind you of it later when you complain that I spend all day with him at the family home,” said Lenore with a smile. Madeline joined them and stood there with a smile, arms folded in front of her chest. Lenore and Mim both nodded their heads to the woman. Phillip did his best to not look embarrassed. “Now… on to business since everyone is here.”
Turning her head, she looked at Mildred.
“Would you take a seat, Mildred? You put your money in as well. In this matter you’re a partner, not a bodyguard,” stated Lenore. “Your money is just as good as ours.”
Looking very uncomfortable, Mildred frowned, then slowly nodded her head.
Taking a seat in one of the chairs, she looked ill-at-ease, but wasn’t fighting being included.
“Obviously we’re not making any profit yet,” Lenore said with a negligent hand wave. “We are however, very much ahead of schedule on the spinning-wheels. So much so that we’ve been able to use the extra time on the one-wheeled cart inventory.”
“Oh! I haven’t seen one. Do we have one?” Mim said excitedly, clapping her hands together even as she held to Phillip.
“We do,” Madeline said. “One second.”
Walking off to a different area of the shop, she came back a few seconds later.
“I already had the basic idea as Phillip described it. I made a few changes and it… well, it works really well,” Madeline said, coming back over.
In front of her was almost exactly what Phillip had imagined in his head.
It had two legs, one wheel, all built in a V-shape, with a trough atop it to load things.
“We’ve been using it to cart things around the workspace,” Madeline said with a laugh. “The single wheel makes it really easy to maneuver. I won’t lie, I had my doubts at first but… this is great.”
Setting it down on the two back legs, she put her hands on her hips with a grin.
“And it didn’t nearly cost us anything to make. I built this one out of scrap-wood,” Madeline said, kicking one of the legs with a boot. “And considering who’ll be using these things? All the better.”
Mim was staring at it hard. As if an idea was percolating at the back of an idea.
“I want to ride it,” she said, finally letting go of Phillip and setting him to the side.
Getting up, she went over to the one-wheeled cart and sat in it. Then leaned back.
“Push me?” she asked, grinning at Madeline.
“I wish I could say I didn’t already think of this,” Madeline murmured, picking up the handles. “But I made my niece wheel me around earlier.”
Madeline backed up, and proceeded to wheel Mim back toward the front of the building, the latter laughing the entire time.
“It would seem that our investment is quite secure and we’re able to perform double duty here. All without any of the work other than coin,” said Lenore in a soft voice.
Mildred nodded her head to that.
“Following the Curis family has never led me wrong,” offered the soldier.
“I can certainly see that,” Lenore murmured. “Can certainly see that.”
***
Walking back to the Rias household while Lenore headed to the office, Phillip was returning with Mim. She’d not even allowed the idea to be considered that she wouldn’t go with him.
“Hey, I know I said it once already but I’ll say it again,” Mim said, leaning forward to look at him directly. “Thanks for letting me join you and Lenny. I know for a fact she would have voted with you in either situation. So… thanks, Phil.”
“Course, Mim,” Phillip said, grinning at her. “You’re a smart woman with a good head on her shoulders. You just were living a bit too off-beat is all. Matilda mentioned your mother is beside herself out of shock given your current disposition.”
“Ptff, you’re telling me,” Mim said with a laugh, putting her arms behind her back. “Mom is like over the moon about it. I mean… I know I was just kinda doing my own thing, but I didn’t think I was that bad.”
“She likely didn’t see you as doing bad, just not doing as much as she believed you could,” Phillip offered after thinking about it.
“Huh… I… huh. Yeah. Maybe,” grumbled Mim, her brows drawing in low over her eyes. “See, this is why you need to marry me. You need to help keep me on track. Otherwise I’ll just run right off the rails.”
“I think I’d be wasted if that’s all I did, Mim,” Phillip countered, unable to prevent himself from smiling.
“Oh, there’s a lot of other things you’d do. Especially me,” promised Mim. “I have no doubt that you’d be the one guiding our trade deals in the background. My job would just to be run ahead, meet people, bring them back, and be the face of our partnership. All the while my sexy and handsome husband leads our family from the shadows.
“And plows me. Regularly. Can’t forget that part. Lots and lots of plowing. Plow your Mim often.”
Bobbie chuckled at that, her head moving from left to right as she scanned the crowd. He knew his guards liked Mim.
Chortling as well, Phillip shook his head, grinning. Mim would always run along at her own pace and speed. There was no sense in trying to catch her.
She’d just come back to him after a moment.
“I don’t think Lenny has quite figured out that’s what you want her to do yet. I think she’ll get there eventually. Just not yet,” Mim added after a second. “If I had to be honest… I don’t think she’d be better or worse than me as a wife. I think in the end… you’ll have to choose one of us.
“Because my mother will write up the contract herself if she thinks Lenny is going to put it in front of Tilda. Mom will put it in front of you herself at the same time and then Tilda.”
“Is that so?” Phillip asked, curious now.
“Yes. I told her my intention was you or no one,” Mim said, nodding her head slowly. “No one deserves you but me. I knew your worth in minutes of meeting you. Seconds. And if I can’t have you, there’s nothing else out there for me. No other man has ever interested me even in passing. Before you, men were just… women without boobs. Boring, unattractive, and entirely unimportant to me. Mother despaired that I showed no one at all any attention. But you… you’re so very different.
“And after I told my mother all of that, I started playing fast and loose with some markets. Based on the advice you gave me. Made enough coin to buy my house. Then invest with you and Lenny while making money in other markets. The same markets you’ve been helping me with. All of which I shared with my mother as to where the information came from, of course.”
Phillip didn’t really know how to respond to that.
Both Lenore and Mim were leveraging their mothers to negotiate for his marriage contract.
“Then Tilda had a chat with Mother and I the day she left with Alice,” said Mim, glancing over at him. “Supposedly she had a conversation with you. One where you admitted you’d sign a contract with me if I put it in front of you.
“And likely a number of other things. Whatever you said to her, I have no doubt made it back to Alice. And that kicked off the entire chain of events that caused them to leave. It wasn’t business, or anything like that, mind you. It’s entirely on what you said.”
He was deeply curious about why Alice had left. Or where she’d left to. There’d been no word or warning; Alice and Matilda had simply vanished.
“To be fair, I won’t tell you what they’re doing or where they went. That just wouldn’t be fair,” Mim said with a dramatic sigh. “And it would ruin the entire point of what was happening. What I will say though, is it was apparently Allie’s idea. It’s actually a really good idea, if I’m being honest.
“Rather annoying, really. It has the potential to actually work. Really depends on a few things but… I cannot deny I’m somewhat apprehensive. Feel like I should spoil it just so that I can have a better chance but… I’m not that kind of woman. We’ll see though. I think she’ll be returning today or tomorrow.”
Frowning, Phillip wasn’t really sure what to say to that. It sounded ominous to him, if he had to be frank about it.
“Should he be concerned?” Mildred asked with a tense tone.
“Huh? Oh, no. No, there’s no need for him to be concerned. Just you, me, and Lenny,” Mim said, holding Mildred’s eyes with her own.
Then Mim did something out of the ordinary, she leaned over and whispered into Mildred’s ear after pulling the bigger woman down a bit.
Mildred stared and stood up straight as Mim moved away. Then Mildred grunted and sighed.
“I understand,” grumbled Mildred. “Makes sense. Its what a soldier would do. Will probably work.”
“What will work?” Phillip asked with undisguised annoyance.
“What Alice is doing,” Mim said with a smile. Then she darted in and kissed Phillip’s cheek, only to slip away and outside of his ring of guards. “And this is my stop!
“I’ll be over as soon as I get the all clear from Mother. She and I have been discussing how much I need to earn to get you properly contracted. Anyways, ta for now, husband-to-be.”
Moving onward, Phillip and his guards trooped into the Rias household. He had no idea what was in store for him, but he wasn’t looking forward to it.
“I’m going to write letters,” Phillip muttered to himself. “One to Mother, one to Grandmere, and one to Jamie. One for Father as well. See what he thinks of all this.”
“Your father won’t know, Phil,” said Mildred. “Your mother never gave him an option to think of or love anyone else. Even when on campaign, she wrote him every day, you know.”
Letting out a slow breath, Phillip smiled and nodded his head.
“I know. And he knew she did. They never arrived daily, usually in batches, but he waited for them regardless. Every day. Expecting them. He was never disappointed if they didn’t arrive,” Phillip mused. “He’d just say, ‘Maybe tomorrow there will be two’. Or three, or four. Just added another one every time. Rather than worrying about the one that didn’t arrive.”
And then there’s me. Who couldn’t even convince his wife to have lunch with him.
Putting a hand to his head, he sighed, and walked into the Rias household. Defeated in his mind once again by Alice and her treatment of him.
Sixteen
Staring out at the lightning storm raging in the distance, Phillip was enjoying the spectacle.
Back home they didn’t have these kind of storms roll in so close to his house. They were always just too distant to really see.
Leaning his head down, he looked up through the wooden window shutter. Water was pouring down from the heavens, but it wasn’t being blown in through the window.
For that Phillip was thankful. It was the only reason he could watch the storm as comfortably as he was.
A massive fork of lightning shot from one side of the sky to the other, breaking apart and scattering in different directions, one branch heading to the ground.
“Oh, that was a big one, Lenore,” Phillip said, bumping his shoulder into Lenore’s.
“Yes, it was,” she murmured, her eyes searching the sky just as his were. “I don’t think I’ve sat and watched one of these for quite some time.”
They were by themselves in a hallway between the rooms in the family side of the home.
“Lose all your fun somewhere? Do the Rias women give up on joy when they reach adulthood?” Phillip asked with a snicker.
“Playing like that are we, hm?” Lenore asked, reaching over and pinching his hip.
“Aie, you pinch too hard,” complained Phillip, swatting Lenore’s hand away. Thunder rumbled distantly as the rain continued to come down.
“Do I? Are you sure? Let me try again,” Lenore said, pinching him even harder this time. “Have to make sure I still have my fun, right?”
“Alright, alright, I’m sorry. You’re full of fun and joy. Stop it,” Phillip said with a laugh.
The two fell silent, listening to the rain as it fell.
“Thanks for asking me to come watch,” Lenore murmured after the silence became a little tense.
“Of course. I’d never seen one so close and… well… I wanted to share with someone,” said Phillip.
No reason to bring up the fact that I asked Mildred first but she wanted nothing to do with this.
Other than to hide where she couldn’t see it.
Surprising that.
“Uhm, Phil?” asked a tentative voice from behind him.
Looking over his shoulder he found one of Lenore’s younger sisters, Heather, standing there.
“Hey Heather, wanna watch with us?” Phillip asked with a grin.
“I… no. No thank you, Phil,” replied Heather with a wide smile. It melted away rather quickly however. “Uhm, Alice is home. I saw her sitting outside your door. She didn’t… send anyone to get you… but I felt I should tell you.”
Raising his eyebrows at that, Phillip stood upright.
That was odd to him.
He hadn’t been told she was arriving. Nor had anyone come to tell him she was waiting for him. As far as he knew he wasn’t anywhere hidden nor had he been secretive with his location.
The way Heather was acting also put him on edge. Something was very wrong here. It was just a matter of figuring it out.
“I understand, thank you. I’ll go immediately,” Phillip said, ducking his head to the young woman.
“Of course, Phil,” Heather said, giving him another smile. Turning, the young woman left without another word.
Something had her spooked.
“I’ll catch up with you later, Lenore,” Phillip said, patting Lenore on the back gently. “Dinner tonight?”
“That’d be lovely. Would you make some more of those sandwiches?” Lenore asked, standing up and meeting his eyes with a grin.
“You can’t live off those. That’s not a proper dinner,” answered Phillip with a laugh.
“Please?” Lenore asked, her grin growing wider.
“Fine, fine. I’ll make you three. We need a normal dinner though,” he said and then started heading back toward his room.
Turning the corner into the hallway that would lead him there, he could see what was presumably Alice sitting in a chair outside his door.
Just beyond her were his guards who seemed completely unconcerned with her there.
The chair must have been brought for her but-
As he got closer he could see it was indeed Alice.
But it didn’t look like her.
Her hair was a wild disarray. She was soaking wet and a puddle was forming under her. Her clothes had the look of something ridden in day and night. There were very visible dust and mud stains from her boots up to her hips as if she’d
waded through a stream of soil.
“Alice? Are you alright?” Phillip asked with genuine concern. Coming right up to her, he leaned to the side to get a look at her face.
Her eyes were a bit sunken and had dark-black circles around them, as if she hadn’t slept for any length of time. Her cheeks were a bit hollow, her skin quite pale, and her lips had several cracks in them like she hadn’t drank enough water.
“Phillip,” Alice said with a smile for him, her eyes moving to latch to his. “I’m so glad to see you. May I enter your room? I’d very much like to speak with you.”
Caught completely off guard, he nodded his head.
“Of course. Not a problem,” Phillip said graciously. Opening the door to his room, he held it there and made eye contact with Bobbie.
As Alice passed him by and entered his room, he gave Bobbie a questioning look.
The soldier hustled over and leaned in close to him.
“She wouldn’t say a word other than she was waiting for you. Offered her all we could, but she wouldn’t take none of it,” Bobbie explained. “Told us not to go get you.”
“I understand. Hot water, foot-tub, sponges, towel, tea, her bathing robe, and some biscuits. Okay?” Phillip said, holding Bobbie’s eyes with his own.
“Of course, right away.”
Nodding his head at that, he entered his room and closed the door.
Only to find Alice standing right there in the entryway, waiting for him.
“I erred, Phillip Curis,” Alice said, her eyes boring into his own. “I erred terribly. I harmed you, when you had done nothing wrong. I thought little of what you offered, and forsook it. I never once considered the depth and extent of what you were doing, until it was gone.”
Shocked, unable to speak, Phillip stood there. Thoughts were slamming through his mind faster than he could latch onto them, let alone grab one and say it to Alice.
“I contemplated on it. I thought hard. I believed that I could solve it,” Alice murmured. “But I realized it was too late to solve. Not without drastic measures.”