Ashton Park (40 page)

“Good day, Harrison.”

It was Holly Danforth. She was dressed in a long brown skirt, khaki blouse, and tweed jacket with a blue scarf tucked into the neck of her blouse. A brown hat identical to Harrison’s was on her head with her black hair pinned up underneath it. The only difference was she had small robin feathers tucked into its band, all three of them tinged red. In her hand was a staff.

Harrison took the fedora from his head. “Miss Holly.”

She made a face. “Miss Holly, is it?”

“You’re up early.”

“I’ve been up early before. Or have you forgotten?”

She approached Harrison, her leather boots treading on the green summer grass. When she reached him she looked up into his face, her blue eyes sharp as the morning light struck them. She gave him her staff to hold.

“I remember everything, Calvert. Everything.” She slowly placed her arms around his neck. “Others told me how you cared for me. Now I remember it for myself. Mrs. Seabrooke mentioned the gossip about us before my illness. Now I recall what there was to gossip about. It started with the staff leaning against the tree. The staff you carved for me. Did you leave it against that tree on purpose?”

“I’d forgotten it.”

“There seems to be a lot of forgetting still going on. What would you be doing marching about with my staff anyways? You have your own and mine is too short for you.”

Harrison did not respond. She gently kissed his ear and whispered, “Did you think it might help? Did you think it might jog my memory?” She brushed her lips lightly over his. “It worked. And now you have another problem to deal with.”

Harrison’s whole body was catching fire. But he could only stand still and clutch the two staffs for support. He managed to reply. “I don’t know what the problem is.”

“Of course you do. It’s me.” She kissed him briefly on the mouth. “And while a lot has come back to me it seems a great deal has left you—what to do with your hands, what to do with your lips, what to say with your words. So we must spend the morning helping you remember. Just as you spent the last few months helping me.”

“I…there’s a tree I must bring down…it’s dangerous…”

“Mm. I like bringing down trees. And a little danger is spice to the soul. Don’t you agree?”

“Miss Holly—”

“Hush. It’s Holly. And I love you, Calvert. I intend to marry you even if all the lords and ladies of Britain rise up in arms.”

She brought his head down and kissed him with all the strength she could put into her lips and mouth. He dropped the staffs and his arms found their way quickly around her back and pulled her toward him. When the first kiss was finished she smiled and closed her eyes and laid her head on his chest.

“What do you say to that, Calvert?”

One of his hands removed her hat and he pressed his face into her gleaming black hair. “You’re the best thing that’s happened to me. I thank God you’re back. I didn’t know if you would ever be all of yourself again…”

She didn’t say anything. The warmth of his lips and the tears on her hair, she knew, was language enough for both of them. After another minute, it was he who cupped her chin in his large hand and it was he who put his mouth down gently over hers. At that moment everything else that seemed to be missing inside her fell perfectly into place. She let go completely and let him take over, the kisses coming like a sun shower.

Tavy found Lady Elizabeth out with her rosebushes after a swift rain had made everything sparkle.

“My lady,” he said, “Sir William is on the phone for you.”

She got to her feet and put a hand on her wide-brimmed hat. “Thank you, Tavy. How did he sound?”

“Cheerful as always, ma’arm.”

A maid stood by the phone while the receiver was off the hook and left the parlor as soon as Lady Elizabeth entered. She closed the door behind her.

“William, is that you?”

“It is. I’m calling from Edinburgh. From a private room in a hotel.”

“I can hardly hear you. Your voice is so faint.”

“Well, I’m picking you up quite well. I won’t talk long. You must be wondering what has happened with Charlotte Squire. She is presently in my company and we expect to be at the Lodge tomorrow or the day after.”

Lady Elizabeth had been standing as she spoke on the phone. Now she sat down, smiling, and removed her sun hat. “Oh, William, that is such good news.”

“Of course there’s no telling how Edward will react, but we’ll pray and make the best of this opportunity.”

“How does Miss Squire feel?”

“Why, she still loves him. She is a bit apprehensive naturally because she doesn’t know how he feels about her. But she’s willing to talk to him. She’s quite a strong young woman, Elizabeth.”

“Yes, I know.”

“I shared with Lord Thornton very little of what is going on but he’s no fool. In any case, he promised that he and his wife would say nothing about their suspicions. He gave me the loan of his personal butler, Barlope, and a maid who is a good friend of Charlotte’s, Miss Barrington. They are accompanying us.”

She laughed. “You always take such precautions.”

“I like to keep my affairs as impeccable as possible. Is all well at your end?”

“Oh, very well. I must tell you quickly that Robbie is home.”

“Did you say that Robbie is home?”

“Yes. He has been reposted. He is stationed at Liverpool for the time being. Or he will be once his furlough is over. He is at Ashton Park for a month. And he’s Major Robert Danforth now.”

“Reposted to Liverpool! A month’s leave! Why, the fighting is as bad as it’s ever been. How did he manage that?”

“I will have a cable delivered to your address there.”

“Tell me now.”

“No. Not over the phone. I don’t feel comfortable with that. I shall send a telegram as soon as we’ve hung up. Todd Turpin or Skitt will run it over to the village.”

“This is astonishing news. Perhaps it’s a good omen for our visit with Edward at the Lodge.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice? Please give Charlotte the warmest of well wishes from me. God bless you, dear. I will get that cable off to you straightaway.”

“Thank you, thank you. I look forward to hearing more about Robbie’s situation.”

“I’m hanging up now, William. All right? I love you.”

WILLIAM

ROBBIE LED A DIFFICULT MISSION. I FIND IT STRANGE TO THINK OF HIM BEING IN SUCH A ROLE. THAT IS WHY HE WAS PROMOTED. IT IS ALSO WHY HE HAS BEEN REPOSTED. HE WOULD NOT GIVE ME ANY DETAILS. I MUST ALSO TELL YOU SOMETHING ELSE. ROBBIE IS MARRIED. SHE IS A SWEET GIRL AND I ADORE HER. YOU WILL AS WELL, I AM SURE OF IT. IT WAS CRITICAL THEY BE WED BEFORE HE LEFT IRELAND SO THAT SHE COULD COME WITH HIM. THAT IS WHY IT WAS ALL SO SUDDEN. ROBBIE LOVES HER. AND SHE WORSHIPS HIM. HAD HE LEFT HER IN DUBLIN IT WOULD HAVE BEEN HER DEATH. YOU WILL UNDERSTAND WHEN WE ALL TALK. I AM PRAYING FOR YOU AND CHARLOTTE.

ELIZABETH

Norah glanced down from the third-story window at Robbie and Shannon walking across the lawn to the ash forest as she plumped the pillows on their four-poster bed. She watched as Shannon untied her scarf. Robbie ran his hand back and forth over the short blond hairs. They both laughed and disappeared into the trees. Norah smiled and bent over to straighten the bedspread.

“Miss Cole.”

The voice made her spin around. She sank back on the bed and let out a cry. Holly Danforth stood in the bedroom of red roses in a white dress and white sun hat. Norah threw up a hand. Holly came forward quickly and held the hand firmly but gently.

“Don’t shout. I’m not here to harm you.”

Fear scribbled itself over Norah’s face. Holly sat beside her on the bed, and the maid tried to pull her hand free and move away.

“Norah. I know last time I had a gun. I know last time I threatened your life. I remember it all. I’m here to apologize. And I’m here to thank you.”

Norah shook her head. “You aren’t.”

“I am. A great deal has come back to me over the past day or two. It was Harrison’s American pistol and I was in your bedroom. I told you I’d kill you if you didn’t leave. I walked you out to the road and I sent you on your way.” She placed her other hand carefully on Norah’s arm. “I also remember you being at my bedside for weeks. Feeding me. Wiping my face with a wet cloth. Helping me sip water.” Holly’s eyes were the soft blue of a watercolor painting. “I suppose I’m not only here to make amends. I’m here to ask why.”

Norah’s eyes hunted Holly’s face for hints of the coldness and cruelty she knew she was capable of.

“There’s no getting around that I said the things I said and did the things I did,” Norah admitted in a low voice. “I don’t understand why I did them and why I wanted to hurt people who had done nothing to harm me—Ben and Mrs. Longstaff and Charlotte. It’s the same when it comes to you. I don’t understand why I was kind. On the long walk to that village I wanted to murder you. A day later I saw you dying and I wanted to save you.”

“You could have put a pillow over my mouth when no one was around.”

Norah’s face was like rock. “I thought it. I’ll not deny it. Had it been the night before I might have done it. I hated you.”

“Yet you did nothing to me but feed me and wash my body.”

“The first time they left me alone with you I thought I’d whisper in your ear that God had judged you. Then let you cry out for water and do nothing. But I couldn’t. I felt like it was God who was watching me. I felt as if He had given me a chance to make up for the wrongs I’d done in this house. That’s what went through my mind the first hours I was alone with you. To make things right. Beat the sword into a plowshare like the Good Book says, you know. In my heart was nothing but pity. And a kind of grief that we’d become such enemies that you’d point a gun at me and I’d think of withholding water from you when you were dying. And, of course, I was scared too. I didn’t know about your loss of memory. I expected you to recover and to have me turned out of the manor again. And then when you didn’t…get well, it was all the easier to be kind to you.”

Holly was silent. She ran a finger again and again under one of her eyes. Then she leaned over and embraced Norah, kissing her on the cheek and laying her head on her shoulder. Her hat fell to the floor. Moving as if she were made of wood, Norah put an arm slowly and stiffly around Holly’s back. With her other hand she began to stroke the black hair pinned up on her head.