Honeymoon from Hell IV (4 page)

“And you’re going to be very busy for
at least one of those weeks,” Robert decided to remind his brother
as he reached over and turned off the lantern on his
workstation.

“I knew that I should have left for
England last month when I had the chance,” James said with a
pathetic groan that Robert wasn’t buying as he rubbed the back of
his neck and tossed the wood shaving aside.

They both knew what was waiting for
James back home and he wasn’t in any rush to return to his wife.
He’d married her for the inheritance and had instantly regretted
it. Since they’d said their, “I do’s,” Heather had taken residence
in one of the luxurious town houses that had originally been left
to Elizabeth in a fit of rage and had refused to talk to James
since. Not that James really seemed to care.

If anything, he seemed happy to get
away from her, which Robert really couldn’t blame him for, but what
he could blame his brother for were the looks of regret that he
sometimes caught him sending Elizabeth. He knew that his brother
would never touch her, but that didn’t hide the fact that James was
more than a little in love with Elizabeth. He hated to see his
brother in this much pain, but then again, if James ever acted on
those fingers, Robert would tear him apart with his bare hands. But
since his brother was kind enough to keep his feelings, and his
hands, to himself, Robert would pretend not to notice.

“You would have missed me,” Robert said
with a chuckle as he decided to call it a night.

James’ lips twitched. “Perhaps,” he
lied his ass off when they both knew that James would have been
miserable without him in England, but soon he wouldn’t have a
choice and they both knew it. James was the first in line to
inherit and as much as James would like to turn his back on his
responsibilities and the unwanted wife that he now found himself
with, he’d also been raised to believe that the future of their
family depended on him. He could never turn his back on that, no
matter how much he wanted to pretend that life back in England
wasn’t waiting for him, he couldn’t.

Too may lives depended on James to pick
up with their father would one day leave off, tenants, farmers,
merchants, thousands of them. So, as much as James would like to
start over in New England and pretend that he had a choice in his
future, they both knew that he didn’t, because if he turned his
back on his responsibilities then it would fall on Robert’s
shoulders to do the right thing for their family.

And they both knew that he couldn’t do
that.

Robert couldn’t go back, he couldn’t
turn his back on the future that he’d created for his family, on
the life that he’d made for them, he just couldn’t return to a life
that had meant absolutely nothing to him and they both knew it. So,
to make sure that Robert was never forced to take on a role that
was never meant for him, James would do whatever it took to
continue the line even if it meant going back to his wife in
England and starting a family with her.

The fact that James was going to do
whatever it took to ensure their families survival as well as the
life that Robert had created for his family here in New England
told him just how much he meant to his brother. They didn’t say
anything, because nothing had to be said. They were brothers after
all and this is what they did for each other. No thanks was
necessary, but they both knew that whenever James needed an escape,
there would always a place here for him when he needed
it.

With that being said…

“You agreed,” Robert pointed out,
deciding to cut through all the bullshit and get to the heart of
the matter.

“I know,” James groaned with a mock
glare, but they both knew that he was looking forward to having the
run of the house and the boys all to himself. With Mrs. Brown’s
help of course, which meant that he would probably end up spending
the entire week teaching the boys how to blow spit bubbles and con
Mrs. Brown into cooking all of his favorite foods and spoiling him
rotten before he had to head back home to the harpy that was doing
her best to go through their fortune before he got back, not that
she really cared that he’d left, but because she just couldn’t seem
to help herself.

Elizabeth still had never forgiven
herself for losing the inheritance to her sister, but he knew that
she had no regrets. She could have done a great deal of good with
that money, but in the end he knew that she couldn’t bring herself
to regret what happened between them and especially their boys. He
was too much of a selfish bastard to regret what happened, but it
damn near killed him that no matter how hard he worked, he would
never be able to give her the life that she deserved.

He’d robbed her of a life of luxury and
he could never forgive himself for that. She’d gone from being a
pampered daughter of a Peer to the wife of the town carpenter.
She’d deserved better than that and although he would never be able
to give her what she deserved, he was going to do his best to make
her happy, which was why he’d been busting his ass for the past few
months, scrimping and saving every extra penny that he could so
that he could finally take her on a honeymoon.

“You could always take me up on my
offer and take her on a tour of Europe,” James suggested with a
shrug even as he took a step back and put some space between them
before Robert could get a chance to properly thank him for the
offer.

“Thank you, but no,” he said through
clenched teeth, his eyes narrowing to slits as he sent his brother
one last warning, but the stubborn bastard ignored the warning and
kept going.

“Think of it as a wedding
gift. You could take her to Paris and Venice. Treat her to the best
hotels across Europe, and dine at the finest-
Ow, you son of a bitch! Stop punching me
!”

“Let it drop and I will,” Robert
explained with a tired sigh as he walked past his brother, in
absolutely no mood to argue with him tonight.

With a heavy sigh that was going to get
his jaw broken, James followed after him. “Consider it a
gift.”

“No.”

“It would be from all of us,” James
added as Robert shoved the heavy barn door open and strolled out,
seriously tempted to lock his brother in for the night, but decided
against it since the tattletaling bastard would just tell Mrs.
Brown on him in the morning and the old woman would make his life a
living hell out of spite.

“No,” he said, forcing himself to walk
down the well-worn path that he’d created over the last few months
with the help of Elizabeth, who liked to visit him throughout the
day with a baby on her hip and a plate of goodies to keep him
going.

He loved her visits and looked forward
to them everyday. If he had to work at someone’s house or in town,
he would get up an hour early and get the team ready for her,
making sure to put the baby bassinets that he’d made specifically
for the carriage in the back to make it easy for her to visit him.
While most husbands usually bitched about their wives and took
whatever excuse they could find to get out of the house, he
couldn’t stand going even a few hours without seeing his wife and
sons.

If Elizabeth wasn’t able to get the
boys outside to see him, then he made sure to take breaks during
the day so that he could check on them, see if she needed anything
and mostly just so that he could take her in his arms, close his
eyes as he tried to accept that she was finally his. No matter how
many times he touched her or held her at night, he still couldn’t
believe that this was real, that his minx was his
forever.

It was funny that once upon a time just
hearing her name could ruin his day, but now he couldn’t imagine
going a day without hearing her beautiful name whispered from his
lips as he pulled her into his arms at the end of the day and
thanked god from bringing the vicious little minx into his
life.

“You can take her on a trip that she’ll
never forget,” James said offhandedly as he caught up with
him.

“That’s what I plan on doing,” he said
evenly, knowing that his brother was trying to do something nice
for them, but it was still fucking insulting.

“You can take her anywhere in the
world, Robert. You don’t have to live like this,” James said,
sighing heavily as he gestured lazily towards the large farm house
and surrounding property, trying to sound like he was offering to
save him from a life of hell, but he didn’t miss the envious tone
as he brother dutifully repeated the offer that their parents had
tried to shove down his throat before they’d finally conceded and
boarded the ship to return to England. They’d left it on James’
shoulders to convince Robert to accept their offer to pay for a
European tour, wet nurse, carriage and a full line of servants to
follow them as they dined at the finest restaurants in Europe all
while their every need was met. It was the type of trip that either
one of them could have rightfully expected thanks to the station
that they’d been born to, but that wasn’t the world that they
belonged to anymore.

The world that they belonged to had
bills, limited resources, obligations, and the knowledge that if he
couldn’t work then his family would starve. It wasn’t a comfortable
existence, but it was the one that he’d chosen. He’d come to
America to make a new life for his family and to get a fresh start
and he couldn’t do that if he allowed himself to depend on his
family for support. He loved his family, more than anything, but if
he was going to make it, if his family had any chance at all of
surviving and making a life for themselves, then they needed to do
this on their own.

He
needed to do this on his own.

He needed to know that no matter what
life threw at them that he could not only handle it, but that he
could come out on top, keeping his family safe while making
something of himself here. He needed to do this on his own and that
meant that he did this completely on his own, without his family’s
purse strings or influence.

He sure as hell didn’t need them paying
for his honeymoon.

“I don’t want your money, James,” he
bit out, insulted that everyone in his family and in hers kept
offering to throw money at them, terrified that they were going to
die in the streets.

“You know the money really belongs to
Elizabeth,” James said quietly, saying the one thing that was
guaranteed to make him stop walking and turn around so that he
could face his brother.

For a moment he considered breaking his
brother’s nose for bringing up something that was better left
unsaid, but the tormented expression on James’ face stopped
him.

“We don’t want the money, James,” he
said, suddenly feeling every single one of those long hours that
he’d worked to make sure that they had extra money in the bank so
that they could survive another year without having to beg their
family for help.

“It should have been yours,” James said
tightly, a muscle clenching in his jaw as he stood there, forcing
himself to look Robert in the eye.

He met his brother’s gaze and shook his
head, “I got what I wanted.”

His brother’s lips twitched as he
nodded in understanding. “Elizabeth.”

“
Elizabeth,” he agreed with
a chuckle and a wink as he headed inside, more than ready to put an
end to this day and crawl in bed with the woman that he loved and
hold her all night.

Chapter 3

“Dear, it will be fine,” Mrs. Brown
said even as the normally stoic woman shot the two young women
cowering in the corner a pleading look, praying that they
understood the silent message that she was sending them, but of
course they were still ignoring her and fixated on the young woman
in her arms crying.

“I-I don’t un-understand what went
wrong,” Elizabeth sobbed, somewhat hysterically as she hugged the
basket filled with burnt biscuits, which really looked like discs
of charcoal, to her chest as she continued to sit there, in the
corner, on the floor, finally having the breakdown that Mrs. Brown
had been waiting for since the twins were born.

“They just got a little brown, that’s
all,” Mrs. Brown said, trying to not to glance down at the basket
full of charcoal as she told Elizabeth yet another lie just to make
it through the day. “I’m sure Robert will love them,” she said,
this time forcing a smile that unfortunately probably resembled a
grimace, because just the thought of that boy eating these things
turned her stomach and she was a woman known for having a strong
stomach.

“T-the boys,” Elizabeth mumbled
absently, looking a little lost. “I’ve gotta make the boys
something to eat.”

“They’ve already eaten,” Mrs. Brown
pointed out soothingly even as she did her best not to think about
exactly how much food the babies had gone through or the fact that
they would probably require a second dinner in another hour or
two.

She’d raised a lot of children in her
lifetime, but none of them had been anything like the Bradford
twins. Not that she didn’t love them, because she did, probably
more than she should since one day they would grow up and wouldn’t
need her, but until that day came she was going to allow herself to
foolishly love those baby boys more than anything else on this
earth.