Joan Wolf (15 page)

The sun was glinting off the shimmering water, and out deep in the Channel a yacht was slowly gliding by.

“I hate it when you go away,” I said.

He had just returned the previous day from a month-long visit to his uncle Francis Putnam in Kent.

“I know,” he replied absently. He was squinting into the sun, his eyes on the black heads of the swimming dogs. The breeze off the water blew his dark hair back from his brow, and his face looked preoccupied.

I bent forward to plunge my hands in the cold water, and the front hem of my kilted-up dress got wet. “What did he say about Oxford?” I asked.

Stephen didn’t look at me. “He thinks I should go. He says that if I am ever to be an effective reformer, I need to train my mind.”

Two seagulls floated on the water about twenty feet from shore, watching the dogs.

“Your mind is trained,” I said sharply. “The rector says you’re the smartest person he knows.”

His lips curved into a wry smile. “The rector is partial,” he said.

I turned, splashed out of the water, in the process getting my dress even wetter, and began to walk westward along the shore, my head bent, my eyes on my bare feet.

“Annabelle!” I heard Stephen call. “Wait!”

I didn’t want him to see that I was crying, and when I heard him coming after me, I broke into a run. At fifteen I had long legs and a body that had been trained to stay in the saddle for eight hours at a time. It took him quite a while to catch me.

“Annabelle...,” he said breathlessly after he had dragged me to a halt.

I wouldn’t look at him but stared instead at his hand on my bare arm. With his other hand he touched the salty wetness on my cheeks, a wetness that was not from the sea. “Oh God,” he said in a voice I had never heard him use before. “What are we going to do?”

At that I raised my tear-streaked face to his, and he bent and put his mouth on mine.

We stayed like that for a long moment, frozen into immobility by the sheer daring of what we were doing. Then he lifted his head and his blue eyes looked searchingly into mine.

“Stephen,” I breathed. I raised my hands until they were resting on his shoulders. His lips moved, forming my name, but no sound came out. Then he bent over me once more.

I closed my eyes. I leaned against him and felt his hard young body pressed against mine. Our arms were locked around each other, our mouths pressed together with fierce necessity.

I don’t know what would have happened between us next if the spaniels had not come racing up and tangled themselves in our feet, abruptly recalling us from our first dizzying journey into adult passion.

We laughed unsteadily and backed away from each other. Merlin pressed himself against my legs, his wet fur tickling my bare calves,

Stephen ran his fingers through the damp salty hair on his brow, and the laughter left his face abruptly.

“Why do we have to be so young? “ he said despairingly.

A gull circled in the air above us, and the dogs jumped and barked at it. I looked at Stephen and had no reply.

* * * *

Tonight, the dogs came racing out of the woods to break up my reverie, just as they had broken up that first kiss so many years before.

I thought again of the startling fact I had learned that afternoon. “He never knew,” I said to the dogs.
“He never knew.”

Merlin, who was always particularly sensitive to my moods, gave a little questioning whine and looked up at me.

“Come along,” I said to the two spaniels, “it’s time for bed.” And we walked through the fragrant summer night all the way back to the house.

Chapter Ten

I woke early on the morning of Giles’s birthday to find that clouds had rolled in from
the Channel overnight.

“They will clear by afternoon, my lady,” Hodges assured me when I met him by the stairs. Hodges fancied himself a weather expert, and I prayed that today his forecast would prove to be a correct one. I had made contingency plans for bad weather, of course, but most of the fun would be spoiled if we had to move everyone indoors.

I went up the stairs to the nursery floor and on into Stephen’s old room, which now belonged to Giles. I found him awake but still in bed. He leaped up as soon as he saw me and began to jump up and down on the mattress, chanting: “Today is my birthday! Today is my birthday!”

I laughed. “Five years old. My goodness, Giles, you’re turning into an old man right before my eyes.”

He shouted, “No, I’m not, Mama! No, I’m not!” And, leaping off the bed, he threw himself against me, his arms hugging my waist.

I smoothed his tangled blond hair. “Why don’t you get dressed, darling, and then you can come down to breakfast with me.”

His head tipped back. “What about my gift, Mama?”

“Gift?” I lifted my brows. “What gift?”

“Mama!”

“If you get dressed and come down to breakfast, then perhaps you will find a gift.” I went over to the chair where the nursery maid had laid out his clothes the night before and said, “I’ll help you.”

I had arranged for the rest of the family and Miss Stedham to be in the dining room when Giles and I came in, and everyone chorused “Happy Birthday!” at once. Giles beamed. Both Nell and Aunt Fanny came to kiss him and the men shook his hand, which pleased him mightily. I had had a place for Giles set next to mine, and his chair was heaped with birthday gifts.

Giles was thrilled with his loot: new fishing equipment from me; a new bridle from Uncle Adam and Aunt Fanny; a wooden whistle from Nell; a cricket bat from Jasper; some unusual stones for his collection from Miss Stedham; and a carved statue of a Thoroughbred from Jack.

His high spirits were infectious, and we all lingered around the table, laughing and talking. It was ten-thirty when Hodges entered the dining room, bringing news that effectively destroyed everyone’s holiday mood.

“My lady,” he intoned, “the Duke and Duchess of Saye have arrived.”

Silence, heavy as a wet horse rug, fell in the dining room as my mother walked in with her husband at her heels. They made a stunning-looking couple. The duke was ten years older than Mama, but he had kept his figure, and though his hair had gone gray, his eyebrows were still startlingly black. He was the most incredibly arrogant man I had ever met. He and Mama were a perfect match.

“You cannot have this festival, Annabelle,” my mother announced. “Gerald is not yet dead six months.”

Giles gave me an anxious look.

“As it is due to begin in less than two hours, I am most certainly having this festival, Mama,” I replied.

“Whatever were you thinking of?” she demanded. “We were visiting the Ashtons when we heard about it. Everyone is scandalized!”

Adam said in his genial way, “Goodness, Regina, how on earth did news of a local event in Weston carry so far so fast? Annabelle only decided to have the festival a week ago.”

“I believe there is an intermarriage between a Weston farmer and one of the Ashton tenants,” my mother said disdainfully.

Her words jogged my memory. “That’s true,” I said to Adam. “Bob Fenton’s sister Alice is married to an Ashton farmer.”

“Really, Annabelle,” my mother said, “the marriages of tenant fanners are of no interest to me. What does interest me is your reputation. You should not be holding this festival!”

I gave her a steely smile. “Well, I am.”

Silence fell once more.

“Good going, Annabelle,” I heard Jack mutter.

Giles’s small hand slipped into mine and I squeezed it.

The duke spoke. “Disgraceful,” he said.

“Have you come to stay?” I asked the ducal couple. “Would you care for some breakfast? Or are you too anxious to shake the dust of this scandalous household from your feet?”

“You are not amusing, Annabelle,” my mother informed me. “We most certainly are staying. Our presence will help to ameliorate the scandal to some degree.”

“I am sure it will, Regina,” Adam said gravely.

“I told Hodges to put our things in the red suite,” my mother continued. “We have been traveling since seven and will take tea in our rooms.”

The red suite was Weston’s most luxurious bedroom suite, which had once actually been graced by visiting royalty. Mama had annexed it after my marriage to Gerald had forced her to vacate the earl’s chambers.

“The festival begins at noon,” I informed them.

The duke looked disgusted.

Giles’s hand tightened around mine.

Silence continued to reign in the dining room until the door finally swung closed behind the unexpected visitors.

Nell spoke first. “Really, I think the duke is quite the most unpleasant man I have ever met,” she said.

Giles said, “I once heard Papa call him an ‘old fart.’“

We all burst into wild whoops of laughter.

Giles clapped his hands with glee, delighted to have provoked such a satisfactory response.

“Oh dear,” said Aunt Fanny as she wiped the tears from her face. “We must not encourage Giles to say such things.”

“I didn’t say it, Aunt Fanny,” Giles said virtuously. “Papa did.”

Nell said, “The sun just came out! Thank God.”

I got up and went to took out the window. “The sky to the south is all blue,” I reported.

Giles had come to stand beside me. “Grandmama brought the sun with her,” he said.

He had to be the sweetest child in the world. I put my arm around him and hugged him to my side.

“Whatever are we going to do with them?” I asked Aunt Fanny despairingly. “There aren’t any other guests of a rank elevated enough to keep them occupied.”

“They can talk to Sir Matthew,” Jack said wickedly.

I threw him an exasperated look. My mother and Sir Matthew hated each other, and Jack knew it.

Jasper said to me, “I don’t see why either you or my mother have to worry about entertaining the ducals, Annabelle. After all, your mother is scarcely a stranger to Weston.”

“ ‘The ducals,’ “ Jack said. “I like that, Jasper.”

They grinned at each other.

“Jasper is right,” Adam said firmly. “You ladies are going to be busy enough. Regina can take care of herself and her husband.”

“She won’t offend anyone, Annabelle,” Nell said. “The tenants all know her too well to take her seriously.”

I sighed. “That’s true enough.”

Nell set aside her napkin and stood up. “I’d better check to see that the children’s games are being set up properly.”

I said, “And I had better make certain things are going smoothly in the kitchen.” Since the festival was for the servants as well as the tenants, I had hired extra help so that our own people could have the day free.

“I will be happy to assist you in any way I can, Lady Weston,” Miss Stedham said in her pleasant, well-bred voice.

“I’m sure that Nell could use some help with the children’s games,” I said, lifting an enquiring eyebrow at my cousin.

“I certainly could. Come along, Miss Stedham,” Nell said.

“Me too! Me too!” Giles went rushing across the floor to Nell’s side. The three of them left the room together.

Adam said, “I’d better make sure the tents are being properly secured.”

Aunt Fanny said, “I’ll supervise in the gallery.”

Jasper said, “I’ll make sure the extra boats have been put on the lake.”

“My God,” said Jack as the room began to empty, “if only the Horse Guards had put Annabelle in charge of the army instead of Wellington, Napoleon would have been defeated years ago.”

Jasper retorted as he went out the door, “Be sure to give Jack
his
orders, Annabelle.”

“You can go down to the stable and make sure the carriage is ready, Jack,” I said. Every year we took out the great black coach, with its gold coat of arms on the door, and gave carriage rides around the estate. It was always a popular event.

He gave me a mock salute and went.

I stood for a moment in the deserted dining room, my eyes on the gifts heaped next to Giles’s chair.

His fifth birthday, I thought, and his father isn’t here.

A wave of loneliness washed over me, and I buried my face in my hands. Oh God, I thought despairingly, is it never going to end?

Hodges spoke from the doorway. “Are you finished in here, my lady?”

I dropped my hands and lifted my chin. “Yes, Hodges, you can have the dishes cleared.”

I went downstairs to check on how things were progressing in the kitchen.

* * * *

By three in the afternoon the festival was in full swing. Hodges had indeed proved to be an accurate forecaster, and the afternoon sun shone brightly on the two big blue-striped tents we had pitched on the north lawn for use in case of a shower. Beyond the tents the deer watched from a safe distance as a game of cricket was hotly contested, and in the gardens on the west side of the house a number of husbands and wives were matching their skill at archery.

To my surprise, the Grandville portraits in the gallery had proved to be as popular as Nell had predicted. To the family’s great amusement, Mama’s nose had been out of joint because no one was able to see
her
portrait, and she had made poor Aunt Fanny escort groups of people into the dining room so that they could admire the twin portraits of my mother and the earl.

The five rowboats we had on the lake were busy all afternoon, as was the coach. Grimes even had to change the horses midway through the afternoon. The pony rides also did a brisk business, with Giles’s two ponies and a steady old hunter of mine giving delighted children rides up and down the front driveway.

I left the supervision of these various activities to my able lieutenants and set about performing what was my own particular duty on festival day—making sure that I talked to all the guests.

At five o’clock, when the musicians were in place on the terrace outside the gallery and people were gathering on the lawn to listen, I made my way into the house, planning to seek refuge for a while in the quiet of the morning room.

In the Great Hall I ran into Nell, obviously intent on doing the same thing. We looked at each other and laughed.

“You have been wonderful, Nell,” I said with fervent gratitude. “Every child I’ve seen is carrying a prize and wearing a huge smile. You must be utterly exhausted.”