Summerset Abbey: Spring Awakening (Summerset Abbey Trilogy) (21 page)

Aware Prudence was about to talk, Victoria jumped in with
“Are you hungry? Would you like to go to dinner?” Then it hit her: it was Christmas Day. “Actually, nothing is open. Would you like to go to Katie’s house after all? I’m sure they wouldn’t mind us being so late. Not after they learn . . . no? All right. We’ll go to my flat then.” She held up a hand to forestall Prudence’s protests. “No, I’ll not hear another word. You are not to be left alone. You are dead on your feet, and I believe Susie and Eleanor are both home so we’ll make a real party of it.” Victoria forced a smile.

She sat back suddenly, drained. The day was taking its toll on her, as well. She’d hardly left Andrew’s side for the past two weeks, and all she could think of when she’d landed in England was staying upright until she found Prudence and took her to Andrew. The relief of finally achieving her goal had given her a burst of energy, but it was waning now and she was tired all the way to her bones.

Victoria leaned back and closed her eyes, hoping Prudence wouldn’t chastise her too much.

“Victoria?”

She braced herself. “Mhmm?”

“Thank you for bringing him home to me.”

Victoria’s throat tightened. Without opening her eyes, she held out her hand and Prudence reached for it. “Of course.”

They rode the rest of the way home in silence. Victoria knew better than to think that Prudence had forgotten or that she wouldn’t have to answer for her actions, but it seemed for now Prudence just needed her support.

The flat was quiet but warm when they arrived. Victoria hadn’t come home after settling Andrew at the hospital; she had gone directly to Prudence.

“Susie?” she called. “Eleanor?” Victoria was desperate for
Eleanor to take a look at Prudence and tell her if she looked as she ought.

Susie came rushing out of the kitchen and into the long hallway, her eyes saucer-round in her thin face. She was wearing a red dress, with short lace sleeves, and her hair was dressed in a softer fashion than she usually wore it.

“Oh, Miss Victoria! I didn’t know you would be home today. Why didn’t you send word, miss?” Her eyes slid back toward the kitchen.

Victoria saw Susie fidgeting and knew the girl was so flustered for some reason beyond Victoria’s sudden arrival. She was just too tired to figure it out. “I didn’t know when I would be back. What’s going on Susie? Where’s Eleanor?”

“Miss Eleanor said she was going to visit her mother after her shift, but that she wouldn’t be too late. We decided to have just a simple Christmas supper of creamed haddock and mash. I can easily make enough for you and Prudence, as well. Though begging my pardon, Prudence looks as if she should sit down.”

Victoria turned. Susie was right. Prudence was swaying on her feet. “Come into the sitting room,” Victoria urged. “Please get a roaring fire going in the fireplace, Susie. I’ll put a kettle on for tea.”

“Oh, miss, that’s fine! I can do both, really. You look all done in yourself. Just sit and I’ll put everything to rights. I was just a bit taken aback by your sudden appearance, that’s all.”

Victoria frowned, but let herself be persuaded. She really was bushed. She collapsed in her favorite chair while Susie busied herself by fussing over Prudence. She tucked a throw over Prudence’s legs and then grabbed another for Victoria. Victoria felt herself relaxing. Her father had always been ambivalent about having servants and had compensated them handsomely and
treated them like members of the family. Victoria followed suit and, like her father before her, had been rewarded for her benevolence.

After starting a roaring fire, Susie disappeared to make the tea.

“How are you feeling?” Victoria asked Prudence a bit anxiously.

“Like I could sleep for a week. I may not make it back to the flat tonight.”

“That’s all right, dearest. You can borrow some of my night-clothes and sleep in the extra bed.”

Prudence nodded. “Why did you do it, Vic?” she asked suddenly.

Victoria stiffened. Just when she thought she was going to avoid talking about it tonight. She took a deep breath. “I have a confession to make.”

Prudence gave an inelegant snort. “I’ll say.”

“Hush now and listen!” Victoria frowned at Prudence. “Don’t interrupt.”

“I hardly think you’re in a position to make demands.”

Victoria kicked off the blanket wrapped around her legs, feeling suddenly overheated. “I’m going to go see what is keeping Susie with that tea.” She beat a hasty retreat into the hallway, then froze. Susie was pressed against a man and kissing him with a passion that showed a certain experience. Victoria’s mouth hung open. “Susie!”

Susie leapt away from the man as if he’d suddenly turned into a pillar of salt. “I’m sorry, Miss Victoria. I didn’t know you would be coming home.” She clapped her hand over her mouth as if she knew she’d said the wrong thing, and Victoria raised an eyebrow. “I mean, Gareth, Mr. Johnson, had no place to
make merry, and since you were gone and Miss Eleanor was out, I thought, I mean . . .” Susie folded her hands and looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry, Miss Victoria.”

“You should be,” Victoria said.

“I’ll turn in my resignation.”

The man looked stricken, and Victoria turned her attention from her maid and to the man standing in her hallway. He twisted his cap in his hands and appeared to be older than Susie by about ten years. He was small, barely taller than Susie, but stood erect. “What do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Johnson?”

He lifted his chin just a bit and looked her in the eye. “I’m only sorry for entering your home without meeting you first, miss. But I’m not sorry for kissing Suzanne, if that’s what you’re talking about. We haven’t done anything unseemly. I love her and would marry her, if she would have me, but she keeps saying no, that she’s too young to know her own mind and won’t let me make it up for her.”

Victoria blinked and Prudence came up behind her. “What’s going on?” she asked bewildered.

Victoria waved a hand. “Ask Susie, I barely know myself.”

Susie introduced her caller proudly, and again Victoria was impressed with his poise under extremely awkward circumstances. He turned to her. “I would hate for Suzanne to lose her position on my account, miss. My family lives in Yorkshire and she didn’t want me to be alone on Christmas. She was just being kind.”

“I wouldn’t fire Susie for this, though I wish she hadn’t felt it necessary to hide you. I was just thinking how wonderful she is and how lost I’d be without her.”

For the first time a look of resentment came to his blue eyes.
“I suspect you would do what other posh ladies do and hire yourself a new maid. But I’ll be off now.”

He nodded at Prudence and Victoria and squeezed Susie’s hand. “I will see you next Wednesday evening like always.”

She gave him a nod and he left.

“So that’s what you do on your days off!” Victoria said accusingly. “You sly fox!”

Susie tried and failed to hide a smile, clearly pleased with her beau. Just then the teapot whistled and she waved Prudence and Victoria back toward the sitting room. “Go sit, I will bring us some tea and biscuits. You both look knackered.”

They had barely resettled into their chairs when Prudence attacked. “You have a confession?”

Victoria sighed. She might as well come clean. “When you asked me to go to Colin, I didn’t. I went to Uncle Conrad.”

A look of hurt crossed Prudence’s face and Victoria felt wretched. “Why?”

“Because you don’t go to the flautist when you want a symphony, you go to the conductor. Uncle Conrad has more power and connections than Colin will have for years and years. I knew that he could get the transfer done, where Colin wouldn’t be able to.”

Prudence looked at her hands. “Oh, Vic. You know how he feels about me.”

“And you know how
I
feel about you. You’re a Buxton. Not only were you raised like a Buxton, but you have as much Buxton blood as I do.”

Prudence shook her head. “That’s not the way the world works. At least, not your world.”

Prudence’s words were as bitter as wormwood, and Victoria went to her. Kneeling next to her chair, Vic wrapped her arms
around her friend. “It’s not my world and it’s changing, you know it is. Uncle Conrad bought Rowena an aeroplane. How much more proof do you need?”

Prudence laughed and sniffled at the same time.

Victoria tilted her head back. “Pru, he didn’t even hesitate. Just said, yes, of course he would. And then when I wrote him about Andrew, he wrote back saying to send him any expenses the army didn’t pay.”

Prudence stared into the fire, and Victoria watched the light from the flames play across her fine features. “What am I going to do, Vic? Everything has changed.”

Victoria laid her head in Prudence’s lap. “You’ll love and care for your husband and your baby the best you can, just like you would if he had both feet. And take one day at a time, just like the rest of us.”

Victoria thought of Kit, fighting in some far-off place, and wondered if he ever thought of her. She wondered what would happen if he really was behind enemy lines as she suspected and something happened. Would his family be informed? Would Mrs. Kittredge even think to tell Victoria if something had happened? Worry gnawed at her stomach. She still hadn’t heard from him, which worried her even more. Kit wasn’t known for his silence. Clutching Prudence’s hand, she suddenly prayed with all her heart,
Please let him be all right
. Even if he hated her for the rest of his life. Even if he never spoke to her again.

Just as long as he is all right.

Please don’t let our angry words be the last words we ever have
.

*  *  *

Rowena stood in front of Mr. Dirkes. She knew she looked a fright, but she hadn’t wanted to take time to clean up. In retrospect,
she probably should have. She’d spent the entire night curled up in the aeroplane, and when the morning had dawned, bright and clear, she had flown back to the factory. Her clothing was wrinkled and damp, and her hair a tangled knot.

Mr. Dirkes took one look at her and began blustering, “Do you have any idea how worried we were about you when Albert showed up without you behind him? I was about to send out a bloody search party. What the hell were you thinking?”

She took a deep breath and remained calm. No doubt he spoke in exactly the same manner to his men. “I was doing my job, which was to bring the BE2 back to you in one piece. I got a later start than Albert, and he must have missed the storm. I had no choice but to land somewhere and wait it out.” She raised an eyebrow. “Unless, of course, you wanted me to risk bringing the aeroplane through the storm?”

His red face matched his hair, and he looked as if the vein in his temple were going to blow. “Don’t be impertinent! Where did you stay?”

“In the aeroplane, of course. It was too nasty to try to find shelter, and besides, what was I supposed to do? Present myself on the steps of some stranger’s house and ask for accommodation for the night on Christmas Eve? Not to mention leaving a valuable aeroplane unprotected for hours.”

He scowled and Rowena hid a smile. She was far too reasonable, and it was annoying him. She crossed her arms and waited for a reply. This was almost fun.

“Fine. You should go home for Christmas. You’ve earned a rest, and I know my nerves have.”

She tilted her head and gave him a saucy smile. “Aren’t you going to tell me I did the right thing?”

“No!” he barked. “And happy Christmas!”

She laughed and held her arms out. “I’m perfectly fine, see? Now, don’t we have more aeroplanes to move? Why are you sending me home?”

He slammed a fist on the desk. “Why can’t you just do as you’re told? I told you that I was giving you a couple of days off. Now, come along. I’m taking you home to be with your family. Come back the day after tomorrow and we’ll finish moving the bloody aeroplanes.”

She saluted him and he grunted as he grabbed his coat and a bag. He must be spending Christmas with the Wells family. She wondered if Jonathon was allowed home for Christmas but refused to ask. It was no longer any of her business, no matter what he’d said on that sidewalk in Brighton.

She settled back into Mr. Dirkes’s Silver Ghost and closed her eyes. A rest did sound wonderful, and Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Conrad would worry if she didn’t show up for Christmas supper. Of course, it would take them almost four hours by motorcar, and that was only if they didn’t blow a tire. She’d barely get there in time to make herself presentable before supper.

Rowena woke up some hours later, groggy and disoriented. At some point Mr. Dirkes must have stopped and tucked a driving blanket around her because she was warm even in the chilly car.

“I thought you’d gone and turned into Sleeping Beauty,” Mr. Dirkes said.

“Where are we?” she asked, looking around. The sun was low in the sky, and barren, twilit fields surrounded them.

“About an hour on the other side of Cambridge. It won’t be long now.”

Rowena stretched and rubbed a hand over her face. Every
muscle in her body ached from her night in the aeroplane, and falling asleep in the car hadn’t helped. Her hair stuck to the side of her face, and she was fairly sure she had never been this long without brushing her teeth.

Mr. Dirkes handed her a flask and a cheese sandwich. “I didn’t think to bring water, but the brandy should cut the thirst. Probably do you good, but don’t tell your aunt and uncle.”

She took a long pull off the flask and gasped a bit at the burn. “Thank you.” She smiled at the shock on his face.

“Well, now, you are pilot, aren’t you? No, keep it,” he said when she tried to hand it back to him. “You need it more than I do.”

She took a hungry bite of her sandwich. “I don’t know when I ate last.”

He grunted. “You better start taking care of yourself, missy. Jon will kill me if anything happened to you.”

The bite of sandwich stuck in her throat and silence fell between them. “Jon and I haven’t been together for a long time, Mr. Dirkes. I’m engaged to someone else, as you well know.”

“Huh. So you both say, but I know how he feels about you, and I can’t think as your feelings have changed all that much, no matter whom you’re engaged to.”