The Fancy (29 page)

the Powhatan tongue, “Enough, you must now see to

your man, your Lord – he too, has made what I see,

and for that, I shal be loyal to him, as you must

always be.”

Sarah nodded, unable to say anymore, so fil ed

with joy it choked her up.

Manny took the older woman’s arm and gently

led her below to introduce her to his wife and show

her around the ship. The other men in their group,

including Evan, slowly boarded, looked to Sarah,

nodded their heads and smiled on the way by.

Final y, she turned to face her husband.

“I did not know, you spoke in the tongue of the

Powhatan tribe.” Quinton stated in greeting, standing

now before his wife. Her eyes were bright, her face

clear, unworried and glowing, searching every trace

of his features in rapt adoration, she did not

immediately respond. “Lady Caine, you are lovelier,

than I remember..”

“I missed you, while you were away, fulfil ing

your vow, bringing my mother back to me. The time

we spent apart was not wasted, however – I have no

desire to experience it again.”

“No, nor I,” He agreed, wishing to kiss her,

“Would I seem too fervent in my desires by saying,

get ye’below to our cabin now woman, prove your

words on how much you have missed me! So far, it

is Moose who has won in proving this.”

The dog wagged his tail even more, trying to

get between them as Quinton scratched his ear,

stroking his massive head.

“Moose you say?” She asked, an impish smile

playing about her ful lips.

“Em,” with a nod, was his simple reply.

She turned from him then, saying nothing more,

her eyes said it al , she then made her way to their

cabin.

Quinton was not far behind her, his only

problem, getting around Moose in the narrow

corridors. Once he made it to their cabin, poor

Moose sat making forlorn noises as he was locked

out for the night.

Yorkshire, England

While the majority of the party stopped to rest,

Hayden rode on horseback to alert the household

and Lady Lilith, that her sons were half a day’s

journey away.

Quinton was firm about one thing, “Say nothing

of my bride – they wil see her, al in good time.

Should Lady Lilith question you, let her know, I have

sworn you to silence.”

“It is certain, that she wil pester me.” Hayden

groaned. Quinton smiled, “Yes, she wil , very wel –

you may sing of my wife’s wondrous virtues-…”

“For which there are many Milord.” Hayden

sincerely stated.

“You see wel . Yes, of those things, be my

guest, should she ask what she looks like…”

“The heavens have truly blessed this one, for I

have not seen, such a beauty, as she.”

Quinton cocked a brow, looking the man over,

just a tad bit of jealousy showing itself, “Yes –

exactly. Perhaps it is a good thing that I send you on

ahead, you have spent a bit more time than I desire,

noting the attributes of my bride.”

Hayden laughed from deep down, he’d known

Quinton since they were boys, he was a few years

older, and would be soon taking the place of his

valet; since his first had perished in their journeys

abroad.

His father was wel read and was the

household steward. He was in charge of al domestic

servants’ matters. He was also the one reminding al

within the house and grounds of their duties, and

within the house and grounds of their duties, and

speaking for them should he feel they were

deserving of a raise in pay or promotion in position.

One of his sons was learning to fol ow in his

footsteps and the other was a bit of a rogue and

friend to Lord Quinton. Hayden now armed with al

that he needed was only too wil ing to keep the main

secret and road ahead to make it known that Lord of

WhistHirst would soon be home.

WhistHirst

Resisting al temptation to bite her thumbnail,

Lady Lilith paced from one end of the sun room to

the other, holding Hayden in attendance until he

satisfied her curiosity.

“How can any woman be as beautiful as you

claim?” She scoffed at his teasing, he appeared to

be having too much fun at her expense; the only

reason she gave him such a license was that she

had known him as a young boy, and – she liked him,

which granted him certain privileges not given by her

to many.

“Think about it Milady, there was
something

that captured thee son, who swore, no bride would

ever claim him as her Lord, and yet – there is now, a

Lady Sarah Caine,” He shrugged with the turning of

his hands, “Be it beauty, her clever wit, her grace,

her kindness, which ever be the case; what of her

that is more beguiling than any other, you shal soon

see.”

“Get out! Playing sil y word games!”

Hayden nodded his head, turning to do as he

was told when her words stopped him once more,

“Wait – tel me, you sing praises of her beauty, what

of her being? Is she a whimpering little scatter brain,

twee and delicate – easy to faint? Quiet as a mouse,

witless and thick?” Her eyes narrowed in their

cunning with each detail.

Hayden paused, letting his eyes search the

heavens for the correct answer, and then smiling,

answered, “No.”

“No?”

“No.”

“No – what?

“No, she is not, a whimpering little scatter brain,

twee and delicate, easy to faint. No, she is not

witless and thick, as for quiet as a mouse, Milady

Caine-…”

“I am Lady Caine!”

Hayden lifted an amused brow, thinking that

over.

“Am I mistaken, did thee not once push Lord

Caine in hopes of getting him to marry?”

“That was then, this is now.” She snapped, “Go

– I have heard enough!”

“I wil find m’da and inform him to assemble the

servants to meet thy new mistress.”

“That won’t be necessary; I wil see to the

matter myself.” She answered, distracted.

“Why? It is a matter for my father to see to.”

“You do not question me! In fact, if you must

know, your father is no longer steward in this

household!”

Hayden could not believe what he was hearing,

his father had been seeing to the smooth running of

WhistHirst before he was even born, before his older

brother in fact.

Because he stood staring in disbelief, she

reminded him once more of her order, “You are –

dismissed!”

Turning away from him, expecting him to leave,

Lady Lilith’s head was spinning, she could care less

if the household met Quinton’s new bride, however

as that was the protocol, she had no choice in the

matter; sure enough, upon turning back, Hayden was

gone.

Lady Sarah felt at times breathless, and other

Lady Sarah felt at times breathless, and other

times, otherworldly; that day, she was dressed

superbly, as grand as any lady of the highest order.

Col een had seen to it, and Aislin had once more,

worked wonders with her hair.

Her gown was an olive and cream dream with

details of lovely pastel lace in hues of softer olive,

ecru and gold; draping from a high waist, an

overskirt that split wide as it descended with the

slightest train on the ground; accessorized with a

heavy velvet green cape, bonnet and muff and

beautiful high topped boots. The colors she wore

enhanced her luminously rich, slightly ginger glowing

skin, she was the epitome of a healthy, young and

strong, beautiful black woman. At that moment, she

felt as if she floated above ground and only the

occasional bump or hole in the road jostling the

carriage brought her back to earth.

“Nervous?” El en, sitting across from her

asked.

It took her a moment to think about the

question, to be sure of her answer, “No, not

anymore, thanks to Princess Ces’alena, you and my

husband.”

At that moment he rode up close to the

carriage looking in at the ladies to check on them,

“Al is wel I presume?” He asked, looking from one

to the other. Sarah smiled, with visions of him naked

in her mind and the night he spent making love to

her. No matter where they were, he always seemed

to squeeze that in. He must have sensed what was

on her mind, because he too smiled.

El en looked from one to the other, and could

have sworn they were starting to look the same,

mainly their expressions, the things they did, it was

almost as if one picked up where the other left off.

Since her husband was riding up top, she couldn’t sit

making goo-goo eyes at him, therefore, grinning,

“Yes, um, we’re al quite wel , aren’t we Miss Cora?”

Sarah’s mother looked next to her, nodding her

head, she didn’t smile much, and when she did, it

was slight. It was plain for her to see, that he was

reluctant to drag his eyes from her daughter, but

final y did, focusing on El en, “Good, it won’t be much

longer now.”

“How much longer wil it be before we see

WhistHirst? Or rather, reach your land there?” She

asked.

“I would say, the last hour or more, we have

been on the land of WhistHirst, it won’t be long

before we reach the vil age.” He assured them al .

“Oh my, the last – hour or more, you say?” El en

exclaimed, looking back to Sarah, “We’ve been on

your land Milady, for over an hour it seems.” She

repeated to her as if she hadn’t heard him, awaiting

some type of reaction from her.

Sarah only smiled; nodded once and reached

over to her side to stroke Moose’s head. “It appears

there shal be plenty of space for you.” She crooned

to him.

“As wel plenty of woods for you, Milady.”

Quinton added, teasing her.

Now, there was a stir of excitement as that

occurred to her, upon seeing her reaction he was

quick to put in, “Ah ah, only with me escorting you, or

whomever I assign to you, is that clear?” He warned

and then looked further into the coach at her mother,

“Miakoda, I wil more than likely need your help from

time to time.”

Mother and daughter glanced at each other

and grinned, for once the exact same grin.

“I sir, for one, think you’re in for the chal enge of

your life.” El en thought she should inform him. His

response was to chuckle in acceptance, “Open the

door, let Moose out, he may run alongside me for the

rest of the journey, we are on my land now, he may

do as he damn wel wishes!”

The dog must have known the meaning of his

words, because suddenly the monstrous beast, even

bigger now, tried to stand in the coach, his tail hitting

back and forth from one side to the other, making

noises of excitement and whimpering until Sarah

unfastened the door, opening it for him. No

hesitation, out he jumped, barking loud and proud,

taking off for the woods; having traveled so far, he

knew not to go out of sight.

Sarah leaned out of the window, watching her

husband ride up ahead, whistling and cal ing out

happily to their monster mutt, he was glad to be

home and that made her glad. However, as new as

this was to Sarah, even she could see as they

entered the vil age that things were not as they

should be. The people, who moved towards the

carriage to view their return, were not ecstatic to see

them. While they are not hostile, even she could see,

they looked towards them with weary sadness, and

yes – a few, with contempt.

Her lessons had prepared her wel , something

was not right, suddenly the words that Lena spoke

started to make sense – she was looking at a

people that for al intents and purposes, were her

husband’s responsibility and they were not happy to

see him. There was coughing, uncleanliness,

exhaustion, and to her horror, rags – too many of

them were actual y wearing rags.

She could not believe her eyes; tears wel ed up

as she looked down at what she was wearing. With

her face burning in shame, she sat back in her seat,

her eyes wide with horror. She stared at El en as if

she were caught in a bad dream and awaited some