Wild Bells to the Wild Sky (35 page)

"I wish you'd smiled at me sooner, Janey, for I would have managed to stumble once or twice," Romney Lee said with a glint in his eye that had Jane Stubbles wishing she had too.

Instead, she snorted derisively, for it would be doing no good now to be dreaming about the likes of Romney Lee. "Ye be the kind o' rogue to bring heartache to a lass, and a well-rounded belly and plenty o' promises, before ye disappear in the night."

Romney Lee laughed. "You've a shrewd, coldhearted granddaughter, Ben Stubbles.

"Aye, Romney Lee, that I do. Why d'ye think I trust her and no one else behind the counter when I've stepped across the lane to the Oaks?" he said with a grin as Jane came to stand beside him.

"Here 'tis, Mistress Lily," Jane said, spreading out the velvet cloak. "It turned out even prettier than I'd hoped. D'ye like it?"

Lily stepped up to the counter, although there was little space with Ann Fordham refusing to give way, and her son and daughter still standing dutifully beside her.

"Oh, Mama! 'T
is beautiful,"
Mary Ann Fordham sighed. " 'Tis like a royal robe a princess would wear. I wish it were mine. I'll never have anything as pretty as this," she said with a disgruntled expression.

"It is lovely," Lily said as she examined the cloak. It was of crimson velvet and lined in sable. Delicate flowers and exotic beasts had been embroidered in colorful silk and gold threads along the collar and edges. "Dulcie will love this."

"Well, thank you kindly, Mistress Lily. The little one will certainly be snug once she bundles up in it," Jane said, pleased by Lily Christian's generous response.
Not like some who criticize every little stitch
, she thought, eyeing Mistress Fordham, who hadn't taken her envious eyes off the cloak." 'This the finest velvet and softest fur I’ve ever worked with Doña Magdalena had a real good eye fer quality. I had enough left over after I shortened the cloak to make an underskirt and bodice for Mistress Dulcie too." Jane said, shaking out the rest of the crimson velvet that had been too precious to waste. "I hope that was all right? I had her size from the last gown I cut down to fit her. I won't be chargin' ye extra fer it. 'Twas my pleasure."

"Thank you, that is very kind of you. This will be the nicest birthday ever for Dulcie," Lily said, her eyes bright with pleasure and excitement as she anticipated the hour when she could present Dulcie with her gifts. "I'm certain she'll be by to thank you herself for your generosity."

"Why, she's the sweetest, prettiest little girl, Mistress Lily. A bit on the quiet side, but she seems very bright. This crimson cloak will be so lovely with her dark hair."

"Hrrrumph!" Ann Fordham sniffed contemptuously, "Some people have no shame," she muttered under her breath. "Fancy finery cannot change the circumstances of a person's birth. Some people would be wise to remember that and not foster false hopes, for I warn you that the village has not forgotten."

Lily felt her cheeks warming with anger as she turned to face her sister's detractor.

Seeing the look that flashed into Lily Christian's eyes, Ann Fordham instinctively moved to a safe distance. "You are no longer living on that savage island, Mistress Christian. You and your brother and sister might have been raised like heathens, but you are now in England, where we have laws that decent, God-fearing people obey," she warned, for Lily Christian had always made her uneasy. There was a boldness and lack of humility about the girl that was unnatural. Of course, such wickedness was not surprising since her father had been a privateer and her mother a Papist. The Reverend Buxby had definitely been interested when she had told him about the wild animals that children had returned with and how Lily Christian had tamed those creatures of the devil. A talking parrot, indeed! Strange things had happened in the village since those children had returned to Highcross.

"
There
we are. Yer order be filled now, Mistress Fordham," Benjamin Stubbles said hurriedly, a broad smile stretched tightly across his face as he waited for her to make her own careful calculations. Never yet, for nearly fifteen years now, had she failed to question the total of her purchases.

"Now, Mistress Lily. See if ye be pleased with this while I go over these sums with Mistress Fordham," Ben Stubbles said, handing Lily a small leather bag.

Loosening the cord, Lily let the contents of the bag slide into her palm. The gold of the slender ring gleamed richly. Set with a single amethyst, it was of a medieval design and had belonged in her mother's family for generations.

Lily stared down at the ring that Benjamin Stubbles had cut down to fit Dulcie's small finger. It was one of the few possessions of their mother's that she could give to Dulcie. In a letter left with the solicitors, their mother had requested that her jewelry and clothes, and all personal possessions, be left to her only daughter. Hartwell Barclay, as guardian, had not allowed her to touch the more valuable pieces of jewelry, but this ring, inherited from their Spanish ancestors, he had not deemed worthy of safekeeping. All of her mother's clothes, including the crimson cloak, had been stored away in trunks and fortunately forgotten over the years by Hartwell Barclay.

Lily slipped the ring on her finger. It fit snugly; it would fit perfectly on Dulcie's.

" 'Tis a finely crafted ring," Romney Lee murmured close against Lily's ear. "An unusual design."

Lily glanced up in surprise.

"This, too, is for the little dark-haired one?" he asked curiously.

"Yes, my sister," Lily replied with a defiant stare into his eyes, daring him to speak further about Dulcie.

"I have often seen her with you," was all he said, his eyes wandering over her face and hair.

"Otho! Come!" Ann Fordham called to her son, who, even after his mother and sister had completed their business and stepped away, had remained behind, ogling Lily Christian.

"Better run along, Otho. There's a good lad," Romney Lee said dismissingly as he glanced at the awkward boy who'd been breathing down the back of his neck for the past few minutes.

"Ah
.
.
.
ah
.
.
. M-Mistress L-Lily, I-I
.
.
."

"Otho! Come here at once!" the strident tones echoed across the room.

Lily Christian took pity on the young man and smiled at him. With his mouth dropping open in surprise, Otho Fordham gulped, then dof
fing his hat, he backed away. F
irst he tripped over a sack of beans, then tumbled over a barrel of flour, before finding his mother's big toe with the heel of his shoe as he bolted out the door.

"You are too softhearted, Lily Francisca Christian," Romney Lee said with a rough laugh, jealous of the smile she had wasted on that beef-witted boy when she had not shared such a look with him.

At her startled look, Romney Lee smiled. "You do not remember, but 'twas I who sold the big white to your father. I was very young then, uncertain of myself and how to bargain. But your father, he did not try to cheat me. He paid me a fair price for the horse. 'Twas my first sale. You came running out of the house while he was sitting on the white's back and you demanded to ride too. You were very persistent. I can remember you stomping your foot, your hands placed on your hips as you stared up at him. He laughed, saying he could never deny his Lily Francisca anything, and asked me to lift you up to him," Romney Lee said, a strange look entering his deep blue eyes as he remembered that day. "You reached out your arms to me and smiled. Such big green eyes. You were very sweet, Lily
Francisca
."

Lily glanced away, made uncomfortable by his familiarity, for she had never spoken to him before. She had only seen Romney Lee from a distance, and her opinion of him had been formed from gossip she had overheard from the villagers and servants at Highcross Court.

"I was very saddened to hear about your father's ship going down. He was a fine man. I remember your mother. Until recently, I have always thought her one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. I also remembered that little girl who let me hold her, smiling at me as if I were no different from anyone else. I was very unhappy to think she would not be coming home."

Curious, Lily glanced up at him, meeting his eyes for a brief instant before she glanced away again. "Why would I have looked at you any differently?"

Romney Lee shook his head. "that you do not know, even now, is the reason," he replied.

"Reckon ye'll be leavin' fairly soon what with spring comin' on in a couple of months?" Benjamin Stubbles said as he began to wrap up the cloak and gown. "Was there not some trouble at the St. Frideswide's Fair last year? Ye were there, weren't ye Rom?"

"Now, Ben, you know there is always a bit of high-spirited rowdiness around a fair
.
'Twouldn't be worth goin' otherwise. Sometimes a man can even profit handsomely during such confusion," Romney Lee replied with the kind of smile that would have had old Ben Stubbles betting a fortune that Romney Lee and his friends had been behind most of that confusion. And Ben Stubbles knew that the knife Romney Lee kept concealed up his sleeve would have flashed more than once doing its master's bidding.

"Perhaps ye won't be leavin' East Highford so soon this time, eh, Rom?" Jane asked with a sly glance between Romney and Lily Christian, pleased to see him looking a trifle disconcerted for once. "And Mistress Lily, ye'll be observin' the rites of St. Agnes's Eve? There must be a dozen young gentlemen who'll be hopin' ye'll be dreamin' of them this eve," she added with a wink at Romney Lee.

"Perhaps there is just one man that Lily Francisca Christian dreams of?" Romney inquired, his dark eyes searching her face for the truth of her feelings. His curiosity was to remain unsatisfied. Except for a slight flush staining her cheeks, whatever secrets Lily's heart held remained hers to keep.

"Of course, 'tis no secret whom Tillie is dreamin' of," Jane said, glancing at the young maid standing behind Lily. "Wasn't I seein' Farley Odell enterin' the Oaks not more than ten minutes past?" she said, eyeing with interest the surge of red that now came into Tillie's thin cheeks when one of the footmen from Highcross was mentioned. "Of course, there's been many who've tried to get one of them Odell brothers to wed them. I hope ye've been careful with the likes of that dark-haired one. He might be the least handsome of the two, but he's the wiliest and has often had a maid walkin' with him in the greenwood before the thought has even entered Fairfax's head."

"Remembering my last encounter with the big fair-haired one, I would say that having brains would just be a hindrance to his natural instincts," Romney said, recalling the ham-fist that had swung his way.

"They're both good lads, even if they are always a step ahead of trouble. Always were the mischievous ones, ever since their mother ran off with that tinker. Though she claimed they were both Tom Odell's sons, I'd swear Fairfax is the spittin' image of the Reverend John Henderson. Ye remember, Jane, he was a big, fair-haired man. When he was parson, 'twas the only time I can remember Leticia Odell goin' to church. Heartbroken, she was, when he signed on with Geoffrey Christian. Ah, well. Now, Mistress Lily, ye be pleased then with the ring?"

"Yes, you did a splendid job. I feel my mother would be very pleased that Dulcie will be wearing it. How much do I owe you, Master Stubbles?" Lily asked.

"Ah, that be fine. Thank you, mistress," he said, quickly counting the generous amount Lily had placed on the counter. Handing the package to Tillie, he said, "I thought I saw the lad, young Master Tristram, running by a few minutes ago. Hope he don't break his neck on them slick cobbles. I was hopin' he'd be comin' in to sample some of Jane's gingerbread."

"Made a fresh batch this morning', I did. Figured the lad would be comin' in to town with ye," she explained. "Never knew a lad who likes sweets quite like young Master Tristram. Such a pretty boy, too," she added, and Lily was thankful Tristram hadn't been in the shop to hear such aspersions cast against his masculinity.

"Farley let him drive the cart into town. I told him not to wander off. I suppose he tired of waiting, especially if Farley left him there to go to the Oaks."

"I s'pose he's gettin' too old to enjoy gingerbread. Be losin' him to the Oaks soon enough, too, I reckon," Ben Stubbles said with a sigh.

"I think there may still be some time left, Master Stubbles, so I'll take a couple of pieces. I am certain he will complain of hunger before we reach Highcross," Lily said, placing enough coins on the counter for half a dozen pieces when she saw Tillie lick her lips, and, after all, Jane Stubbles did make the best gingerbread in the county and it was a long ride back to Highcross.

"Now, Mistress Lily," he said, pushing back the coins. "Jane made those pieces especially for the lad. No payin' fer them."

"Just these extra ones, then," Lily said, pushing back most of the coins.

"She's a stubborn lass, Ben Stubbles," Romney murmured. "I don't s'pose your heart is big enough, Mistress Lily, to share something sweet with a poor gypsy lad?" Romney Lee's dark blue eyes were full of entreaty.

"Beware, Mistress Lily. This is when Romney Lee is his most dangerous. Loves t'have the maids feelin' sorry fer him. Charm the devil, and steal yer first kiss and more, he will, if he don't watch out," Jane warned Lily, despite Romney's scowling face as he watched a suspicious look come into those green eyes.