by L G Rollins
“Miss Spencer”—
He apparently did remember her true name. With all the sweet endearments he’d been using, she half suspected he’d forgotten it altogether.
—“I know it comes as no surprise that I find you all that is lovely and sweet.”
“Thank you, Mr. Baker.” Helena forced the words out.
“Almost since the first moment I entered Hedgewood Manor, I felt deeply that I’d found my future companion at last.”
Helena’s stomach rolled most uncomfortably. She pursed her lips, willing the nausea to subside. He was a good man. She could do far worse.
Remaining without a family, penniless for the rest of her life, certainly would be a lot worse.
“Ah, my dear plum pudding, rest assured that in the future years, you will never know hunger or loneliness.”
Isn’t that what she wanted? A safe home. Family. Mr. Baker was offering her all of that.
But would he ever be the family she sought? Hadn’t she confessed to Fredrick during the ball that she didn’t just want a marriage? Any husband was not enough. She wanted someone who cherished her. Someone who would brighten her days and be her safe place to land when it all got to be too hard.
Marriage for the sake of marriage is what she had first set out to obtain—what she’d schemed for with Emma, Eleanor, and Christina. Even Fredrick had helped. But now, staring at exactly who she’d aspired to find, Helena could not deny that in her heart, she knew it wasn’t enough. Perhaps she was selfish and would die alone after all. But this—what existed between herself and Mr. Baker, good man though he was—it wasn’t enough.
“Thank you, sir,” she began.
How did one turn down a perfectly reasonable offer from a kind man? In all her planning and late-night talks with Emma, they never once had discussed this outcome.
“I want you to know that I do appreciate your attentiveness and generosity. However—”
The library door banged open.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Helena startled at the noise and whirled around. Fredrick stomped into the room, his gaze moving quickly between her and Mr. Baker, his brow etching into a deeper and deeper scowl.
“Baker, I demand an explanation.”
Mr. Baker, for his part, only smiled more. “I am to be congratulated, nephew. It seems I will once again be the happiest of men.”
Oh, no. No, she hadn’t answered him. He was putting words in her mouth. “Please, sir, I have given no answer.”
Mr. Baker only patted her hands, still clutched within his own. “Is not Miss Spencer the loveliest being you have ever met?”
“She is precisely that,” Fredrick said, his tone still harsh.
All of Helena’s churning insides stilled and then began to hum with a new excitement.
Fredrick stood tall, his hands behind his back. “And so, I want to hear it from her. However, if she has not yet actually accepted you, Baker, then she needs to know that I intend to offer for her as well.”
“Really?” She nearly gasped the word.
Fredrick’s scowl softened, and the corner of his lips pulled up. “Yes, Helena. I want to marry you.”
A heated thrill rushed through her. Taking the two steps necessary, she threw her arms around him.
“If you’ll have me, that is,” Fredrick added with a chuckle.
Helena couldn’t stop the smile threatening to split her face. She pulled back, looking up into those dark brown eyes she’d come to adore so much. “I’ve missed having a family so dreadfully, Fredrick. I want nothing more than for you to be my new family.”
He tipped his head down, resting his forehead against hers. “I love you, Helena. I love you more than I could ever say.”
The tingling joy and burning elation was nearly overwhelming. “I love you too, Fredrick.” But instead of wasting time on more words, she pushed up and her lips met his.
He pulled her close, his mouth working over hers. Helena held him close, her fingers moving through his hair. The feel of his hands across her back was one she would never forget.
A soft chuckle pulled them apart.
Good heavens, she’d all but forgotten Mr. Baker.
When Helena looked over at him, he was smiling. “Well,” he said with a laugh, “it’s about time.” Then he turned toward the library door and called out, “You can come in now. He’s finally proposed.”
The door swung open, and Lady Chapman hurried inside, Eleanor and Christina right behind her. She took one look at Helena and Fredrick in one another’s arms and clasped her hands together, hugging them tightly to her chest.
“Praises be,” she exclaimed, her smile ever broader than Mr. Baker’s. “It’s a Christmas Eve miracle.”
“Mother?” Fredrick asked.
“Oh come now,” Lady Chapman said. “You don’t suppose you and your sisters are the only family members who know how to set a trap?”
Fredrick seemed shocked, his sisters no less so.
Lady Chapman glanced over them all, a hint of indignation coloring her features and tone. “Where do you think you all learned it?”
Eleanor and Christina only laughed at this.
But Fredrick’s brow dropped again. “So, Baker . . . all his attentions toward Helena . . .?”
Lady Chapman’s expression only grew more triumphant. “All part of my plan. One that my late husband’s brother was only too happy to help with.”
Mr. Baker bowed Helena’s direction. “I hope you can forgive an old man. After what happened this summer, I was terribly downcast. I know I am more than guilty for all you endured. When Lady Chapman wrote to me and explained all, nothing could have stopped me from seeing the both of you happy.”
Helena held on to Fredrick, her world shifting about faster than she could keep up with. “So the attentions . . . your proposal?”
“All a means of showing Fredrick what he should have realized weeks ago.”
Fredrick’s arms tightened around her. “That I can’t live without you.”
Mr. Baker nodded. “Though I must say, I am glad the ruse is up. If I had to think up one more dessert to call you by, Miss Spencer, I would have made myself sick.”
Helena laughed. The emotions swirling inside her were so numerous, she could barely keep up with them all.
Fredrick lowered his head, his mouth coming tantalizingly close to her ear. “Are you sure you want to marry into this ridiculous family?”
Family. She wouldn’t have to wait long at all now before she had one again. “You mean a mother who loves you wholeheartedly, sisters who care for others to the point of putting themselves second, and an uncle who is kind and thoughtful? I suppose I could tolerate such an arrangement.”
“Oh!” Christina exclaimed. “I’ve been hoping for the last three weeks that you two would make a match of it.”
“Only the last three weeks?” Lady Chapman said. “I’ve known they were perfect for one another since Miss Spencer put pepper in Fredrick’s tea.”
More laughter filled the room even as Helena felt her face grow warm. “You knew about that?”
“Don’t worry. No one told me. I doubt anyone else pieced together what actually happened that morning. But I am a mother, and I see more than my children will ever know.”
Everyone laughed at that. Then, among cheers and shouts, Eleanor and Christina hurried forward, wrapping their arms around Helena and Fredrick. Lady Chapman and Mr. Baker, too, moved forward and joined in the rapturous celebration.
All the while, as they talked over one another, each declaring how perfect a couple they made, Helena basked in the feel of Fredrick’s arm around her, his nearness so wonderfully right.
Never would she be alone.
She had a family again.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Angry shouts came from the corridor beyond the library, putting an abrupt end to the celebration Helena and the Chapman family were enjoying.
Lord Ellis’s voice could be heard abo
ve all else. “You blathering, mindless fool!”
Fredrick pressed a quick kiss to Helena’s forehead and then hurried toward the library door.
“Calm down, Lord Ellis.” Lord Andrews’s voice was heard next. “Let us talk about this like gentlemen.”
Helena followed quickly after her intended. Her intended. La, how wonderful that sounded. Eleanor and Christina trailed directly behind her. Fredrick opened the door and Helena caught sight of the two men standing with fists at their sides.
Mr. Andrews’s jaw was tight. “Get a hold of yourself. Come back to my study and we will talk about this—”
“You’re an idiot, Andrews,” Lord Ellis seethed. “To think I’d simply sit around and talk when your servants are out there with my horse.”
There was so much commotion about them. Helena reached the door and, standing close to Fredrick, she could see every guest gathered about the corridor, save those who stood in the library behind her. Some shuffled about nervously, others decried that Lord Ellis ought to leave if he was going to speak to their host in such a way.
“They were naught but two small children,” Lord Andrews said. “No one could have suspected they were capable of this.”
“Well, you clearly should have!” Lord Ellis roared.
Amid cries of “what’s happened?” Lord Andrews explained while Lord Ellis paced the corridor and muttered to himself.
“I was informed this morning that two of the servants have disappeared in the middle of the night. It seems they have taken a bit of silver with them as well as Lord Ellis’s horse.”
Cries of disbelief echoed about the space. Helena slipped up closer to Lord Andrews.
“Pardon me, sir, but are you speaking of the new scullery maid and her brother? I believe he was put to work in the stables.”
His brow dropped in question. “The very ones. How did you know?”
She only shook her head and stepped back toward Fredrick; her stomach was far too sour to speak more. The joy of moments ago was replaced with worry. Why would the two have done such a thing? They had a warm bed at night and food in their stomachs while working here. Why leave that, even for the money that could be earned by selling some silver and Lord Ellis’s horse?
And how did two children expect to be able to sell such a thing on their own?
“I demand to know all,” Lord Ellis said. “Where’s the housekeeper who hired the two? I want to hear her account.”
Apparently, so did the rest of the gathered party. Soon the housekeeper was summoned and requested to recite all that had led to Mary and Jim being employed.
Looking rather pale and far less sure of herself than Helena had ever seen her before, the housekeeper began. “One evening, just before the house party began, I was told a man was at the servants’ door wishing to speak with me. He had two children with him, said they were his niece and nephew—”
“Was his name Mr. Chant?” Helena broke in.
All eyes moved to her.
“Well, yes.” The housekeeper looked flustered for a moment. “Yes, I believe that is the name he gave me. He said that the children’s parents had only just passed, unexpectedly, and that he wanted to keep the children but needed a couple of months to get his affairs in order. He asked if they could work for room and board for a spell. I normally would have turned them away, but with so many visitors coming, I knew we would be a bit short-handed, and the man assured me it would only be temporary.”
“It was temporary, all right,” Lord Ellis sneered. “Just long enough to fool you all into turning your backs on them.”
Noise swelled around Helena. Mrs. Wynn and Lady Chapman insisted that this was not the sort of thing discussed among ladies. Miss Wynn decried that the Andrews were fools to have ever believed two children. Lord Ellis ranted on that he’d been wronged while Lord Andrews urged him to calm down with the support of Eleanor, Christina, and Topper.
Helena remained apart from the group.
Fredrick’s hand slowly rubbed the small of her back in gentle circles and Helena leaned more fully against him. How had she become so blessed as to have a man who both helped her be positive but also allowed her the time to be sorrowful when she needed it?
“Poor Mary and Jim,” she said softly. “Why do you suppose they did it?”
She felt Fredrick shrug beneath her. “For the money, I would assume.”
Helena thought back over the few conversations she’d had with the children and rehearsed to herself what the housekeeper had said.
Realization struck and she stood up straight. Turning, she faced Fredrick. “The housekeeper said Mr. Chant claimed the children’s parents had only just passed away, but Mary told me their parents died three years ago this winter.”
“Which means Mr. Chant was in on it. This was the plan from the beginning.”
Lord Andrews’s voice sailed up and over the gathered party. “There are still enough horses in my stables for every man. If we set out now, I firmly believe we can catch the little devils before they’ve gone any further.”
With shouts of agreement, all the men charged from the room. Helena’s heart beat fast; there was no doubt in her mind that if—or rather when—Mary and Jim were caught, they’d be sent to the workhouses or even debtor’s prison.
Since they’d stolen a horse, there was a real chance they could even be hanged. Helena had read more than one article stating children as young as twelve had been hanged for various crimes.
Helena took hold of Fredrick’s arm. “Mr. Chant must have forced them to do it. Mary confided in me that he hurts them often. I don’t think Mary and Jim are to blame; Mr. Chant probably left them no choice.”
“Lord Ellis won’t see it that way.”
The men were already moving down the corridor and toward the entryway.
“Which is why I have to find them first.” Helena pushed off him. She could slip up to her bedchamber, be into her riding habit in less than ten minutes, and then have a horse saddled.
“Oh no.” Fredrick took hold of both her arms. “It’s too dangerous. Besides, there will be far too many questions if any of the gentlemen catch sight of you, out on horseback, when you’re supposed to be recovering from last night. If Lord Ellis even suspects you wish to hide those two from him, he will do everything possible to stop you. He very well may brand you a horse thief along with them.”
That was true. If she went out, she’d have to not only find Mary and Jim first, she’d have to do it without anyone else seeing her.
“I can’t sit back and do nothing,” she said.
“I’ll go. My presence will be easily explained. I’m simply one more of the party searching for the stolen horse. They won’t know I’m actually going to protect Mary and Jim. Besides, I’m already dressed for a cold ride.” He motioned to the greatcoat he wore and his thick riding boots.
Helena’s eyes burned with hot tears. She threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you.”
He hugged her close. “Anything for you, my dearest love.”
“It seems scandal follows me wherever I go.”
He only hugged her tighter. “So long as you allow me to go with you, too, I couldn’t care less.” He gave her a quick kiss and then was off.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Helena sat beside Christina, sipping her after-dinner tea, but couldn’t focus on the conversation around her. All the Christmas Eve plans had been canceled since none of the gentlemen were back. For most of dinner, Lady Chapman had triumphantly discussed her son’s betrothal to “that sweet Miss Spencer.” Helena had wondered so many times what it would be like to have a mother—one who was kind and proud of her—and now, it seemed, she finally had her wish.
If only she could enjoy it.
She would enjoy it, she was certain. For years to come, she would be blessed with a dear mother-in-law who loved her as any mother loved a daughter. But for tonight, she was too wrapped up in worry for Mary and Jim. Not a word, not a message, nothing had been brought to
the ladies.
Not even Fredrick had sent word to her.
“More tea, Miss Spencer?” Lady Andrews asked.
Helena looked down at her cup. It was empty. She couldn’t even remember lifting the thing to her lips; she must have drunk it absently. Her stomach was suddenly overly full and nauseous. “No, thank you.” She placed the cup and saucer onto an obliging table.
“You don’t suppose they’ve met with an accident, do you?” Christina whispered as the other women continued their conversation. “It is quite snowy outside.”
“I’m sure they are all fine.” Helena tried to pour a little consolation into her friend, but the truth was, she was so overwrought thinking of Mary and Jim that she could barely keep her own nerves from fraying into a thousand pieces.
She could always retire. A little quiet and solitude sounded heavenly right now. But suppose word did come from Fredrick? She might not hear if she was abed. So she sat.
The women talked of Christmas Eves long past.
They spoke of winter games and snowy adventures.
Finally, Miss Wynn was prevailed upon to play a bit at the pianoforte for them all. It seemed they’d all quite run out of things to say, yet no one wanted to go to bed before hearing the outcome of the gentlemen’s search.
As Miss Wynn began the second movement of her song, Willis moved up beside Helena.
“Lord Chapman is here to see you, miss,” he whispered low enough only she would hear.
“Thank you.” Helena waited until Willis had left the room, then glanced about herself. No one seemed to be aware of her, so she stood and hurried as fast as she could without making a sound.
Willis, who’d remained near the door, showed her to the parlor.
Fredrick stood, his shoulders brushed with snow and his face red from the cold.
He greeted her but waited until they were alone—the door left open for propriety—before he spoke. “I’ve found them,” he said in a rush. “I’ve told them to wait near where the lane to Hedgewood Manor meets the main road. I’m taking Lord Ellis’s horse the opposite direction. I’ll leave him where it’ll look like he broke free on his own and wandered off.” He stretched a bag out to her. “Hide the silver somewhere here, in the house.” As she took it, he held out a letter to her. “Then give this to my valet.”
