Miss Cheswick's Charm (Seven Wishes Book 2)

by Bree Verity

  The doctor turned to her, impressed. “Good work, young woman,” he said. “And is that comfrey I smell?”

  “Yes. Mrs. Benton applied it as a salve to the ribs, but we can apply a poultice as well. The arm will need to be set first. And I am unfamiliar with how a broken cheekbone is managed.”

  “I can probably manage that,” replied the doctor with a smile. “You are a very talented medic.”

  “Thank you. I have had to patch up one or two riding misadventures over the years.”

  “Indeed. May I have the honor of your name, Miss?”

  “Oh!” Caroline colored and smiled. “I’m Caroline Ches… Longshore. Mrs. Longshore. Sir Theo’s wife.”

  The doctor smiled too. “Well, I can certainly understand why Sir Theo chose you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I had best see to my patient.”

  * * *

  Mrs. Benton took Caroline’s elbow and pulled her from the room. “They’re going to have to rebreak that arm,” she said as she walked Caroline away down the stairs. “I am quite certain you will not want to hear that.”

  “But I’ve heard it before,” Caroline argued. “When one of our outriders took a tumble and broke his shin.”

  “Yes, but he wasn’t your husband,” Mrs. Benton replied.

  Caroline was going to retort that it made no difference but reflected for a moment. In fact, it did make a difference. She preferred not to hear Theo in the amount of pain that the poor outrider had suffered at the hands of the sawbones. She nodded, then put a hand on the older woman’s arm. “Perhaps you could have a cup of tea with me while we wait? I feel a little shaky still.”

  Mrs. Benson smiled and nodded. Caroline sat to wait in the now darkening parlor. One of the footmen came around and lit the candles in the sconces, brightening up the room, but still leaving dark shadows in the corners. Caroline, who was already unsettled from having to sit and wait while Theo was mended, found it a little unnerving. She spoke to her mother to try to reduce her nerves.

  “How is your needlepoint progressing, Mama?”

  In response, her mother brought the piece over to where Caroline was seated on one of the blue chairs beside the fire. Even in the gloom, Caroline could see that the piece was amazing - delicate and beautiful.

  “It’s lovely.” She bent her head over the piece and started to weep. Her mother placed a hand on her shoulder. “It will be alright,” she said slowly. Caroline turned to look at her through tear-stained eyes and smiled.

  Mrs. Benton came in with the tea tray. “Here is the tea, Mrs. Longshore,” she said. “Now don’t you worry yourself about pouring. I can take care of that.” She poured a steaming cup and gave it to Caroline.

  “Do be seated, Mrs. Benton,” Caroline said. “Everything is topsy turvy, and I do believe I need the company right now. Have a cup of tea. Mama, would you like one?”

  Caroline drank several cups as she waited for the doctor to reappear. It took an age; however, he eventually did, with a tired smile on his face. Caroline stood, eager for the doctor’s news.

  “He will be alright,” he said, patting Caroline’s arm. “The forearm fell back into place nicely, and his cheek, while fractured, was not pushed out of place, so it will heal cleanly.”

  “Thank goodness,” Caroline breathed, then smiled at the doctor. “How can I ever thank you?”

  “Just keep the patient quiet for a few days to let those ribs knit, if you can. I have bandaged him tightly, with the help of his manservant, however staying off his feet would be the best way for them to heal. I have applied a cast to the arm; however Sir Theo will need to stay still so that it may harden sufficiently. I have given him something to help him sleep for now, hopefully by the time he wakes up, the cast will have hardened.”

  Caroline nodded, not even knowing if it would be possible to keep Theo bed bound. He was not exactly the lounging about type. She hadn’t been his wife for very long, but she already knew that about him.

  She offered the doctor a cup of tea, but he declined, and went on his way.

  “Shall I prepare some trays for dinner, Mrs. Longshore?” asked Mrs. Benton. Caroline agreed, wondering whether she would be able to actually eat anything at all.

  But when the trays arrived, she was surprised to find herself famished. And she smiled her first real smile in hours when Mrs. Cheswick displayed childlike delight at the impromptu picnic.

  As soon as she could get away, Caroline walked up the stairs tentatively, wondering just what shape her poor husband would be in.

  Thankfully, although he still looked bruised and battered, Theo seemed more comfortable, and he had been bathed and re-dressed in his nightclothes. Caroline looked over to Harris, who said quietly, “He is asleep now, my Lady. The doctor gave him a dose of laudanum.”

  With a nod, Caroline moved to the side of the bed. Harris pulled a chair up for her and with a word of thanks, she sat, her eyes fixed on her husband’s face, a knot of worry in her stomach and her brows knitted. She gently pushed the hair off his forehead and leaned over to kiss him there, on what seemed to be the only unmarked portion of his face. Affection for him flooded her, to her great surprise.

  His eyes opened for a moment, unfocused. “Is that you, Caroline?” he murmured sleepily.

  “Yes, dear, it is I.”

  “It was footpads. They tried to kill me.”

  “It is alright now, Theo. They have gone. You are safe.” Caroline laid a hand on his unbroken arm and kept her voice calm and even, although she would have liked to press Theo for every detail he had of the criminals. There would be time later to track them down. “Go back to sleep now.”

  But he was already asleep, leaving Caroline’s mind free to wonder about the feelings that were growing in her.

  A tender affection for Theo seemed to be overtaking her, care and concern for his wellbeing. She pondered for a moment, rolling the thought around in her mind. How on earth could she have fallen in love with her husband? Her frustrating, womanly heart would feel what it would feel, but she could not declare her love openly to Theo. A wife who loved him was not what Theo wanted. A convenient wife to warm his bed, bear his children and improve his fortunes - those were the things he had married her for. His passion for her was undeniable. But love? That she could never expect from him.

  With a sigh, she lay her head on the bed beside him. It was troublesome to be in love with one’s own husband.

  * * *

  “You know we should not have done that,” said Lachlan fretfully. Fenella found deep amusement in the fact that when she got riled, she created smoke – when Lachlan’s emotions were high, he created light, a bluish-white light that enveloped him.

  “Done what?” replied Fenella. “Intervene on behalf of someone who was about to be murdered?”

  Lachlan shrugged, and Fenella could see he was fighting with himself over some imagined misdeed. Indeed, it has been Fenella who had led the charge against the street thugs. But she had shouted for Lachlan to help and, to his credit, he had jumped straight in, flicking the knife out of the man’s hand. Fenella had been the one to push the man against the tree.

  But now Lachlan was having a crisis of conscience. She tried a different tactic.

  “Had we not done it, their happily ever after could never have taken place, Lachlan. We were merely following the first rule, the imperative.”

  “That’s true,” agreed Lachlan, his brow lightening and his glow reducing.

  “And Caroline has realised that she loves him, so that’s a step in the right direction as well.”

  “It is.” Lachlan nodded. “Now all you need is for him to do so, and both of them to make the declaration, and their happily ever after will be secured.”

  “But he could never have made that declaration if we didn’t do something. We were just being… concerned citizens. Of both our races.”

  The mistrust returned to Lachlan’s face, and he glowed just a little brighter. “It feels like we did something wrong,” he said, “even th
ough we didn’t break any laws or any of the fairy godmother code.” He looked stricken. “Unless he saw our wings. Did he see our wings?”

  “We didn’t do anything wrong.” Fenella stressed each word, laying a hand on Lachlan’s arm. “In fact, if you ask me, we did something very right.”

  “Nobody is asking you,” replied Lachlan sourly, then he sighed. “Oh, Fenella, how is it that you make me do things I would never do any other time?”

  “I don’t make you do anything,” she retorted. “I just prod your conscience. You do the rest.”

  “Do you know you’re the most troublesome apprentice I’ve ever had?”

  She grinned. “It’s because I’m the best,” she boasted. “You just need to accept that.”

  Lachlan raised an incredulous eyebrow. “A dark fae the best fairy godmother?”

  Fenella felt a scowl cross her features. Lachlan’s disdain of dark fae was by far the least likeable thing about him.

  So why didn’t she hate him for it? Why did she seem to keep liking him better?

  With an irritated twitch of her wings and a sharp word, she blinked out of sight.

  And after a start of surprise, Lachlan did the same.

  Chapter Nine.

  “Freddie! It’s so good to see you!”

  Caroline clasped Freddie’s hand in hers, genuinely pleased to see Theo’s best friend. He shed his hat and cane, handing them to Benton, but held on to a large folder that seemed to be crammed with papers.

  He grinned. “Really, I am not that good company. Playing nursemaid to Theo must be getting to you.”

  She smiled ruefully. “On the contrary, you are wonderful company,” she said graciously, “but you are also right. He is impossible. Like a bear with a sore head. Offering him good reasons to stay in bed seems to be becoming futile, and between Harris and I, we are just about out of ideas. The doctor says he should be able to resume normal duties in a week or so, but the complaining over that diagnosis was enough to drive anyone to distraction. You would think he had been consigned to bed for a year.”

  “Theo never was one to stay still for long,” mused Freddie. “It is amazing you’ve managed to keep him down for as long as you have.”

  “It has not been easy,” she replied with a slow shake of her head, although she smiled. “Many threats have been made.”

  “By you or by him?”

  “Both.”

  Freddie laughed, and after a moment, Caroline joined him.

  It had truly been difficult to keep Theo abed this past week. She and Harris had devised a way for him to stay in bed but also be able to do his work by providing him with a kind of modified writing desk and daily visits from Guthrie meant that his business continued to run along. But Theo was frustrated with the inactivity, and the inability to make instant decisions. He complained that he had lost thousands because he couldn’t meet with this person or bid for that shipment. And while Caroline made allowances for him, knowing that he was still in pain and that he was unused to idleness, in the past day or so her nerves had started to fray. Freddie would provide the best remedy for her husband’s ills, she was sure.

  “Did you want to go straight upstairs?” she asked. “I shall ask Benton to bring up some brandy. For you.”

  Her pointed addendum brought half a smile to Freddie’s face, but he said, “Actually, just before I do, Caroline, may I have a quick word with you?”

  Caroline’s brows rose. “Of course,” she said. “Come into the parlor.”

  They went in, and Freddie bade a cheerful good morning to Caroline’s mother, who gave him a gentle, unrecognizing smile from her place on the chaise in the window. Caroline invited Freddie to sit in one of the blue chairs, and she sat in the other, leaning forward, hands clasped in front of her.

  “What was it you wished to speak to me about, Freddie?”

  He scratched at the base of his head. “It is perhaps something I should discuss with Theo, only I don’t want to bother him with it right now.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’ve had my eye for a while on a cotton mill in Manchester.”

  “A mill?”

  “Yes.” Freddie leaned forward as well. “You see, I believe it is working well below capacity, and that shares in the business could be quite lucrative if the right management were put into the mill, and the equipment upgraded.”

  Caroline nodded, figures already starting to make their appearance in her head. “What is the capacity as it stands?”

  “There are two hundred hand looms and I believe they are testing a dozen of the new power looms. However, the owners treat their workers poorly, which I believe is resulting in lower effort and output by those workers. Even marginally better conditions could secure improvements.”

  “Yes, I have read some of the resolutions being passed by various magistrates to reduce the incidence of epidemics and to regulate hours of work.”

  Sir Freddie nodded, his enthusiasm for the project radiating from his face. “I have finally persuaded the owners of the mill to sell, only they are asking far above the price I originally offered. I had hoped for Theo’s expertise to show them first of all that their mill as it stands is worth far less than their asking price, and also to make some calculations as to the potential profitability so that I would know the highest price we could manage, so I have some room to negotiate.”

  Caroline’s eyes shone. “I suppose that is the paperwork you have under your arm?” she said. “May I have a look at it?”

  Freddie handed over the package and Caroline spent the next half an hour in an agreeable haze of capacity, manpower, materials and expenses. Shortly, together they had mapped out a plan of attack for Freddie to put into effect.

  Freddie shook his head in wonderment. “You really are very good at this, Caroline. Why won’t Theo let you help him?”

  “I wish I knew,” she said, letting a little frustration into her voice. “He lets me talk about business over breakfast, but half of the time I fear he does not even hear me. I doubt that he takes into account any of my thoughts. It is rather frustrating. Still, I will continue to work on him. He will eventually see my point.” Her voice had firmed up, and Freddie chuckled under his breath.

  “I suppose he will,” he agreed, “for you are a formidable woman.”

  “You have no idea,” she said.

  Chapter Ten.

  As his injuries healed, Sir Theo regularly put Caroline to the blush with his broad hints that he was ready to resume intimacies with her. However, she firmly refused until the doctor pronounced him healed.

  The week following that pronouncement induced in Caroline a type of bliss she had never known. In the mornings, Theo spoke with her about investments and finance at the breakfast table, and at night, he turned her inside out with his magic. Together they explored many different ways of being intimate. Caroline flushed bright pink to even think about it, especially when her mother was seated right over there on her chaise, looking dreamily out of the window on this beautiful, cool, clear day.

  And yet, thinking about it, Caroline couldn’t wait for her husband’s return home.

  With a little secret smile, she wriggled in her chair and tried to return her attention to her embroidery. Looking down at it in her lap, Caroline was hard pressed not to just throw it away and start again. The design was so skewed and out of proportion, it was embarrassing.

  “Mama,” she called, “do you think there is any saving this needlework?”

  Her mother lifted herself out of her own chaise and walked over to looked at the canvas stretched over the tambour frame. She shook her head. “Unbalanced.”

  “I know.”

  “I know why.”

  Caroline’s head shot up to look at her mother, whose face wore a cheeky grin. And it only took one word from her to make Caroline blush even more furiously.

  “It is your new husband.”

  “I am sure I do not know what you mean, Mama,” Caroline replied haughtily. Her mother�
�s grin widened as she pointed emphatically at the needlework and said again, “New husband.”

  Sheepishly, Caroline asked, “Is that normal? For your husband to fill your every thought?”

  Mrs. Cheswick nodded, and shuffled back to her chaise as Caroline sighed. It was not good news for her embroidery.

  She heard the front door open and Benton say, “Welcome home, Sir.” Surprised, she turned in her chair toward the door. Theo was not due home for hours. She waited for him to come through to the front room, a welcoming smile on her face.

  But he didn’t come in. Puzzled, Caroline put down her embroidery and went in search of him. She came across Benton, who indicated that Theo had gone directly to his office.

  Walking in, she found Theo had not even opened the curtains to let a little light in. He was seated at his desk, pouring himself a hefty nip of brandy, his expression pinched.

  “What troubles you, Theo?” She sat down across the desk from him, concerned and alarmed. He didn’t come home early from the office, and he certainly didn’t forgo the civility of greeting Caroline and Mama when he walked in the door.

  He gulped down the brandy in one mouthful and then looked up at Caroline from under heavy brows for a moment before dropping his gaze back to his desk. She was surprised in that moment to see a glint of guilt in his eyes.

  Caroline laughed a little unsteadily. “Should I be concerned?”

  Theo leaned back in his chair and made a deep noise in his throat. He rubbed his face with both of his hands before dropping them back to the table.

  “I have made a sizable error, that is all. Nothing for you to worry about.”

  “You know I will not be dismissed that easily, Theo.”

  He chuckled but there was no mirth in the sound. “I know. But really, you need not worry. I can trade us back out of this mess.”