The butler served them tea, and Millie asked Sophia about her pregnancy. ‘It can’t be too long now, surely?’
Sophia groaned. ‘Another two months. But honestly, it feels as if I’ve been pregnant for ever!’ She laid her hand across her swollen belly. ‘There was something I wanted to ask you actually. David and I have decided, if it’s another boy we’d like to call him Sebastian. Would that be all right?’ She eyed her sister-in-law anxiously.
Millie smiled. ‘I think that would be wonderful,’ she said.
‘Are you sure? I don’t want to upset you—’
‘I’d be honoured. And I’m sure Seb would be, too.’
‘I’m glad.’ Sophia looked relieved. ‘Do you remember, we named Billy after your friend – you know, that doctor you worked with, William – what was it?’
‘Tremayne,’ Millie stared into her teacup.
‘Yes, that was it. Dr Tremayne. Gosh, he was a hero, wasn’t he? Dashing in to deliver Billy when I suddenly went into labour at that party. And you helped too, of course,’ she added. ‘Honestly, I can’t imagine there was ever a birth like it. Thank God for Dr Tremayne, stepping in to rescue me.’ Sophia smiled at the memory. ‘I wonder where he is now?’
Millie was about to tell her, then changed her mind. The last person she wanted to discuss at that moment was William Tremayne.
On the far side of the room, the Duke was holding forth to Lady Rettingham.
‘Yes, well, I had a word with some pals in the War Office, got them to agree to letting me store the contents of a couple of museums here,’ he was saying. ‘Quite a good show, isn’t it? I look after a few Rembrandts and whatnot, and we don’t have any unwanted house guests.’
Millie couldn’t bring herself to glance at her grandmother. She could only imagine the look on her face.
‘By the way, I forgot to tell you,’ Sophia said, distracting her. ‘Guess who’ll be joining us for the weekend?’
Millie risked a glance at her grandmother. She was looking at the Duke, an expression of utter loathing on her face. ‘Who?’
‘Teddy Teasdale!’
Millie forgot her grandmother instantly. ‘Teddy Teasdale? But I thought he was in the army?’
‘He is, but he has an office job. Not far from here actually. He’s doing something frightfully clever with the Intelligence Corps. Well, he always was rather a brain, wasn’t he?’
‘Was he? I don’t remember that.’ Millie’s most vivid memory of Lord Edward Teasdale was of him riding one of his father’s prize hunters down the staircase at Teasdale Hall during a particularly rowdy house party. He was utterly, adorably feckless, and one of her dearest friends. But they had lost touch over the past year or so.
‘And that’s not all.’ Sophia leaned in confidingly. ‘I haven’t told you the most delicious bit of gossip yet. He’s coming with Georgina Farsley!’
‘No!’ Millie’s mouth fell open. ‘Surely she hasn’t got her hands on him now?’
‘It seems so,’ Sophia said. ‘Just think, Teddy and that ghastly American girl! She’s after his title, obviously. You know what a dreadful social climber she is. But the question is, what’s he doing with her?’
‘Perhaps he’s in love?’ Millie said.
‘More like in debt!’ Sophia laughed. ‘Anyway, I’m surprised you’re so calm at the prospect of seeing her again. Have you forgotten how appallingly she used to treat you when we were debs together?’
‘Of course I haven’t forgotten. But perhaps time has mellowed her?’
‘I very much doubt it.’
‘Anyway, it’s all in the past,’ Millie said. ‘I’m prepared to let bygones be bygones.’
Sophia laughed. ‘You won’t be saying that by the time this weekend is over!’
‘I’m sure she’s changed,’ Millie said.
She was proved wrong the minute Georgina swept in, dark and glamorous in a daring Schiaparelli trouser suit. She greeted the Duke and Duchess and the other guests, but ignored Millie entirely.
‘Not ready to let bygones be bygones, then?’ Sophia breathed in Millie’s ear.
‘Apparently not.’
‘She looks beautiful. I hate her already.’
‘But where’s Teddy?’ Millie asked.
He, as they overheard Georgina telling their hosts, had been delayed on important war business. She was tight-lipped as she said it, and Millie had the feeling that so far as she was concerned, no war was more important than being at her side.
‘I bet they’ve had the most furious row,’ Sophia whispered to Millie as they sat down for dinner that evening. ‘This should be very entertaining!’
They were going in to dinner when Teddy finally turned up.
‘I’m so sorry, everyone,’ he said. ‘A couple of Germans got washed up with the tide at Whitstable, and I had to have a quick chat with them.’
He greeted the Duchess, Millie and the other guests, but when he went to kiss Georgina she turned her face sharply to present him with her cheek. Millie caught Sophia’s eye across the table.
There was a place set for Teddy beside Millie. She glanced at him sideways as he took his seat. He looked different, she thought. Two years in the army had transformed his soft, overindulged body to lean muscle. His light brown hair was cropped close to his head, revealing a surprisingly good bone structure. She could see why Georgina was attracted to him, and it wasn’t just for his title.
‘Oh, dear,’ he said as he sat down. ‘I rather think I may be in the dog house.’
‘Quite right too. It was unforgivable of you to abandon poor Georgina like that.’
‘I couldn’t help it, could I? I could hardly tell the coastguard to send the Germans off for another trip around the bay.’
He looked up the table towards Georgina. She was staring rather hard at her plate.
‘Well, I think she’s going to sulk for the rest of the evening, so I might as well talk to you,’ he said with a touch of defiance. ‘How are you, Millie?’
‘Very well, thank you.’
‘And the baby? Henry, isn’t it? How is he?’
Millie blinked in surprise. She was impressed Teddy had remembered her son’s name. From what she recalled, he often had trouble remembering his own. ‘Not such a baby any more.’ She smiled fondly. ‘He’s three years old now.’
‘Good heavens, really? Time does fly, doesn’t it?’ Teddy lowered his voice. ‘I was so sorry to hear about Seb, by the way. I wanted to come back for the funeral, but I was stuck in France with the Intelligence Corps and it was rather difficult to get away.’
Millie was silent for a moment. She never quite knew what to say when people talked about Seb’s death. No response seemed appropriate somehow.
She changed the subject. ‘On second thoughts, I think perhaps we should stop speaking for a while,’ she said lightly. ‘I don’t think your girlfriend likes it.’ Georgina was throwing her looks like knives down the length of the table.
‘In that case, I think we should flirt wildly,’ Teddy said, glaring back at Georgina. ‘She’s got to learn I’m not her pet dog.’
‘I don’t think it’s all your fault,’ Millie said. ‘She’s never forgiven me for marrying Seb when she had her eye on him.’
‘Georgina Farsley has had her eye on every eligible bachelor in England at some point,’ Teddy said.
Millie was shocked. ‘What an ungallant thing to say!’
‘It’s true, isn’t it? She’s so desperate for a title, it was only a matter of time before she got round to me.’
Millie looked from one to the other. There was definitely something going on between them, and she didn’t want to get involved with it. She turned to her other side and started talking to her neighbour, an elderly magistrate with a hearing problem. It was frustrating, having to shout at him constantly, but at least it stopped Georgina scowling at her.
The following morning neither Georgina nor Teddy surfaced until after luncheon. But when they did finally appear, things were
still frosty between them.
The Duke and Duchess had organised a shooting party, but Millie disliked shooting and Sophia cried off because of her pregnancy. She retired to her room for a nap, leaving Millie and her grandmother to entertain themselves in the drawing room.
‘Thank heavens everyone has gone,’ Lady Rettingham sighed. ‘I know house parties are supposed to be entertaining, but the constant presence of other people can be rather wearing.’
‘I think I might go up to the nursery to see Henry,’ Millie said.
Her grandmother stared at her blankly. ‘Whatever for? I’m sure Nanny Perks is looking after him perfectly well.’
‘Yes, but I want to see him.’
‘Nanny won’t appreciate it.’
I don’t care what Nanny thinks. Millie opened her mouth to argue when Teddy suddenly appeared.
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I didn’t realise this room was occupied.’
‘It’s perfectly all right, Edward. Do join us.’ Lady Rettingham was suddenly animated, her earlier fatigue forgotten. ‘Amelia and I were just about to have some tea. Weren’t we, Amelia?’
‘Were we?’ Millie stared at her grandmother.
‘Thank you.’ Teddy flopped into the armchair opposite them.
‘I thought you’d gone shooting with the others?’ Millie said.
He shook his head. ‘To be honest, I don’t trust Georgina around me when she has a gun in her hands.’
Millie laughed. ‘Haven’t you two kissed and made up yet?’
‘I would say the chances of a reconciliation are almost nil.’
‘Oh, dear, I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘Are you? I’m not.’
Out of the corner of her eye, Millie saw her grandmother rise from her chair. ‘If you’ll excuse me for a moment,’ she said, ‘I thought I might go and visit my grandson in the nursery.’
Subtlety wasn’t her grandmother’s strong suit, Millie decided, as she watched her slip from the room. But fortunately Teddy didn’t seem to notice.
Millie turned her attention back to him. ‘Surely she hasn’t given up on you just because you were late yesterday?’
‘Oh, no, we’ve been on the rocks for a long time. Yesterday was simply the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back.’ He sighed. ‘I wish all girls were as uncomplicated as you, Mil.’
She laughed. ‘What an insult! Edward Teasdale, am I so desperately uninteresting?’
‘I didn’t say you were uninteresting, I said you were uncomplicated. The most uncomplicated and delightful girl I’ve ever met. Which is probably why I’ve never fallen in love with you.’
Her grandmother would be so disappointed, Millie thought wryly.
‘That’s the trouble, you see,’ Teddy continued. ‘I only ever fall in love with complicated women. Either they’re too old, or too young, or too mad or too married.’
‘Which is Georgina?’
‘Oh, she’s none of those. But she’s very rich, and my parents have told me that I have to marry before I’m thirty or they’ll cut me off without a penny.’
‘They can’t do that!’ Millie said. ‘You’re their son and heir.’
Teddy shook his head. ‘You don’t know how desperate they are to see me married. I’ve played the field for too long, as far as they’re concerned. Now I have to do the decent thing in the next year, or face the consequences.’
‘Poor you,’ Millie sympathised. ‘But I know the feeling. My grandmother is keen for me to marry again.’
His brows rose. ‘But you’ve done your bit, haven’t you? Produced an heir?’
‘Yes, but my grandmother doesn’t think I should be alone for the rest of my life.’
‘She’s got a point,’ Teddy said. Then a thought occurred to him. ‘I say, you don’t think we …’
‘No, Teddy!’ Millie cut him off firmly. ‘Definitely not. I’m not your type, remember?’
‘I suppose not,’ he sighed.
‘Anyway, don’t even hint about it in front of my grandmother,’ she warned him. ‘I don’t want her getting ideas about us.’
‘I hate to tell you this, Millie, but you’re too late.’ Teddy grinned. ‘She already asked me last night if I would like to call on you after Christmas.’
‘She didn’t?’ Millie’s shoulders slumped. ‘Oh, dear. She could have asked me first.’
But what was the point of that? she thought. Even if her grandmother had asked, she would never have listened to Millie’s answer.
‘Should I make an excuse not to come?’ Teddy asked, watching her anxiously. ‘I can, you know, if it will make things awkward?’
‘Oh, no, you might as well come,’ Millie shrugged. ‘But don’t bring Georgina, will you?’
Millie spent the rest of Sunday avoiding being alone with Teddy. Between her grandmother’s speculative looks and not so subtle attempts to push them together, and Georgina’s furious accusing stares, it was a relief when Monday morning came and they could return to Billinghurst.
But as Millie approached the house, the feelings of anger and humiliation that she had left behind on Saturday came flooding back.
As they passed the men in the makeshift guard house, her grandmother sighed heavily and said, ‘Well, here we are again. I must say, I’m rather sorry to be back.’
Me too, Millie thought. She wasn’t sorry to have left Lyford, but Billinghurst didn’t feel like her home any more. It had been taken over by strangers and she was no longer welcome there.
She stopped the car at the Lodge to allow her grandmother, Henry and Nanny Perks to get out, then drove it up to the house and parked in the stable block.
As she was heading back down the drive, she heard someone calling her name. She turned to see William running down the steps of the house towards her.
‘I’ve been watching out for you at the window.’ He smiled at her. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye before you left.’
Are you? Millie thought. She could hardly bring herself to look into his face, she was so mortified. All she could remember was Agnes Moss’s sneering tone.
It’s William I feel sorry for … She’s obviously got a thing for him … It’s embarrassing.
‘Did you have a good time?’ William asked.
‘Yes, thank you.’ She started to walk away, but he called out to her again.
‘Millie? Is something wrong?’
She swung back to face him. There was so much she wanted to say, but she couldn’t find the words. Instead all her frustration crystallised on the one thing she could say.
‘Your men have vandalised the ornamental fountain.’
He looked taken aback. ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘They’ve carved their initials in the stone. It’s ruined.’
‘Ah.’
There was something about the way he said it. ‘You knew!’ Millie accused.
‘Yes, I’d noticed. I meant to talk to you …’
‘How could you?’ she cut him off. ‘How could you let them do it?’
‘I can explain—’
‘I trusted you. I welcomed you into my home and this – this is how you repay me!’
‘Millie, please.’ He spoke quietly, but there was something about the firm way he said it that silenced her. ‘You’re right, I did notice what had happened to the fountain, and I was going to talk to you about it. It’s become a bit of a tradition, you see. When one of the men doesn’t come home, the others carve his initials in the stone and the date so they can remember him. It’s supposed to be a mark of respect, not vandalism.’
‘I—’ Millie opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again.
‘But I do understand how you feel,’ William went on. ‘I promise I’ll tell the men to stop doing it. And I’ll get someone from the Works Squadron to come and replace the stonework.’
No, she wanted to say. Just leave it. I’m sorry. But instead the words that came out were, ‘See that you do.’
She started to
walk off. She heard William call out her name again, but she ignored him, trying to put as much distance between herself and her scalding embarrassment as possible.
She’d done it again. Stupid, stupid Millie, getting everything wrong …
There was a commotion coming from the Lodge. As she drew closer, Millie could hear Henry’s voice, shrieking in excitement, and Nanny Perks’s stern tones as she tried to calm him down.
‘What’s going on?’ she called out as she opened the door. Henry escaped Nanny Perks’s clutches and rushed to greet her. ‘Mama, look! Look!’
He dragged her into the sitting room. ‘Careful, darling,’ Millie laughed, ‘you’ll pull me over …’
She stopped dead. There, in the corner of the sitting room, was the biggest and most beautiful Christmas tree she had ever seen, its branches weighed down by baubles and decorations. It was so tall it scraped the ceiling, filling the drawing room with the fresh scent of pine needles.
Millie stared at it. ‘Where did it come from?’
‘The airmen brought it, Your Ladyship,’ the maid told her quietly. ‘Squadron Leader Tremayne said they wanted to do it, to thank you for being so kind and welcoming to them.’
Henry swung from her hand, unable to stay still in his excitement. ‘It’s magic, isn’t it, Mama?’
‘Yes, darling. It is magic.’ Millie smiled at him automatically, but her thoughts were elsewhere.
Stupid, stupid Millie had got it wrong again.
Chapter Fifteen
JESS HEARD THE children screaming in the darkness, long before she reached the ward.
The Fever Wards were situated on the far side of the hospital, beyond the other outbuildings, so far from the main building they might as well have been in the next village.
Jess had been put on the children’s whooping cough ward. She had got used to her solitary life; snatching a few hours’ sleep at the Nurses’ Home if the circling planes overhead and Home Sister’s strict housekeeping routine allowed, then tramping the two miles to the hospital along blacked-out country lanes. Occasionally Sulley might give her a lift in his horse and cart, if he was feeling charitable.
Nightingales Under the Mistletoe Page 11
