Walter’s mother sat up in the chair, growing increasingly excited about her impromptu campaign.
“She’ll never agree to that, Mama,” Walter rebutted. “We would be changing her into someone she’s not.”
“If she loves you, she will. She’ll know she’s not being changed and that you do not want to change her. She is merely learning respectability. She can do, say, and wear whatever she likes in private. This is the only way it will work, Walter. You must understand that. You cannot marry her as she is and toss her into the lion’s den. They would tear her apart and besmirch us all in the process. Need I remind you, titled men do not marry illegitimate women.”
Walter pinched his thigh, hoping to wake himself from this nightmare.
That night, Walter lay awake, staring at the wooden canopy of the four-poster bed. The impossibility of the task ahead daunted him. It was not his mother’s improvised plan that concerned him so much as Lilith’s feelings towards him.
Had she been legitimate, as he previously thought, courtship was relatively simple—build a foundation of mutual attraction and find love along the way. Marriage first, then love. His greatest battle had been to convince her to leave her old life in which she appeared content, independent, and proudly stable. But now, the situation was far more complicated. She would not just be leaving behind her old life. She would be participating in a grand cover-up wherein success depended on her ability to fit into the very world she resisted.
How the devil was he to convince her he was worth it?
He could not walk up to her and propose, not now. She knew better than he the complications that lay ahead. Though she had been receptive to his flirtations, she had resisted them from the start. It all made sense now. She had resisted because she knew he was an impossibility.
That was the first hurdle, the tallest hurdle—Lilith. As his mother pointed out, Lilith would only take on such a monumental task of learning to live in Society, not to mention living a lie, if she loved him. Well, she did not love him. She was not even infatuated. She was… what? Curious? Attracted? Yes, certainly attracted.
Attraction was a far cry from love, and love would have to come before marriage. She had to fall so deeply in love with him that she would feel him worth sacrificing her old life, worth changing to fit Society’s expectations, worth living as the legitimate sister of an earl despite the risks of discovery.
How the devil was he going to get her to fall in love with him?
Early the next morning, Walter stood in Lord Roddam’s library. He wrung his hands behind his back, far more nervous than he should be after spending a month in the casual company of the earl. The man himself stood with his shoulder against the stone of the window alcove. His arms were crossed, his ankles crossed, and his head bowed. Not a good reaction, Walter thought.
“It has taken me over two decades to find my sister. Now, you come to me and ask my permission to haul her off to Devon?” Roddam said with a menacing growl.
Walter squeezed his hands so tightly his knuckles popped. Wincing, he said, “That’s not quite what I asked. I only ask permission to court her. Officially.”
“A man only courts a woman for one reason, marriage. Unless you’re planning a long-distance marriage, the inevitable conclusion would be hauling her off to Devon. Four hundred miles away from me.”
Walter cleared his throat. “Yes. Ultimately. If she’ll have me.”
Roddam growled again.
They stood in silence, Walter feeling a bead of sweat trickle down his brow. By Jupiter, he was like a schoolboy facing the headmaster.
Then Roddam barked a laugh. Walter nearly jumped out of his shoes. The man turned from the window, a wide smile replacing the formidable scowl, his arms uncrossed and outstretched to embrace his companion. In swift strides, Roddam hugged Walter.
“I’d be honored to have you as a brother-in-law rather than a cousin-in-law. I’ve no idea why you asked my permission, but I’m happy you did. She’s well beyond her majority and needs no one’s permission but her own. You do realize she’s three and thirty? Only two years younger than you? She’s not some green girl you’d meet in London. All the same, I appreciate that you respect me enough to ask.” Roddam invited Walter to take a seat by the fire which burned a low blaze despite the temperate morning. “I suspect my permission isn’t the only reason you’re here.”
“I’m under no illusion she’ll accept my advances. I do think, if it’s not conceited to say, she has an affection for me. I don’t know if affection is enough.” Walter crossed a leg over the other and clasped his hands in his lap.
“Have you spoken to her since dinner?”
Walter shook his head. He suspected she was breaking her fast in the morning room at that very moment. As hungry as he was, he had chosen to speak to Roddam instead. It was not that he was avoiding her, or at least that was what he told himself. It was more that he was not ready to face her. He needed a plan to convince her. Dashed if he knew what plan, though.
“I don’t know my sister’s mind,” Roddam said. “She’s as much a mystery to me as she is to you. However, I would hazard to guess she will see you in a far better light when she learns you’re not bothered by the circumstances of her birth. You aren’t, are you?”
“Not in the least. It does complicate the situation, however.”
“I don’t see why it should. She’s my sister. She was raised by my mother as her legitimate daughter. No one outside of immediate family knows the truth, and it’s my own fault for telling her the truth. She would have been none the wiser. As far as I’m concerned, she is legitimate, and I’ll not listen to any words to the contrary. She’s her own worst enemy, for it is only she who cares.”
“But what of your aunt, the dowager duchess? So adamant against Lilith, she refused to call on you.”
Roddam grunted. “Who gives a damn what she says or thinks.”
“Society does.”
Roddam clasped his hands behind his head. “For what it’s worth, I would call her a liar to the whole of the aristocracy, but I don’t suppose that’s the answer you’re looking for.” He stared up at the coved ceiling. “She’s a crusty old bat, and I’ve not the first clue what my wife sees in her. If anyone can talk to her, Liz can.”
“Do you think she can be convinced to stay silent? It doesn’t mean she has to accept Lilith as her niece, but at least not cut her?”
“No idea. As I said, Liz and her get on. All else fails, to the devil with her,” Roddam said.
“And what of Lilith’s birth mother? Who was she? Are they in touch? Could she be someone to step forward and call out Lilith as illegitimate?” Walter asked.
“Deuces, Collingwood. Your mind has been calculating since dinner. You’re quite determined to marry her, then?”
“If she’ll have me.”
Roddam nodded. “Never would have thought the two of you would get on. Pardon my saying this, but I had thought you opposites. Pay no mind to me. I’m just the boorish brother without a romantic bone in my body.”
Walter chuckled and waited for his companion to answer his questions. When no answer seemed forthcoming, he gave a verbal nudge. “Her mother?”
“Ah, yes. That. No idea about her either.”
Walter slumped in his chair. Roddam was not being as helpful as he had hoped. This was not an issue that could be swept under the rug.
Roddam shrugged and added, “As far as we’ve pieced together from the letters between her mother and my father, her mother was the coachman’s daughter. Lily Chambers was her name. Only a young girl at the time, well under the age of consent but fancied herself in love. Left Lilith in a basket on the doorstep. Somewhere between their tryst and the abandonment, my father married my mother. My mother took Lilith in and raised her as her own. I was born a few months later. Granted, all the servants would have known, but they were loyal, and by n
ow most have passed. I’ve no idea what became of Lily Chambers. Never cared to find out. If the woman cared, she would have sought out Lilith years ago.”
“She might have tried but not succeeded.”
How had he not thought to question the name? He had never given her name much thought before to be honest. Lilith Chambers. He had thought it a name the orphanage gave her after being sent by a father who no longer wanted her. The truth had stared him in the face the whole time.
Roddam frowned. “And I suppose you want me to investigate her birth mother’s whereabouts? Ensure she won’t cause trouble?”
“At least discover her whereabouts.” For what purpose, Walter could not say, but it seemed sensible.
“I don’t see her as a threat. She abandoned her baby and was never seen again. Should my sister accept you, she wouldn’t even be Lilith Chambers anymore. If the woman tried to find her, it would make for a difficult search.”
“What evidence is there that she’s illegitimate? And for that matter, is there anything that could prove she’s legitimate?”
“My word,” said Roddam. “Ah, but I know what you mean.” He scratched then stroked his chin, lost in thought for a moment. “I don’t believe anyone will look into her past. They’ll be satisfied enough with the gossip that my sister is alive, that you’re no longer available, and that you thumbed your nose at all the young hopefuls for an older woman, the long-thought-dead sister of a recluse. Gossip enough for an entire Season. No one will question her legitimacy.”
Roddam took a deep breath and crossed his arms over his chest. “If you’re this concerned, know that I burned the only evidence of her illegitimacy, namely the letters from her birth mother. I don’t know what records my parents might have kept once they took her in, but I’ll do some digging. Peace of mind and all that, eh? From my perspective, your only enemy in this situation is Lilith. She’s the one determined to see herself as a bastard born on the wrong side of the blanket. All I see is my sister. Seems to me it’s you who has the proud honor of convincing her of that fact.”
Chapter 11
“You can’t hide here all day,” Lizbeth said in reproach.
“I’m not hiding. I’m spending time with my niece and sister-in-law.”
Rocking Freya, Liz said, “And you’re hiding.”
Lilith busied herself by pouring them a fresh cuppa and choosing a few delectable breakfast items. Walter would be enjoying his breakfast in the morning room, she supposed unwittingly. It was not that she was avoiding him so much as she was not ready to face him. Guilt, shame, regret, and longing encapsulated her feelings.
As though understanding Lilith’s wish to change the subject, Lizbeth said without preamble, “Papa and Sebastian are going to the coal mine site today. Sebastian hasn’t seen it in weeks.” Kissing Freya’s forehead, she added, “He’s been the teensiest bit distracted by his new role as a father.”
It still amazed Lilith to see Sebastian with Freya. All her memories of him were as a young boy. From the moment she arrived at the orphanage, she had clung to those memories until life and time made her question everything she thought she remembered, including him. By the time she reached her majority, she had all but forgotten him except in dreams. There were moments over the past year when she would look at him with confusion, as though she expected to see a boy standing before her rather than a grown man with a family of his own. How remarkable was time?
She grimaced to realize Lizbeth had been talking while she reminisced.
“Papa is helping him with mining methods. I love seeing the two of them together. Sebastian never had a father figure, not a good one, that is. Not that I expect him to see my Papa as a father figure, but I do wonder if he might…in time.”
“Will your father visit every summer?” Lilith bit into a breakfast roll, savoring the buttery flavor and smooth texture before licking the bits that clung to the corners of her mouth.
When she returned to Allshire, she would miss such decadence. Something so simple had come to mean much to her. The morning hot chocolate would be especially missed. Hannah’s company and expertise when dressing, hot baths, abundance at every meal, tea trays she did not have to prepare herself, and, oh, the list went on with the simple pleasures she had enjoyed more than she expected or deserved.
“Nothing has been decided,” Lizbeth said in answer to Lilith’s question, “but Papa is considering a move north.”
Lilith looked at her sister-in-law in surprise. “Here? But what of his home? What of his mine?”
“The hall will be Walter’s one day, by way of the entailment, but the mine is Papa’s to do with as he wishes. He’s undecided, but he’s considering either selling it or willing it to his grandchildren while a manager oversees the daily tasks. I believe he’s leaning towards the latter, for if he hired an experienced steward, the man could live at the hall while overseeing the mine, ensuring all was well tended in Papa’s absence.”
“There’s an entailment?” Lilith stared at Lizbeth, confused. “I thought they only followed the male line. I don’t mean to pry, but I don’t know of any cases of entailments that go to a daughter’s son. Then, I’ve never left Allshire other than to visit you, so pardon my country ignorance.”
“Don’t be silly! You’re not prying or ignorant. But are you prepared to hear family gossip?” Liz said with a teasing smile.
Lilith leaned forward, nodding, ever curious. She was not a lover of gossip, on principle, but… Lizbeth’s family embroiled in gossip? How could she resist?
“I don’t know the details, but I’ve pieced together a thing or two over the years. Apparently,” Lizbeth began, leaning towards her conspiratorially and reaching a hand to touch Lilith’s arm, “my grandfather was quite desperate to wed my Aunt Hazel to Lord Collingwood’s son and heir, Harold Hobbs. He was willing to make an attractive settlement to help persuade the match. At first, he only agreed to make will provisions for any children of the union but there were promises of continued fortune through the years. Well, years later—Walter would have already been born and well into childhood—my parents began to court. There was some sort of stratagem concerning my grandfather wanting Papa to secure the Teague’s tin mine, but in the process, Papa fell in love with the mine owner’s daughter. My grandfather was infuriated by the match and threatened to cast him off without a penny should Papa pursue her—or so says Papa, and he’s known to exaggerate.”
Lizbeth paused for a taste of her tea, Freya sleeping soundly in the crook of her arm.
“Well, when Papa defied him, Grandpapa sought revenge by arranging with his solicitor an entailment—to be enacted in the event Papa marry Miss Elizabeth Teague—with the settlement being any male descendent of the female line, namely Walter. A fee tail female is all but unheard of, for why would someone want their property to end up in the hands of their daughter’s husband? Well, when Papa did marry my mother, the entailment was legally enacted. This strengthened the friendship between Grandpapa and Lord Collingwood while disinheriting my father’s children, should they be girls.”
Lilith covered her mouth in a silent gasp.
“I do wonder if Grandpapa only meant it as a show of disapproval, never expecting Papa to go through with the marriage, and even if he did, never expecting Papa not to have an heir. But that’s me giving Grandpapa more credit than he might deserve. And so, Walter is heir to the Trethow family home and fortune. To make amends, for years, Aunt Hazel pressed a match between Walter and me so that I could keep my family home. You see how much either of us fancied that idea,” she said with a laugh.
When Lizbeth stopped talking, leaning back in her chair to reposition Freya who had begun to stir, Lilith realized she had scooted to the edge of her own seat, a half-eaten bread roll forgotten in her hand, so ensconced was she in the tale.
From all Walter had told her during their many conversations, his parents had been deeply infa
tuated, and thus, he had grown up in a house of love and happiness, but had it not been a love match from the start? Hazel’s desire for Walter to marry for love seemed all the more poignant if she had not done so herself, at least not in the beginning.
There was, however, more to a happy marriage than love.
Not that she was thinking of either love or marriage. And certainly not with Walter.
“If you’d be so kind,” Lizbeth added, “best not mention any of that to Walter or Hazel. Family gossip and all. And besides, what I know comes from Papa, so I’m not altogether certain how much Hazel knows about Grandpapa’s financial courtship of Lord Collingwood and his son, or how much she would want others to know. Aside from there being an entailment, we’ve never spoken about how it came to be.”
Lilith placed her hand over her heart and smiled.
“And so,” Lilith said, “Mr. Trethow is thinking of moving here to spoil his granddaughter on a full-time basis.”
“Yes, he’s considering it. There’s nothing for him in Cornwall other than the mine and memories. Both Charlotte and I are here. We’re not like other families, as I’m sure you’ve gathered, where the woman is seen as a burden to unload. No, we are quite close-knit. Oh, Lilith, I do hope he’ll make the move. I can’t stand the thought of him being alone.”
They talked afterwards about any number of things that did not involve Walter, but as distracting as the conversation was, Lilith could think of little else.
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