The Duchess and the Dreamer

by Jenny Frame

  Clementine could see why Evan liked powerful women. It was obvious who was in charge in the Fox family. She was sitting with Cassia on the couch in the drawing room while Evan got the village plans so they could show her parents.

  “Are you enjoying working with Evan?” Cassia asked.

  “Yes, it’s a lot of fun. She’s so exuberant in all that she does. It really lifts the whole office.”

  Cassia pointed over to Donny, who was trying to get to grips with Fox Toys’ new app. “I think you can tell who she gets that from. I try my best to keep their feet on the ground. I’m sure you do that with Evan.”

  Clementine laughed. “There have been times when she needed some grounding. One day she got quite down because she had too many ideas—her brain was working too fast.”

  “Yes.” Cassia sighed. “That happens, but I’m glad she had you to help her.”

  “Evan’s been kind to me and everyone in this village. She’s kind, considerate, a gentlewoman.”

  Cassia put her coffee cup down on the table. “My daughter is very keen on you, Clem.”

  Clementine didn’t know what to say. There was a part of her that thought Evan’s attention was just a lot of flirtation, but she had obviously talked to her mother about her.

  “I like Evan very much too,” Clementine replied.

  “It’s more than like for her, so if you don’t feel the same way, be careful with her heart. She’s never had a long-term girlfriend or anything serious. She always bought in to the love story that her dad told her about us. She’s waited, and you seem to be the one she wants, so if you don’t feel the same, then don’t play along if you don’t mean it.”

  Clementine was quite taken aback. Evan had never had a long-term girlfriend. So this was serious to her. These feelings they had for each other were serious.

  “I won’t, I care about her too, I just—” Clementine was interrupted by Evan bounding into the room.

  “I’ve got them.” Evan held up the folded-up plans.

  “Did you get the photos from my suitcase?” Cassia asked.

  “Right here, Mum.” Evan handed them to her mother.

  “I brought some pictures of our family days out here in Rosebrook when Evan was a child. I thought it would be nice to look at them.”

  “That would be lovely. I imagine Evan was the cutest little girl.”

  Evan laid the plans down on the coffee table. “Hey, baby pictures after the plans. You don’t need to embarrass me yet, Mum.”

  Donny and Cassia sat side by side to see the plans, and Evan knelt down by the coffee table.

  “Okay, so the main things are housing, obviously. The refurb plans have been altered to Clem’s suggestion of making them reflect the cottages’ history and position in the village.”

  Evan pointed to each section of the housing units. “We have the Seascape Houses, the Woodlanders Cottages—”

  “Great name,” Donny interrupted.

  “Thanks, Dad.” Evan grinned. “And the Countryside Cottages. We are getting applications for our new community online—”

  Clementine added, “We’ve had a lot of interest already, Evan. We’ll need to start going through them soon.”

  “Absolutely. So, we have likeminded people who want to live here, who want to build a better community, a safe, inclusive community. Each house will have a wind turbine and a battery power cell, to cut consumption of electricity from the grid. How did the trust members take the news about the turbines, Clem?” Evan had figured maybe the turbine news would go over better coming from Clem.

  “Like I did at the beginning. Then I appealed to their finer nature and told them that their bill would halve. They seemed more inclined after that.”

  Evan nodded happily and went back to the plans. “Of course we need employment, and we’ll have the shop, and the pub, but the main sources of employment will be the beer factory and the toy factory. Dad, I told you about my plans to make toys and sensory equipment here in the village.”

  “Yes, fantastic idea. Making toys right here in Britain. Back to your great-great-grandfather’s days.”

  “And what about conservation of the plants and wildlife of Rosebrook?” her mother asked.

  Evan knew that would be upmost in her mother’s mind. “This big area of land here is going to be a bee garden.”

  “Wonderful,” her mother said. “Bees are vital to our food supplies.”

  “Yup, we have it all in hand, Mum. Don’t worry. Once we have the community set up and residents moved in, we’ll have teams of people looking after the hedgerows, litter picking, animal welfare volunteers…”

  Clementine leaned forward and pointed to a big space on the map. “We wanted to turn this area into allotments so the villagers can grow their own organic produce, and we’re keeping the army barracks as a piece of social history, but we’re not quite sure what to do with them yet.”

  “What do you think, Mum, Dad?” Evan asked.

  “It’s fantastic,” her father said. “In fifty years’ time there will be Fox eco villages the world over.”

  “Let them finish one first, Donny. I think it’s brave, it’s bold, and I’m very proud of you, munchkin. You too, Clementine. It couldn’t have been easy to see your village taken over like this.”

  Clem smiled at Evan, and Evan could feel her heart pounding hard.

  “Maybe not at first, but the more I got to know Evan, the more I knew this was something special.”

  “Evan’s always been a special kid,” her mother said. “Let me show you her holiday pictures.” She lifted the pictures, and Evan’s heart sank. Now she was going to be embarrassed.

  * * *

  Evan felt her cheeks flush with heat and held her hands over her eyes, as her mum and Clementine laughed and awwed at Evan’s childhood pictures.

  “Oh, she’s so cute!” Clementine said.

  “I know,” her mother said. “That was taken outside the ruined cottages at the beginning of the village, I think, and that T-shirt with the dog on it was her favourite. I couldn’t get her out of the thing. It had a squeaker in it, you see. She was constantly pressing her chest. Squeak, squeak, squeak, it went day and night.”

  “Oh God.” Evan looked to her dad for support. “Dad? Mum’s ruining my cool dapper image.”

  “Well, you were cute. The cutest child in all the world.” Her dad grinned with pride.

  Her mother went on, “Of course, that was the only T-shirt she wanted to keep on. The rest of the time she wanted to run around with no top on, like a boy.”

  “Right, that’s it.” Evan got up and made her way over to the couch. “No more, Mum. It’s embarrassing.”

  Clementine took her hand and pulled her down beside her. “Oh, stop it. I’m enjoying seeing these. You’re such a cutie.”

  “It’s the beach photos next,” her mother said as she passed them one by one to Clementine.

  “Look, Evan. Here’s one of you playing in the World War II gun placements. What’s that you’ve got in your hand?”

  Evan sighed. She would just have to go with it. “A large stick I’m using as a rifle. Mum didn’t allow me toy guns when I was little, so I improvised.”

  “I don’t know why I bothered banning toys of violence, because anything she picked up, she turned into a weapon,” her mother said.

  Evan squirmed for a few more photos, her mum and Clementine loving every embarrassing image, until one made Clementine go quiet.

  “What’s wrong, Clem?”

  “I don’t believe it. Can I see the other ones of the beach, Cassia?” Clementine asked.

  Clementine looked at the next five photos, and they were all the same. A young Evan was building sandcastles, playing with a beach ball, and paddling in the water, and all the time a younger version of herself was sitting feet away, in her favourite spot.

  She gave the first picture to Evan and pointed. “It’s me. I’m in your beach photos.”

  “You’re kidding,” Evan said with shock.


  “I’m not, and look at this one. I caught your beach ball and was throwing it back for you.”

  “That is astonishing,” Cassia said.

  “It’s fate, kids.” Donny’s comment was what Clementine was hearing in her heart.

  Just then there was a loud crack of thunder. The evening had become surreal.

  * * *

  Evan walked back into the drawing room after escorting the waitstaff and her housekeeper out to their cars. She had dispensed with her dinner jacket and undone the buttons on her waistcoat.

  Clementine was sitting alone on the couch. Her parents had discreetly withdrawn to their bedroom for the night.

  “Well, that’s them off. It’s bucketing down out there, and the thunder is still going strong,” Evan said.

  “Fergus said the river was high. We’ll need to be careful.”

  “I’ll get some of the builders to put some sandbags along the river just in case.” Evan clapped her hands together. “Now for a drink. What can I get you?”

  “A small brandy, I think. I need it. I’m still in shock,” Clementine said.

  Evan poured out the drinks and brought them over to the couch. “It just goes to show we were meant to meet.”

  She gave Clementine her drink and sat down, slipping her arm along the back of the couch, like a teenage kid at the cinema.

  “Do you believe in fate?” Clementine asked.

  Evan nodded. “I think so. I mean, everything about my life has been leading up to this. I’ve always been connected to Rosebrook. Life has always been pushing me here. Maybe Isadora wanted me here to finish her work and meet you.”

  “I’ve never really believed in fate, but those pictures, you coming here—it’s, I don’t know, there feels like there is a reason.” Clementine looked over to the rug in front of the fire. “You know, I used to lie there on the rug colouring and drawing. It was a nice safe place.”

  Evan wanted to get closer to Clementine to pick up where they’d left off before she went back to London. She had to be brave.

  Before she could say anything, Clementine said, “I finished your essay.”

  “Really, what did you think?” Evan asked.

  “It was very good. I saw a different side to Isadora, the young idealist side to her. I think I would like to have known her then, before she got lost in pursuing her dream at all costs. She reminds me of Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick with her relentlessness to make this place work.”

  Evan put down her drink and moved closer. “Do you think you have a little more sympathy towards her?”

  “Maybe. She made mistakes and was unlucky. Her cause might have been noble—to bring affordable housing to the masses—but somewhere along the way she forgot about us, her family.”

  Evan stroked her fingertips down Clementine’s cheek, making her shiver. “I would never forget about you, Clem.”

  Clementine bit her lip, and Evan’s heart thundered like the storm outside. She’d been dreaming of those lips and couldn’t hold herself back any longer. She leaned in to Clementine’s lips and whispered, “I think you’re my destiny.”

  Clementine closed the space between them and kissed her, pulling at her bow tie and undoing her shirt collar, and it was Evan’s turn to shiver as Clementine gently scratched the skin around her collarbone.

  Their kiss became fervent, and as their passion mounted, lightning lit up the room, and a huge crack of thunder crashed. The lights went out in an instant and Clementine pulled away.

  “What happened?”

  “I don’t know,” Evan replied, “but every time I try to kiss you, something interrupts us. Let me go and check the fuse box.”

  “I’ll come with you. I don’t like the dark.”

  Evan held her hand out. “Come on, m’lady. I’ll keep you safe.”

  She used the torch on her iPhone to check the fuse box down in the kitchen. “Everything seems fine. It must be the stormy weather has brought down the electrical lines or something. We can call someone in the morning to get it fixed. You see, this won’t happen when we get the wind turbines and the Powerwalls in each house. We’ll always have backup power then.”

  “Okay, okay. You’ve made your point. I should text the Tucker twins to make sure they’re okay. They were probably already in bed by the time the electricity went out, but I’d just worry if I don’t find out.”

  Clementine quickly typed out a message. She didn’t want to call and disturb them if they were already sleeping.

  As she sent the text, Evan said, “The power from the wind turbine should have kicked in. It must have gotten hit too. Listen, I don’t like the idea of you alone in the gatehouse without power. Why don’t you stay here—in your mother’s room. It is the duchess’s room, after all.”

  Clementine knew Evan made her bedroom in the duke’s room, and there was an interconnecting set of doors between the two. She would feel safe, and she would also be close to Evan.

  She got a message back from Agatha Tucker that they were safe and well, and in bed. “The Tuckers are fine, so yes, I’d like that.”

  Evan’s face lit up with excitement and happiness. “Really? Excellent, I’ll give you something of mine to wear. Let’s go.”

  * * *

  Clementine hung her dress up in the wardrobe and closed the door. Evan had given her a large T-shirt to wear, and it was comfortable.

  There was a knock on the connecting door. “Come in.”

  Evan walked in and hung back by the door. “Are you okay?”

  Clementine saw what Evan was wearing and walked right up to her. “You look adorable, Foxy Loxy.”

  Evan wore a navy-blue pair of sleep shorts with foxes printed on them, and a matching blue T-shirt on top.

  “Thank you,” Evan said. “I always try to look jaunty for every occasion.”

  Clementine took her hand, needing the comfort of her touch.

  “How does it feel to be back here?” Evan said.

  “Strange isn’t the word to describe standing here again. The last time I was here was when I tried to buy the house back from one of the previous developers. I tried to put together a fund among all the remaining distant family members. I thought I had enough, but then my cousin, the one I told you about, pulled out at the last minute.”

  “Bastard. Why would he do that?” Evan asked.

  “It turned out he had been stringing me along. He’s a bitter man, and when my father died, he was extremely disappointed that I inherited, being that he was the only male left. When he called me, he laughed, he actually laughed. I stood in the middle of the floor and cried. My last hope had gone.”

  As she spoke, the tears returned, and Evan pulled her into her arms. “Hey, hey, don’t cry. That excuse for a guy is a complete and utter prick.”

  Clementine grasped Evan’s T-shirt and rubbed her face on her chest. She was so comforting. When Evan was this close to her, Clementine felt safe, and comforted.

  “I think I lost my last bit of hope that day.”

  “But what you didn’t know was that old Foxy Loxy was on her way into your life, to make your village and your home a better place.”

  Clementine chuckled and wiped away her tears. “That’s right. You’ve made me feel hope again, Evan.”

  After they stood there for a while enjoying holding each other, Evan decided to take a chance, just like her dad had told her to.

  “Clem? Would you like to sleep beside me tonight? No funny business, I promise.”

  “How can I resist the lure of those fox sleep shorts?” Clementine joked.

  “No one could,” Evan joked back. “Come on, then.”

  “Where are your parents sleeping? They won’t mind, will they?” Clementine asked.

  “If they had been there when the lights went out, they would have suggested it themselves.”

  Evan pulled Clem by the hand into her bedroom, or the duke’s bedroom, as Clementine would have known it.

  “It’s so much cosier than I remember it,”
Clementine said.

  “Yeah, now the heating is revamped, it’s nice and toasty,” Evan said.

  “It was always cold when we lived here.”

  “You jump in, I’m just going to finish up in the bathroom.” Evan brushed her teeth and sprayed on some cologne. She couldn’t wait to get back to Clementine.

  But she was suddenly nervous when she went back into the bedroom. Her palms were sweaty and her mouth drying up. All those nights alone here, she had been imagining what it would be like to have Clem here, and that moment had finally arrived.

  “Um…shall I put on the TV, or—” Evan smacked her forehead. “I’m forgetting the electricity is out.”

  “That’s okay. I think I’d rather just listen to the rain and thunder, and enjoy your company anyway.”

  Evan slipped into bed and listened to the rain battering the windows. Her nervousness didn’t ease.

  Then out of the darkness Clementine said, “This is nice.”

  “Yeah it is. It’s the first time I’ve gone to bed without the TV on since I left home.”

  Clementine raised herself up on her elbow, her blond hair cascading down her neck. “Why is that?”

  Evan hesitated. Should she tell the truth? It would make her look weak, but she couldn’t look in Clementine’s eyes and lie to her.

  “I hate to be alone.”

  Clementine cupped her cheek, “Oh, my darling.” Then Clem gave her the kind of kiss that made her toes curl.

  Clementine never wanted the kiss to end. Evan’s honest confession made the love and caring she was trying to keep under control flood out. Her hair cascaded onto Evan’s face and Evan grasped it gently and moaned.

  One of the things she loved about Evan was that she was true to herself. If she experienced an emotion, she embraced it and didn’t hold back like she did.

  She pulled away from the kiss and gazed down at Evan. “Don’t ever change, Foxy.”

  Evan stroked the hair away from her eyes and said, “The only thing I want to change is how close I am to you. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and the most graceful. You take every problem life throws at you and don’t complain, but get on with it. You are my dream woman.”