Annabelle: A Regency Romance (The Four Sisters' Series Book 2)

by Audrey Harrison

  Stuart and Frances shared a look of surprise and shock before Stuart gathered himself enough to instruct that his mother should be brought in.

  “You told your mother where we were?” Frances hissed when the butler left the room.

  “No! I haven’t answered her letter yet,” Stuart whispered urgently. “I respected Lady Stannage’s request to have our presence in the area unknown. How on earth has she found us here?”

  A fierce looking Mrs Adams hobbled into the drawing room, taking in the scene of normality before her. She glared at her son before raising herself to her full height, which was not very tall, but intimidating nonetheless.

  “I would like to know the reason why, after over one year’s absence, my son is staying but four miles from his own home at the same time I am writing him letters and posting them to an address in Carlisle!”

  “Hello, Mother. It is lovely to see you,” Stuart said, stalling for time while he thought of a reasonable excuse his mother would believe.

  “Mrs Adams, you’d better sit down; it’s a long story,” Frances said resignedly, knowing anything but the truth was pointless at this stage.

  Chapter 14

  Mrs Adams sat heavily in a chair and, while Frances was preparing her tea, Stuart asked how she found out they were residing so close.

  “I was on my weekly visit to Mrs Walcott,” Mrs Adams explained. “You know I can suffer only a certain amount of time in her company. As I was leaving, Doctor Southern was announced on his own weekly visit. If Mrs Walcott died, Doctor Southern would see a quarter of his income disappear. I’m sure she keeps him in business. Imagine my surprise when he said how well you were looking and saying how pleased I must be to have you so near!”

  Stuart turned to Frances. “I never thought to ask for his discretion; I presumed it was all part of the service,” he said with a grimace.

  Frances saw Mrs Adams’s expression and decided to intervene. “Annabelle did not wish anyone to know we were here,” she explained.

  “Not even Rosalind?” Mrs Adams asked in surprise.

  “No-one; she was very firm in her request.”

  Mrs Adams’s eyes narrowed at the information. “She hasn’t been in contact with Rosalind?”

  “No,” Frances said confidently.

  “You’d better explain what’s been going on; something is obviously amiss,” Mrs Adams said firmly.

  “It’s nothing to do with us, Mother,” Stuart said.

  “When two sisters who are virtually inseparable are no longer in touch, and a married couple return to an area soon after their wedding and don’t announce it to friends and family, something is not right. Tell me what has been going on before an even bigger mess is created.”

  Frances told Mrs Adams everything that had happened even about when Annabelle had realised she was in love with Frederick. When she finished the story with what had happened in the household that morning, Mrs Adams tutted to herself, but made no other comment.

  “Please don’t inform the Duke and Duchess yet of Annabelle’s location and what has happened,” Frances said. “I do think Annabelle should contact her sister, but I want her agreement first; I don’t think it would be fair to Annabelle to send for her sister when she is in no danger.”

  “I agree; somehow it would make matters worse,” Mrs Adams said thoughtfully. “They seem to have got themselves into a real muddle, but in a way it does make some sense.”

  “I’m glad it does to you!” Stuart said. “For me it has seemed that two reasonable people have gone mad!”

  “Pah! You always did like dramatics!” Mrs Adams scoffed.

  Stuart looked at Frances. “She has not seen me for over a year, and this is the welcome I get. Can you see why I stay away now?”

  Frances smiled. “I cannot disagree with her sentiments, so no, I can’t see why you stay away!”

  Mrs Adams chuckled at Stuart’s expression but remained silent. Frances stood. “I need to return to Annabelle. I know she is sleeping soundly, but I feel better when I can sit near her. It is lovely to see you Mrs Adams, and I shall visit on my return, although I’m not sure when that will be. I have promised to accompany Annabelle wherever she goes.”

  “She’s definitely not considering returning to her family?” Mrs Adams asked.

  “No, she is sending herself into the exile that Lord Stannage was prepared to undertake,” Frances responded.

  Mrs Adams pondered until Frances left them alone. She looked at her son when it was clear that Frances would not overhear. “What are you going to do if she accompanies Annabelle abroad?”

  “Find a way to go with her,” Stuart said without hesitation.

  “Good. I thought you might not think it was worth the effort,” Mrs Adams responded.

  “I’ve waited too long not to make every effort,” Stuart said. “She was magnificent when she challenged Lord Stannage. I never expected to witness the way she took him to task.”

  Mrs Adams chuckled, “There is fire in the girl when there needs to be; there certainly is.”

  “Are you going to return home now that your curiosity has been satisfied?” Stuart asked, not wanting Lord Stannage to realise his mother had tracked them down.

  “I shall visit Annabelle briefly and then return home. I hope to see you before you undertake any long journeys.” The words were not a request but an instruction.

  “Of course,” Stuart said. He called for a footman to take his mother to Lady Stannage’s bedchamber and kissed his mother goodbye. It had been good to see her even though it was not in the best of circumstances.

  *

  Mrs Adams walked slowly down the stairs. There was no sign of Stuart, which was just how she wanted it; he would never agree to what she was going to do next, so the less he knew, the better.

  She reached the bottom of the stairs and indicated to the butler to come to her. The staff member did as requested. “Please show me to Lord Stannage’s study and then tell him I wish to see him.”

  A slightly raised eyebrow was the only indication that the butler had been taken by surprise at the request, having been fully expecting a request for her carriage. “I’m afraid Lord Stannage is not receiving visitors today,” the butler responded.

  “Maybe not, but he is going to see me either in his study or in his chamber. I shall let him choose, but I am presuming he would prefer the study,” Mrs Adams said in her usual acerbic way.

  “Yes, madam; if you would follow me,” the butler instructed, leading the way to the study. He was intelligent enough to realise when he was not going to be able to win an argument or intimidate a visitor.

  Many minutes passed before the door to the study opened and a bedraggled Lord Stannage entered the room. His eyes looked sunken, and he looked anything but happy about being forced to do Mrs Adams’s bidding in his own house.

  “Mrs Adams, please say what you wish to see me about and then excuse me; I have no time to spare,” came the short welcome.

  “No time to save your marriage and, from the look of you, your sanity?” Mrs Adams asked.

  “I do not wish to appear rude, but my marriage has absolutely nothing to do with you. I am heartily sick of people presuming they know what is best for me,” Frederick snapped.

  “I don’t particularly care what is best for you, but the safety of that young woman is my concern. I may not be a relative, but I like her, and I recognise someone who is afraid and in trouble when I see it,” Mrs Adams responded, her tone matching Frederick’s.

  “My actions this morning were a moment of madness; I shall not be repeating them,” Frederick replied with a sigh. There was no point in presuming she did not know what had gone on. He would be having words with Stuart when he finally got rid of Mrs Adams.

  Frederick’s words caused the old woman to wave her hand dismissively. “I’m not talking about that,” she started. “I’m talking about what went on before she even met you.”

  Frederick did not want to care, but he glanced at Mrs A
dams and saw the firm set of her lips. He cursed his own weakness at needing to understand why Annabelle had done what she had and took a seat opposite Mrs Adams. “You are not going to leave without having your say are you?” he asked, defeated.

  “No, I just hope you listen to me,” Mrs Adams said, her tone more gentle now the first hurdle was over.

  “It won’t change anything, but I will listen,” Frederick said.

  “That is up to you. At least I will have tried,” Mrs Adams said. “Did Rosalind and Peter talk to you about Annabelle before you’d met her?”

  “No, you were the one to introduce us,” Frederick replied.

  “Um, yes that’s right; I did. Well. Rosalind did say a lot to me about her sister. She has had to be a mother to the three younger girls; she was close to them as a sister but also had some parental pride and responsibility towards them. She was determined that they would not marry strangers as she had.”

  “Yes, that much was made clear when she abandoned her home to try and prevent Annabelle marrying me,” Frederick said.

  “Rosalind said Annabelle was the mischievous one, the one to get into all sorts of trouble as a child because of the schemes she thought up. Of the four of them, Annabelle was the fiery one. When I first met Annabelle I had a problem with that description,” Mrs Adams said.

  “Why?” Frederick asked.

  “What did Annabelle strike you as, apart from her beauty?” Mrs Adams asked drily.

  Frederick thought back to those first meetings. “She was polite, quiet, I suppose; she wasn’t shy. It’s hard to describe, because she was vivacious. But not. If that makes any sense?”

  “It does,” Mrs Adams said. “I’d known her for a little while before you were introduced. She was nervous, withdrawn even. There was no fire or mischief about her. In fact I’d go so far as to say she was like a scared rabbit hiding in the burrow but expecting to be exposed at any moment.”

  “I’m not surprised after what she told me this morning,” Frederick said bitterly.

  “What did she reveal?” Mrs Adams asked.

  Frederick looked uncomfortable; he had been hurt by Annabelle’s words more than anything else that had gone on in his life before. Comments about his eyes seemed irrelevant after the effect of Annabelle’s revelation, but his nature was not cruel. He knew she would face censure if he revealed what she had said.

  “I don’t think it is fair of me to repeat that; if Annabelle wishes to tell you, she will; although, if she spoke the truth, she stated that no one else knew,” he eventually said.

  Mrs Adams paused before speaking. “It is worse than I thought, the poor child,” she said with feeling.

  Frederick was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable. Mrs Adams was sensible and worldly; he doubted she would be taken in by anyone easily. For the first time, he was beginning to suspect there was more to Annabelle than he thought.

  Mrs Adams sighed and continued. “I often thought she clung to Annie as if she were drowning, and Annie would save her. It was as if she wanted to absorb Annie’s innocence, as if she was soothed by it. Goodness me, why did no one else notice that there was something amiss!”

  “What are you saying?” Frederick asked, suddenly wary of what he was going to hear.

  “Did Annabelle ever say anything to you that you thought strange? Any words that seemed inappropriate for the setting?”

  Frederick flushed a little. “She said that anything more than kissing made her feel ill; she assured me it was nothing to do with me but, of course, I didn’t believe her,” he admitted. He paused and frowned, thinking back over their time together. “She did say a few times I made her feel safe. I promised her I would not hurt her and she thanked me for it.”

  “She told you that you made her feel safe. Her family life, although not perfect, would not make an outsider think she would need to be kept safe would it?” Mrs Adams probed, trying to make Frederick see what she had suspected.

  “No, they seem like a close-knit group, the sisters anyway,” Frederick admitted.

  “Yes, and yet something happened that she could not confide in any of those sisters, something that made her wary every time she met a new gentleman. Did you not notice how uncomfortable she was when she first met you?”

  “Yes, but that isn’t unusual in my experience,” Frederick said with a rueful smile.

  Mrs Adams shook her head. “The ridiculous condemnation of my peers never fails to astound me. I could live another hundred years, and I still would not understand it.”

  “You are uncommon in your opinions,” Frederick said with a shrug. “I just presumed Annabelle reacted as others did. When she came into the study, it did seem she was trying to escape; that was the thing that really drew me to her: we were both trying to find solace.”

  “And yet on the face of it, she had nothing to escape from: young, pretty, rich, supported, a loving family. Why would she want to escape, to need to feel safe?” Mrs Adams asked.

  “I have no idea,” Frederick admitted.

  “I have a suspicion,” Mrs Adams said with a frown. “What I am going to tell you I have no proof off, so don’t go dashing off and make a fool of yourself and potentially ruin your wife in the process.”

  “Go on,” Frederick said, the feeling of dread building inside.

  “Rosalind received a letter from her father that said he had chosen a man to take over the business. It was important to him to find the right person. I admit that I’d never seen Rosalind so angry; she had spoken to Annabelle who had told her that her father had said to this so-called gentleman that he could chose whichever daughter he wished,” Mrs Adams recalled.

  Frederick inhaled sharply, jealousy flaring, even after all that had happened. “And he chose Annabelle,” he said dully.

  “Nothing so simple,” Mrs Adams continued. “Annabelle told Rosalind that he was a cruel man and only by demanding to see Rosalind as previously promised was Annabelle able to leave home for a while. Rosalind had been surprised at how insistent Annabelle had been that her younger sister who was still at home should come to visit.”

  “When I was introduced to Annabelle, I thought she was different to the way she had been described, but my confusion increased the more I saw of her,” Mrs Adams said, her voice betraying how much she pitied Annabelle. “There is really only one way Annabelle would know that the gentleman her father was promoting was cruel, and that is if something had happened between them. Your description of the little that Annabelle hinted at to you and the fact that she tried to avoid relations with you once you were married would lead me to suppose he forced himself on her.”

  Frederick gasped. Thinking that Annabelle had shared relations with another was one thing, but that she had been forced into it and had been hurt was something completely different. The burst of anger that exploded in his chest made him jump out of his seat.

  He paced the room trying to process what he had heard with what he already knew. Mrs Adams was right; a young woman, whether in love or not, does not tell her husband he makes her feel safe. She does not discourage him from partaking of intimate moments; if she remained hostile to him, it would ensure her secret stayed safe. Her actions did suggest she had not thought everything through: he had accused her of planning everything when her actions showed that she had not been so considered or calculating.

  He stopped and looked at Mrs Adams. The older woman was right; Annabelle had been hurt badly: he had suspected it weeks ago but had dismissed it. He had not listened, really listened, to what was being said. He had let her down and now she was hurt, physically and emotionally because of him.

  Frederick ground his teeth, standing as if ready to pounce, his fists clutched at his sides. “I am going to kill him!” he growled ominously.

  Chapter 15

  “Sit down!” Mrs Adams demanded.

  Frederick walked across the room. “I can’t; I want to rip someone’s head off!”

  Mrs Adams smiled with some sympathy. “Now is not t
he time; but if my suspicions are correct, I hope you get the opportunity one day. You need to do something far more important first.”

  Frederick eventually sat in his chair, but he was tense and sat upright, stiff like a board. “What am I to do?”

  “Do you care for Annabelle?” Mrs Adams asked. “I don’t mean if you like her a little; I mean is she the one you can’t live without?”

  Frederick looked at Mrs Adams. “I was going to fake my own death to release her from me, but I was seriously considering actually taking my life because until this morning I could not bear the thought of living without her.”

  “Good, because you will need strength over the coming days,” Mrs Adams said.

  “What do I need to do?” Frederick asked, no longer questioning Mrs Adams’s interference.

  “You need to find out what has happened to that poor girl and then prove to her that she is safe and can have a loving relationship. I think she deserves to be happy, don’t you?” Mrs Adams asked.

  “Yes, but I’m not sure how to achieve her trust now. After what happened this morning, she probably never wants to see me again,” Frederick said.

  “I didn’t say it was going to be easy; just do what feels right.”

  “Is that what you do?” Frederick asked with a small smile.

  “No, I know what’s right; it’s just convincing the fools that surround me that is sometimes difficult. Thankfully you have proved to be responsive; it always makes my life much easier,” Mrs Adams retorted, rising from her seat. “I wish you luck and expect your first child to be named after me.”

  “I hope your confidence is not displaced,” Frederick said, leading her out of the door.

  Both were startled when Stuart’s voice was heard above them on the stairs. “Mother, what on earth are you doing still here?” he asked, far sharper than he usually spoke to her.

  “Meddling, what did you think I was doing? And if you take that tone with me again, my boy, I will use this walking stick for a far more destructive purpose!” Mrs Adams responded, before nodding her goodbye to Frederick.