Apple Blossom Bride

by Marina Oliver

  'His old neighbours would surely know something,' her husband said consolingly. 'If there is anything to be discovered, Turner will find it. He's the most efficient man I employ, and if I didn't need him to manage the Staffordshire estate I'd have him here. Besides, I cannot dismiss Mabbott, but he'll be too old to work soon, and then perhaps I'll bring Turner here.'

  Though she did not say so, Rachel did not hold out any hope of Turner finding her uncle. It had been too long, almost twenty years, since they had seen him. Did he even know his sister was dead, and had, since his visit, produced two sons?

  But she had more practical matters to deal with. She had suggested to Eve that she left her new clothes in Upper Brook Street, but now they would not be going to London she might need to make other arrangements. Would Lady Montgomery keep them? Would they be staying in London for the Season, or, after Sir Bernard's latest seizure, might they retreat to the peace of the countryside? Just in case, however, she must send some money to Eve. This was money she would have spent on her sister had they been together. And it was up to Eve, who was after all grown up, to make some suitable arrangements which did not involve permitting their father to destroy gowns he disapproved of.

  *

  Because James had pleaded so earnestly to be allowed to join them, saying it was probably the only time in his life he would experience a frost fair, the Earl planned to take his travelling coach as far as Blackfriars Bridge instead of riding there as he had at first proposed. It was large enough to accommodate them all, although, he warned them, it would be rather a crush. From there to London Bridge the ice was so thick it supported many booths, several printing presses producing commemorative verses and pictures, and, it was rumoured, there was also to be an ox roasting.

  Sir Peter was to meet them in Albemarle Street, to circumvent his mother and Talia, who would demand to be included if they knew of the expedition. When the coach somewhat ponderously drew up outside Sir Bernard's house the door opened and the girls, followed more circumspectly by Sir Peter, Sir Bernard and Caroline, emerged, laughing, to clamber into the carriage.

  To make room for them all the Earl pulled Amelia close to him, his arm round her, while Sir Peter, on the opposite seat, did the same for Eve. James sat on the floor, where a pile of hay kept their feet warm, and chatted excitedly.

  'Papa wouldn't in the least approve of this, would he?' he demanded. 'I wonder where he is now?'

  'It's difficult to get much information,' the Earl said, 'but I have sent word to France that you are here in England. Even if it gets to him, wherever he is, I doubt he'll be able to get back to Herefordshire soon.'

  'The longer he stays away the better,' James said. 'By the time he comes to find me I hope to be safely with some regiment.'

  'Which one?' Eve asked. 'Not in France, I hope?'

  'Justin is going to arrange it. I shall be a volunteer, and it will have to be an infantry regiment, as I have no money for a cavalry one.'

  Eve glanced across at the Earl, and he shook his head slightly, then began to ask what they had heard about the activities on the ice.

  'I hear the watermen are charging people to get onto the ice,' Sir Bernard said. 'I suppose it is the only way the poor fellows can earn while the river is frozen.'

  'They are, I hear, charging to let people come away too,' Caroline said.

  'What happens if someone can't pay? Do they have to stay there, and drown when the ice melts?' James asked.

  Amelia laughed. 'You are a ghoul!'

  'No, I just want to know.'

  'Don't worry,' the Earl said, 'I'll buy your release.'

  When they reached Blackfriars Bridge they saw hundreds of people already on the ice. Many were drinking, some were dancing, others were inspecting the goods available at the brightly decorated booths, where flags and bunting fluttered in the breeze.

  Caroline shivered. 'Will it hold everyone?' she asked. 'Surely the ice will give way?'

  'It is, they say, many feet thick,' Sir Bernard said. 'I'm sure if it can withstand the fires they must light for the sheep and ox roasts it will bear our weight.'

  They clambered out of the coach, James submitted to having wisps of hay brushed from his clothes by Eve, and the coachman was ordered to return in an hour's time.

  'That, I think, will be enough,' the Earl said after they had paid their fees and descended to the ice, where placards announced it was now the City Road. 'Now, what first? A hot drink to warm us?'

  'Chocolate for us all,' Caroline said. 'Isn't that booth somewhere we can shelter?'

  Many of the booths were no more than sails supported on oars and poles, but the wind was keen, and any shelter while they drank the hot chocolate was welcome. They bought gingerbread and nibbled it as they went on, cautiously at first, beginning to explore. Several booths were selling ale or gin, and it was clear a good many of the revellers had been drinking for some time. They were all cheerful, though, inviting others to join them. At one point several men were playing skittles. The Earl's party went to watch the roasting ox, which would not be ready to eat until the following day.

  'But I don't think I will come back to sample it,' Sir Bernard said. 'I cannot imagine it will be cooked all through.'

  James, at first so excited, was starting to look weary. It was the first time he had been outside for longer than half an hour. The Earl, watching him, suggested they start back, for his coach would be waiting for them shortly by the bridge.

  They turned to walk back, and came face to face with Talia and a man Eve recognised as the Earl of Kilkee, an Irish peer she had been introduced to when they had visited the theatre a few days ago, who had, Caroline warned her, a somewhat unsavoury reputation.

  *

  'Talia? Is Mama with you?' Sir Peter demanded, looking round.

  'No, she is still complaining of a headache. I believe she has these headaches just to avoid taking me out. And you were gone, when you should have been attending to your guests.'

  Sir Peter ignored this petulant complaint. 'Nevertheless, you should not be without a chaperone. No young lady goes out alone with a man if she wishes to keep her good reputation.'

  'Nonsense!' Talia glared at him. 'That is such an old-fashioned attitude, but only what I might expect from you. Besides, how can you object when you drive Amelia in the Park, alone.'

  'With my groom,' Peter corrected her.

  'He is a peasant, he does not count. It is sad if I cannot be with a man old enough to be my father.'

  Kilkee looked startled. 'Come now, my dear, that's ridiculous. I am not as old as that!'

  Talia looked at him and shrugged. 'No it is not. I am nineteen, you are six and thirty – '

  'How did you discover that?'

  Eve tried to suppress her giggles. She'd thought it was only ladies who tried to suppress their ages.

  'Peter has a library with some very useful books about the peerage,' Talia said in the tone of voice that sounded as though she was speaking to a child, and an idiot one at that. 'Except they do not say how wealthy they are, or what their income is. That would be more useful than most of the information there. As for your age, I looked it up. And as I say, you are old enough to be my father, if you were – what is the word? – yes, I have it, precocious.'

  James, who had been counting on his fingers, laughed, and Talia swung round on him.

  'So you still have this boy with you? Is he for Peter or Justin? That is another word I have forgotten in English – '

  'And you can forget it, before you give unpardonable offence,' Sir Peter said. He sounded really angry, and even Talia looked rather shocked at his fury. 'I will now take you home. I'll get a hackney.'

  She rallied and became defiant. 'I do not wish to go home. You do not control me, Peter.'

  'You are a guest at my house, and as such, unfortunately, my responsibility. I am taking you home, now.'

  'Best go with him, my dear,' Kilkee said, edging away from her, and Talia glared at him.

  She flung up
her head. 'I find that Irish peerages are less important than English ones, so perhaps I will. But I prefer Justin to take me, for you will do nothing but scold, Peter.'

  'She could sit on the floor of the coach with me,' James said, and Amelia giggled.

  Talia swung round to her. 'What is amusing in that? Never do I sit on the floor, anywhere, much less in a coach. It is undignified.'

  'It's the only place there is when there are so many of us,' the Earl said. 'Best accept a hackney.'

  'Goodbye, Kilkee,' Peter said, and took Talia's arm to guide her to the nearest temporary steps placed to permit people to climb up from the river. She resisted, but his grip was firm, so she had to submit.

  Kilkee was looking at two ladies who were walking past and eyeing the group with interest.

  'Faith, by all that's wonderful, surely that's the glorious Harriette? Servant, Sankey.'

  He departed in pursuit of the ladies, and Amelia giggled again. 'Who is Harriette?'

  'A deplorable woman, you do not wish to know her,' Caroline said.

  Amelia, who had been staring after Sir Peter and Talia with a puzzled frown in her eyes, looked interested. 'Why? Is she someone's mistress?'

  Sir Bernard laughed. 'Harriette Wilson is a courtesan. She's been the mistress of half the ton, though I doubt Kilkee is wealthy enough to attract her.'

  'Oh, I've never met anyone like that,' Amelia said. 'I wonder how she manages it?'

  'And you will not find out, nor meet her. Come, we are getting cold and James is ready to collapse. It's time we went back to the coach,' the Earl said.

  'She looked normal,' Amelia said to Eve as they began retracing their steps to where the coach was to meet them.

  'I suppose mistresses are like everyone else,' Eve said. 'Papa would be fulminating against her if he were here. Oh, Amelia, I do so hope he is trapped on the continent for months to come! I am so much enjoying being in London, and will be devastated if he forces me to go home!'

  *

  CHAPTER 8

  The Earl was glancing though the invitations James had set aside. He picked out a couple and handed them to the boy.

  'Accept these, and apologise for the rest. It seems as though the whole of the ton is back in London. At least, those close enough to risk a somewhat perilous journey.'

  'Perhaps they want to see the Frost Fair,' James said. 'Did you hear they led an elephant across the ice? I wonder how much elephants weigh? And where they got him.'

  'I also heard that some men were drowned, venturing too close to the edge. And others pulled out only just alive.'

  James shivered. 'I was cold enough coming to London. I can't imagine how cold it must be in the water.'

  'Do you wish to go again, before it ends? If so I will take you, but for a short while only.'

  James considered, then shook his head. 'No, thank you. It's kind of you to offer, but I think I saw all I wanted to yesterday. It's something I'll remember all my life.'

  'Then tomorrow I will take you to Gentleman Jackson's boxing saloon. Your arm is too weak yet for you to be able to practise, but you can watch and learn the theory. Then you will be better equipped to fight off any more robbers.'

  'Oh, thank you! I always wanted to learn how to box properly, but Papa would not permit it. He says he deplores all forms of violence, but he doesn't seem to remember that when he is beating me or John. He didn't beat Stephen,' he added swiftly, seeing Justin frown.

  'Did he beat your sisters?' Justin sounded remarkably fierce.

  'Not with a cane, like he did me and John. He slapped them, and sometimes I wondered if that was not worse. Rachel used to cry, but Eve never did, though I could see he hurt her.'

  Justin had business at the War Office, and soon left James sorting through the rest of his letters, and writing polite replies to hostesses he would not be honouring at their balls and routs and dinners. While there was little news from France, there was plenty of discussion about the weather.

  'It's the coldest winter they've ever known,' one of his fellow officers said. 'It doesn't appear to be so bad in France, except that it is raining heavily.'

  'It must be warming here,' another suggested. 'The ice on that so-called City Road appears to be cracking.'

  'From the weight of all the people on it, no doubt.'

  'They say huge chunks of ice are floating down the river. It's bad for the watermen and their boats.'

  'They are making plenty with their stalls, and they'll soon be back to their normal business. Now, what do you make of this dispatch from the Russians?'

  They resumed work, but there was not a great deal in the current conditions, and Justin soon went home. James had written the replies to his invitations, which just needed his signature, and had sorted the rest of the correspondence. He too was anxious to discuss the situation in France.

  'Do you think the war will be over before I can join?' he asked. 'I wish I could go now.'

  'The doctor will not permit it. You would soon be ill again, and without the sort of care you have here.'

  'Oh, I didn't mean to sound ungrateful! I am so sorry! You and Sir Peter have both been so amazingly good to me, and there is no reason why you should apart from kindness.'

  'Can we not be kind? Your sister is a friend, and would have taken you in except that Lady Montgomery does not have the sort of help Peter and I can give you. And you were good to Stephen, he tells me. For that alone I am grateful. He did not have a pleasant time with your father, and I am sorry. I should have taken more care in choosing a tutor.'

  'But if he had not been there my own situation would have been even less bearable.'

  Justin wondered whether to suggest that James might go to the tutor where Stephen was studying, but decided the boy was so determined on a military career he would have rejected the notion out of hand. It was too soon to suggest alternatives. Perhaps, if the end of the fighting came soon, he would be more receptive of the idea.

  *

  'James looks better,' Amelia said.

  'But he's not as strong as he thinks,' Eve said.

  The girls were walking back to Albemarle Street after their normal visit to see James.

  Amelia nodded. 'He said he didn't want to go to the Frost Fair again. Unlike that witch Talia.' She sounded angry. They had just called in at Sir Peter's house to leave an invitation to dine, and been told by his mother that he had taken his cousin to the Frost Fair. 'I wish she would either go back home to Russia or find some credulous duke to marry! She wants Sir Peter to marry her,' Amelia went on.

  'Him to marry Talia? Surely not. And Talia wants a much better match than a mere baronet.'

  'He is not a mere baronet! And what does a title matter in any case?'

  Eve wondered why her normally cheerful friend was so angry. 'James said the ice was beginning to break up,' she said, in an effort to change the subject.

  'Then I hope she disappears down one of the cracks!'

  'But not with Sir Peter?'

  Suddenly Amelia laughed. 'Forgive me, Eve, I'm in such a bad mood. I just feel that Sir Peter is being forced to spend a good deal more time with Talia than he wishes.'

  'I don't suppose he is interested in her.'

  Amelia stood still. 'Well, I'm going to see! I'll go to the river and find them.' She turned and hailed a hackney carriage that was creeping past and scrambled in. 'Well, Eve, are you coming with me?'

  'You can't!'

  'I can. Francis,' she said to the young footman who was usually detailed to escort them when they went out, 'tell my brother I'll be home within an hour. Eve, are you coming?'

  As Francis began to protest Eve realised she ought not to permit Amelia to venture to the Fair alone, and jumped in with her.

  'Sir Bernard will be furious with us,' she said. 'Why are you so eager to see what Talia and Sir Peter are doing?'

  'I just am. I know she will end up marrying him.'

  'But she wants a better title.'

  'So she says, but she has no dowry,
and her family is not important as she tries to imply.'

  'What do you mean? How do you know?'

  'Caroline told me. They don't own millions of acres. Her father works for the Tsar, he's some kind of aide. All they have is what he earns. Peter's mother paid for her to come here, in the hope she would make a suitable marriage. But if I can prevent it, she won't marry Peter!'

  'But if that's what he wants?'

  'Of course he doesn't! But she's so devious she'll trap him.'

  Eve was silent during the rest of the slow drive towards Blackfriars Bridge. Why was Amelia so vehement? Was she for some reason jealous of Talia? Amelia was used to being the centre of attention, and Talia, usually because of her outrageous behaviour, often became that. That must be it. Well, if they found Sir Peter and Talia in amongst the crowds on the river, which she thought unlikely, she must try and prevent her friend from making a scene.

  *

  They arrived at the Bridge, Amelia paid off the driver, and led the way to where a somewhat rickety ladder provided access to the ice. Eve's hopes of not being able to find the couple sank as she saw them standing a little apart from the rest of the crowd, apparently arguing. As Amelia led the way towards them Sir Peter turned and walked back to one of the booths. He came back and handed Talia a cup. She tasted it, then threw the cup to the ice.

  'I wanted tea, you imbecile! Not that dreadful slop they call coffee here in England!'

  Sir Peter shrugged and turned away. Talia stamped her foot and marched in the opposite direction. Then, with a startling suddenness, there was a loud groaning noise, and the piece of ice she was standing on began to break off from the main block. Talia screamed, and slid inexorably into the water.

  Eve ran towards her, dropping her shawl, and followed by Amelia. She threw herself down on the edge of the remaining ice and grasped Talia's flailing hands. Both of them were wearing gloves, and Eve struggled to prevent Talia's hands from slipping out of her grasp.

  'Hold my feet so I don't slide in,' Eve gasped, and Amelia did so, while all around them people shrieked and called out advice.