by Abby Ayles
His hair had greyed over the years to the white of a cloud tinged with yellow tips from the lack of regular bathing and the tobacco from his pipe that regularly filled the room.
* * *
His skin was so tight against his face it was almost as thin as the paper in the books he loved so dearly. There was a soft shine of silver prickling his chin in the glow of the fire that was nearly out.
* * *
Alexandra had liked to blame her father for her hardship in life, and she certainly had a right to, but she didn’t. Instead, she only wished she could do better to take care of him.
* * *
“I brought you your dinner, Father. Please do take a moment’s pause to eat.”
* * *
Lord Grebs looked down at the silver tray.
* * *
“Yes, of course, thank you, dear,” he said setting his book to the side and turning his high back chair around.
* * *
“We will be leaving soon for Sir Hamilton’s ball.”
* * *
“Is it that time already? I feel as if we just celebrated the Yuletide. How can it possibly be April already?”
* * *
“The earth spins around the sun, days turn to weeks, and weeks to months,” Alexandra said with a soft smile.
* * *
He gave her a twinkled look back through his grey eyes. It was the same speech he had given her as a child with the model solar system he had in his study. She loved that model.
* * *
Lord Grebs was fascinated with the world and that which grew on it. His eldest daughter, however, had taken her passion to the skies. He had been more than happy to encourage her.
* * *
Lord Grebs was blessed with four beautiful daughters and no sons. It was unlike him to keep a conversation about ribbons or dolls and thus had little to connect to the women of the house. His Alexandra however, was much like him. She was passionate about exploration and fearless in ways he could never be.
* * *
“What would I do without you, my dear?” he said with a glisten to his grey eyes.
* * *
His words extended beyond the simple silver tray before him.
* * *
She touched his hand softly as he sat to take up his meal.
Chapter Two
The Duke of Raven’s carriage pulled up to the front steps of his Aunt Rebecca’s London townhouse just as the sun began to set behind the trees of Hyde Park.
* * *
He had been traveling as fast as possible to get to her side after his aunt’s urgent plea to return home. Even still, with the first ship from the new world, the fastest horses money could buy and riding non-stop from Liverpool, it had still taken him several months to get to this place.
* * *
He was desperate to know what had made his beloved aunt, and the only family he had left to speak of, so worried about to request his immediate presence.
* * *
Even with the urgency, he would have liked to arrive in London at a less ostentatious moment. The streets were filled with ladies strolling leisurely from their day of shopping or socializing and gentlemen returning from their clubs in preparation for the night's frivolities.
* * *
Theodore Hendricks, the Duke of Raven, was never truly fond of the seasons in London. Though it was still early in spring, he could already tell from looking out the carriage window that lords, ladies, and fine people from all over the country had already flocked to the city for the start of this year’s focal months of the season.
* * *
He took a steadying breath before opening the door to his carriage that had come to a screeching halt in front of the lavish townhome. It didn’t help that it was also right on the corner of Park Lane where anyone who was of importance was walking at this very moment.
* * *
Though he walked the short distance through the garden and up the steps in large quick steps, he still caught many eyes and whispers from passing groups.
* * *
Raven couldn’t decide if the discussions were because he was a reclusive duke who rarely stood on England shores, or of his recent state of attire.
* * *
He had stayed in the same traveling clothes the last three days as he reached the end of his journey. He hadn’t stopped once to freshen up or even shave the dark shadow that was most assuredly growing along his jawline.
* * *
He had one great fear welling inside him. Aunt Rebecca Sinclair was his mother’s sister and very much a mother to him after his own parents died out at sea. Being an elder sister to his mother, she was much more on in years than most maternal caretakers might be.
* * *
His greatest fear was that his aunt had taken ill or received bad news on her health from a physician and had little time left to live, or even worse, no time at all.
* * *
He had scolded himself the whole time he was on the boat across the Atlantic willing the wind to push him faster towards home.
* * *
From the moment he was eighteen and and allowed to determine his own fate by his aunt’s admonition, he had left the comfort of his country seat to see the world as his parents did.
* * *
Aunt Rebecca hadn’t been happy with his choice, as it was the way she lost her dear sister, but she would not stop him. He was technically the owner and proprietary of all the estates she used, and the benefactor to all that she needed.
* * *
Raven had thought he had done right enough by his aunt and the woman who helped raise and shape him by giving her whatever material thing her heart desired.
* * *
As he returned home, he realized he had done his dear aunt a grave disservice by leaving her so lonely. Aunt Rebecca would never travel with him; in fact, she refused to even ride ferryboats after her sister’s death, and Raven had just chosen to go without her.
* * *
It pained him so to know that he had abandoned his aunt, possibly condemning her to a lonely death, all for his unnatural desires to see every speck of this beautiful world.
* * *
He would rectify the matter now. He would stay at his aunt’s side, give her whatever she bid of him, and make sure the end of her days were the happiest of her life.
* * *
“Aunt Rebecca?” Raven called bursting through the door.
* * *
He knew he should have knocked, even though it was technically his house, and wait for the butler to let him in. He didn’t have time for that, nor did he care if he would be walking in on the household in a less than perfect state. He needed to put eyes on his aunt that very moment, lest his guilt eat him alive.
* * *
“What is all the commotion-” he heard her shaky voice call out from the evening sitting room.
* * *
He couldn’t help but sigh relief. At least she was still on the earth. Raven removed his hat and gloves, handing his jacket and cane over to a butler who had rushed to his aid.
* * *
“Good evening, Your Grace. Please allow me to welcome you home,” the stoic man said, taking the articles of outer clothing.
* * *
“Aunt Rebecca, it’s me,” Raven called out to his aunt who had risen from her place. He could hear the sound of her freshly pressed petticoats rustling as she got closer.
* * *
“Oh, Theodore, my sweet child. You have come home at last,” she said reaching out her arms to her nephew.
* * *
Raven happily embraced her before holding her at arm's length to study the old lady.
* * *
She did look much more in age since last he saw her. Her cheeks had drooped down into jowls much like the little bull-fighter dogs she liked to keep as company. Her hair had gone completely grey now, set back in its tight bun with a small lace cap over it.
* * *
Though she look
ed weathered from the years, she was only a few months shy of seventy and one; she otherwise looked in perfect health. Her eyes had a beautiful light under their honey brown color, her cheeks were slightly rosy with good health, and her grip seemed firm enough.
* * *
In fact, if Raven was to guess, she didn’t look ill of health at all.
* * *
“I knew you would come, but still I am relieved to see you did,” she said, touching his face lovingly.
* * *
She had to reach up to do so as Raven was unusually tall even for a man. Not to mention the fact that his aunt must have also shrunk some in the three years since he saw her last. Now the tip of her head barely reached to his broad shoulders.
* * *
“I must say though, you look quite a fright,” Aunt Rebecca said taking his arm and leading him into the drawing room. “It is Providence alone that brought you here this night. I do hope you will not be too weary for the task.”
* * *
“What task, dear aunt? I feared the worst when I got your letter. Please don’t make me wait a moment longer and tell me what the matter is,” Raven said, irritated that his aunt seemed quite at ease.
* * *
“Feared the worse? Whatever do you mean, child?”
* * *
“Your health,” Raven explained.
* * *
Aunt Rebecca took a seat on one of the sofas near the hearth. Though it was still early spring, it was unusually warm, and a fire was not needed.
* * *
Aunt Rebecca rang the bell and asked for some refreshments for the duke.
* * *
“I am in perfect health, why would you have thought otherwise,” Aunt Rebecca said with startled confusion.
* * *
“In your letter,” Raven tried to explain though he refused to sit himself. He pulled it from his pocket where he had read it over and over these last few months. “You said, ‘Please hurry home. Before the spring would be best. Time is of the essence.’ What else am I to make of that statement?”
* * *
Aunt Rebecca thought her own words over, and her eyes widened with the realization that he had taken her emergency to be a life-threatening one.
* * *
“Oh my child, please do forgive me. I never meant for you to read my letter in such a way. I only wished to impress upon you the time urgency.”
* * *
“Urgency for what?” Raven attempted to ask again.
* * *
“For the season, my dear.”
* * *
Raven stood stock still in his place. He calmly put the letter back in his breast pocket and took a seat on the couch opposite his aunt. He rarely got angry, and certainly never with his aunt, until this moment. He took a long deep breath to settle his nerves.
* * *
“Are you telling me, Aunt Rebecca, that you rushed me here from halfway around the world so that I could be in London for the season?”
* * *
“It isn’t just a season, it is THE season,” Aunt Rebecca corrected.
* * *
“And why is that, my dear aunt?” Raven said as kindly as he could though he could help but grit his teeth.
* * *
He was sure that over the last few months he had gained some gray hairs of his own worrying over his aunt and her health. He had rushed home like the wind to be at her side, only to find that she had made a false emergency over a socialite season.
* * *
“Why only your future happiness of course. I have secured the most prestigious match for you. It was not easy to do as you might well know since you haven’t chosen to be present for a single season since you were eighteen.”
* * *
“Yes, well I didn’t enjoy it much then, and I dare say I won't now. What gave you the notion that I was in want of a wife in the first place?”
* * *
“My dear you are thirty, and one years of age it is high time that you found a wife and started your own family. I understand you enjoy the exciting life that your parents were mesmerized by, but you have responsibilities to consider. Even your late father saw the importance of marriage as he married my sister in his twenty-fifth year.”
* * *
Raven rubbed his eyes, not sure if he was willing himself to stay awake or hoping that he could rub this from his memory.
* * *
“You have no idea what lengths I went to so as to be at your side as soon as possible.”
* * *
“I am dreadfully sorry for that,” Aunt Rebecca said, batting her eyelashes at him. “I never meant to worry you so, but had I told you my reasoning you wouldn’t have come.”
* * *
“No, I wouldn’t have come,” Raven agreed.
* * *
“Please, dear, I may be in good health now, but you never know,” she said, drawing out her words and looking more sunken than she had in a long time.
* * *
“Yes, and having me marry a complete stranger of your choosing will be just the youthful elixir you need to live on many more decades?” Raven scoffed.
* * *
“Perhaps, perhaps not. But it would do my heart good to see you happily married. Oh, and just think if I could have little great nieces and nephews to hold before I leave this world?”
* * *
“I can be happy without a wife, and I am certain you will leave this world with a smile on your face even if there is no babe to hold in your arms,” Raven retorted.
* * *
At that moment the serving girl came in with a tray of tea, wine, and some cold pies from the earlier supper. Raven didn’t speak for some time as he made quick work of the food.
* * *
He had scarcely stopped to change horses and in that time only took the small amount of food he could eat quickly in the carriage. He was ravenous, to say the least.
* * *
“I know you can be happy without a wife,” Aunt Rebecca said once her nephew had begun to slow on his eating,
* * *
“But I assure you, you will be much happier with one. Won't you do me this one favor? After all, you are here now,” she encouraged.
* * *
“Marriage is not exactly a little favor to ask,” Raven scoffed back.
* * *
“Then not marriage, just stay here for the season. Make an effort to interact with your peerage. Just meet the girl. That is all I ask of you.”
* * *
Raven was already feeling his anger melt away. He had never denied his dear aunt anything. After all, had he not spent the last several months wishing he had done more for his aunt and spent more time with her? He had just sworn in his own heart he would do all to make the woman happy. Was he willing to go back on that promise already?
* * *
“Fine, I will stay for the season, if that will make you happy. You just tell me who it is you want me to meet and I will be the charming duke, but only because you asked me to. I can’t promise a marriage by autumn so don’t be disappointed when it doesn’t happen.”
* * *
Aunt Rebecca clapped with glee.
* * *
“Oh, of course not, dear Theodore,” she cleared her throat and said, coming back to her senses.
* * *
“So when shall I meet this wonderful lady of yours,” Raven said slumping in his seat like an errant child that had been bested.
* * *
“Her name is Lady Charlotte Weiderhold. Her father is Earl Derber. It is rumored that her older sister, Lady Mary, is a favorite of Prince Fredrick. There may be a wedding in their future.”
* * *
“I highly doubt the Duke of York and Albany would marry an aristocrat,” Raven scoffed.
* * *
Rumors like these were common. Every member of the ton’s life revolved around the royal society. It wasn’t the first time one of King George the I
II’s sons was rumored to be attached to an aristocrat, thereby elevating that member’s social status. Nothing ever came of it, however.
