The Great Estate

by Sherri Browning

  “So he says.” Sophia nodded.

  “You don’t believe him?” Teresa cocked a dark blond brow. Sophia wondered if she darkened them somehow? A woman of Teresa’s age should have some gray hair, shouldn’t she?

  “As Gabriel said, we are prominent targets. Deep down, I don’t feel that he could have done such a thing. Not the way he reacted to finding me with Lord Ralston.”

  “I don’t believe he could have been unfaithful either,” Teresa agreed. “What exactly happened between you and Ralston, by the way?”

  Sophia blushed. “I can believe you asked, but I can’t imagine you expect me to answer.”

  Teresa’s brow shot up again.

  “Very well. You dislike me enough as it is. I kissed him. I did. It’s all true. It didn’t go any further than a kiss. I was feeling lonely, I suppose. Neglected. My sister had two men fighting over her in my house, and I could barely catch the eye of my own husband. When it turned out that Ralston’s only interest in Alice was in getting closer to me, I was flattered. I’m ashamed that I was. I should have been appalled. She’s my sister! But on a more visceral level, I was thrilled. Someone had noticed me. Someone found me worthy of kissing.”

  “Oh dear. Had it gotten that bad with Gabriel? The clod!”

  “He was always working, looking after the finances, and keeping up with his parliamentary duties. When he wasn’t working, he was dismissive. I can’t blame him entirely. For a while after Edward died, he tried to pay attention. I just kept pushing him away. I suppose he got so used to it that he just gave up on me.”

  “Both of you gave up.”

  “No,” Sophia said, insistent. “I was afraid. What if we had another baby and he died too? I wasn’t sure that I could bear it.”

  “A reasonable fear after losing a child. And you had such a hard time after Edward’s birth. The fever came over you. We were all so worried.”

  Sophia tried not to flinch.

  “Yes, Sophia, even me. I’d always wanted a daughter. You were the closest I had to having one, and then it turned out that I had approached you all wrong. Maybe it’s just that you were shy. I thought you were proud. I thought I’d failed to meet your exacting standards, and then the battle was on.”

  “I thought I was the one who failed in your eyes.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re my favorite daughter-in-law.”

  “You haven’t met the other one yet,” Sophia observed.

  “I know. I’m scared to do so. What if I botch it up with this one too?”

  “Eve is straightforward. You always know exactly what’s on her mind, if that helps to put you at ease. She’s more of an open book, while I…”

  “Yes, you are a hard one to read,” Teresa agreed too easily. “Is that where we went wrong then? We just have to stop making assumptions. From now on, I’ll be more honest with you. And you should try to be more open with me.”

  Sophia nodded. “I’ll try.”

  “Good. Because I have a feeling we’re going to need each other in the coming weeks. I want you to know that you have my full support.”

  A ball of dread formed in Sophia’s stomach. Why would she need Teresa’s support, exactly? “Thank you. I hope we’re not expecting trouble.”

  Teresa shrugged. “It always pays to be prepared.”

  * * *

  Sophia found Gabriel in the drawing room nearly asleep on the claw-footed sofa, with the baby sleeping on his chest. Her heart expanded with joy. She wished there was room to curl up next to them.

  “There you are,” she whispered. “He’s an angel, isn’t he? I think he might have been sent down straight from heaven.”

  “Except he was abandoned by a mother who might very well be regretting her actions by now.” Gabriel looked up at her over the baby’s head. “Let’s try to put him down to sleep so we can talk.”

  “But you look so well together. I wish I had a photograph to capture the moment for all time.” She smiled, but she could see that he wasn’t changing his mind. She rang for a maid. “Jane, could you bring me Teddy’s basket, please? It’s in my room. We’re going to attempt to put him down for a nap.”

  “At once, my lady.” The maid returned not a minute later, panting from the rush up and down the stairs. “I can keep an eye on him if ye like.”

  “It’s not necessary,” Sophia began to say.

  “That would be ideal, Jane. Thank you,” Gabriel interrupted. “For just a little while.”

  Sophia lifted the baby and settled him in the basket. He remained asleep and blissfully unaware of the transfer. “But I hate to just leave him.”

  “Jane, have you cared for children?” Gabriel demanded.

  She nodded.

  “There you are,” Gabriel said to Sophia as he got to his feet. “Jane has experience.”

  “I do, my lord.” She kept her watchful eyes on the baby in the basket instead of making eye contact with her employer, a good sign to Sophia that Jane was skilled at prioritizing.

  “We won’t go far,” Sophia said, somewhat reassured. “Call out if he wakes or seems to need me.”

  “But of course, Lady Averford. At once.”

  Gabriel took Sophia by the hand. “To our office.”

  “As far as that?” She looked back at Teddy, reluctant again.

  “It’s right around the corner.” Gabriel kept walking, tugging her along.

  “And some way down the hall.”

  “We won’t be long.” He escorted her in and closed the door.

  “What is it you wish to discuss, darling?” She took the seat across from his at the desk. “Is it Teddy? I realize his name is very close to Eddie, as we intended to call Edward. We can change it if it makes you uncomfortable. Though I know Mother would like it. She never got to meet Edward, and Theodore is so close to Theodora, after all. It would satisfy her vanity to think we named our son after her.”

  “It’s not his name that troubles me.” Gabriel rubbed his eyes. Sophia would think he was the one who’d been up all night caring for a baby. But perhaps he hadn’t slept well in London. He stood over her, took her hand, and met her gaze with a grave expression. “We can never replace our Edward, Sophia. Teddy is not our son.”

  She shrugged. “Not yet, perhaps. But he was left here with us, Gabriel. He’s ours.”

  “I’m afraid not.” He shook his head, adamant. Cold-hearted. “He can never truly be ours. Not until we know where he came from or if his mother intends to come back.”

  She stood, forcing him to take a step back. “Why would she come back? She made her decision. She abandoned him to our care. As she said in her note, he’s where he belongs. With us. At Thornbrook Park.”

  Gabriel opened his mouth to protest. It wasn’t that he was cold, she reminded herself, trying to remain sympathetic. His problem was that he was entirely too reasonable when presented with an obstacle. All head. No heart. Logically, his argument made sense. She hadn’t heard his full argument yet, but she knew he had one. He always had one.

  “Trust me on this, this once,” she said. “We’re wealthy. Powerful. You have a noble name. If we want to keep Teddy, he’s ours. You can come up with all sorts of reasons against it, but I’m not going to sit here and listen to them. I want to be there when our son wakes up from his nap.”

  Sixteen

  Beyond frustrated, Gabriel followed Sophia back down the hall to the drawing room.

  “Oh, he’s awake.” The infant was happily babbling in the arms of the maid, chewing his chubby fist yet again. “Thank you. You may go back to your other duties now, Jane.”

  The maid stood to place the child back in Sophia’s arms. “He’s such a good little baby, Lady Averford. Patient and sweet-natured. I’m happy to help out whenever you need it. Until you hire a nurse, of course.”

  “I’ll hire a wet nurse, of course,
but I’m not sure I’ll be looking for anyone else to help with caring for him. I mean to be a very involved mother.” Sophia wore a scarlet tea dress that acted on Gabriel like a red flag to a charging bull.

  “If by ‘involved’ you mean overbearing, by all means.” Gabriel knew he would be more successful if he remained calm, but he had been calm since coming home from Italy. He felt a devil of a temper tantrum coming on.

  “There’s no such thing as an overbearing mother,” the maid said quickly in Sophia’s defense. “Babies need their mothers. I’m sorry, Lord Averford.” As if remembering her station, the maid curtsied quickly and left the room.

  “Who is that impudent maid?” Gabriel asked.

  “I hired her recently. I guess it has been a month or so now. She came from London, but she grew up in the village and she was eager to return to the area. And I like her.”

  “You would. She’s clearly on your side.” Gabriel ignored Sophia’s cooing to the baby. “As her champion, you might want to take her aside and suggest she watches what she says to her employer.”

  “I’m sure she didn’t mean to be rude to you, only to stand up for my maternal instincts.” Sophia tilted her chin, more thoughtful than defiant. “But you have a point. I’ll speak with her later.”

  “One would think she was a mother herself for all of her nerve.” A mother. Gabriel paused to consider. “You say she has been here for about a month?”

  “About that, yes. Six weeks at the most. I would have to check. She has been here long enough to make a favorable impression on everyone, even Mrs. Hoyle.” Sophia couldn’t take her eyes from the baby long enough to look up and make eye contact with Gabriel. If she had, she might have realized what he was thinking.

  “But not as long as two months?” he asked.

  Sophia looked up at last. “You’re not suggesting…”

  “She has the same fair hair and rosy cheeks as Teddy. And the timing?”

  Sophia glanced down at the baby and back up at Gabriel. “Half of the women in the village have fair hair and rosy cheeks. A good number of the women in all of England do, for that matter.”

  “But not all of them showed up at our house looking for work just a short time before a baby was left mysteriously under your window.”

  “We hired a footman at around the same time. Do you suppose he’s the father?” She pursed her lips, clearly not convinced.

  “I’m merely saying that there could be something to it, a connection between the baby and the housemaid who keeps turning up when I’m trying to be alone with my wife.”

  “You might have seen her twice in the past week. She seems to be drawn to the child. He’s a cherub. She’s not the only one enchanted with the new baby in the house.”

  “No.” He tipped his head, considering. “But she does show an interest in him. We haven’t many other leads to pursue.”

  “And we’re better off that way. I wouldn’t mind if we never discover the identity of the woman who left him for us. The fact is that he’s here, and he’s ours. Can’t we just let it stay a mystery how he got here?”

  Gabriel’s stomach tightened at the idea. He didn’t like mysteries, most especially when they could end up breaking his wife’s heart. “For now.”

  “Besides, I can’t imagine how a mother could stand aside and watch someone else caring for her own baby in her place. It would be torture. Jane hardly seems like a tortured soul. I heard her singing in the hall the other day when she was sweeping up.”

  “I suppose you would know best, darling. Woman’s intuition and all that.” Still, Gabriel meant to check into Jane’s background a little. She probably had family in the village. Constable Reilly had experience doing detective work. He might prove of some service in checking into the maid’s activities outside the house.

  “I’m sure your mother would agree with me this once.” Sophia went back to ignoring Gabriel in favor of studying the baby.

  Mother entered the room as if on cue. “Did I hear my name?”

  “I was saying that you’re as in love with our baby as I am.” Sophia shot Gabriel a silencing glare, but he had no intention of filling Mother in on his suspicions.

  Fortunately, he didn’t have to say a word more on the subject. His brother entered the room with his two-year-old daughter charging her way in front of him. My, she had grown. The last time Gabriel had seen his niece, she had just taken her first steps. Now, there was clearly no stopping her. Her blond curls, barely contained by a pink ribbon, bounced when she ran. She ended up at Gabriel’s feet, her tiny arms wrapped tightly around his leg. Her crystalline blue eyes, so like her mother’s, gazed up at him.

  “There you are, Mina. You’ve found your Uncle Gabriel,” her father said.

  “Unca!” Her arms tightened like a vise.

  Gabriel bent his knee in an attempt to loosen her grip and restore some circulation. “Mina,” he said, “you’ve got your father’s strength.”

  The girl giggled, making her father laugh along. Her mother came in next, holding their younger daughter cradled against her shoulder. Gabriel had yet to meet Winifred, called “Freddie” by the family, but he never would have dreamed he would be introducing a baby of his own at the same time. A baby of his own? Had he taken to thinking of the boy as theirs, even as he worried about Sophia becoming too attached?

  “Where’s Mr. Finch hiding that he failed to warn me of your approach?” he said half in jest to his brother.

  His brother raised his hands. “I need no formal announcement. I grew up here. And you should be kind to me, since I’ve come to take Mother off your hands.”

  “Ahem.” Mother, standing back in the corner of the room with Sophia and the baby, stepped forward to make herself known, though no one could have missed her.

  “Looking forward to spending some time with you, of course, Mother.” Marcus smiled.

  “It’s good to see you too, Son. And who is this?” She dropped to her knees to inspect her older granddaughter. “Aren’t you the pretty one! You look just like your father, except for those blue eyes. You must call me Nonna.”

  “Nonna,” Mina repeated, letting go of Gabriel’s leg to hold her hands out to her grandmother, no doubt delighting Mother.

  “That’s right, dear. And I have presents for you! Come along.”

  “Ah, not so fast, Mother,” Marcus said. “I want you to meet my wife, Eve, and our younger daughter.”

  Mother got back to her feet as Eve approached her. “Ah. That’s where Mina gets her blue eyes. It’s lovely to meet you at last, Eve.”

  “I’m glad to meet you too,” Eve said, juggling the infant in her arms as Freddie started to fuss. “I’m sorry. The baby probably needs a nap. She doesn’t like riding in cars.”

  “Oh, the precious girl!” Mother reached out to stroke the baby’s cheek. “Two granddaughters! What could have kept me away so long? And now a grandson too.”

  “A grandson?” Marcus finally looked over at Sophia.

  “What on earth?” His wife must have followed her husband’s gaze.

  “His name is Teddy,” Gabriel clarified as Sophia approached with the baby. “He was left on our doorstep.”

  “Under my window,” Sophia added with a glance up at Gabriel. “With a note saying that he belongs here. He’s ours.”

  “You mean to keep him?” Marcus looked at Gabriel. “Just like that?”

  “We’re keeping him,” Sophia said in a tone that did not allow any argument.

  “What a surprise!” Eve said, possibly adding more enthusiasm to her tone to please her friend. She and Sophia had always been very close. “Let’s meet this new little one. Just as soon as I get Freddie settled.”

  “Teddy needs a change,” Sophia said. “Let’s go upstairs and we can let the babies get to know one another. Do you mind, darling?”

  “Go on ahead,” Ga
briel encouraged. It would give him a chance to see what Marcus had to say about the situation. “Take your time. We’ll be fine here.”

  “Yes, go on,” Marcus added to Eve. “I’ll look after Mina.”

  “I’ll look after Mina,” Mother interjected. “My granddaughter and I are going to take a little walk and get to know each other. I promise to bring her back shortly, Marcus.”

  “As long as Mina has no objections. Do you want to go off with Nonna?” Marcus asked Mina. She nodded, curls bobbing.

  As soon as Gabriel was alone with his brother, he shook his head. “I don’t know what to say. I came home from London to find that I have a son.”

  Marcus let a long whistle escape his lips. “Life, ever a wonder. Do you really intend to keep him?”

  “Everything happened so suddenly. The boy has a mother somewhere. I can’t help thinking she’ll return sooner or later. Better sooner, if she does come back, before Sophia has a chance to get too attached.”

  His brother clapped him on the back. “I saw her with that baby in her arms, Gabriel. I think it might be too late to avoid an attachment.”

  Gabriel nodded. “You’re right, of course. Tom Reilly was here earlier in his official capacity as chief constable. He’s going to try to track down the mother.”

  “If anyone can find her, Tom can.” Marcus had great faith in his friend, as Gabriel knew. His brother’s confidence had helped Gabriel to put his trust in the man, but he had his own suspicions.

  “Sophia doesn’t want her to be found, but I disagree. I prefer to know what we’re dealing with, what kind of mother would leave her child and why. Why here with us?”

  “There are worse places to abandon an infant, I suppose. Any child would be lucky to grow up at Thornbrook Park.” Marcus gestured around the room.

  “I’m aware of our good fortune, and yet I’m uneasy. I have my suspicions about one of the maids…” Gabriel started to share his theory on the maid, Jane, but he was interrupted by the return of the women.

  “Where are the babies?” Marcus asked.

  “They fell asleep together. It was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.” Eve placed a hand to her heart.