Elise approached Gavin’s house and knocked on the door. Something about the place looked forlorn, not like before when it seemed quaint and welcoming. The shutters were open, but the windows were covered with a layer of grime, and there was rubbish strewn on the step. Elise waited a few moments, but there was no answer, so she knocked again. Then she suddenly remembered that Gavin would be at the Tabard Inn. She’d come a little later today, and Gavin would have already left for work. Elise retraced her steps and walked toward the inn. The place was surprisingly quiet. She supposed that those staying at the inn were still abed, sleeping off the aftereffects of strong drink consumed the night before. Southwark was known for base entertainments such as bear-baiting, gambling, and whoring. The Tabard Inn was more respectable than most, but men were men, no matter their station in life. They liked their pleasures.
Elise stopped in the courtyard and looked around. There were several doors, and she had no idea where Gavin might be. A young girl stepped outside carrying a bucket of slops from the kitchen. She stopped when she saw Elise and set the heavy bucket on the ground, taking the opportunity to tuck an escaped curl back into her cap.
“Ye lost?” she asked in a friendly tone, probably hoping for a quick chat before returning to her duties.
“I’m looking for someone. Gavin Talbot.”
“Oh. Ye’d best speak to the landlord, then. He’s just through yonder.” The girl indicated a door to her left. “Doing ’is books, ’e is, so don’t ’xpect ’im to be in good ’umor.”
Elise thanked the girl and went in. She found herself in the taproom of the inn. It smelled of spilled ale and stale sweat. The polished bar gleamed in the dull sun streaming through the window, and rows upon rows of pewter tankards were lined on shelves behind the bar. The tables and chairs were all empty, save two. Two gentlemen sat in the corner drinking ale and partaking of a late breakfast of bread and cheese. They talked quietly but grew silent when they spotted Elise, their eyes drinking her in. One of the men gave her a welcoming smile, but she refused to meet his gaze and turned toward the other table.
A burly man sat alone, a ledger open in front of him and a quill suspended in his hand as he stared out the window thoughtfully. He wasn’t wearing a wig, and his bald pate shone in the light, the skin as pink as that of a newborn babe. His belly protruded against his coat, and his calves looked like melons in a pair of mustard-colored hose.
“Are ye looking for employment?” he asked when he saw her standing there. “Can ye cook? I’ve enough serving wenches already.” He opened his mouth to continue but seemed to realize that Elise was too finely dressed to be someone searching for a job in a tavern. The landlord leaned back in his chair, studying Elise with undisguised curiosity as he waited to hear the purpose of her visit.
“No, sir. I’m looking for Gavin Talbot. He works here,” she replied timidly.
The man peered at her more closely. “Gavin, ye say? I hope ye’re not in the family way, ducks,” he added with a greasy smile. Elise balked. Why would he ask her that? Did Gavin have a reputation for getting girls with child?
The landlord pointed to a chair with his quill, inviting her to sit. Elise perched on the edge, her insides suddenly shaky. “Is Gavin here? I wish to speak to him.”
“Gavin left a week ago. Sailed for Virginia,” the man replied, watching her for a reaction.
“That can’t be right,” Elise protested. “He wasn’t due to sail until the beginning of April. That’s nearly two weeks away.”
The landlord shook his large head. “Aye, that was his original intention, but he met a lady, our Gavin.” The man looked at Elise with pity. “Had he promised ye something, ducky?”
“No, we are friends. I simply wanted to say good-bye and wish him a safe journey,” Elise lied. She had no desire to tell this man the truth.
“Oh, well, that’s all right, then. There was a wealthy tobacco plantation owner staying here with his daughter, awaiting passage to Virginia. Master Ambrose and his daughter wintered in England, visiting family in Kent. She is a comely thing but getting on in years, if ye take my meaning. Master Ambrose professed her to be twenty-two, but I think she were closer to twenty-five. That’s quite an age for a woman,” he added with an air of disapproval. “Another year or two and she’d be too old to bear children. The lass needed a husband, and the father needed an educated man to help him run his estate. Gavin fit the bill, so to speak. Once the old man dies, the girl’s husband will inherit the lot.”
“Did Gavin marry her?” Elise asked, shocked. This couldn’t be right. What the landlord was suggesting was preposterous. Gavin made her a promise, had asked her to walk out on her marriage and sail to the Virginia with him. He wouldn’t just leave her, having met a more attractive prospect. Not Gavin. He was an honorable man, a decent man.
“Master Ambrose was in a hurry to get back home and had no wish to wait three weeks for the banns to be called, so Gavin and Mistress Ambrose became betrothed with the intention of getting wed in Virginia. The proud papa even paid for Gavin’s passage to the New World. And best of luck to them, I say. Seemed everyone got what they wanted.”
“Did they?” Elise asked. Her voice shook with distress, but the landlord hardly noticed.
“Oh, aye. Gavin, he is a clever lad. Thought he’d marry the de Lesseps girl and be set for life, but wise Ol’ Hugh sold the lass from under Gavin’s nose. Married to some high-and-mighty lord, she is, and the other two are too young for marriage, so of no use to Gavin. No more than children, they are. I’ve no doubt Ol’ Hugh will find them good matches in time. Why waste daughters on paupers when ye can marry them off to lords?”
The landlord guffawed with laughter at his own wit, doubly entertained by Elise’s obvious shock. She felt as if she were going to be ill. “Thank you, s-sir,” she stammered and fled the tavern. She needed fresh air. Elise ran for a few minutes until she was clear away from the Tabard and then stopped, gasping. She’d understood the words, but her mind still refused to accept their meaning. Gavin had become engaged to another and sailed off to Virginia without so much as a word of farewell. He told her he loved her, promised her a life and a future, and had cast her aside the moment something more lucrative came along. She had no right to judge him, she knew that, but he had no way of knowing that she was with child. She’d agreed to his proposal and had been eagerly awaiting their departure. Bitter tears spilled down Elise’s cheeks as she imagined what finding out about Gavin’s betrayal would have been like had she actually left home and come to him, expecting to start their life together. She’d agonized for weeks about her decision when there was no decision to be made—it had been made for her.
Elise felt hollow inside as she wiped the tears from her eyes and began to walk in the direction of her childhood home. The promise of seeing her sisters was the only thing that kept her from screaming like a wounded animal. Elise walked slowly, giving herself time to calm down. She couldn’t show up at her father’s house with puffy eyes and a red nose. She was Lady Asher, and she had to act the part, whether she liked it or not.
Elise slowly approached the house. Her heart leaped at the thought of seeing Amy and Anne, thoughts of Gavin pushed to the back of her mind for the moment to be retrieved and reexamined later. She missed the girls so much. They must have grown in the past few months, and they would have much to tell her. Elise was sure they’d be full of questions about her new life. The girls likely assumed, as anyone would, that she was a frequent visitor to the court of Charles II, being the wife of one of his favorites, but Elise’s life was even more isolated now than it had been before she married. Elise approached the gate and gazed at the house. It looked just as it had before, solid and forbidding, but something seemed different. She couldn’t quite figure out what.
Elise took a deep breath and knocked on the door, forcing herself to smile when it opened. An unfamiliar servant stared at her, waiting for her to speak. “I’m here to see Master de Lesseps. I’m Lady Asher.”
&
nbsp; The woman stepped aside and invited her in. “Ye’d best wait here, me lady,” she said and disappeared down a passage, leaving Elise alone in the foyer. Elise stood still and listened. It was near noon. Her father always took his midday meal exactly at noon, and the girls were allowed to dine with him when there was no company expected. Elise would hear their voices and would smell roasting meat and baking bread. Her father liked meat at midday but often preferred to eat a lighter meal in the evening due to digestive problems. Sometimes he had nothing more than a bowl of broth and a slice of bread before going to bed.
Elise was surprised to see an older gentleman appear at the end of the passage. He was tall and stooped, with a dark, curly wig that fell way past his shoulders and yellow hose that drew attention to his long shanks and surprisingly large feet. He stopped in front of her and gave a stiff bow. “Lady Asher. A surprise indeed.”
“Pardon me, but who are you, sir?” Elise asked. “Is my father all right?”
The man looked at Elise with an expression of utter astonishment. His feathery eyebrows seemed to disappear beneath the curls of his wig, making Elise suddenly weak in the knees. “Jonathan Collins, at your service,” he announced, bowing stiffly over Elise’s hand. “My dear lady, I can’t imagine that your father hasn’t told you. You must have forgotten. He sailed for the West Indies at the beginning of the month.”
When Elise remained silent the man continued, “Surely you recall.”
“I’m afraid I don’t. When is he expected back? Did my sisters go with him?”
“He is not coming back, my lady,” Master Collins replied. “He sold the house to me just after the New Year.”
Elise felt as if she were going to faint. How could this be? How could her father just leave, and why? If he sold the house just after the New Year, he must have been planning his departure at the time of Elise’s betrothal. He hadn’t said a word. Could it be that his financial situation had been even more dire than he allowed her to believe?
“Would you like to sit down?” Master Collins asked. “Please, allow me to offer you some refreshment.”
Elise nodded her thanks, and the man invited her into the parlor. “Do any of the old servants still work here?” she asked as she took a seat by the hearth, glad to feel the warmth of the fire on her ice-cold hands.
“Yes, I retained most of the old staff, with the exception of the lady’s maid. I have no wife or daughters.”
So, Rose is gone, Elise thought, hoping that Rose was given a glowing reference and some monetary compensation after years of service.
“Is Grace still here?”
Master Collins shook his head and spread his hands in ignorance, indicating that he couldn’t be bothered with knowing the whereabouts of former servants.
“May I speak to Jasper then, Master Collins?”
“The groom? That’s most irregular, madam.”
“Please. I would be much obliged,” Elise pleaded, bestowing her most radiant smile on the old man. Jasper would hardly have been in her father’s confidence, but if anyone knew anything it would be him. Jasper was tall, fair, handsome, and the darling of all the servant girls. They told him everything that went on in the house, and he gleaned a thing or two on his own from frequenting the taverns. Jasper liked information and often made use of it in ways Elise didn’t approve. She would never have known this for herself, but Gavin often told her not to say anything in front of Jasper since, if he had proof of their affection for each other, he might blackmail them to keep their secret.
Jasper entered the room a few minutes later, hat in hand, eyes glued to Elise. He looked subservient enough, but Elise could see a glint of amusement in his eyes as he looked at her. Master Collins excused himself, giving them a moment to talk in private.
“Hello, Jasper,” Elise said with a smile. She didn’t like the man, but she needed his help.
“Good day, Lady Asher. How may I be of service to ye?”
“Jasper, why did my father leave?” she asked without preamble. There was no point beating about bush. Jasper would either know, or he wouldn’t.
“I wouldn’t rightly know, yer ladyship,” Jasper replied smoothly.
“Jasper, I have it on good authority that you know more than most.”
“I can’t imagine who’d say such a thing,” Jasper replied, a small smile playing about his lips. Elise saw his gaze stray to the small silk reticule in her hands.
She took out a coin and held it up. The sum was more than Jasper would earn in a month. “Will you tell me now?”
“Certainly, yer ladyship.” Jasper reached for the coin, but Elise pulled her hand back. She wanted the information first.
“If I don’t believe you, I won’t pay,” Elise said sternly, although she knew that Jasper had the upper hand.
Jasper inclined his head in acknowledgement. “The master was in financial difficulty, as I am sure ye know,” he said, giving her a shrewd look meant to remind her of her own hasty marriage. “Property values in Southwark have gone up, so ’e decided to sell the lot and journey to the West Indies plantation, where ’e intended to invest the money in buying more slaves and then selling them on in the American colonies for a handsome profit.”
“And my sisters?”
Jasper looked at Elise in some surprise. “They left with ’im, of course.”
“Is that all?”
Jasper stepped from foot to foot, debating whether to tell her what she wanted to know. “Amy is to wed a plantation owner. The match was arranged by yer brother.”
“But she is only fourteen,” Elise gasped.
Jasper shrugged. He didn’t care about Amy’s fate any more than he cared about hers. Elise handed over the coin and rose to leave.
“Won’t you have some spiced wine, Lady Asher?” Master Collins asked as he rejoined them.
“Thank you, but I really must be on my way. My husband will be worried,” she added for good measure. She had no explanation for coming to call unaccompanied, and she assumed Master Collins surmised that her husband had no inkling of where she was. The sooner she returned to Asher Hall, the better.
“Jasper, see Lady Asher home,” Jonathan Collins ordered.
“Really, there’s no need,” Elise protested. The last thing she wanted was to spend the next half hour in the company of the smarmy Jasper, but she could see in Master Collins’s steely gaze that resistance was futile.
“There’s every need. Please, I insist.”
“Thank you, Master Collins.”
The man bowed over her hand and wished her well, instructing Jasper to take the carriage to the river bank rather than going on foot. Elise was grateful of the offer. She was exhausted and emotionally overwrought. She’d braced herself for an unpleasant day, but she’d never expected this. Not only had she been left behind and betrayed by the people she cared about, but she was now completely on her own, with no one but her husband to care for her. The thought made her snort with the irony of it. Jasper threw her a look of disapproval, but she didn’t care. His opinion was the least of her problems.
Chapter 28
November 2013
Surrey, England
Quinn awoke later than usual. Midmorning sun shone through the stained-glass windows of her bedroom and filled the room with a colorful glow. Birds chirped happily outside, and the wind moved through the trees, the leaves rustling as they fell from the branches and twirled silently to the ground, covering the grass with a blanket of autumnal color. The room was chilly, but Quinn was warm beneath her down quilt. Her head still ached, but she felt much better. She’d tidied up the house before going to bed—against doctor’s orders, of course, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave things as they were. It was too upsetting to see her private papers and possessions strewn all over the floor. A few things were broken, but thankfully, nothing truly important—like her laptop—had been damaged.
Quinn held the ebony statue in her hands for a long time, marveling at the fact that something so beautif
ul and innocent could have unwittingly become a murder weapon. She knew enough about human anatomy to realize that had the blow landed about an inch lower and struck her temple, she might have been killed outright. The interesting thing about the possibility of her untimely demise was that it made her feel giddy with the joy of living. Quinn got out of bed, took a hot shower, and dressed in a new outfit, putting it together from the items she bought from Jill’s shop. She liked the way the vintage jeans fit her hips, and the peasant blouse brought out the green in her eyes. Quinn carefully lifted the corner of the bandage to see if she might be able to remove it. The wound didn’t look too bad, so she pulled off the plaster and replaced it with a much smaller one from her medicine cabinet. She even applied a bit of makeup to make herself feel better and twisted her hair into an artful bun atop her head.
Quinn was just making some toast and tea when there was an insistent knock at the door. She frowned. She wasn’t expecting anyone, and the only person who would show up at her door this morning would be Gabe. Quinn wiped her hands on a tea towel and went to answer the door.
“I’m sorry to come unannounced. Terribly rude of me, I know,” Rhys said with a guilty smile. “But I heard about what happened and needed to see for myself that you were all right.”
Quinn stepped aside to let him in. “Did Gabe tell you?” she asked, annoyed with Gabe for calling Rhys. She was quite all right; there was no reason whatsoever to alert anyone.
The Lovers (Echoes From The Past) Page 18
