Lord of Mischief

by Sasha Cottman

  Every step he made helped to clear his mind. Unlike the last time he had travelled along Oxford Street, he now knew he wouldn’t find his next victory on the back of a speeding horse. His road to redemption and his new life lay in the honest toil of cutting vegetables and making soup.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Eve was excited over the event which lay ahead. Will and Hattie, the newlyweds, were coming to the Saunders home for a family dinner. With Freddie no longer in her life, she could enjoy evenings of social interaction without the worry of offending anyone under the Rude Rules.

  Will had finally found contentment and peace back in England. Hattie had captured his heart, and he had freed hers to love again. Theirs was a union which offered hope for all.

  Her own relationship with Freddie may have ended in disaster but knowing love existed between other couples gave Eve the comfort her wounded heart sorely needed. Somewhere, someone was waiting to capture her heart and hold it for himself.

  She finished dressing and was downstairs waiting when her brother and his new bride arrived.

  “Eve, my sister, how lovely to see you,” said Hattie.

  Eve smiled and hugged her.

  Will handed their coats and hats to a footman and escorted his wife into the family drawing room. The look of contentment on his face stirred Eve’s heart. She had never seen her brother so happy. He almost glowed.

  “Ah, there you are. My two favorite newlyweds,” announced Charles. With arms open wide, he embraced Will and Hattie as one. Adelaide and Caroline soon joined the happy gathering.

  “Where is that snow-haired lump of my brother?” asked Will, when Francis did not make an appearance.

  “Francis sends his apologies. He and Harry received last-minute invitations to a party at Carlton House, and they felt it would not be good form to refuse an invite from the Prince Regent,” said Charles.

  Eve was proud of her younger brother. He was starting to make a name for himself as a canny businessman; the receipt of invitations from select parts of London society were becoming a regular occurrence. There was never a shortage of others seeking to add to the coins in the bottom of their pockets, by seeking the advice of someone on their way up in the world.

  The family gathered around the couches and chairs, which were set out in a semi-circle. Will and Hattie sat hand in hand, close to one another on one of the smaller couches. Every time Hattie looked up at her husband, he squeezed his wife’s hand gently.

  Two footmen entered the room. One was carrying a tray laden with champagne glasses, which he set down on the table in the middle of the arranged furniture. A second footman placed two bottles of champagne on the table, before the two men quietly left the room.

  Will rose from the couch and picked up one of the bottles of champagne and worked at freeing the cork. Eve recognized it as being a particular and expensive French brand.

  Charles and Adelaide looked at one another and rose from their seats.

  “Gosset. Is there a special occasion?” asked Charles.

  A loud bang echoed around the room as Will finally managed to free the cork from the bottle. With champagne bubbling out, he hurriedly filled the glasses.

  Hattie rose from the couch and picked up two of the filled glasses. She handed one each to Adelaide and Charles. “We have news.”

  It didn’t take more than a second for the look on Adelaide’s face to change from one of slight interest to tearful joy. She flustered around for a moment, before thrusting her champagne glass into the hands of her husband. She pulled Hattie into her embrace. “Oh, that is magnificent. You have no idea how long I have wanted to be a grandmother. You are a wonderful girl.”

  Will turned to Eve and Caroline, who were also standing and handed them both a glass of champagne. “I am going to be a father,” he said.

  Caroline promptly burst into tears, while beside her, Eve did some rough calculations in her head. Will and Hattie had not been married that long.

  She made a mental note to interrogate Hattie further at some point. She suspected the relationship between Hattie and Will may have begun some time before they went public with their courtship.

  “Congratulations. That is wonderful news. I promise that Caroline and I shall endeavor to be the absolute best aunts we can be, and if we fail terribly we shall make certain to spoil your progeny and therefore keep our failures hidden,” said Eve.

  Caroline laughed through her tears and nodded. “Yes, our corruption of your offspring shall be subtle but irrevocable.”

  Eve gave her sister a friendly pat on the back.

  Hattie moved closer to Will who put an arm around her, pulling her in close. He kissed her fair hair and said, “I told you they would be excited.”

  The joy on Hattie’s face made Eve’s heart flutter. Hattie deserved all the happiness in the world. She had brought a light back into Will’s life that Eve had feared would never return after the death of his first wife. With a baby now on the way, a new happiness would fill their lives.

  Eve yawned. The champagne and supper of roast beef and vegetables had left her sated, but tired.

  The evening had been filled with laughter and unrestrained joy. Adelaide and Charles spent the best part of the night teasingly calling one another Grandma and Grandpa. The glint in her mother’s eye had shone bright all throughout dinner.

  Eve excused herself from the table. “I shall take a walk in the garden and get some fresh air to restore my energy. I won’t be long.”

  Hattie leant over to Will, and a whispered exchange took place between them. Will nodded.

  “I shall come with you,” offered Hattie.

  Arm in arm, they walked from the room and out into the rear garden.

  As soon as she set foot into the chill night air, Eve felt refreshed. “I am surprised you are not flagging. I heard women in your condition are often tired,” she said.

  Hattie chuckled. “I spent nearly all the afternoon in bed. And that was after having risen well past the hour of nine this morning. I swear I am beginning to develop Will’s habit of sleeping late every day.”

  “But what about the soup kitchen? I thought you attended the market in the morning and then headed over to St. John’s?” replied Eve.

  They wandered over to a nearby garden bench and took a seat. Francis had convinced his father to install one of the new-fangled gas lamps, and so they were offered the rare luxury of a well-lit garden at night.

  Hattie sat forward on the bench and turned to face Eve. “I haven’t had to do the early morning market visit for a little while as I have a new assistant. He attends the market for me and then begins to prepare the vegetables before I arrive. He also cooks a rather delicious pasty that can be taken home by those parishioners with sick family members who cannot attend the church,” she explained.

  The door to the garden opened and Will stepped out. “Have you told her?”

  Hattie shook her head. “I was about to. You were a second too early.”

  “Told me what?” asked Eve.

  “Freddie Rosemount is my new assistant. I met him at Covent Garden one morning, and after he visited St John’s he offered to help,” said Hattie.

  If Eve had been asked to put together a list of a thousand things that Hattie could possibly have said at that moment, Freddie working at St John’s church would not have been one of them. After all the hurtful things he had said to Hattie about her work, Eve could not conceive of Freddie having the nerve to turn up on the doorstep of St John’s.

  “What do you mean he offered to help?” asked Eve.

  Will walked closer. “He has seen the error of his ways.”

  Eve snorted. The only way Freddie would have seen the error of his ways was if someone hit him over the head with a large blunt object. Even then he would find a way to blame someone else.

  “You mean he came to you for sympathy after his father cut him off and you shamed him into helping. Don’t tell me he had the cheek to ask for handouts at your soup kitch
en.”

  “No. He was shopping for food at the market early one morning and I saw him. To be fair to him, he tried to avoid me. He was too ashamed to face me after all that had transpired between him and the Saunders family. I was the one who held out a hand to him,” replied Hattie.

  Hattie’s ability to see the good in everyone was beyond Eve. “So why did he come to St John’s?”

  “He wanted what we all want: to belong to something. From the little that he has said, I know he is deeply ashamed of what he did. He is unsure of how he can approach you,” replied Hattie.

  “Why would he want to approach me? He told me he didn’t want me. What else is there to say?”

  Will placed a hand on Eve’s shoulder. “I think you might find he loves you. And until you tell him otherwise, he will continue to hold onto the slender piece of hope that he could find his way back into your life.”

  Eve studied her brother for a moment. He was a different man from the brash young Will who had left the family five years ago, chasing the heady danger of life as a spy. Hattie had brought out the softer, more even-tempered side of him.

  Doubt crept into Eve’s mind. She had convinced herself Freddie didn’t love her, that he had only at best held a passing interest. She had been a pawn in his game of winning a seat on the Bachelor Board and she had been blinded to reality until it was too late. Why then would Freddie be holding onto any sort of hope of love from Eve?

  Eve reluctantly let Hattie take a hold of her hand. “And what do you want me to do?”

  “Nothing. Will and I have agreed we shall stay out of this matter unless you wish us to speak to Freddie on your behalf. He asked that we tell you of his presence at St John’s just in case you happen to visit and find him unexpectedly there. He is most anxious to avoid any further unpleasantness between you and him,” replied Hattie.

  Eve rose from the bench and headed toward the doorway that led back inside the house. Before she reached the first step, she stopped. “I’m not sure what to say to this unexpected piece of news but thank you both for being honest with me. It would have been a huge shock to have visited the church and discovered Freddie working there. I promise to let you know before I visit next time. As Freddie said, we would all like to avoid any further unpleasantness.”

  She went back inside but decided not to go back into the dining room. It would be impossible to make small talk with her family with thoughts of Freddie now whirling around her mind. Will and Hattie would understand her reasons for not staying to bid them farewell.

  Once inside her bedroom, Eve quickly undressed and dismissed her maid for the evening. With her warm robe wrapped around her, she took a seat in the bay window of her bedroom. She opened the curtains and looked out onto the street below.

  A steady stream of carriages and people passed by the house. The social set of London were moving to their next place of entertainment for the evening. Many a night, she herself would be getting ready to join the throng of late-night partygoers, but tonight she was glad to be staying home.

  Her mood had shifted from one of light-hearted frivolity over the news of Hattie and Will’s baby to that of deep reflection.

  Freddie’s move in the world was most unexpected. She thought he would continue to remain outside her sphere until at least his father restored him to favor.

  While Hattie did see the good in all, and held a life mission in saving others, she was not blind. If Freddie had thought to pull the wool over Hattie’s eyes, he would have discovered by now that she was no man’s fool. Will, too, had a sharp mind. If he thought Freddie was attempting any sort of play in regard to his sister, he would have added to Francis’s facial handiwork and swiftly shown Freddie the door.

  What are you playing at?

  She wiped away a tear, disappointed to discover he could still make her cry. There was only one thing she was sure of at this moment, and that was that she had to move on from him. To find a way to accept the scars which were now imprinted on her heart and find new love.

  She had learned some hard lessons from having her heart so cruelly broken, lessons she intended to put to good use. But before she could seek out a new life partner, there was still the question of Freddie.

  They had not crossed paths since the night Francis had taken to Freddie with his fists. At the time, her anger toward him had been too raw for her to consider how future encounters would go. Membership of the ton wasn’t so large that she could spend the rest of her life moving within its circles and be assured never to set eyes on him again.

  She let out a soft sigh of resignation. There was only one thing to do. Hard as it might be, she had to meet with Freddie. She still didn’t understand why he had thrown her over. If he had never wanted to marry her, then why had he toyed with her so cruelly?

  “And why would you have told Hattie that you loved me?” she whispered.

  If nothing else came from seeing Freddie she could at least have some of the questions in her mind answered. An understanding of his actions would allow her to begin to heal the hurt.

  If he didn’t want her, she could close that chapter of her life and begin again.

  But what if he does? Can I risk my heart once more?

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Freddie was up and planning his day by five-thirty the next morning. He had never been an early riser, but it was becoming a habit he enjoyed.

  Before heading out to Covent Garden market, he went through his cookbook and checked the ingredients needed for a fruit version of his pastry parcel. His vegetable pasty was most popular with visitors to the soup kitchen, but he wanted to give his friends at St John’s a new experience. Something to tantalize their tongues once their bellies were full.

  “Apples with spices. Hmm, I don’t think the church coffers will extend to spices,” he said.

  But, he was not to be defeated in his efforts. At the back of a high shelf in the kitchen he came across a small jar of preserved orange peel.

  “You might just do the trick,” he said, dusting off the lid.

  The aroma of oranges filled his nose as he opened the jar and breathed in. With excitement now bubbling in his mind, he hurried back to the cookbook and flipped the pages until he found a recipe for preserving oranges. He could use the jar of preserved oranges to make some test pasties, but he would need fresh fruit to make them in bulk. “Apples and oranges, it is.”

  He grabbed his coat and gave Zeus a friendly pat goodbye.

  “If my new recipe works, I promise to make you a special dog-sized apple pasty. In the meantime, if you could try to stay out of the rest of the house or at least not chew anything new today, I would be most grateful.”

  Closing the kitchen door behind him, he stood in the rear garden, enjoying the first rays of sun as he buttoned up his long warm coat.

  “It’s going to be a good day. I can feel it,” he said, heading out into the rear laneway.

  Walking the streets of London in the hour before dawn gave him a different perspective on the world’s greatest city. There was an energy in the hurried movement of the many delivery carts and household servants which he found fascinating. The rich and powerful of London would soon wake to hot breakfasts and fresh flowers, all of which had been sourced in the early hours at the city’s markets.

  He met up with two of the footmen from Will and Hattie’s house. While Hattie was not currently making the trip to the market each morning, and therefore not needing protection, he still availed himself of the extra pairs of hands to help bring the fresh produce back to St John’s.

  “Morning, chaps. We need some extra ingredients today,” he said.

  They made short work of their time at the market. The local traders now had Freddie’s order ready when he arrived. By nine o’clock, he was at St John’s with most of the day’s vegetables peeled, chopped, and ready to go into the soup. He was seated at the table calculating how much flour he would need for his first batch of fruit pasties.

  “Parsnips look a little sad
this morning.’

  Freddie looked up from his work at the kitchen table and saw Hattie standing in the doorway. She had managed to make it to the soup kitchen before ten, but her face was pale and drawn.

  “Yes, they didn’t have many of them. I bought some extra potatoes to bulk up the soup. Today, I’m going to try to make a fruit pasty and ask what the folk think of it. If they like it, I will make a bigger batch tomorrow. There is hot water on the stove if you would like a cup of tea,” he replied.

  Hattie took off her cloak and hat and hung them on a nearby hook, but instead of following her usual routine of making herself a weak cup of tea, she came and stood next to him. “We have a visitor. She is waiting outside in the garden if you agree to seeing her.”

  Hattie didn’t need to mention their visitor by name. He knew. Freddie gritted his teeth as his self-confidence faltered. “You told her I was here?”

  Hattie nodded. “As we agreed, this way we can avoid any unpleasantness. Neither of you deserve to have your private pain on display for all to see.”

  Freddie took a hold of Hattie’s hand and raised it to his lips. She was a wonderful woman. She could make him feel so small at times, yet every day he still came to work at St John’s because she made him want to do good. To be a better man.

  “Go and talk to her. Tell her you are sorry for how things ended. If nothing else comes of seeing her, you will at least have managed to offer up an apology,” she counselled.

  He made to remove his apron, then stopped. It wasn’t that he didn’t expect Eve to remain long at the church, rather that he needed her to see him in his true light. To see the real Freddie Rosemount, not the pompous dandy she had set her heart on marrying.

  “She likes her tea sweet with a little honey in it,” said Hattie.

  Freddie took the hint. It would be hard enough to face Eve—a peace offering in the form of tea might help the situation.

  With cups in hand, he stepped out into the warm sunlit garden. Eve turned from examining the herb garden, and the moment her gaze fell upon him, all the bravery he had hastily mustered fled.