"It is a pleasure to meet you," Alessandra said to the woman, even though the look being returned to her was icy cold. "It is good to see you, Tom. Please excuse us as we cannot stop," she said and walked away quickly, holding Edward's hand tightly.
Once they were a suitable distance away, Edward stopped their walking.
"Alessandra, take a deep breath. I can see you are wound up. What is upsetting you so much?" Edward asked her and she gave him a look that almost made him reel.
"I don't feel comfortable being around a man I once thought I had feelings for. It makes me feel … ill at ease."
Edward looked at his wife and did not want to say anything more that might upset her, so decided to divert her instead, moving forward to her, putting his arms around her and kissing her. It was not a done thing to do in such an open and public place, but Alessandra reacted quickly, put her arms around him and held him, and let her mind be taken to another place - a far more pleasurable place.
She looked at him demurely and whispered close to his ear, "Could we please go back to our room?"
He smiled at her and she could see - and feel - his reaction.
"Yes, of course my love, but I do need a minute to think about the weather," he said, smiling shyly, and causing her to giggle in her more relaxed state.
* * * * *
Across the road, the same eyes were still on the two of them. Tom watched as the two of them embraced, and he watched when her husband kissed her, and how she responded so eagerly. And what hurt even more, was the way her husband said something to her, and she laughed so freely and easily, with true happiness on her face. What it must be like to have a wife look at me like that, he thought to himself, before he saw Alessandra and Edward walk off, hand in hand and still looking at each other with a message of desire broadcast openly on their faces.
* * * * *
In their room, Edward felt Alessandra undress him and then walk him backward to the bed, pushing him down so that he was lying on his back. He lay still as he watched her undress before him, and then climb up to lie down on top of him. He was extremely aroused, and kissed her as she moved herself over him in a way that enabled her to rub against him. To Edward it was exciting, to have his wife moving in her own way, when usually it was he who was on top.
Alessandra felt confident and highly aroused, taking control of the movements between them. She moved down on him, experimenting with how it felt, and both of them groaned at their joining.
"Oh Alessandra," Edward breathed out, enjoying these new feelings while watching his wife move on him. "Oh my love … what you do to me," he continued, moaning in pleasure while alternating between kissing her and watching her, and it was not long before Alessandra saw, heard and felt him release.
She relaxed on him, content to just be there with him, the man she loved so deeply now. They kissed softly, immersed in emotion, both knowing that nothing needed to be said.
Chapter Thirty Four
The following day Edward took Alessandra to the Pump Room at her request, giving her her desired freedom to watch all the people there. It wasn't an amusement he gained joy from, but he was happy enough watching her watch everyone else.
Once settled in a comfortable spot, Edward left her to go and get her a refreshment, and almost instantaneously as he walked off in one direction, Alessandra found herself approached by Tom.
"Alessandra," he said quietly, and as she turned she saw him looking around guiltily, as if knowing his wife would not be happy with the attention he was giving Alessandra.
"Tom, you seem to be appearing everywhere," she said to him, not unkindly but certainly not in a friendly manner, realising that every tiny bit of feeling she had ever had for him had now disintegrated.
"Alessandra, I cannot stop thinking about you," he said, blushing furiously, which surprised Alessandra as he had always seemed to be the confident one of the two of them. "I wish…"
He stopped talking mid-sentence but Alessandra in her curiosity did not let it end there.
"You wish … what? That you and I were married?"
"Yes … no … oh, I do not know what I want. All I know is that you are on my mind all the time. Please…"
"Please, what?" Alessandra asked him, wondering why he was showering all this attention on her now, when so much time had passed.
"Please … I would like to spend some time with you," he blurted out, not even knowing himself what he meant by such a declaration.
She looked at him closely. He was such a handsome man and yet when she looked at him now, she did not see attractiveness. And inside of her, she realised that she was incredibly happy that he had taken himself off when he did to get married, because Edward was ten times the man that Tom was.
"Tom, you are married and I am married, and I am happy in my marriage. I am expecting a child, and I am living a life that I love. Please do not talk to me any more. It makes me uncomfortable, given what my feelings for you were before, and I am doing what I can to remain calm, for the sake of my baby," she said as plainly as she could, and she saw him look at her belly.
"You are with child?" he asked, with an incredulous tone in his voice. He just could not believe that so much that he wanted in a wife appeared to be standing right in front of him.
Behind Tom, Alessandra could see Katherine approaching so she nodded in response to his question, and informed him quietly.
"Tom, your wife is nearing us," she said and saw recognition in his eyes before he turned and started walking away, meeting his wife in the process and avoiding her coming face to face with Alessandra again.
Edward came up behind her then, startling her.
"Are you alright?" he asked, not giving any indication to her if he had seen Tom or not.
She smiled at him, appreciating yet again what a good, loving man he was.
"Yes, Tom just approached me again but I have told him not to do so anymore."
Edward had no response except to hand her the refreshment she had wanted, and both of them then tried to put Tom Missinger out of their minds for good.
Chapter Thirty Five
After waking and breakfasting the next day, Alessandra turned to Edward over the dining table, breaking him out of deep thoughts.
"Edward, if this is to be the last day you and I have completely alone for a long while, would you be upset at the idea of us not going anywhere today? I would very much like to just be with you, without any restrictions or plans," she said tentatively and he looked closely at her before responding.
"Are you alright, Alessandra? You do look pale."
"Oh, yes, I feel alright but I do not feel like being around people today. I just want to be with you."
He nodded, took her hand in his and stood up to leave.
"Come then, my lovely wife. Let us return to our room and relax," he said quietly in an effort to keep her calm.
"Relax?" she asked in her teasing manner, making him laugh at her attempt to get him heated again.
* * * * *
Through the day they lay around on the bed and had meals delivered to their room when they desired to eat, and for this one whole day it felt to Alessandra like they were in their own little universe that no-one else could touch.
As Alessandra lay back on the bed on her back, even though there was no large physical bump yet to indicate her being pregnant, Edward found himself gently caressing her belly. It was a small movement but soothing to her, and she giggled as he started to talk to the little life inside of her.
"There is no harm in telling him early on about the world, my love," he said with a humorous tone to his voice.
"Him? Oh, I see you already know that this is a boy," she teased him back.
"No. I know people always say boys are more important as heirs, but all I want is for you to be safe and well, no matter whether we have a daughter or a son."
They both lay quiet, thinking about life to come.
Chapter Thirty Six
On their journey back to
the estate the next day, Edward and Alessandra were both quiet, wrapped up in their own thoughts.
In Edward's mind, he found he still had a pressing reminder in his head about the man who had kept turning up and approaching Alessandra - Tom. He knew there was no reason to give him any more consideration, and yet now and then a thought would enter his head and cause him concern. Not that he would voice that concern to Alessandra of course - his main job in coming months, as far as he was concerned, was to keep her calm and happy in the hope that she would be able to carry their child to full term. Even in that he did not have any real reason to worry and it was mainly the limited success of his and Alessandra's parents to easily have children that inspired him to think about that possibility being passed down to this little one also. But all he could do was try and do what he could to provide his wife with as happy a life as he could, and let nature make the decision of whether he would become a father or not.
Beside him, Alessandra felt him squeeze her hand firmly, but when she looked at him she could see he was deep in contemplation, under the guise of looking out over the scenery passing them by. Whatever was worrying him he would talk about when he felt the time was right, she was certain. For her, she found she was looking forward to getting home. Their four nights away had been welcome and enjoyable, and she had particularly enjoyed the day before, not having to see anyone except Edward, all day. She suspected he carried concern for her and the baby growing inside of her, so she had determination to not give him any real reason to worry. But she did look forward to the months passing and them knowing one way or another if they were to be parents or not.
* * * * *
Upon arrival at the manor house, Edward's mother once again ran out to greet them, throwing her arms around them in a loving embrace.
"Oh my children. Did you see and do many exciting things?" she was excitedly asking as she ushered them inside and into the drawing room.
Edward looked tired and not receptive to his mother's enthusiasm so Alessandra laughed quietly at his mother and responded.
"Actually it was lovely most of all to get to so much time together alone," she said and the openness of the comment seemed to stun Edward's mother into silence.
Edward must have heard her response in the background of whatever he was thinking, and Alessandra saw him turn and give her a shy yet sad smile.
"Mother, we are going to get settled. We shall return shortly," he said, leading Alessandra out of the room and upstairs to their bedroom.
When the door closed, he pulled her into his arms and just held her tightly. He didn't speak and he did not kiss her, and she let him engulf her while she held him close to her, and she stayed silent, allowing him whatever time he needed.
Finally he pulled far enough away so that he could look into her eyes, and kiss her softly on the lips, but when she looked at him she saw he was trying to not let tears appear in his eyes.
She pulled him close again, waiting for him to speak, but he did not.
"Edward, what is making you so upset?" she asked quietly, trying once more to look into his eyes.
"I love you so much, Alessandra. And I hate the thought of not having you here with me," he said, wiping a tear away from his eye.
"But why should you think I am not going to be here with you? I have no desire to be anywhere else."
He hugged her tightly again.
"I know. I am sorry. My emotions are overpowering me today. I have never felt love like this before and sometimes it is overwhelming."
She pulled away completely and took his hand to lead him to the bed, where she bid him to lie down, and she lay down beside him, holding him against her.
"Is there really nothing in particular worrying you, Edward?" she asked quietly but he only moved even closer into her arms.
"No, my love. I just want a few minutes here with you, like this, and then I shall go downstairs and see my mother and father."
* * * * *
When the two of them ventured into the drawing room once again, they stumbled into a conversation neither of them had thought about yet.
"We will need to find a nanny and open up the nursery once more," Edward's mother was saying, surprising Alessandra. Till this time she had not considered anyone raising her child other than her and Edward, but she remained quiet with the determination to voice her thoughts on the matter at a much later date. She was still only around ten weeks into her pregnancy, by the reckoning of her and Margaret, so she did not want to invest too much thought and planning into the baby just yet.
Upon hearing Alessandra and Edward come into the room, his mother quietened, having received a stern look from her husband to do so.
"Thank you both, once again, for arranging our time away," Alessandra said quietly to them both in an attempt to see the subject changed and not give any indication that she had heard their words at all.
Edward's father came forward, highly out of character, and hugged her.
"You are most welcome, Alessandra. I am glad you enjoyed it."
He then turned to Edward and appeared to wish to move on with the day as if nothing were out of the ordinary.
"Edward, I would like you to accompany me on a visit to see John Homer, who is having some problems with the sheep he is tending. Could you spare yourself today?" he asked and Edward nodded.
"Of course, Father. I can come with you now if you need me to," he replied and came up to kiss Alessandra fondly before the two of them walked out.
* * * * *
Alessandra walked to the drawing room window and watched out as her husband and his father mounted their horses. As if sensing her watching, Edward turned to look at her and wave before they rode off slowly together.
She turned to her mother-in-law, who seemed to be watching her thoughtfully.
"Is there anything you would like me to do today?" she asked, seeming to break Edward's mother out of her gaze and thought.
"Yes! Spring in upon us and you and I can start planning our annual spring cleaning for the house. I have lists in the steward's room, that I shall retrieve and we can go through them together," she said eagerly.
Alessandra nodded and followed her mentor to the steward's room, where they sat down together at the large wooden desk and looked through the pages of details that seemed to go on forever.
"As you can see, Alessandra, this list is extensive but it has been formulated over many decades and I have found that it works well to ensure that every room and surface is cleaned well. The weather is starting to fine up now so soon we shall be able to open up the rooms that remain closed over winter. Every summer we hold hunts here, with a great many guests to stay, so all bedrooms get used then and the rooms, beds and linen need to all be aired out in preparation for that."
"It will be a busy time for us then," Alessandra said, feeling overwhelmed all of a sudden.
"Do not worry about the work itself, Alessandra. We hire additional service staff during the height of the spring cleaning, and our regular household staff will do the rest. The part you and I play is working through this list to make sure everything is planned to be done, and everyone knows what their job is and when it has to be done by."
Alessandra took a deep breath and determined to remain calm.
Chapter Thirty Seven
Over the following four weeks Alessandra was introduced to directing staff and checking the standard of their work, and she found it exciting to be slowly discovering new areas of the house as the weather warmed and more rooms could be opened up for attention. To her, she could not see how Edward's mother could possibly be right in saying that all the rooms would be used for their upcoming hunts - the rooms seemed to go on forever around the complex formation of corridors and stairways.
But slowly she was learning more and more, and becoming increasingly confident in her ability to identify and relate to the service staff, and recognise who was responsible for what.
By now she was coming into her fourth month of pregnancy, and s
o far all appeared to be well. But she could see that the further along she was, the more stressed Edward was in his concern for her.
Lying in bed at night, he would fondly caress the bump that was now forming, an action that Alessandra never tired of, but he always seemed preoccupied.
"Edward," she said, forcing him to look at her directly. "I am worried about you. Please tell me what is on your mind."
"My love, you only need to concentrate on yourself and this little one," he said quietly but she would not let that lie.
"No, that is not true. You are my husband and I love you, and I am very worried that something is wrong with you. So if you don't want me to be worried, then share with me whatever is hurting you so much."
He looked at her and knew that by trying to not cause stress in her, he was doing the exact opposite, so decided to speak.
"Alessandra, I love you and I trust you," he started to say, alarming Alessandra in his choice of words. "Letters have been arriving for you … and I have been preventing them from reaching you."
Alessandra's first thoughts were that she had not heard from her mother, but as she looked at her husband she could not believe that he would have stopped her correspondence.
"You have kept my mother's letters from me?" she asked with an incredulous look on her face, but in return she saw a look of horror on Edward's.
"What? No! Alessandra I would never want to stop you having contact with your mother, or anyone else in your family!"
Now she was confused since she had never shared written correspondence with anyone else.
"I don't understand. No-one else writes to me," she said.
Edward took a deep breath, not wanting to admit what he had been doing, but equally not wanting to cause her more stress now, especially with her now having made it to almost halfway through her term.
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