by Alice Kirks
Lord Alymer let out a hearty laugh. “There are some things about courtship between young people that I shall never understand!” he said happily. “But then it was Lord Miles who admitted to being the intruder... why did he do that?”
Bridget took a quick look out into the hallway to ensure that her sister was nowhere nearby, and then explained, “I believe it is because there is a rivalry between Lord Geoffrey and Lord Miles, and whatever it is that Geoffrey desires, Miles vies for as well. I know that it is Deborah who Lord Miles is truly fond of, but I think that he learned of Lord Geoffrey’s feelings for me and decided to make an effort to win my affections.”
Lord Alymer looked slightly embarrassed. “It was Deborah who Lord Miles admired, was it? Then I suppose what I said to him the other day here in the parlous was even worse than I understood,” he said regretfully. “Had I known about that, I would have immediately said no.”
Bridget shrugged. “How were you to know, Papa? So much of what has gone on between Deborah and I and the Nott brothers has been in secret.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Bridget regretted them. She had not meant to say that, but now that it was out, she knew that she would have to talk her way out of it somehow.
Lord Alymer’s face changed once again. “What do you mean - there have been many things happening in secret?” He asked.
Bridget sputtered momentarily, but then said, “I meant that we have had private conversations with the brothers while we were in your presence, that is all.” Bridget tried to look calmly at her father and it seemed to work, for a moment later he did begin to look rather relieved.
“Thank goodness,” he said, “for I was worried that I would have to punish you for having secret meetings with him, especially if they were in our house!”
Bridget laughed nervously, and then confidently said, “Why would I do a thing like that? How foolish would that be!” She and her father laughed together for a moment, but the whole time Bridget couldn’t help but feel as though she had just dodged an awful confrontation.
When their laughter died down, Lord Alymer said, “I am glad that we are able to laugh together, but we need to get back to the topic at hand. I am still against Lord Geoffrey, and know that you should not be together with him, and that Deborah should not try to be with Lord Miles. I do understand, however, that you still feel that the two of you should be with the Nott brothers, so shall we continue to discover why we feel the way that we do?”
Chapter 29
Lord Alymer and Bridget talked a little more in the parlour, until Bridget suggested they continue their discussion on a turn about the estate. Lord Alymer agreed that was a good idea, and so minutes later they were outside, walking along the pathway that wound around the estate.
It felt good to get outside. It was a beautiful spring day: the air was warm, the sun was shining, and there was a scent in the air that held the promise of new life. As Bridget looked around the lush lawns and greenery, she noticed that many of the trees had buds on them and that the flowers were beginning to peek out from the soil. She knew that it would not be long before everything burst forth with life, colour, and beautiful scents. Spring was her favourite season, after all, and she looked forward to seeing what this incredible season would bring for her... both in the outdoors and in her love life.
As they walked towards the woods, Lord Alymer broke the silence by saying, “I know that we have spoken calmly about Lord Geoffrey this morning, my dear, and we shall continue to do so, but I must tell you once again that I believe you should end your association with him. If he has brought about this many problems when you are not even courting yet, can you imagine what he might do when you do begin going together?”
Bridget bit her tongue to stop from laughing. She didn’t dare even smile, for she was worried that her father would be able to tell that she and Lord Geoffrey had technically already begun courting. Instead, she responded, “Yes, but Father, all of these things that have happened in the last month have been out of the ordinary, and many of them occurred because they were out of Lord Geoffrey’s control.
He had to become the intruder because his cousin stole from us in the first place, then he could not tell us the truth because Lord Philip died so soon after it happened and he had to assume his role as magistrate. And this whole business with Lord Miles likely came about because Lord Philip left everything to Lord Geoffrey, as naturally he was his eldest son, in his will!” Bridget surprised even herself by putting all of those things together. She hadn’t considered how much of what had happened to Lord Geoffrey had been beyond his control until she said them all out loud herself.
“I suppose that is true,” Lord Alymer said. “I had not considered that Lord Geoffrey was trying to make the best decisions that he could, considering the situations that had been thrown at him.”
Bridget nodded. “I think that if Lord Geoffrey and I were to have some time to ourselves outside of all of what has been happening over the last month, we would make a wonderful match together. And I also believe that once Lord Miles and Lord Geoffrey solve their problem between them, that Lord Miles will come to his senses about Deborah,” she explained. “I cannot believe that Lord Miles could so easily forget a woman as wonderful as our Deborah.”
Lord Alymer agreed, saying, “That is very true, Bridget. But should we forgive Lord Miles for tossing Deborah by the wayside and pursuing you?”
Bridget was quiet for a time, thinking about what her father had said. She did not know what to think about Lord Miles. While she wanted to believe that her sister had a good sense of his character and such, she could not understand how a man that Deborah liked could change so drastically at the top of a hat.
“I do not know, Father,” Bridget said finally. “I think that we should let time tell us what to think of Lord Miles, and take our cues from Deborah in regards to forgiving him.”
Lord Alymer nodded, and for a time the duo walked in silence. Bridget admired the gardens as they walked through them and saw that there were many blooms here that had not been present last year. For example, there were multi-coloured tulips that were peeking through the soil that Bridget did not recognise. There was also a cluster of irises that were just beginning to bud. Bridget loved irises, for their deep purple hues reminded her of a painting. If she had it her way, she would fill her garden fill of irises and nothing else.
On that thought, Bridget began imagining what it would be like to live at the Nott Estate with Lord Geoffrey. She wondered if he would allow her to pick out whatever bulbs she liked for the garden, and then she decided that yes, of course he would. Lord Geoffrey cared about a great many things, but she had a feeling that flowers were not one of them. In that case, Bridget decided that she would fill any garden they could potentially have with flowers from around the world, so that even when they were at home, it would feel as though they were travelling every time they took a stroll through the garden.
Finally, Lord Alymer spoke again and pulled Bridget from her thoughts. “My darling, while I do respect all of the points that you have brought up this morning, I still do not think it is worth it for you and your sister to pursue the Nott brothers. I think that no matter what sort of work Lord Geoffrey and Miles do to repair their reputations, their family will be ruined by scandal. It will be a great challenge to be with a man whose family is disgraced. Why do you insist that you still want to be with him?” Bridget’s father asked her.
“Because, Papa,” Bridget said confidently, “I think that all of this is a sort of grand adventure. I know that my life will never be as fantastically exciting as the stories that I read, but having all of this happen certainly is thrilling. If I cannot see my average, everyday life as an adventure, then how will I ever get to have one?”
Lord Alymer chuckled, but not in a malicious or judgemental way. “Dearest, I understand where you are coming from,” he said respectfully, “but I do not think that the ruin of Lord Geoffrey’s family’s reputation is an adventure that you w
ill want to be on.” Lord Alymer stopped and faced his daughter, and then took her hand and said thoughtfully, “You deserve the kinds of adventures that you and your mother always dreamed of, and this is not one of them, my sweet. Save your hopes for a better cause!”
Even though Lord Alymer was being very kind to Bridget and saying these things that were true, he did not understand how much Lord Geoffrey meant to her. And so, she decided it was finally time to tell him.
“Papa,” Bridget began, “That is lovely of you to say, but I must inform you that there is more to the relationship between Lord Geoffrey and me.” Bridget took her hand out of her father’s grasp and looked off into the distance. From where she was standing, she could see the sheep out grazing in the field and the horses galloping around their enclosure in the springtime sun. She wished that she could change places with any of them right now, but as she knew that she could not, she decided to go ahead with what she was going to tell her father. She turned back to look at Lord Alymer, who was gazing at her quizzically, and said, “I do not just admire Lord Geoffrey... I love him.”
When the words were out of her mouth, Bridget felt a great weight being lifted from her shoulders. She had never said those words out loud to anyone, and now that she had, she felt elated. She could not believe that the first person that she told was her father, but this morning was turning out to be quite different than what she had thought it would be.
Bridget carefully watched her father’s face to see what he thought of her saying that. At first Lord Alymer looked slightly angry, but then his expression changed. He now looked simply confused.
“I... I do not understand,” Lord Alymer stammered. “How can you be in love with a man who you have spent so little time with? Are you enamoured with his illegal pursuits? Are you saying that you love him because he has so much money?”
Bridget laughed and then responded, “I’m surprised that you could think that of me, Father.”
Lord Alymer’s eyes widened, and he began trying to backtrack. “I did not mean that I really thought you were in love with him because of those petty things,” he spluttered, “but your declaration of love was so unexpected that I tried to think of the most outlandish reasons as to why you could be saying you were in love with him.”
Bridget pushed a blonde strand of hair out of her face and smiled at her father. “Well,” she said, “there may or may not have been a few occasions where Lord Geoffrey and I were in each other’s presence... without your knowledge.”
“What?” Lord Alymer said, suddenly angry. “You saw him without my permission?”
“I had to, Papa,” Bridget explained calmly. “If your father had kept you from seeing Mama, would you have gone without seeing her for weeks on end? Would you have let the great love of your life slip out of your hands simply because your relationship was inconvenient to your parents?”
Lord Alymer opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, and then closed it again. He looked at Bridget thoughtfully for a few moments, saying nothing. Then, finally, he admitted, “I suppose that you might be right in saying that. And I don’t believe I’ve ever told you this, but your mother and I were indeed disallowed from seeing each other for a time when we had just begun courting, so I do very much understand where you are coming from.”
Bridget’s eyes widened. “I never knew that!” she cried. “Why were you and Mama kept apart?”
Lord Alymer looked slightly ashamed. “I don’t know if it would be a good idea to tell you...” he trailed off.
“Oh please!” Bridget begged. “Knowing that you and Mother went through something similar would be very reassuring, and I would love to know how you resolved the issue that was keeping you apart.”
Lord Alymer laughed. “It is not anything thrilling,” he explained, “but perhaps I should tell you.” Lord Alymer led Bridget over to the outdoor patio, where they sat down at some chairs at an elegant table. Bridget was relieved to be sitting, for she was getting rather tired when they were walking but she had been enjoying it so much that she did not want to admit to her father that she was exhausted.
“You see,” Lord Alymer expressed, “your mother’s father and my father were enemies. They had been close friends when they were younger, and had been taught by the same kindly older lady. When that woman died, she left equal parts of her estate to the two of them. But then, because of an error in her will, all of the money ended up going to your mother’s father, and my father was left with nothing from her. From then on, there was a great deal of hostility between the two men.”
“Your mother and I met without knowing anything of this feud,” Lord Alymer continued. “When I came to her parents’ estate one day to ask to court her, her father discovered who I was and banned me from ever entering the house again. It was quite a surprise for both of us.”
“Naturally,” Bridget agreed. “You had finally found a woman you thought could be the love of your life, and now her father was exiling you from their house!”
Lord Alymer laughed and put up his hands. “No, no,” he reassured her, “it was nothing as exciting as that. Your mother and I barely knew each other, and so at first I took her father’s disagreement to our relationship as a sign that we should not be together. But then I met her again at a country dance, and she tore into me for not having come to call upon her after I promised that I would.”
Bridget burst out laughing. “That certainly sounds like Mother!” she said happily, and her father nodded.
“It was one of the first reasons why I knew that we were meant to be together,” Lord Alymer said. “I explained to her what had happened, and she said that she did not care what her father said and that we should be together no matter what.”
Bridget nodded along with what her father was saying. “Now that sounds a lot more like someone else that we both know,” she said sheepishly.
Lord Alymer looked slyly at Bridget. “Now who on earth could that be?” he wondered sarcastically. “But as I was saying, your mother and I decided that we were going to be together no matter what. I started sneaking over to her home and visiting her in the evening outdoors, and she came here to visit me secretly as well. The more that we got to know each other, the more we fell in love. Eventually, our fathers were able to figure out their disagreement, and... we were married!” Lord Alymer looked off into the distance sadly and finished, “I am so glad that we decided to pursue our relationship no matter what our parents said, otherwise I would have missed out on getting to be with the best woman in the world.”
Bridget took her father’s hand and gave it a knowing squeeze. “Now do you understand why Lord Geoffrey and I are trying so hard to be together?” she asked. “If you had the feeling that Mother was the woman that you were meant to be with so early on in your relationship, how can you say that I do not know that I am meant to be with Geoffrey?”
Lord Alymer was silent for a long time. Bridget figured that he did understand where she was coming from, but was trying to see through the differences in their relationship so that he could come to terms with things in his mind. Bridget was patient with him, and did not try to say anything that would interrupt his thought process.
It finally paid off. Lord Alymer looked upon Bridget and said, “All right, all right, I will relent and admit that I understand why you say you think you could love Lord Geoffrey.”
Bridget squealed and wrapped her arms around her father. “Oh, thank you, Papa!” she cried happily, and Lord Alymer took her hug for a moment.
But then he pulled away from her and said, “Now, now, that does not mean that I approve of your relationship. I am only saying that I shall consider he and Miles as prospective sons-in-law, and that if an occasion arises, you and Deborah shall be permitted to see both of them... in public, though. No more of these secret meetings that you speak of!”
Bridget laughed, now very relaxed, and said, “Fine, fine, I suppose I can stop allowing strange men into our sitting room at all hours of the night to
have discussions about love and romance.”
Lord Alymer looked positively stunned, and so Bridget decided to go easier on him. The two spent the rest of their time together discussing their fond remembrances of Bridget’s mother, who was obviously the apple of both of their eyes.
