by Darcy Burke
"Well, I think it can wait until morning–" Devon started to say he wouldn't want to wake her.
"I need to know. Please promise you won't wait until tomorrow. Promise." Her eyes were every bit as demanding as her voice was weak.
"I promise." He bent over and tenderly kissed her forehead, holding it longer than necessary. He rose and turned to the door. He wanted to pick her up in his arms and hold her as he had Maddie. Instead, he left the room, shut the door, and made his way with determined strides back down to ride out with Clive.
Once he made the front hall, it was as if it was the middle of the day instead of the waning evening. No less than twelve servants and workmen bustled about. A maid slid past him with a quick bob heading toward Ella's room with the forgotten tea tray, and Clive emerged from the library with his head groundskeeper. "Ah there you are. I had just sent a maid with the tea to fetch you. Is she going to be all right?" Clive asked as he fiddled with his riding gloves.
"Yes, she's fatigued and I think she is beginning to realize she is involved in something she can no longer control, if she ever could." Devon allowed his valet who had appeared from nowhere to help him into his coat and hat. "Let's get down there. I am certain we will find a note or something."
"Yes, but the question is did she find it first? While you were gone, I spoke to the driver and he said she rummaged through the glass on the floor with a lantern even when he insisted she get back into the carriage. I would be willing to double down that she found a note and has it with her," Clive replied as they made their way to the waiting horses. The night had turned cool and crisp. It wasn't until the horses rode out through the gates with the thundering of hooves, the rumbling of a wagon, and more men on horseback behind them that Devon's head cleared.
"I concur, my devious little wife isn't about to give up all her cards just yet, but I am ready to be finished with this particular game. If there is nothing at the bakery, I will make sure I find the note in her clothes when we return. I'm not sure who I am looking more forward to punishing, the blackmailers, or my wife," Devon quipped, trying to make light the situation to prevent drowning in pure frustration. He also realized how desperate Ella must be to have come to him for help. She would never give up her control over a situation unless she was sure she was in danger. The thought sobered him even more.
"I am sure that both will have their merits and be rewarding in their own respect," Clive answered, understanding the need for a bit of joviality.
♥♥♥
Three hours later, Devon stood staring down at his sleeping wife draped inelegantly with his sleeping daughter. The damage to the large window was catastrophic, but there had been no other damage. His and Clive's suspicions had been on the mark, however. Lying in the center of the hand-hewn floor of the front room was the offending rock that caused the destruction. Upon closer inspection, he found the torn piece of paper caught under the heavy field stone. The torn piece found its match now being held in Devon's hand, retrieved from his wife's reticule next to her pistol. It was very clear in the directions. As long as Ella continued to produce funds, she and her daughter would not be harmed, but once she was unable to provide, things were going to get very bad. Eric was able to confirm further that Ella had been dealing with some braggarts for some time, but he had been sworn to secrecy from telling Penny anything. He was a young man, but of a solid mind and agreed this foolishness was going too far. Devon felt he had an ally in the young man. The blackmailers had some information about Ella's past and were bent on putting her in harm's way. Devon was certain this had little to do with the money they were demanding, and feared that was only holding them at bay.
As Clive's men swept the glass and cleared the shards from within the pane, they had left them to their work, taking the opportunity to search the kitchen and apartment above stairs for any other signs.
Maddie murmured in her sleep. Devon, remembering the ragged doll in his other hand laid it under the child's arm watching as she clutched it to her and sighed with satisfaction snuggling closer to her mother. Devon walked around the large bed to the window filled with what was left of the moonlight. Looking out, he thought of the place his family had been living, without him. To most of the Haute Ton, it would be nothing but a hovel. Devon, on the other hand, saw a small home filled with love and laughter. It was warm and tidy with those things that he assumed would be found in a home. It wasn't large, only one room. It could have fit in his formal dining room at The Tate with room to spare. The one bed tucked under the eaves was covered not with French silk brocade, but homespun blankets made thick to keep out the winter chill.
How did he feel to know his daughter had grown up in such conditions? He knew how his father would have felt, most of his so-called friends as well. They would think it disgusting and lowly. An owl swooped low to pick a fat little mole from the dark garden below. Devon watched it for only a moment until he shrugged to no one and turned back to the bed.
He didn't care for the word of others— never had. He had grown up, as a child of noble birth should. It was lonely, boring, and at times, scary. His father had withheld love from Devon to teach him what? That you could survive without it, as his father had chosen to do. No, his daughter had spent the beginning of her life where she should have been. How could anyone argue when looking at them in the bed all wound together like a great knot. His only regret was that he was on the outside looking in. What would it be like to wake every morning with Ella draped over his chest and Maddie cuddled up close to her mother? Well, perhaps not every morning, he thought, bringing a half smile to his face. He brought his hand up to rub his whiskered jaw. It was then he remembered the paper in his hand.
When he had first been able to find it, he wanted to wake her from her slumber and shake her for her stubborn ways. As a gentleman, he had taken the high road and instead paced in front of the fire railing in silence at his predicament. He had to protect her. It wasn't just his responsibility anymore. She was his and he wasn't about to allow such scurrilous behavior. No educated man would be able to stomach such poor scribing on purpose, unstable man take what was his. He cursed Ella for putting him in such a position. If he confronted her and tried to force her hand, she would bolt. Of that, he had no doubt. She was scared, that was apparent, but not enough to give over control to him a mere mortal man. No, he was going to have to be devious and dishonest with his wife in order to get to the bottom of this. Careful, so not to disturb her things, he put the note back where he found it.
Well, he thought as he left to start scheming, at least he would have many years to make amends. With luck, he would be making amends because of his conscience and not because he was caught.
♥♥♥
"You need to learn, old boy, when you tell them you will do something, whatever you do, don't go back on your word." Clive sat at the breakfast table working on his second plate piled high with food. It wasn't that his friend was throwing his first mistake of the day at him; it was that he was getting advice from a professional bachelor.
"I didn't tell her I would speak to her when we got back, exactly," Devon answered in a bit of a pout. "I told her if we found any proof of the culprit, I would wake her."
"Let me warn you now. They don't speak the King's English. They speak in tongues as you have said before. We think we understand. However, when in fact, we are just being led like lap dogs into danger. You have had the exceedingly rare luxury of only having to suffer a mistress and they by the nature of things tend to be a tad more hushed in their annoyances." He laughed and went back to his poached eggs with ham.
"Well, I'm not sure I could have woken her. They were both so asleep, neither roused when I went in to search the room." He thought of Ella asleep like an angel only hours earlier and then Ella only moments ago when she stormed into the breakfast room ranting about being late. She proceeded to scowl at Devon and accuse him of keeping information from her. He had to assure her he hadn't found anything in the bakery she didn't already know
was there. He had decided keeping as close to the truth as possible was his best tack. That way he could more easily follow his own tale. She had stormed out without eating, making sure she had secured his promise to have Maddie returned to the bakery by 5 o'clock.
"Then perhaps you should have said you tried to wake her," Clive offered.
"Then I would have lied," Devon pointed out.
"Survival, my boy, is a nasty business, but one we must endure if we are to commune happily with the gentler of our species. Having been raised with all older sisters, I learned young to know when it is safer to lie than to tell the truth. By the time they find out you were not telling the complete truth, they have calmed a bit."
Clive seemed to feel no man could win against an angry woman. Devon had to agree with respect to Ella. He turned back to his now cold eggs, trying to decide how to fix this latest setback.
♥♥♥
The crisp morning air whipped at Ella while the damp knee high grass lashed at her skirts. Her damp dress would dry once she got to working in the heat of the kitchen. She was glad for the fresh air. Perhaps it would cool her temper and her tenuous emotions. She couldn't believe how rude she had just been. She knew the cause, of course, but had she begun to lose all her manners?
When she had woken in the guest room with sunlight streaming in warming her face, she knew at once, she was late. She couldn't remember the last time she awoke after daybreak. When she was over the shock of her own laziness, she remembered last night. Had Devon come back yet? Looking around the room, her eyes fell on a satchel sitting on the dressing stool and then at Maddie cuddled up with her doll. Yes, he came back and he had been in the room. Even thinking about it in the cool morning air sent a shiver of something delicious down Ella's spine.
She got out of bed and began dressing when she remembered the note she had shoved in her pocket. She chastised herself for being too shaken to think of hiding it better. It was still there, but she had no way of knowing if he had seen it. Would he have found anything to lead him to it? By the time she left the room, she was unsettled to the point of distraction.
Once in the breakfast room, she hadn't been put at ease. Both men sat busy plying themselves with their food as if it was any other day. She didn't trust them for one moment. When she quizzed them about last night, they assured her no other damage had been done to the building or her belongings, for which, she was grateful. Devon had also told her to expect workers today with a new window. She wanted to decline, knowing the cost of the window, not to mention the added price for getting it so soon, but at this point, she couldn't afford to replace it. The blackmailers were going to drain her funds if they had their way. She needed to put an end to this, but she still didn't have any more information than before. She did however, have another date tonight. She would have just enough time to get Penny and Maddie settled to make it. She had decided she would double back after and follow them. It was dangerous, but she needed to make some progress.
So caught up in her thoughts, Ella was surprised to see the bakery in front of her as she crested the small hill in the field. She hadn't realized her stride equaled her internal machinations. It was a good thing because she was at least an hour and a half behind her normal routine. She saw long strings of white smoke dancing from the chimney. Penny must not have laid about like a lack-a-bed. She had returned from visiting her family.
The heat from the oven warmed Ella's cool cheeks causing them to sting from the windburn. "Penny? Penny, where are you?" She called, unable to see into the dark room from being outside.
"Ah, there you are." Penny's voice came from beside her in the pantry. "His Lordship sent a boy with news of the window to my parent's house last night. Said you were staying at the manor so ye would be a mite late." She continued to work her way around the pantry and out into the kitchen. Ella could see her friend. Her eyes were filled with concern.
"Yes, well, we are fine. Maddie was still sleeping when I left. I wasn't aware His Lordship would have known where to find you or to think to alert you."
"Well, it was of no consequence, I was more than ready to return. My fither had a list a yard long of potential suitors. I told 'im I was not interested in any of them. That I only want to be with Eric, but he says Eric doesn't have enough money to settle. I tried to remind him that he didn't have enough money for a dowry, so it could be a fair swap."
"Penny, I am sorry your father is so difficult. You know I understand." Ella said. She must have had a tone of something in her voice, because Penny stopped what she was doing and looked up. She had begun kneading the bread. It always helped to think of certain things when kneading bread, it made the task more fulfilling. She took Ella by the hand and sat her at the large workbench opposite her bread dough.
"You need some tea."
"No, Penny truly, I am fine. You have done a splendid job getting things started on time this morning, but I can't let you do everything."
"Nonsense, I am doing fine. You are chilled from your walk, and you need a few moments to settle in before I start in with my plight." Penny placed the cup and saucer in front of her and poured steaming hot tea into it. The smell, mixed with the rising bread and baking pastries, was heaven to her tired soul. She allowed Penny her doting.
"So, what was it like having a knight on a white horse come to your rescue?" Penny asked as she rounded the table and began kneading again.
Ella laughed out loud. She would not call either Clive or Devon knights in shining armor, but she had to admit, once she entered the library last night, she hadn't had to worry about one detail until she left this morning. "Well, I wouldn't go as far as to call them that, but it was a relief to have someone to go to. It is reassuring to have such an involved Lord in our area."
"I wasn't talking about Lord Breakerton." Penny pointed out, with a gleam in her eye. "I was talking about Lord Renwick. He is champion material if I ever saw it."
Laughing again, Ella took a sip of her tea. "Lord Renwick was very helpful as well. I am sure he is acting the part of the perfect English gentleman." She hoped it was dark enough in the dim kitchen to hide her blush.
"Well, if you ask me, no Lord, English or Scottish would take you in and play nursemaid to a child that isn't his for no reason." Ella went still. She needed to get Penny off this train of thought. She didn't realize how close to the truth she was.
"Have you looked in the front room? I am sure it will not be easy doing business today with it so dark."
"Yes, it is very dark. I expect we will have to leave the door propped open." Ella watched as Penny, with practiced skill, shaped then placed the loaves of bread aside to rise.
"Well, I was told to expect some workers today to replace the window. I would imagine they would have to be coming from Edinburgh, so I would think it will be well into the day before we have to suffer that, but it will be good to get it taken care of so quickly."
"Mmhmm," responded Penny, "as I said, His Lordship is awfully generous with his time and funds. I wonder? Does he go around the countryside helping poor widowed bakers? It must be an interesting hobby."
Ella could feel a headache coming on. This was not going to be a day that played out to her favor. Of that, she was sure, but for now, the tea was hot and sweet, and she felt cared for. At least she thought that was lightness in her heart.
♥♥♥
Devon quit the breakfast room having finished his cold eggs and ham. He was thankful Ella's snit hadn't curdled the cream in his coffee at least. He needed to find a maid to go look after Maddie. He decided looking in the wing where she still lay sleeping would be a good place to start. With purposeful steps, he walked down the hallway. His feet, slowed, then stopped in front of the bedroom door. He cursed his ridiculous emotions. He wanted to peek in on her, but assumed she would still be sleeping. He crept up to the door and stood in silence, not moving. That was when he heard the first faint sound. Then, another more distinct. Maddie was crying.
Without another thought of a m
aid, Devon opened the door, careful not to make any noise to scare her. What he saw melted his heart. Sitting in the middle of the huge bed was the three-year-old, legs crossed, clutching the old rag doll he had grabbed the night before. Her hair was a wild mass of curls sticking out at odd angles. As she turned to look at him, he saw the tear stains running down her bright red cheeks.
"Mommy?" she hiccupped.
"Good morning," he said brightly, not sure if he should walk into the room. He didn't want to make her fearful. "Mommy left to go to the bakery. You were still asleep."
She didn't answer, but looked him up and down assessing him. Devon bit back a smile. She looked so like her mother when she did that. She relaxed a bit.
"May I come in and sit with you?" He asked, still not wanting to scare her and not sure what to do. It crossed his mind that Clive would have her laughing and running the halls by now.
She nodded her approval and even sidled over on the bed to give him more room. His heart lurched thinking she might fall off the other side. When she didn't, his heart went back to its normal rhythm. He perched with one hip and knee on the mattress. He leaned his back against the large post at the bottom of the bed. They continued to size each other up.
She broke eye contact and began fussing with her doll's dress. He waited, but she didn't make any move to do anything.
"So, my Lady, what is it you would like to do today?" He asked, hoping she wouldn't say to go back to the bakery. He wanted to spend time with her. The realization shook him. She only shrugged her shoulders without looking up.
"Who is your friend? She is beautiful." Devon knew whenever trying to woo a young lady, you couldn't go wrong with talking about those things she found pleasure in. He hoped it would work on a three year old. She eyed him for only a moment, when he saw her face brighten.
