True Nobility

by Lori Bates Wright

  By all appearances, Aunt Charlotte fainted dead away in her seat.

  Zach was on his feet in an instant, calling for smelling salts, while Aurora sat with her mouth gaping.

  Amusement danced in Nicholas’s eyes.

  Tori moistened her lips to cover a smile. She had thought it only fair to prepare them, after all. Once Josie was up and around, this little spectacle would seem mild in comparison to the commotion she’d likely cause.

  “I believe your aunt has fainted, princess.” Seeking his wife’s side, Nicholas plucked a white carnation from a floral arrangement on a marble pedestal. Lifting it to his nose, he came up behind her and presented it to her around her shoulder. “Surely you haven’t intentionally mortified the dear woman?” He spoke softly next to her ear. “Not Lady Victoria Goodness and Virtue—Miss Sarah Hale’s most loyal student.”

  Zach attempted to follow the moaning lady’s nose with a silver vial of smelling salts as she rolled her head back and forth.

  “Certainly not,” Tori replied in a hushed tone. “Besides, she’s not really suffering an attack of the vapors. Her eyelids are wiggling.”

  Nicholas’s brow rose.

  Tori dipped her head in the direction of the ailing lady. Indeed, Aunt Charlotte struggled against the foul odor, even pushing at Zach’s arm.

  “Ah, I see.” Nicholas straightened to his full height and clasped his hands behind his back. “Take heart, love, not all are as talented as you in covering their fluster. Maybe later you could give her a few lessons.”

  His teasing was rewarded with a small elbow to his ribs.

  “I really don’t see why all the fuss. It’s hardly a secret.” Tori twirled her carnation between two fingers and Nicholas watched with a grin. “And here I’ve not even told them about my adventure with Hickory yet.”

  Lord Haverwood arrived on the Saberton doorstep at exactly two minutes to eight.

  Tori met her guests at the door and watched as her exasperated aunt was left to see herself down from the carriage.

  A virtual fruit basket was knocked askew from the top of her aunt’s head as she descended from the conveyance into the evening drizzle. The headdress hung precariously over one eye with a hapless banana dangling from the side of her head.

  Thankfully, Aurora helped assuage her mother’s ruffled dander. Righting the unfortunate hat, she managed to convince Aunt Charlotte all was well. That is, until Aurora tripped on her mother’s billowing green skirt and the basket took a tumble once again.

  At Tori’s prompting, Jonas trotted down the steps to offer his assistance.

  “I don’t know what Edward’s in such an all-fired hurry about.” Charlotte allowed the footman to take her arm and gingerly help her up the spiral brick steps leading to the double front doors. “Mmm. Something smells divine. I do hope Tori has borrowed a cook from Dottie’s place. They always serve the most delectable dishes. Jonas, have them set out extra butter.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Jonas nodded, then shook his head as he followed the ladies inside and closed the door behind them.

  Tori greeted her with a quick hug, never letting her father leave her sight. “I’ve given instructions to go ahead with dinner, Aunt Charlotte. Father and I will join you shortly.” She hoped her aunt wouldn’t take offense, but there was something far more important to be done at the moment.

  To her relief, Nicholas and Zach stepped forward and each gallantly offered an arm which the Haverwood ladies accepted with enthusiasm.

  Tori found her father just inside the drawing room and slipped her arm through his. “Thank you for coming.”

  He answered with a snort.

  “I must warn you, Father, Josie’s not well.” Tori walked him to the stairway and caught up her lavender skirt before continuing their unhurried pace. She’d worn his favorite gown as a show of appreciation for his coming, knowing he’d more readily receive a silent gesture than an awkward display of affection. “I hope when you see her, it will explain my urgency in insisting that you come at once.”

  He was awfully quiet as his feet shuffled upon the dense emerald carpet running up the center of the polished wooden steps. Painful memories he’d thought never to rehash awaited him on the upper landing. Tori felt for him. The stairway must seem a mile long.

  They followed the narrow path of carpet down the hallway to the last room on the left. Without delay, Tori pushed open the carved door before her father could reconsider.

  The air inside the darkened room was moist and thick. An iron kettle filled with mint and herbs was set to boil continuously over the grate in the fireplace. The added humidity eased Josie’s breathing somewhat yet felt heavy to Tori’s healthy lungs.

  A trickle of summer rain pattered against two windows hung with diamond-patterned lace. A canopy of matching lace covered the tester bed at the other end.

  The nurse that Nicholas had hired to look after Josie stood up upon their entry, taking her leave so that they could visit alone.

  The earl remained rooted to a spot just inside the door.

  Tori went around to the opposite side of the bed and adjusted the floral quilt around Josie’s shoulders. She knew better than to rush him. In truth, she was thankful he had come this far.

  Josie made a choking sound and Tori raised her pillow to allow her to gather in enough air to cough. The lamp on the night stand flickered casting a distorted shadow of the earl onto the far wall.

  Opening her eyes, Josie saw Tori and scowled. Appearing even more gaunt than usual, her blue eyes looked enormous against her thin, pale face.

  The earl took a hesitant step forward then stopped.

  “I’ve brought someone to see you, Josephine.” Tori glanced the earl’s way to see if he’d caught the use of her full name.

  Following his cane, he took another step in the direction of the bed.

  Josie, whether completely disinterested or simply too weak to care, turned her head away from Tori and reclosed her eyes. “Leave me be.”

  Tori lit a beeswax candle and cupped her hand around it as she moved to light two of the four etched glass lamps hanging on each wall. The room progressively took on a rich amber glow, bathing the bed in soft light.

  Standing back, Tori blew at the flame in her hand and watched her father take the three remaining steps to the platform at the foot of the bed placing him at eye-level with the girl wheezing upon the pillows.

  His shoulders seemed to sag beneath the weight of his past as he stared at this daughter of Lucinda’s, this child he’d disregarded all these years. He watched with sad eyes as she struggled with each breath.

  Reaching for the footboard, he quickly pulled his hand back as Josie’s eyes fluttered open at the movement. It was obvious she was making a great effort to focus on the stranger at her feet. “Who?” Her voice was raspy and after several attempts to clear it, she gave a choked cough and laid back, giving up the effort.

  Tori rested her hand on Josie’s shoulder. “Father has come to visit.” The girl tensed under her hand. “You mustn’t try to talk. He’s just come to be properly introduced. It’s necessary, after all, if the two of you are to live together at Wrenbrooke.”

  The earl’s gaze flew to that of his youngest daughter. “This is news to me.”

  Tori brought her finger to her lips to hush him, before rushing on. Stubborn determination to see the thing through spurred her on. “And just as soon as you’re up and around again, Father will take you down to Bond Street in London to see you fitted with some—”

  “Get… out!” The order was weak, but the sneer on Josie’s face left no doubt as to her meaning.

  Biting back a feeling of despair that threatened to crush her hopes for reconciliation, Tori stood ready to intervene on her father’s behalf.

  Lord Haverwood, however, needed no such help as he straightened his shoulders and addressed the young woman frowning at him. “Your mother would not approve, my dear.”

  Instead of backing away from her heated gaze, Tori watch
ed as he took a step around the side of the bed to come closer. “Lucinda deplored rudeness. Never hesitated to remind me of it.”

  Josie opened her mouth to speak, but a rattling cough consumed her.

  The earl looked on as Tori dipped a cloth into the wash basin and bathed the girl’s face in cool water. Josie was too frail to put up a struggle.

  “I shan’t pretend I never knew of your existence.” He ignored her glare. “Lucinda was heavy with you the last time I saw her.”

  Tori saw a look of remorse cross his face, but only for an instant.

  “She was a rare and engaging woman, had a unique ability to see only good in people. Idealistic to a fault.” His gruff voice softened as if he’d called up an image of her face in his memory. “I scarcely understand it, even to this day, but somehow she fancied herself in love with me. I did my best to discourage such a foolish notion, for it simply had no place in my life at the time. It was my impression that love was for ignorant buffoons with no immunity toward a cleverly hitched skirt. I rather prided myself as being something of an unlovable sort, actually.”

  Josie closed her eyes to his words, though the rapid rise and fall of her chest told them she wasn’t sleeping. Tori saw regret cross her father’s face and she swallowed hard against the sorrow she felt for him. He needed to say these things as much, if not more, than Josie needed to hear them.

  “I had a devil of a time convincing Lucinda of it, however. Meek as she was, she was terribly insistent. She used to say, ‘Edward, if you’d just show folks the sweet, caring man you are underneath, they’d elect you King of England for the sheer pleasure of being at your service.’”

  The earl came out of his musing when he caught Tori’s understanding nod. Clearing his throat, he waved a hand to dissuade her from commenting. “Yes well, that’s neither here nor there. The point is, eventually I succumbed to her obvious charms and found I’d come to care for her deeply.”

  Josie opened her eyes to that, glaring her mistrust.

  “’Tis true, but there wasn’t a blessed thing I could do about it.” The earl stepped closer. “She wasn’t of any particular lineage, American or otherwise. My peers, you see, simply wouldn’t stand for it. I married her, to give you the Haverwood name, but it didn’t mean a thing. She wasn’t welcome where I came from and I chose not to put her through public humiliation. It was best she go on without me. Lucinda agreed.”

  A tear fell down the side of Josie’s face when she closed her eyes once more. Tori reached to wipe it away, but the other girl flinched as if her touch was unbearable.

  “I made provisions for the three of you. I would not have had it otherwise. Unfortunately, I had no means of knowing that my wishes were not being carried out, nor that the funds set aside for your welfare were being pilfered by an unscrupulous solicitor.” A hint of despair rose in his voice. “If only your mother had written me.”

  Shifting the cane to his other hand, the earl spoke again as if to himself. “But she wouldn’t, of course. She’d given her word.” He cast a weary eye at the frail form of his older child and shook his head regretfully. “For that, my dear, I most humbly apologize.”

  Josie remained quiet with her eyes closed.

  Her father nodded and turned on his cane, indicating that he’d finished what he’d set out to do.

  Tori blinked rapidly to clear the tears that clouded her vision. When she looked down at Josie, she realized the girl was trying to speak. Lifting the pillow, she cradled her head to make it easier for her.

  “Father, please wait. I think there’s something Josie wants to say to you.” Tori called out, suddenly overwhelmed by the possibility that the breach between these two could be spanned in a matter of moments. One word of forgiveness from Josie was all it would take.

  The earl inched closer, looking from one to the other in anticipation.

  “Rot… in….” Josie managed to spit out, before another attack of hacking seized her. Her meaning was plain enough.

  Tori was stunned. She quickly looked up to see deep lines of pain settle on her father’s face, then disappear beneath a carefully controlled expression. He turned once again and moved out the door.

  Glancing down in disbelief at the choking girl, Tori was cast aside when the nurse came in to take over her care. Her mind raced as she was promptly ushered from the room.

  This was not at all what she had expected. Nicholas was right, she should leave things alone that were none of her concern. But she’d been so sure she would be able to bring the two together, so sure that giving Josie the things she’d felt cheated of all her life would bring them all closer in the end.

  Instead, it had only deepened the chasm of Josie’s bitterness and brought misery to her father.

  Standing alone in the hallway, reverberating with the sound of Josie’s desperate gasps for breath, Tori held her arms and trembled uncontrollably. The sound of Nicholas’s voice calling her name brought her brimming gaze to the top of the stairs where he appeared. She wanted to run to him, to be completely engulfed by him, but she couldn’t get her legs to move.

  With long determined strides, Nicholas was at her side in an instant. He pulled her into his arms without a word. She was shaking all over so he held her closer.

  Smoothing her hair, he spoke in soothing tones. “Shhh.”

  She tried to speak, but a whimper of desperation was all that escaped her lips.

  “Madam.”

  Tori froze. Recognizing the voice of the nurse, she peered over Nicholas’s arm and realized the corridor had gone completely still. No more coughing. In fact, no sound at all came from the sick room.

  “No.” Her mouth formed the word without sound.

  “Madam, I’m terribly sorry. The young lady has expired. Shall I send for the undertaker?”

  He is happiest, be he king or peasant,

  who finds peace in his own home.

  ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Thirty-Seven

  “Thank you. We’ll see to it,” Nicholas answered. “You can go now. I’ll see that there is extra compensation sent over with your pay.”

  Thanking him, she headed off down the hall.

  Nicholas glanced down at his wife. She held fistfuls of his shirt in each hand and her face was buried in his chest. Slowly, in waves, grief washed over her until violent sobs gripped her. She mourned, not just for the sister, but for her brother and their mother as well. And for a past that could have been.

  Nicholas buried his hand in her thick curls to cup her head against him, allowing her all the time she needed to grieve. He understood the pain in her tears and talons of protective anger tore through him. He would not let her shoulder the blame of this girl’s death.

  Misplaced guilt could cause him to lose her forever to the kind of cold isolation he’d seen rip others apart. He wouldn’t let it happen to Victoria. She was the least responsible for this tragedy.

  “Oh, Nicholas.” Her breath caught and hot tears streamed down her cheeks. She lifted her head to search his face. “What have I done? Josie died hating us. I’m afraid bringing her here has hurt father more than he can bear. He’ll have to live with knowing Josie wouldn’t forgive him and she all but cursed him before she died. His health can’t take it.” With that, she dissolved into another rush of tears.

  If he was going to get through to her, he’d have to see that she calmed down first. Slipping his arm around her shoulder, he led her back down the hall.

  “If anything happens to him, Nicholas, as a result of my insisting … no, I practically demanded he come.”

  He handed her a handkerchief to dry her tears.

  “What you’ve done is completely inexcusable.” Nicholas crossed his arms and stood back from her.

  “And I … what?” Her mouth gaped for a second, before she looked up at him.

  “Really, Victoria. Bringing the girl here to receive proper medical care, surrounding her with clean sheets, a warm blanket and a pillow for her head.” He clicked his
tongue and shook his head. “What were you thinking?”

  She didn’t respond, making a study of twisting the handkerchief in her hand.

  “Offering her a chance at a privileged life after all her years of poverty. Providing her the love of a father, repentant and willing to try to make up for his absence in her life.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “But nothing.” Nicholas was having none of her arguments. “You did what you thought was best—more than most would do. It was her choice to throw it all away. Her choice to embrace hate over the love you freely offered.”

  Tears shimmered fresh in her eyes. “But I’ve hurt Father deeply.”

  Nicholas placed his hands on her arms, forcing her to meet his gaze. “Your father has done this to himself, Victoria. No one knows that better than he does. He knows you, and he knows your love for him. And he depends on that love too much to jeopardize it. Unfortunately, his deeds have yielded consequences he must live with. Only God can give him the peace and forgiveness he needs.”

  Tori sniffed into the cloth, and Nicholas placed a kiss on her forehead to soften his words. “You must be strong now, princess. Show your father he was right in coming, and that his effort to right the past would have pleased Lucinda very much.”

  Tori spoke quietly. “And me, too.”

  “Don’t you think you should tell him that?” Nicholas straightened.

  Tori hesitated for just a moment before she nodded.

  “You’d best be quick about it. He was calling for his cape when I passed him in the hall.”

  “Oh, no.” Tori lifted her skirts with both hands and ran for the stairway. “Father! Please Jonas, don’t let him leave.”

  Jonas nodded at her frantic call and rushed out to the street where the earl was just climbing into the carriage at the bottom step.

  Tori paused before starting down the stairs and turned back to Nicholas who took her by the hand. “Come on, I’ll walk you down.” The strength in his hand gave her confidence to face her father.